NDSP Quad Cortex

[laxu]

They probably have their PR department studying signal processing around the clock, to get those X plugins out in time.

"Transformers, how do they work?"

 

[bigmenace]

"Transformers, how do they work?"

 

[Jynx]

Nameless is god-tier as far as amps go. It's pretty much all I use now for anything above clean. The range is ridiculous.

Don't know why I slept on it for so long.

 

[Mikael Dez]

Nameless is god-tier as far as amps go. It's pretty much all I use now for anything above clean. The range is ridiculous.

Don't know why I slept on it for so long.

I keep eyeing it, lol, waiting on the sale

 

[GTR37]

I keep eyeing it, lol, waiting on the sale

April ish

 

[GTR37]

Well I don’t think they are doing anything this Namm
It’s been too quiet if they had a big update coming soon we would have heard for sure
Maybe they are not there this year

 

[Mikael Dez]

Anyone regularly using their QC either for just effects or in 4CM?

I will be getting my old Invective MH back from someone I sold it off to next week lol - I used it (and will again) with a Julius load box that has a DI output. I want to 4CM that mf and compare the real amp with the captures I make of it (using the same IR). Most likely I won’t use the Invective a whole lot but it’s a neat amp and I missed it.

I replaced the grill to see those beautiful tubes:

 

[deadpool_25]

QC effects are pretty damn good. So there.

 

[ejecta]

QC effects are pretty damn good. So there.

I really don’t get the shit talk about the effects. Yes I think there’s some effects that sound better in other units and the number of choices is more limited but the effects in the QC are like you say pretty damn good and I don’t find myself missing what I’d need for a gig effects wise.

 

[Mikael Dez]

QC effects are pretty damn good. So there.

I agree, and I don’t totally understand why people say they’re basic, but to each their own. I’ve had a Stomp for years and I’m not missing anything it has to offer tbh.

 

[Sedaxel]

Some days ago, in the studio of my buddy, We compared two CS-3 compressor pedals against the QC model of it. It was spot on.

 

[laxu]

I agree, and I don’t totally understand why people say they’re basic, but to each their own. I’ve had a Stomp for years and I’m not missing anything it has to offer tbh.

Compare the HX Stomp effects, amps etc to the equivalent QC ones. It was in my experience a mix between "as good", and "worse" at least 3 years ago when the QC released. Same when compared to the Fractal FM3, except with even bigger discrepancies.

It was never "I like the QC amp or effect better than the Helix or FM3" for me. Effects were a big reason why I sold it, as I felt the amp modeling can always be replaced/augmented by captures, cabs by IRs and so on. Can't do anything if the effects don't satisfy.

The effects/amps I felt that were the most odd on QC, were the Klon, Soldano SLO (original model, not the updated one) and the JTM45 (required very weird settings to sound like the Fractal).

 

[mikah912]

My opinion of the QC effects is based on my experiences with the last firmwares prior to 2.0.

Of course, there have been significant updates since then, but as far as I know.....none have addressed the areas I felt were lacking:

• Spring reverb was barf worthy, and I use it fairly extensively these days on both funk and vintage-sounding edge of breakup tones.
• Ambient reverbs like the Fractal cloud ones were pretty much non-existent. Yeah, they added a dedicated shimmer, but the non-paywalled joints sucked compared to Fractal and even Helix.
• No synth blocks, which again....I use Fractal's all of the time. Helps create wonderful accents for so many different songs, and spares us having to keep a dedicated keyboard player around for most things.
• Drive pedals were....fine, but all of the modern ones (e.g. Fortin Grind) were paywalled with the plugins.Yes, you can download captures of them at a static setting of someone else's taste, but....
• I wasn't a fan of the mod effects either, but I understand they've been significantly improved since I quit.

That's a few too many weak spots for a platform that's been around for half a decade. Of course, I've seen answers to all of these in Archetype: Plini, Archetype: Rabea and Fortin Nameless.

But you know....paywall.

 

[Jarick]

I really don’t get the shit talk about the effects. Yes I think there’s some effects that sound better in other units and the number of choices is more limited but the effects in the QC are like you say pretty damn good and I don’t find myself missing what I’d need for a gig effects wise.

I don't think anyone's saying the effects are bad. They are generally quite good, but they can be basic. Especially the reverbs, and to some extend the delays.

Fractal and Helix have a much bigger head start and have much more maturity here. Helix had the same complaints for several years until they rolled out more options.

 

[Stone]

Yes, for some im sure dont need 50 Reverbs and 100 Parameters pick one that works dial set and forget, which works and is Fine
for myself OTH i have about 6-7 go to reverbs which is more than plenty, but always nice to have more option than not
but really for me its more important the Parameters that i can adjust to get what i need
YMMV

 

[Mikael Dez]

Armeters

Compare the HX Stomp effects, amps etc to the equivalent QC ones. It was in my experience a mix between "as good", and "worse" at least 3 years ago when the QC released. Same when compared to the Fractal FM3, except with even bigger discrepancies.

It was never "I like the QC amp or effect better than the Helix or FM3" for me. Effects were a big reason why I sold it, as I felt the amp modeling can always be replaced/augmented by captures, cabs by IRs and so on. Can't do anything if the effects don't satisfy.

The effects/amps I felt that were the most odd on QC, were the Klon, Soldano SLO (original model, not the updated one) and the JTM45 (required very weird settings to sound like the Fractal)

I don’t like the QC’s effects more than the Stomp, for sure - I just like them about as much - and I’m not a huge effects guy so that may be why. I really like the delays, reverbs, and chorus on the QC. I think just the convenience of being able to use those rotary knobs to change parameters has helped me find the sound I’m searching for faster, which leads to less fiddling and more playing (for me)

 

[deadpool_25]

I sat down to see what the spring reverb complaints were about. At default settings it was not good. The "boing" was cranked way up and it sounded pretty bad. I lowered it a lot and made some other adjustments and thought, yeah it's not very adjustable but it sounds like a spring reverb. So yeah it is definitely basic and it only has one option for a spring but it was fine. Then again I'm not a spring reverb connoisseur so

I definitely agree the effects I tried are pretty basic. But that doesn't translate to "bad". It's like comparing a DD-3 to the Fractal delay block and saying the DD-3 is basic or bad. I mean I'd understand that in a way but that doesn't really make the DD-3 sound bad. That's a good delay. Similarly the effects in the QC, while certainly lacking (by far) the choices and depth of Fractal, haven't sounded bad to me. I'm not a/b'ing them with the ones in VP4. I'm just loading them up and seeing if I enjoy the sounds.

I haven't fully explored them though and need to check out more. Especially the mods like chorus and flanger.

 

[laxu]

I don’t like the QC’s effects more than the Stomp, for sure - I just like them about as much - and I’m not a huge effects guy so that may be why. I really like the delays, reverbs, and chorus on the QC.

Then no problem.

I think just the convenience of being able to use those rotary knobs to change parameters has helped me find the sound I’m searching for faster, which leads to less fiddling and more playing (for me)

That's definitely my favorite thing about the QC. Footswitching is easy to replace if you don't like the spacing or amount of buttons, but adding more knobs is not.

Line6 also has a terrible order for the parameters which becomes a real issue on the HX Stomp when your Mix knob might be on page 1, page 2, or somewhere else.

 

[Jarick]

I sat down to see what the spring reverb complaints were about. At default settings it was not good. The "boing" was cranked way up and it sounded pretty bad. I lowered it a lot and made some other adjustments and thought, yeah it's not very adjustable but it sounds like a spring reverb. So yeah it is definitely basic and it only has one option for a spring but it was fine. Then again I'm not a spring reverb connoisseur so

I definitely agree the effects I tried are pretty basic. But that doesn't translate to "bad". It's like comparing a DD-3 to the Fractal delay block and saying the DD-3 is basic or bad. I mean I'd understand that in a way but that doesn't really make the DD-3 sound bad. That's a good delay. Similarly the effects in the QC, while certainly lacking (by far) the choices and depth of Fractal, haven't sounded bad to me. I'm not a/b'ing them with the ones in VP4. I'm just loading them up and seeing if I enjoy the sounds.

I haven't fully explored them though and need to check out more. Especially the mods like chorus and flanger.

I do think default settings play a part. Default settings on all the reverbs to me sound bad but you can tweak most of them to good or great.

I think the spring reverb sounds like crap but I don't like spring reverb all that much.

When I get my QC back I'll need to compare directly to the RV-6.

 

[ejecta]

I don't think anyone's saying the effects are bad.

Oh I have most certainly read that the effects are bad sounding more than once but I’m sure not every thinks it so didn’t mean to imply that’s all that’s said about the effects so that’s why I made the limited options comment as well.

On the limited thing…. limits aren’t always bad and in some instances way better than all the options you’d ever want.