NDSP Quad Cortex

It's not like it sounds bad - imho the production & mixing is awesome. The problem is that with all the tech going around nowadays, modern music feels a bit like a circle-jerk; everybody's trying too much to go down to drop Z and same-y style-wise. In all fairness, I think every period has these pitfalls though (80s and hair metal, 90s and grunge / nu-metal, 00s with metalcore etc.).
Exactly. Every trend eventually degenerates into a caricature of itself.
 
It's not like it sounds bad - imho the production & mixing is awesome. The problem is that with all the tech going around nowadays, modern music feels a bit like a circle-jerk; everybody's trying too much to go down to drop Z and same-y style-wise. In all fairness, I think every period has these pitfalls though (80s and hair metal, 90s and grunge / nu-metal, 00s with metalcore etc.).

It's not "bad-sounding". It's just very...off the shelf? Just sounds like a bunch of presets and sample riffs thrown together.

And sadly, this is what a lot of studios ask for, so I'm not sure I can blame the guys of "Finishing Move" either.
 
It's not "bad-sounding". It's just very...off the shelf? Just sounds like a bunch of presets and sample riffs thrown together.

And sadly, this is what a lot of studios ask for, so I'm not sure I can blame the guys of "Finishing Move" either.
Movie trailers nowadays suffer from the same kinda stuff too & I suspect it's the same if you look in other areas. Social (and digital) media's kinda put its own print on creativity big-time.
 
That is pretty wild. I guess do they have a backup ready on another laptop or nah?

I don't really like having something I spent so much on like the QC on the floor at places if I'm being honest. Risking it all on a laptop tho ... that's still kinda nuts hahaha

How are they getting a midi signal for a floor controller? Or something else?

I'd hate to be like hold up can't start yet my laptop is having issues lololol but in theory it should work fine I guess until it doesn't lol
Tons of bands are running a laptop that controls all the preset changes, fx on/off, lights, video playback, tracks, clicks, sometimes even vocal FX automation. With a modestly powerful laptop that doesn’t have other jobs besides show control and playback it’s not a whole lot to do. And it’s not like you need a crazy powerful machine. I’ve been using a Yoga for ~12 years and have a 7-8 year old “gaming” laptop for a backup that I got on sale for like $650 and I trust both of them. Have never needed the backup, just keep em both operable and check the battery and drive health every once and awhile. As long as your drummer isn’t using it for torrenting clown porn between shows there really aren’t stability issues to worry about.
 
Tonight I played a show.

One band had a bassist and guitarist using Helix LT's. Guitarist had a Orange Pedal Baby, into a Marshall 2x12. Bassist went into a small Hartke combo amp thing.

Other band had a Quad Cortex, plugged into the FX loop return of a Victory V30 with matching 2x12.

The Quad Cortex band sounded really good. A little mid humpy because of the 2x12 he was going through, but so much better than the first band. Still so astounding to me, how two different bands can sound so different in the same venue. Wild.

As well as the second band being really good, and having the exact right amount of ambience versus heavies... I also left their set thinking, man... kinda wish I'd kept my QC !
 
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I’m back using a QC direct for all the function gigs I’m doing currently. As I said I don’t really like going direct and much prefer an amp.

Other guitar player uses a mic’d AC15 and I’m always supremely jealous.

Listened back to a few live videos the other day (just shot on my phone and a go pro, nothing special). The QC sounded easily as good if not better in the mix.

Very unscientific of course but interesting.
 
Good lord this thread is almost on page 3.

Not trying to kick the beehive but it's been close to 2 months since we heard anything from NDSP. They were doing pretty good with monthly updates but that seems to have fallen off

Is there any idea on their future plans? Just more PCOM? Have they mentioned which plugins will be ported next.

You'd think they'd be in high gear with stadium nearing launch
 
Good lord this thread is almost on page 3.

Not trying to kick the beehive but it's been close to 2 months since we heard anything from NDSP. They were doing pretty good with monthly updates but that seems to have fallen off

Is there any idea on their future plans? Just more PCOM? Have they mentioned which plugins will be ported next.

You'd think they'd be in high gear with stadium nearing launch
They dont care about anyone.
 
Certainly not their customers, but maybe they care about someone?
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I love scoring and production stuff (and do it on the side myself), so I think the concept of the clip is kinda cool.

What I cannot stand - and it's far more widespread than these guys - is how frickin' generic the soundscape has gotten, both for scoring and metal. Same "trailer scoring" or "hybrid" plugins with the same orchestra/synth samples along with the same generic guitar tones and drum samples. Almost everything I heard could've been a Periphery record or any of 10,000 "modern hard rock" bands you hear on Sirius XM Octane.

For all of that talk of the unique approaches and "early metal sounds" they wanted to bring, it's interchangeable with so many other artists.

This is pretty much what I was thinking when listening to a newer Lorna Shore album, which is basically a movie score behind a metal band. Pretty sure I have a lot of those sounds in the East West libraries, it's too over the top to make an impact on me.
 
I still love my QC rig. The three primary issues I've had with it have been addressed one way or another.

1. Effects aren't quite as sexy as Fractal's. Addressed via VP4. And there are certainly good effects in the QC as well—I often don’t even use the VP4.

2. PCOM. This was a major point of interest for me initially. They took forever to get this started (I held off buying a QC until they did) and they're taking a long time to get each plugin done but it's on track as far as I'm concerned. I have a bunch of the plugins and love them.

3. Routing. Again, not as sexy as Fractal's and I initially struggled a bit to rout things how I wanted with multiple parallel effects. However the utility blend blocks they added allowed me to accomplish what I wanted. And adding the VP4 made it even more of a non issue.

It still sounds great to me.
It still feels great to me.
I still love the form factor.
It’s still fun to use.
It’s still easy to use.

I used to have a strong preference for modeling over captures but I’ve really warmed up to them the last year or two. With the Fractal gear, although I really did love it, I often wished they would add models of certain amps. For example the EVH Stealth (which they eventually did add), or the Two Rock Traditional Clean and SSS (which I don’t think have been added). Captures just make that dynamic a non issue for me. I have yet to search for a certain amp capture and not find one. I can see how hunting for captures could be a rabbit hole but I find it pretty fun.

Stadium won’t “kill” the QC. Just like the Axe FX didn’t kill the Helix. The Axe FX 3 killed the AxeFX 2. The Helix killed the Pod. The Helix Stadium might kill the Helix. I’m guessing there will eventually be a QC2. If anything eventually kills the QC it’ll be that.
 
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