NDSP Quad Cortex

So this thing is definitely noisier than the Axe3 and Helix. By quite a margin. It isn't too bad when you just whack it in front of an amp. But if you put it in 4-cable-method, the additional noise is quite noticeable. If you slap an adaptive gate after the FX Loop block in the patch however, it cleans it up totally; and the adaptive gate is actually really good. So unless you're a finnicky arsehole like I am, then you probably don't need to worry.

I want to preface this next thing I say with the fact that I only just got the unit. Definitely in a sort of Honeymoon Part 2 kind of phase. However: it is lots of fun to dial in, and very quick to use. I've changed my tune on the touchscreen altogether to be honest, and I find it highly desirable and it makes me not want to go back to my other options.

But it isn't just that. There are a few things, and they might conflict, but...

  • The fact it doesn't have TONS and TONS of effects means that navigating effects lists is very straight forward.
  • The fact that the effects don't have TONS of parameters means you just sorta... accept what you've got, and you work with it. The delays for example... I can get super super tweaky on the Axe3 with delays, and often do, and I enjoy it. But with this... just whack an analog, tape, digital, or reverse block in there, set the mix and feedback and you're good to go.
  • The mix parameter feels different to the other modellers. The Helix ones often feel all over the shop; like 50% mix doesn't seem to give you the same result when you compare across different delay and reverb types. But on QC, there seems to be consistency, and it feels easier to find a nice sweet spot, whereas on the Axe3 it often feels like all of the interesting values are squeezed in the sub 50% range.
  • Delay tones; I think they must've improved them at some point and I just didn't hear about it. Because the oscillation tones are much better than they were at launch. I'm sure of it.
  • Reverbs are your typical stompbox-y reverbs. There aren't any huge-as-balls Cumulonimbus style reverbs here. But you've got your basic RV-5 Hall/Plate/Mod type verbs, and they're good quality and don't require a dick ton of tweaking. I might make some people cross, but I just don't think the Helix reverbs are that good. Even the newer Dynamic ones. They sound too metallic and lack smoothness.
  • Trails being 'on' by default. I know it seems dumb, but this is such a time saver. This is a perfect example of where the Axe3 can do all these things, but you have to set it up manually... and the defaults are often "developer defaults" and don't seem to be setup to facilitate speed. Delays and reverbs should be set to 'mute fx in' bypass mode by default IMHO, as that is what most people are going to want and would expect.
  • Poo switches... yes... godamnit they're good....
  • Somewhere along the way they added the ability to disconnect the volume knob from the outputs. So I've disconnected it from send 1+2 and out 3+4, leaving it only affecting the main XLR outs and the headphones. This is really how the unit should've shipped in my opinion. But this is good, and is how I always wanted to run it.
  • The Xotic RC Booster really sounds good hitting the front of a 5150III on the blue channel. I dig this quite a bit.
  • The tubescreamer doesn't sound shit.
  • The looper is great. The visual feedback that you get the loop cycles around and how it turns red when you are in overdub mode... those are some really nice little UI refinements. The duplicate loop function is great too, because it means you can write a one-bar motif, and then if you come up with a chord progression for it, you can duplicate the loop as many times as you need and then overdub the chord progression. Other loopers tend to expect you to record your longest idea first, which is limiting and not very creative.

Things I don't like:
  • Only two effects loops. I know it is to keep the unit small, but it kinda sucks if you want to put the QC at the centre of a larger pedal board and use it as the command centre - Helix is the king of this. Better than the Axe3 even.
  • Again, noise floor. I know you can "hide" the noise-floor using gates... but it triggers my OCD a bit just knowing that it is there. The Axe3 is the king for noise floor performance. Even in 4-cable-method you barely hear it. But I need to be fair... the QC is no more noisier than sticking a bunch of digital pedals together one after the other and then ramming them into the front of your amp. Guitar rigs are noisy. Gotta learn to love it!

My ultimate takeaway right now is... all the hype about it being easy to use, intuitive, and fun... there's a lot of truth to it. I think it is going to stick this time round to be honest, I'm having a blast using it.
 
Orvillain said:
  • The fact it doesn't have TONS and TONS of effects means that navigating effects lists is very straight forward.
  • The fact that the effects don't have TONS of parameters means you just sorta... accept what you've got, and you work with it. The delays for example, just whack an analog, tape, digital, or reverse block in there, set the mix and feedback and you're good to go.
Click to expand...

Want to highlight this part in case it gets lost in the lengthy post.

And ya, I don't like gates but the Adaptive one on the QC is great.
 
Orvillain said:
I think he's trying to reduce his social media time/presence, and to be honest. I fully get it. I went through a phase where I was doing 13 hour days because I'd do my typical work day, then I'd do 4 hours catch up work, then I'd round it off with a few hours responding to private messages and Facebook posts, and at a certain point... fuck that... I don't get paid enough!!!
Click to expand...
He's pretty much a business suit these days afaik. That's a common trajectory when a company gets big enough, you leave the day to day to someone else and figure out how to grow the business.
 
Plus, the dude's got lots of other hobbies to keep him busy.

1727007800991.png



Six repititions of 6 curls @ 110 lbs and then 10 @ 88 lbs is fucking insane!
 
Last edited:
Orvillain said:
So this thing is definitely noisier than the Axe3 and Helix. By quite a margin. It isn't too bad when you just whack it in front of an amp. But if you put it in 4-cable-method, the additional noise is quite noticeable. If you slap an adaptive gate after the FX Loop block in the patch however, it cleans it up totally; and the adaptive gate is actually really good. So unless you're a finnicky arsehole like I am, then you probably don't need to worry.

I want to preface this next thing I say with the fact that I only just got the unit. Definitely in a sort of Honeymoon Part 2 kind of phase. However: it is lots of fun to dial in, and very quick to use. I've changed my tune on the touchscreen altogether to be honest, and I find it highly desirable and it makes me not want to go back to my other options.

But it isn't just that. There are a few things, and they might conflict, but...

  • The fact it doesn't have TONS and TONS of effects means that navigating effects lists is very straight forward.
  • The fact that the effects don't have TONS of parameters means you just sorta... accept what you've got, and you work with it. The delays for example... I can get super super tweaky on the Axe3 with delays, and often do, and I enjoy it. But with this... just whack an analog, tape, digital, or reverse block in there, set the mix and feedback and you're good to go.
  • The mix parameter feels different to the other modellers. The Helix ones often feel all over the shop; like 50% mix doesn't seem to give you the same result when you compare across different delay and reverb types. But on QC, there seems to be consistency, and it feels easier to find a nice sweet spot, whereas on the Axe3 it often feels like all of the interesting values are squeezed in the sub 50% range.
  • Delay tones; I think they must've improved them at some point and I just didn't hear about it. Because the oscillation tones are much better than they were at launch. I'm sure of it.
  • Reverbs are your typical stompbox-y reverbs. There aren't any huge-as-balls Cumulonimbus style reverbs here. But you've got your basic RV-5 Hall/Plate/Mod type verbs, and they're good quality and don't require a dick ton of tweaking. I might make some people cross, but I just don't think the Helix reverbs are that good. Even the newer Dynamic ones. They sound too metallic and lack smoothness.
  • Trails being 'on' by default. I know it seems dumb, but this is such a time saver. This is a perfect example of where the Axe3 can do all these things, but you have to set it up manually... and the defaults are often "developer defaults" and don't seem to be setup to facilitate speed. Delays and reverbs should be set to 'mute fx in' bypass mode by default IMHO, as that is what most people are going to want and would expect.
  • Poo switches... yes... godamnit they're good....
  • Somewhere along the way they added the ability to disconnect the volume knob from the outputs. So I've disconnected it from send 1+2 and out 3+4, leaving it only affecting the main XLR outs and the headphones. This is really how the unit should've shipped in my opinion. But this is good, and is how I always wanted to run it.
  • The Xotic RC Booster really sounds good hitting the front of a 5150III on the blue channel. I dig this quite a bit.
  • The tubescreamer doesn't sound shit.
  • The looper is great. The visual feedback that you get the loop cycles around and how it turns red when you are in overdub mode... those are some really nice little UI refinements. The duplicate loop function is great too, because it means you can write a one-bar motif, and then if you come up with a chord progression for it, you can duplicate the loop as many times as you need and then overdub the chord progression. Other loopers tend to expect you to record your longest idea first, which is limiting and not very creative.

Things I don't like:
  • Only two effects loops. I know it is to keep the unit small, but it kinda sucks if you want to put the QC at the centre of a larger pedal board and use it as the command centre - Helix is the king of this. Better than the Axe3 even.
  • Again, noise floor. I know you can "hide" the noise-floor using gates... but it triggers my OCD a bit just knowing that it is there. The Axe3 is the king for noise floor performance. Even in 4-cable-method you barely hear it. But I need to be fair... the QC is no more noisier than sticking a bunch of digital pedals together one after the other and then ramming them into the front of your amp. Guitar rigs are noisy. Gotta learn to love it!

My ultimate takeaway right now is... all the hype about it being easy to use, intuitive, and fun... there's a lot of truth to it. I think it is going to stick this time round to be honest, I'm having a blast using it.
Click to expand...
The one thing I really loved when I had one over here is the UNDO option! Kind of made me question every single other modeler in why they don’t have this option!
 
I'm really enjoying this rig: Duality DX Green Capture -> Prometheus Capture -> Plini Cab

Duality is from AmpGuru. Prometheus is here. Plini Cab is taken from Clayton King's Right Hand Riffs preset; I just added some Hi Cut.
 
Orvillain said:
Is there actually any difference between the existing delays and the plugin delays??
Click to expand...
The pre delay on plini has a built in analog style tone with modulation that fades really nicely. The post delays just seem like flexible delays with saturation, tape modulation and ping pong effects.

When archetype mateus as a to gets ported we would have a more unique delay that is less readily available in the qc as it seems like a Roland space echo style echo with multi heads. But that is likely a fair ways off given the number of items on their plugin port to do list.
 
Mongillo19 said:
Not able to listen but how do you feel about the capture?
Click to expand...
I remember thinking they were "as far away from the real amp as the Kemper is, but in a more pleasing way" and I've certainly said that online in places. But this particular capture at least, I can baaaarrreeeellyyyy hear a difference, other than a slight difference in the high frequencies. But certainly nothing I'd bother complaining about or that would stop me using it.

And the capture process was easier and much faster than NAM is. TBH, I gave up on NAM purely because of how much of a ballache it is to make the captures, and then to not have a solid hardware platform to use them on.... I'd rather take a hit on perceived accuracy and have a well thought out holistic solution like the QC.
 
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