NDSP Quad Cortex

[dean701]

Do you mind my asking where you are? I'm guessing England or somewhere in Europe?

I'm probably jumping the gun even mentioning this, but as noted above, it's likely I'll have a (barely) used QC available for sale soon. True "like new" experience - I've probably still got the Sweetwater's Bit-O-Honey's etc. in the box.

I hummed and hawed all day but I pulled the trigger 10 minutes ago based on @Mongillo19. no pressure.
Bought an AM4 last night too. Oops. *just in case I miss the Fractal modeling.
Black Friday deal was $400 off a new QC, so 2100 Canadian. Stadium XL is 3k here plus tax.
I will seek a Stadium once they have the Proxy, more features and other bugs hammered out - thinking late next year. In the meantime, I have too much interest in the latest CorOS not to at least try it. If things don't work out with the QC I think I can almost sell it for what I just paid. In all honesty the last time I tried it, I was pretty happy with it. I just wanted a pc editor (now present) and I had a problem with it lopping off the high end and it seems that may have been fixed with v2.

 

[mbenigni]

I hummed and hawed all day but I pulled the trigger 10 minutes ago based on @Mongillo19. no pressure.
Bought an AM4 last night too. Oops. *just in case I miss the Fractal modeling.
Black Friday deal was $400 off a new QC, so 2100 Canadian. Stadium XL is 3k here plus tax.
I will seek a Stadium once they have the Proxy, more features and other bugs hammered out - thinking late next year. In the meantime, I have too much interest in the latest CorOS not to at least try it. If things don't work out with the QC I think I can almost sell it for what I just paid. In all honesty the last time I tried it, I was pretty happy with it. I just wanted a pc editor (now present) and I had a problem with it lopping off the high end and it seems that may have been fixed with v2.

Wow, that is an awesome day’s shopping! Congrats!

Look forward to hearing how you get on with the QC.

P.S. Who’s offering $400 off on QCs? That’s a great deal! Wouldn’t you know it, just yesterday I was in a local shop asking what they’d offer me for a QC (they’d just skinned me alive on a pile of individual pedals) and they told me that QCs were going real cheap on account of Black Friday sales. I assumed they were BSing me, naturally.

 

[Orvillain]

am I crazy for thinking of buying in now? I think the Stadium is fine but I think they are way out from producing captures as good as this.

Said with what evidence?

"Drip" is an artifact that many real spring reverbs have with percussive picking. It's a desirable thing in the world of surf guitar and was real prominent with the old Fender 6G15 reverb units in front of 60's fender amps, and a little less so with the built in reverb of the BF amps. Some digital sims get it OK, some simply don't.

That is quite an eye opener!

 

[GTR37]

I hummed and hawed all day but I pulled the trigger 10 minutes ago based on @Mongillo19. no pressure.
Bought an AM4 last night too. Oops. *just in case I miss the Fractal modeling.
Black Friday deal was $400 off a new QC, so 2100 Canadian. Stadium XL is 3k here plus tax.
I will seek a Stadium once they have the Proxy, more features and other bugs hammered out - thinking late next year. In the meantime, I have too much interest in the latest CorOS not to at least try it. If things don't work out with the QC I think I can almost sell it for what I just paid. In all honesty the last time I tried it, I was pretty happy with it. I just wanted a pc editor (now present) and I had a problem with it lopping off the high end and it seems that may have been fixed with v2.

I think you will be surprised by the AM4 it’s pretty damn cool and will keep you from missing the Fractal stuff

 

[dean701]

Said with what evidence?

Purely speculative. Based on Tonex v2, QC v2 and Kemper now working on their own v2 refined capture techniques, I just can't imagine Line 6 hitting it out of the park on their first go with Proxy. I might be completely wrong. I have full intentions of getting the Stadium eventually. DI is a good guy and I've been buying L6 gear since they began.

 

[Orvillain]

I just can't imagine Line 6 hitting it out of the park on their first go with Proxy

 

[dean701]

View attachment 55758

You can't shit a shitter. I know you're not completely happy with the Stadium reverbs yet.

 

[Orvillain]

You can't shit a shitter. I know you're not completely happy with the Stadium reverbs yet.

 

[mbenigni]

Will do some further testing this evening.

Did so, and the Spring Reverb Engine block does indeed have some “drip”. (Ask your doctor or pharmacist.)

Putting it front of an amp, cranking “chirp level” (and btw what is “diff level”??), raising the LPF frequency, and perhaps most importantly, raising the input gain (aka “less polite”; the opposite of HX headroom params) all contribute.

One day I’ll have to get this next to my friend’s Fender Tre-verb to see how it compares. Or maybe someone here with access to a QC and a TMP can chime in?

 

[synthpenguin]

"Does it drip" is to spring reverb as "does it chug" is to high gain amplifiers. E.g.:

It would be cool if more of these channels that are really into spring reverb would review some of the newer ones in modelers / multifx units. I like the True Spring that a lot of them consider to be one of the best standalone attempts at it, but I think the Fractal one is way better, and the new QC one and the TMP convolution ones sound like they're good too. I do know 60 Cycle Hum reviewed Hot Springs from Helix, which I've felt compares decently well to True Spring (awful default values aside), and liked it okay.

 

[mbenigni]

It would be cool if more of these channels that are really into spring reverb would review some of the newer ones in modelers / multifx units. I like the True Spring that a lot of them consider to be one of the best standalone attempts at it, but I think the Fractal one is way better, and the new QC one and the TMP convolution ones sound like they're good too. I do know 60 Cycle Hum reviewed Hot Springs from Helix, which I've felt compares decently well to True Spring (awful default values aside), and liked it okay.

I never got on with Hot Springs - probably just never learned how to program it correctly.

The True Spring is gorgeous IMO, but it doesn’t really “drip” per se. Its real strength is how rich it sounds when you combine its lovely verbs with its trem, etc. But then it kind of turns into an MFX pedal in its own right, with somewhat fussy connectivity and UI. (Nevertheless, I already regret selling mine - yesterday, coincidentally - and half the other things I let go, for that matter.)

 

[synthpenguin]

I never got on with Hot Springs - probably just never learned how to program it correctly.

The True Spring is gorgeous IMO, but it doesn’t really “drip” per se. Its real strength is how rich it sounds when you combine its lovely verbs with its trem, etc. But then it kind of turns into an MFX pedal in its own right, with somewhat fussy connectivity and UI. (Nevertheless, I already regret selling mine - yesterday, coincidentally - and half the other things I let go, for that matter.)

Hot Springs can sound good, but yeah, you have to coax it. Like a lot of the Helix reverbs, it sounds better when set darker imo, so it might be great or very lacking depending on your preferences there. I do like darker reverbs, so it worked out okay for me.

When I did my own A/B comparisons between it and True Spring at settings I liked, I mainly found Hot Springs to just feel a little more...flat. One of those things that matters more if it's a big part of your sound, but that people using it more subtly probably wouldn't care about. iirc that's similar to what Ryan from 60 Cycle Hum said when he compared the two and tried to match Hot Springs to his True Spring preset.

And I could get a pretty good drip out of True Spring, but it could be easy to make that aspect feel unrealistic too, even if it is way beyond the older-style ones covered in that video. But you're right, it can do a lot, including some pretty convincing plates. I regretted selling mine for a bit too, but I had kind of gotten away from realistic spring sounds anyway (EQD Ghost Echo became my bestie). The recent FM9 purchase has reignited that though...

Anyway, not to get too off topic! Going by what you said, it sounds like the new QC one is nice! I'll be super interested to hear some good demoes.

 

[mbenigni]

Hot Springs can sound good, but yeah, you have to coax it. Like a lot of the Helix reverbs, it sounds better when set darker imo, so it might be great or very lacking depending on your preferences there. I do like darker reverbs, so it worked out okay for me.

When I did my own A/B comparisons between it and True Spring at settings I liked, I mainly found Hot Springs to just feel a little more...flat. One of those things that matters more if it's a big part of your sound, but that people using it more subtly probably wouldn't care about. iirc that's similar to what Ryan from 60 Cycle Hum said when he compared the two and tried to match Hot Springs to his True Spring preset.

Hot Springs came when I was starting to drift away from HX, so I didn't really mess with it too much. But my first impressions were that it was less (easily?) authentic-sounding, and had more of a unique character of its own. (Very ringy and metallic IIRC?) Same for the "Dynamic" verbs that came out with the same firmware update. A lot of these HX original effects tend to be like "fusion cuisine" in this way - interesting, but not quite what I set out looking for.

And I could get a pretty good drip out of True Spring, but it could be easy to make that aspect feel unrealistic too, even if it is way beyond the older-style ones covered in that video. But you're right, it can do a lot, including some pretty convincing plates.

Plates are actually what I gravitate toward 9x out 10. But occasionally, I want to poke around with a Fender Twin or something and marvel at the realism of a good simulated spring reverb. So far, Fender Tre-Verb is my favorite for this, but as you said, it may be time to reassess.

I regretted selling mine for a bit too, but I had kind of gotten away from realistic spring sounds anyway (EQD Ghost Echo became my bestie).

Man, if I told you what I let my True Spring go for... And half a dozen other great pedals, all in flawless condition, original boxes, etc. Trouble is I buy these things, and then I wind up using big MFX/modelers (e.g. QC) almost exclusively, because they're just so much more practical. Stompboxes, no matter how much I love them, turn into shelf trophies. Then I walk them into a local store hoping to get some money back, but they know they hold all the cards. After all, I got everything sorted and I made the drive; I obviously don't want to bring this gear home again.

Next thing you know, I've emptied out my basement and paid for a pizza.

 

[synthpenguin]

Man, if I told you what I let my True Spring go for... And half a dozen other great pedals, all in flawless condition, original boxes, etc. Trouble is I buy these things, and then I wind up using big MFX/modelers (e.g. QC) almost exclusively, because they're just so much more practical. Stompboxes, no matter how much I love them, turn into shelf trophies. Then I walk them into a local store hoping to get some money back, but they know they hold all the cards. After all, I got everything sorted and I made the drive; I obviously don't want to bring this gear home again.

Next thing you know, I've emptied out my basement and paid for a pizza.

Ugh that sucks…

The last time I went to sell gear at a shop, they offered me $45 for a Godin Redline 3 in basically perfect condition, and said the whole thing about how they need to make profit on it. Not a high end guitar, but…

Selling other ways is a hassle, but yeah.

 

[Mongillo19]

I can't seem to tell from the news/update...can you load more than one V2 capture in a preset?

 

[hblu22]

I can't seem to tell from the news/update...can you load more than one V2 capture in a preset?

Yes

 

[mbenigni]

I can't seem to tell from the news/update...can you load more than one V2 capture in a preset?

I'm not able to test at the moment, but I'm pretty sure you could load half a dozen, plus effects. V2 captures are more CPU intensive than V1 captures, but I imagine they're still "cheaper" than most of the modeled amps.

 

[Jynx]

I really like the spring reverb engine. Maybe it's because I've nothing to compare it to. To me it has me closer to the Lage sound than ever.

 

[mbenigni]

I really like the spring reverb engine. Maybe it's because I've nothing to compare it to. To me it has me closer to the Lage sound than ever.

You're not wrong. It's a really nice reverb. Probably my favorite in any of the big modeler/MFX units I've tried. (Though I left Kemper before their big reverb overhaul, and I've heard some FOMO-inducing demos of their spring, too. And I assume Fender TMP is better than both of them.)

My only "criticism" is that, presumably in the interest of maintaining realism, they've kept the range of parameters a bit timid, and somewhat limiting. It's easy to get to "transparent and musical", less easy (impossible?) to get to "big and dramatic". Which is arguably what a plate is for anyway? But I find myself wishing the Type dropdown had VIntage, Short, Mid, Long....... and Longer Please.

Maybe I just don't fully understand how to program it yet. I still don't know what "DIFF" stands for, so I'm kind of flying blind.

EDIT: Oh, duh. Diffusion. Don't get old, kids.

 

[Jynx]

...and the fuzzes. OMG, the fuzzes....

You can probably guess I've only gotten around to trying it now.