NDSP Quad Cortex

[Whizzinby]

I went through all their updates to map out some timelines for a video I'm working on. I'd never looked into it before and only heard this kind of thing from forums, but I was surprised at how much they'd brought to the QC via updates. Noone is going to dethrone Fractal when it comes to updates but this seems decent on paper.

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They’ve obviously updated it, and taking away quibbles over what constitutes actually moving the needle vs “looks good on paper” ( “updated tuner” “stereo versions of launch compressors” “listing effects twice for mono and stereo versions” or the non-exclusive to Neural habit of “let’s list 1 Fender amp 4 times, when to end users its just a new Fender amp) but there is a full year gap between the last update and now, and a seven month gap between the last one and the one preceding it. So “decent on paper” is definitely a beauty in the eye of the beholder scenario.

If you don’t own one of the two plugins coming in 3.0 it’s one new effect in a full calendar year, and presumably a wait for 3.1 for new native content.

 

[GTR37]

I know who you mean by the emojis (not sure if that's good or bad)

But it was Steve Sterlacci

joking aside . I actually like Sterlacci's channel

 

[Mongillo19]

joking aside . I actually like Sterlacci's channel

Yeah it's fine. It seems to have gotten more click bait esque tho unfortunately.

Anyway, end of July should be interesting!

 

[[Nathan]]

They’ve obviously updated it, and taking away quibbles over what constitutes actually moving the needle vs “looks good on paper” ( “updated tuner” “stereo versions of launch compressors” “listing effects twice for mono and stereo versions” or the non-exclusive to Neural habit of “let’s list 1 Fender amp 4 times, when to end users its just a new Fender amp) but there is a full year gap between the last update and now, and a seven month gap between the last one and the one preceding it. So “decent on paper” is definitely a beauty in the eye of the beholder scenario.

If you don’t own one of the two plugins coming in 3.0 it’s one new effect in a full calendar year, and presumably a wait for 3.1 for new native content.

Yeah I don't disagree with this. I guess the narrative I always see is "QC never has updates", and when I looked it was more like "Oh actually there's been a megaton of bug fixes, decent amount of quality of life improvements as well as new pedals/amps/captures etc".

Its pretty evident that they were figuring out the ecosystem on the fly with the amount of quality of life updates and bug fixes that keep happening. At the same time bands were touring with this from day one so it's been a pretty functional unit in that respect. I think if you bought it and expected slews of updates then that has been pretty slow. But if you bought it and just wanted things to "get better" then that seems to be more the overall picture.

You can definitely see how much the plugin stuff has KO'd QC dev, so the last 9-12 months and presumably the next 6-12 are all focused on getting that stuff ported. Just seems like something that should have taken 6 months is now taking the better part of 1.5-2years. Either way its not like the unit is dead or anything, updates have been pretty continuous since day dot. Unfortunately heaps of those updates are things that probably should just have been better from the beginning. I'm looking at getting one "soon" and besides the high price tag it seems like a decent unit "now that its got 3 years of dev under its belt".

 

[timbuck3]

Interesting that @timbuck3 mentions people not having money for multiple modelers owning 30 guitars himself. Sell 5 guitars, buy all the modelers and be like Tim Pierce,. No more need for harassing people with inane questions...and done.

I didn’t say I had no money for a Modelers.. you took this out of context as usual. And the guitars I have now have been over 50 yrs of playing .. duhhh .. just stop this projection on my words. Of course having them all is best so you can use each one’s abilities you find best and play them all , lol.. my point was not everyone can or wants to afford to buy diff Modelers. And some even with money don’t always want to buy them all… that’s logical. How many cars do you guys drive? 5. How many houses do you live in? 5. ? How many Hotubz do you have?

 

[dean701]

I didn’t say I had no money for a Modelers.. you took this out of context as usual. And the guitars I have now have been over 50 yrs of playing .. duhhh .. just stop this projection on my words. Of course having them all is best so you can use each one’s abilities you find best and play them all , lol.. my point was not everyone can or wants to afford to buy diff Modelers. And some even with money don’t always want to buy them all… that’s logical. How many cars do you guys drive? 5. How many houses do you live in? 5. ? How many Hotubz do you have?

yet you spend all of your time on here wasting everyone's time with your endless stupid posts asking each person in kind about their experience with modelers. You should really just go play your 1000 year old guitars. you're the biggest dick by far on here.

 

[laxu]

Yeah I don't disagree with this. I guess the narrative I always see is "QC never has updates", and when I looked it was more like "Oh actually there's been a megaton of bug fixes, decent amount of quality of life improvements as well as new pedals/amps/captures etc".

Its pretty evident that they were figuring out the ecosystem on the fly with the amount of quality of life updates and bug fixes that keep happening. At the same time bands were touring with this from day one so it's been a pretty functional unit in that respect. I think if you bought it and expected slews of updates then that has been pretty slow. But if you bought it and just wanted things to "get better" then that seems to be more the overall picture.

You can definitely see how much the plugin stuff has KO'd QC dev, so the last 9-12 months and presumably the next 6-12 are all focused on getting that stuff ported. Just seems like something that should have taken 6 months is now taking the better part of 1.5-2years. Either way its not like the unit is dead or anything, updates have been pretty continuous since day dot. Unfortunately heaps of those updates are things that probably should just have been better from the beginning. I'm looking at getting one "soon" and besides the high price tag it seems like a decent unit "now that its got 3 years of dev under its belt".

I always say that despite liking it a lot at release, selling it then and waiting to see how it turns out was the absolute right move.

The problem has always been how much NeuralDSP oversold their development progress. At release I thought features like hybrid footswitching were only like a month a way, editor by the end of the year etc. If you looked at their blog and forum posts at the time it definitely seemed like those features were well on the way instead of apparently being just design sketches.

Now they're in this situation where they need to overcommunicate about updates because the natives are getting restless. Which is starting to become an issue in itself because people groan at the "we're working on it!" updates as they have went from "this is what's coming next" teasers to "nothing seems to be happening".

What NeuralDSP does after getting this big plugin compatibility update out of the gate will be key. Ideally they'll turn towards adding more amps, cabs and effects.

The cynic in me thinks that the plugin compatibility is important not only because they promised it, but because it allows NeuralDSP to sell more plugins. Plugins are relatively cheap for them to make - model some new amps, slap on a new coat of paint and a slightly tweaked version of the fx they already had. If all the "cool" stuff gets gated behind plugins, that could easily make the QC pretty expensive considering it is a bit short on effects.

 

[laxu]

Looking at the public info available about the company's financials, in 2023 they had about the same revenue as in 2022, but their result for the financial year went into the negative.

I interpret this as showing the QC is still selling very well, but it's possible that the dip in profit means they are also working on that rumored "Dual Cortex" which might involve taking loans for manufacturing, and hiring more people, thus more expenses for one year that get recouped the next. Same thing happened the year the QC launched. You can Google translate the webpage and look for yourself.

 

[the swede]

they are also working on that rumored "Dual Cortex"

nahh whaaat.
“Dual” like in double the power? Why would that even be necessary?

 

[2dor]

nahh whaaat.
“Dual” like in double the power? Why would that even be necessary?

I did see people going on about it but more like a "man, wouldn't it be cool if they released something cheaper" kind of thing and not something rumored. @laxu were there any hints this was / is really a thing?

 

[the swede]

I did see people going on about it but more like a "man, wouldn't it be cool if they released something cheaper" kind of thing and not something rumored. @laxu were there any hints this was / is really a thing?

Yeah. I mean. QC is “top tier” modeler in price and performance. A smaller/cheaper option makes more sense. If they made a half QC id be all over it.
2 of those dsp is a hell lot more than 1 stomp.
Half screen, 3 switches.

 

[laxu]

I did see people going on about it but more like a "man, wouldn't it be cool if they released something cheaper" kind of thing and not something rumored. @laxu were there any hints this was / is really a thing?

I don't think there's anything concrete, but it's an obvious product for them to make to go for the market that doesn't have 1600 € to spend, but might buy something at say 800-1000 €. I believe Analog Devices now also makes some DSPs that have the specs suitable for it too.

Other than hiring more people or some loans having to be paid off, I don't know how I'd interpret the financials otherwise.

 

[2dor]

I don't think there's anything concrete, but it's an obvious product for them to make to go for the market that doesn't have 1600 € to spend, but might buy something at say 800-1000 €. I believe Analog Devices now also makes some DSPs that have the specs suitable for it too.

Other than hiring more people or some loans having to be paid off, I don't know how I'd interpret the financials otherwise.

I mean it makes sense to diversify the product portfolio but all I've seen as far as this "Dual Cortex" is just folks wishing this would be a thing with the rise of ToneX and profiling having become a more accessible feature given IK's success.

 

[the swede]

oh.... "dual" is half.... jeees I'm stupid

 

[laxu]

I mean it makes sense to diversify the product portfolio but all I've seen as far as this "Dual Cortex" is just folks wishing this would be a thing with the rise of ToneX and profiling having become a more accessible feature given IK's success.

NeuralDSP does have a trademark for "Dual Cortex" but it's possible that this is just so a competitor doesn't try to release a misleading product by that name. It seems to have been filed at the same time as the "Quad Cortex" trademark.

 

[[Nathan]]

nahh whaaat.
“Dual” like in double the power? Why would that even be necessary?

Dual quad octo cortex

 

[2dor]

Dual quad octo cortex

Twin Cortex

 

[AFKAEjay(retired)]

yet you spend all of your time on here wasting everyone's time with your endless stupid posts asking each person in kind about their experience with modelers. You should really just go play your 1000 year old guitars. you're the biggest dick by far on here.

Unacceptable…#hittheignorebutton

 

[Stone]

Game Changer !!!

 

[2dor]

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Game Changer !!!

...we don't know the Year of the Lord yet for this release