NDSP Quad Cortex

Looks like they just released some amps and FX that everyone else already has...but somehow, folks feel that this is new.

I think this is a NDSP's main party trick - getting others to believe that they're this hyper innovative cutting-edge company....AND....getting folks to pay for free updates (well supposed to be free anyway)
 
banned said:
Looks like they just released some amps and FX that everyone else already has...but somehow, folks feel that this is new.

I think this is a NDSP's main party trick - getting others to believe that they're this hyper innovative cutting-edge company....AND....getting folks to pay for free updates (well supposed to be free anyway)
Click to expand...

I'd say their "party tricks" - such as they are - would be:
  1. Understanding the power of aesthetics and big-name artist/brand associations with their plugins.
  2. Knowing the modern "metal/prog/neo soul" online audience like the back of their hand, and targeting them with specificity while other brands don't. And probably most importantly.....
  3. Realizing that they never have to truly be held accountable for delivering one thing as long as they continue to promise another just around the corner or "down the road".
 
mikah912 said:
I'd say their "party tricks" - such as they are - would be:
  1. Understanding the power of aesthetics and big-name artist/brand associations with their plugins.
  2. Knowing the modern "metal/prog/neo soul" online audience like the back of their hand, and targeting them with specificity while other brands don't. And probably most importantly.....
  3. Realizing that they never have to truly be held accountable for delivering one thing as long as they continue to promise another just around the corner or "down the road".
Click to expand...
I think 1 and 2 are precisely what any company who wants to succeed should be doing. I think part of why things like Metallurgy never got off the ground is they didn't really give a good case for anyone to want to use them for any reason (barely any marketing, they don't look amazing, no brand or user validation etc(. They just kind of flopped it out semi erect and hoped for the best. NDSP do market their plugins heavily, but if the products weren't good they'd have had to change course by now. The fact is, the marketing works and the products are good so they'll keep doing it.

For 3, I think NDSP have largely got away with it because their plugins have built a level of consistency, expectation and trust from users. The whole "SOON" nonsense plays into that - users are accustomed to the familiarity of what to expect from NDSP and they basically just feed their customers what they expect. Even if it's misguided, the plugins have given them far more credibility and backbone that wouldn't be there AT ALL if they didn't have that.
 
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MirrorProfiles said:
I think 1 and 2 are precisely what any company who wants to succeed should be doing. I think part of why things like Metallurgy never got off the ground is they didn't really give a good case for anyone to want to use them for any reason (barely any marketing, they don't look amazing, no brand or user validation etc(. They just kind of flopped it out semi erect and hoped for the best. NDSP do market their plugins heavily, but if the products weren't good they'd have had to change course by now. The fact is, the marketing works and the products are good so they'll keep doing it.

For 3, I think NDSP have largely got away with it because their plugins have built a level of consistency, expectation and trust from users. The whole "SOON" nonsense plays into that - users are accustomed to the familiarity of what to expect from NDSP and they basically just feed their customers what they expect. Even if it's misguided, the plugins have given them far more credibility and backbone that wouldn't be there AT ALL if they didn't have that.
Click to expand...

Agreed. That's precisely why I put "party tricks" in quotes. That's not meant in the pejorative sense, but rather as the things they uniquely do well.
 
mikah912 said:
Agreed. That's precisely why I put "party tricks" in quotes. That's not meant in the pejorative sense, but rather as the things they uniquely do well.
Click to expand...

I know that "all preset sucks™" sentiment is strong in these parts, but one thing NDSP also does wonderfully well is present users with curated, great sounding presets from the get-go. First impressions do matter.

Most NDSP plugins will sound great with basically no editing.
 
Lysander said:
I know that "all preset sucks™" sentiment is strong in these parts, but one thing NDSP also does wonderfully well is present users with curated, great sounding presets from the get-go. First impressions do matter.

Most NDSP plugins will sound great with basically no editing.
Click to expand...
I'm not too familiar with their plugins, but on the QC front, I'd say "yes and no" to this. Their presets sound good overall, though I wind up having to deconstruct them to see how much of the parallelism etc. is helpful and how much is just a waste of block/ lane bandwidth.

But a) they tend to leave things way too dry for casual (i.e. quiet) auditioning, and they really underutilize Scenes, if they bother with them at all.

Honestly, I think most of the QC making a good first impression comes down to the fact that the amps and cabs sound great. ("Authentic" is a different argument.) You'd almost have to go out of your way to build presets that didn't sound good.

Again, this is a QC observation; I know you're talking about their plugin content.

1758282635960.png
 
Lysander said:
NDSP is after that sweet, sweet Stoomptroper money!

Limited white edition, available only for £1,449.00 at Anderton's: https://www.andertons.co.uk/neural-...amp-modeller-limited-black-and-white-edition/


View attachment 52233

View attachment 52234
Click to expand...
How daring. So far they've put out:
  • Aluminium. "Ooh, it looks like an Apple product!"
  • Black/gold. "Yeah, we picked the most basic color that goes with gold"
  • Red/gold. "It's Chinese new year, motherfuckers!"
  • White/black. "Do you ever feel like you never hit your target, and are just one henchman among others?"
Kemper is basically the only modeler manufacturer who dared to be different in terms of colors. And even they fucked that up with the MK2 series going to basic bitch colors.
 
mbenigni said:
I'm not too familiar with their plugins, but on the QC front, I'd say "yes and no" to this. Their presets sound good overall, though I wind up having to deconstruct them to see how much of the parallelism etc. is helpful and how much is just a waste of block/ lane bandwidth.

But a) they tend to leave things way too dry for casual (i.e. quiet) auditioning, and they really underutilize Scenes, if they bother with them at all.

Honestly, I think most of the QC making a good first impression comes down to the fact that the amps and cabs sound great. ("Authentic" is a different argument.) You'd almost have to go out of your way to build presets that didn't sound good.

Again, this is a QC observation; I know you're talking about their plugin content.

View attachment 52143
Click to expand...
I’ve had probably half of their plugins and it’s true, their presets are seriously good. When I get a new NDSP plugin I’ll spend a good amount of time going through presets and usually a handful become starters for my own take on the plugin. Nameless has a preset called “Wide Lead” that just blew me away, I made minor tweaks to it and left it as is lol
 
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