NDSP Quad Cortex

[Mongillo19]

I can baaaarrreeeellyyyy hear a difference, other than a slight difference in the high frequencies

IIRC it was always the high frequency as well for me. But it's very close and not different enough for me to mess with a separate capture process

Glad you are enjoying this round. I truly thought you would!

 

[Orvillain]

Tell you what, most of the capturing I've done over the last two years was with ToneX and NAM.

You really really really bloody notice the difference in training/capturing times. ToneX and NAM take bloody ages!! QC is very quick comparatively, and sounds good. Sooooo.... is all that extra accuracy/training time actually worth it?? I think for accuracy I'd still vote:

1. NAM (Gold star!)
2. ToneX (Silver)
3. Quad Cortex (on the edge of silver an bronze)
4. Kemper (dog poo left in the sun so long it has turned white)

But for training times:

1. Kemper
2. Quad Cortex
3. ToneX
4. NAM

Overall "satisfaction" purely from a capturing stance:

1. Quad Cortex - hits the sweet spot for capture times versus accuracy, and doesn't expect you to refine stuff to the point where you don't understand if any differences between the amp and capture are your fault or not.
2. ToneX - fairly similar experience to Quad Cortex in that it doesn't put you in a situation of not knowing whether you messed up or not, but training times are significantly longer and I'm not sure the extra accuracy can really be perceived.
3. NAM - I've had people send me their re-amped audio for training on my 4090, and some of their captures were not able to be trained, even though according to them they did the same thing with every single one. So there's a lot of finnicky nerd shit you have to understand and conform to, to get NAM to work properly. Not for everyone at all. Not a mass market product in its current implementation.
4. Kemper - just sounds bad to me overall. Most of the power is in tweaking the definition parameter, but if I wanted to do that, I'd just use an Axe FX or a Helix and use their actual models rather than captures. Also the refining stage introduces a kind of gaslighting effect, where you're never really sure if the differences you're hearing are due to bad refining or something. It puts too much of the onus on the user, whereas in my opinion capturing tech should precisely exclude all user interaction, and the system should JUST WORK. Like the others. No bueno, basically.

 

[Orvillain]

@2dor legend has it that you've got a solution to make sure you get the right amount of gain from a Neural capture, so that you don't lose gain in the capture when compared to the guitar going into the amp???

 

[Orvillain]

@2dor legend has it that you've got a solution to make sure you get the right amount of gain from a Neural capture, so that you don't lose gain in the capture when compared to the guitar going into the amp???

Ah, false alarm. @MirrorProfiles and I thought you might have some hot saucy tips, but you rescinded your tip in a previous thread.

So the QC doesn't cope too well with the Dual Rectifier green channel set to pushed mode. No idea why. I've tried a quiet one, a medium volume one, and a loud as fuck one... no dice. They all sound markedly different to the real amp. Not bad, but just very different.

 

[Mongillo19]

So the QC doesn't cope too well with the Dual Rectifier green channel set to pushed mode

So you trying the different volumes would rule out any power amp capture issues, right?

 

[2dor]

@2dor legend has it that you've got a solution to make sure you get the right amount of gain from a Neural capture, so that you don't lose gain in the capture when compared to the guitar going into the amp???

Yeah - I found that not boosting the damn IN1 helps a lot (leaving it at 0 is the best thing to do). Having the least amount of things hooked up to the Quad Cortex when doing the Neural Capture, increases the success rate of captures. For instance, if you have the Quad Cortex connected via USB to a PC while doing the Neural Capture, no matter what you do, it'll inject noise into the unit and poop over the capture. If it's something high-gain you're trying to profile, it'll turn out like crap.
Best thing is to do the Neural Capture process manually (not from the Cortex Control) and only have the minimum connections during the process:

- guitar into IN1
- Capture Out to your amp's input
- IN2 coming from the loadbox or pedal (if that's what you're profiling)
- heaphones / monitors

Several more things to consider is to watch out for impedance mismatches especially going from the loadbox into IN2, the impedance on IN1 which can throw you off if it's not set to 1Mohm before triggering the Capture process. But, in general, noise / hum - the moment you really hear it at the Capture-start screen, there's a high chance things won't turn out right... Wish they'd give us an option to extend the training time a little. I have a Salvation Camerock MTS preamp I can't profile with the QC because of how aggressive that thing gets (and how good it sounds).

 

[Orvillain]

Yeah - I found that not boosting the damn IN1 helps a lot (leaving it at 0 is the best thing to do). Having the least amount of things hooked up to the Quad Cortex when doing the Neural Capture, increases the success rate of captures. For instance, if you have the Quad Cortex connected via USB to a PC while doing the Neural Capture, no matter what you do, it'll inject noise into the unit and poop over the capture. If it's something high-gain you're trying to profile, it'll turn out like crap.
Best thing is to do the Neural Capture process manually (not from the Cortex Control) and only have the minimum connections during the process:

- guitar into IN1
- Capture Out to your amp's input
- IN2 coming from the loadbox or pedal (if that's what you're profiling)
- heaphones / monitors

Yeah that is exactly what I'm doing. Some captures come out very close, others come out not quite as accurate, but still sound good and not Kemper-y. So I'm still happy, but wondering if there's a way to improve accuracy. I don't think there is.

 

[2dor]

Yeah that is exactly what I'm doing. Some captures come out very close, others come out not quite as accurate, but still sound good and not Kemper-y. So I'm still happy, but wondering if there's a way to improve accuracy. I don't think there is.

Most turn out pretty good for rock & roll - put them through a loud PA, they sound great. It's when I sit down and jam by myself or record that I start to go OCD on this stuff.
I hope they'll one day decide to give the NC tech a facelift to squeeze some more juice from our gear.
That said, I'm pretty happy with the unit & how easy it is to set up and jam with a band through it. Hard to beat imho.

 

[mbenigni]

Quad Cortex Development Update #52

neuraldsp.com

CorOS 3.1.0 is the next major update scheduled for the Quad Cortex. As we reach the final stages of development, we wanted to give you an overview of what you can expect in CorOS 3.1.0

What’s coming in CorOS 3.1.0?
New devices
CorOS 3.1.0 will include the following new devices for all users:

Chief OC2 (BOSS® OC-2®)

Subharmonic Synth (Digitech® DOD® Meatbox SubSynth®)

Harmonic Tremolo

Crying Wah From Hell (Dunlop® Crybaby from Hell®)

Updated devices
US DLX 64 Vintage (Fender® Deluxe Reverb ‘64 Vintage®)

US DLX 65 Reissue (Fender® Deluxe Reverb ‘65 Reissue®)

Plugin devices
The following plugin devices will be added and will only be available to users who own licenses for Soldano SLO-100 X or Fortin Nameless X.

Soldano SLO-100 X
Soldano® SLO-100®

SLO-100 Cab (M)

SLO-100 Cab (ST)

SLO-100 Overdrive-1

SLO-100 Overdrive-2

SLO-100 Delay

SLO-100 Reverb

SLO-100 Compressor

SLO-100 Chorus

Fortin Nameless X
Fortin® Nameless

Nameless Cab (M)

Nameless Cab (ST)

Nameless Grind

Nameless Hexdrive

Nameless Delay

Nameless Reverb

Nameless Zuul

We look forward to sharing CorOS 3.1.0 with you soon

Really surprised Nolly didn't make it but cool to see a few new effects

Seems a little lean, but I’m permanently spoiled by Line 6, even years later.

I’d honestly be more interested in more QoL improvements/ bug fixes (depending on your point of view.) Example: make the undo/redo buttons work with the f***ing block edit screen open. Make the looper switches fire properly when you’re editing looper params. Things like that matter more to me than an update to an amp that I may or may not even be able to hear - especially since I can grab a capture if a given model is really not doing it for me.

 

[mbenigni]

I can already feel my slide into 'NeuralDSP defender' syndrome.

 

[mbenigni]

Makes me wonder if they will slowly update all the amp models based on whatever new approaches they've figured out.

I'd be interested in a before and after, so someone record a few clips of those amps before and after updating!

Hopefully they’ll keep the option to toggle between original and updated blocks, at least until they start getting into third iterations.

 

[mbenigni]

Further thoughts. Today is day 3 of ownership. I've only had about 3 hours to play with it though.

- Touchscreen isn't as pewpy as I originally remembered. Now maybe that is firmware, maybe it is HW differences, I don't know. But it is much better this time around. Still not 100% perfect and responsive, but I never expected that.
- Back in 2021 I A/B'd the QC against the Axe3, along with the at-the-time 2nd guitarist in Tacoma Narrows Bridge Disaster. He preferred the tones from QC, and I preferred the tones from the Axe3. This was with the same or similar amp models, and the same impulse responses. But in the A/B's I've been doing now... I just don't feel that way, try as I might!
- But ... I'm really not a fan of the built in cab IR's. I can't explain why. They just don't sound as good to me as my ones (which I previously gave away on here too!) - I don't really like any of the built in 4x12's. I'd go as far to say I think they actually do the amp models a disservice.
- I've not captured anything yet. Just really haven't had time.

Partly because I’m lazy, and partly because I don’t have all that much experience with IRs (or a wide variety of real cabs, for that matter), I’ve stuck with the QC cab block for the duration. I prefer dragging virtual mics around versus hunting through a list of files. But you have my attention with these comments. What’s a go-to, best in class, “change my mind IR”? I generally dig creambacks with darker smoother mics.

 

[Orvillain]

Partly because I’m lazy, and partly because I don’t have all that much experience with IRs (or a wide variety of real cabs, for that matter), I’ve stuck with the QC cab block for the duration. I prefer dragging virtual mics around versus hunting through a list of files. But you have my attention with these comments. What’s a go-to, best in class, “change my mind IR”? I generally dig creambacks with darker smoother mics.

We have different tastes, so I can't help you.

 

[mbenigni]

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.
...
Poo switches... yes... godamnit they're good....
...
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.

 

[SeeD]

Seems a little lean, but I’m permanently spoiled by Line 6, even years later.

I’d honestly be more interested in more QoL improvements/ bug fixes (depending on your point of view.) Example: make the undo/redo buttons work with the f***ing block edit screen open. Make the looper switches fire properly when you’re editing looper params. Things like that matter more to me than an update to an amp that I may or may not even be able to hear - especially since I can grab a capture if a given model is really not doing it for me.

Neural be like... here you go `next major update`

And this is me..

 

[Jynx]

Just spent a few minutes this morning cleaning up and sorting my captures into folders, introduced in 3.0. Was quick and painless.

 

[Orvillain]

Just spent a few minutes this morning cleaning up and sorting my captures into folders, introduced in 3.0. Was quick and painless.

Is it right that you can only have 30 folders??

 

[Jynx]

Is it right that you can only have 30 folders??

Dunno. I've only made 7 so far. 30 seems like overkill to me.

 

[mbenigni]

Just spent a few minutes this morning cleaning up and sorting my captures into folders, introduced in 3.0. Was quick and painless.

I’m working up the courage to do a full factory reset and start from scratch. Would probably want to identify a few key presets and upload those to the cloud first. But as things stand, after using the QC for ~3 years, I still have trouble searching for captures on the device.

Well, no trouble searching; just not much luck finding.

 

[Foxmeister]

Updated devices
US DLX 64 Vintage (Fender® Deluxe Reverb ‘64 Vintage®)

US DLX 65 Reissue (Fender® Deluxe Reverb ‘65 Reissue®)

What I don't really get is NDSP make a big deal about their TINA system, and how quickly they can churn out models, but this doesn't seem to be reflected in their firmware updates.