NDSP Quad Cortex

[sleewell]

Going to try running my soma lyra into the qc tonight lololol.


Has anyone used theirs for stuff other than guitar? How'd it go?

 

[Whizzinby]

I’ve been waiting for this new video but somehow missed it:

Yeah I enjoyed this a lot. Most of that channels interviews are really good.

Just only started but pretty transparent, honest take on plugins and PCOM at the start

My takeaway from these recent interviews is that both Doug and Francisco seem like good dudes and they probably would have been well served to do a little more of this early days. They seem like pretty cool and genuine dudes, and their backstory is pretty interesting, if not inspiring, being broke foreigners with an idea. What they pulled off is pretty remarkable.

I also found the division of responsibilities kind of interesting with Doug essentially just the design and finance guy. I figured that was the case, but I didn’t think the division was so clear cut. Doug’s on a heat check with design though. The Mini is a brilliant motherfucking form factor, and the OG QC has now proven fairly resilient to next gen design from the competition. They’re locked the F in when it comes to design.

 

[Eagle]

I don’t use QC but a lot of my customers do and the things that they all tell me about it are;
It craps out on the foot switches and is not robust.
The fx suck.
The midi implementation is woeful .
Support is terrible and repairs are very slow.
On the plus side I think the amp tones are mostly ok .
Is that a fair assessment?

 

[Orvillain]

I don’t use QC but a lot of my customers do and the things that they all tell me about it are;
It craps out on the foot switches and is not robust.
The fx suck.
The midi implementation is woeful .
Support is terrible and repairs are very slow.
On the plus side I think the amp tones are mostly ok .
Is that a fair assessment?

I think it sounds great, but I wouldn't necessarily trust it. I still remember the string of shows my old bands other guitarist did with it. A lot of weird ground loops being caused, a lot of hum, hiss, and just generally not really up to par with the competition in that regard.

Which is a shame, because it really should be a top tier device. For me though, even though I like the sounds of it, it isn't a professional bit of kit.

 

[Eagle]

I think it sounds great, but I wouldn't necessarily trust it. I still remember the string of shows my old bands other guitarist did with it. A lot of weird ground loops being caused, a lot of hum, hiss, and just generally not really up to par with the competition in that regard.

Which is a shame, because it really should be a top tier device. For me though, even though I like the sounds of it, it isn't a professional bit of kit.

That is totally the impression I get from my customers who tour.

 

[mbenigni]

That is totally the impression I get from my customers who tour.

Though it does kind of beg the question: why are those professional customers touring with them?

 

[Sedaxel]

My buddy, a touring musician, uses and loves it. He´s just arrived home (Spain) yesterday after one and a half month tour all over the UK.

That said, with our much less prolific band, he sometimes uses the QC and sometimes the Mesa Mark II. He´s always fighting himself because he loves the advantages of both solutions.

Anyhow, for his proffesional use, he´s really happy with the QC.

 

[deadpool_25]

I don’t use QC but a lot of my customers do and the things that they all tell me about it are;
It craps out on the foot switches and is not robust.
The fx suck.
The midi implementation is woeful .
Support is terrible and repairs are very slow.
On the plus side I think the amp tones are mostly ok .
Is that a fair assessment?

Not sure on the footswitches, as I don’t really use them all that much. I haven’t seen all that many complaints online but that doesn’t mean much. Likewise with failure rates.

I used to think that with the FX but I don’t think it was ever truly accurate? After some updates the reverbs and delays are pretty damn good and revisiting some of the older stuff that hasn’t changed, like some modulations, I’m finding them pretty good. Totally subjective though of course.

I haven’t messed with its midi stuff at all but that’s an interesting comment from touring artists, as I see quite a few bands touring with them and all of them are switching tones via midi. Granted switching tones via PC is a very basic use case, but it’s clearly working well enough for some bigger projects. What are these customers trying to do that they can’t?

Luckily I haven’t had any issues with mine so I haven’t had to contact support/service yet. Most of the service interactions posted in this thread seem to have been positive I think?

The amp tones are very good to excellent. Again subjective, but it a pretty widely shared opinion.

So to answer the final question: no, I don’t think so. At least not as a generalization.

 

[Eagle]

Though it does kind of beg the question: why are those professional customers touring with them?

They like the sound, bought in to the idea and worked a rig around it. Then the problems started.

 

[Eagle]

Not sure on the footswitches, as I don’t really use them all that much. I haven’t seen all that many complaints online but that doesn’t mean much. Likewise with failure rates.

I used to think that with the FX but I don’t think it was ever truly accurate? After some updates the reverbs and delays are pretty damn good and revisiting some of the older stuff that hasn’t changed, like some modulations, I’m finding them pretty good. Totally subjective though of course.

I haven’t messed with its midi stuff at all but that’s an interesting comment from touring artists, as I see quite a few bands touring with them and all of them are switching tones via midi. Granted switching tones via PC is a very basic use case, but it’s clearly working well enough for some bigger projects. What are these customers trying to do that they can’t?

Luckily I haven’t had any issues with mine so I haven’t had to contact support/service yet. Most of the service interactions posted in this thread seem to have been positive I think?

The amp tones are very good to excellent. Again subjective, but it a pretty widely shared opinion.

So to answer the final question: no, I don’t think so. At least not as a generalization.

I am super picky about reverbs and delay . Also modulation and all of this in QC is borderline annoying , like a multi fx pedal from 20 years ago. But I think the H90 is pretty bad too so there’s a reference.

 

[laxu]

Though it does kind of beg the question: why are those professional customers touring with them?

The likely reason is that it's compact, easy to use and allows them to use captures of their own real amps. Most QC owners seem to use it like that over NDSP amp models.

The effects are going to be good enough especially for live use. I feel like there's a lot of "good enough" rather than "wow, that's awesome" things in the QC.

 

[Eagle]

The likely reason is that it's compact, easy to use and allows them to use captures of their own real amps. Most QC owners seem to use it like that over NDSP amp models.

The effects are going to be good enough especially for live use. I feel like there's a lot of "good enough" rather than "wow, that's awesome" things in the QC.

Good enough in that Digitech rp100 sort of way

 

[mbenigni]

The likely reason is that it's compact, easy to use and allows them to use captures of their own real amps. Most QC owners seem to use it like that over NDSP amp models.

The effects are going to be good enough especially for live use. I feel like there's a lot of "good enough" rather than "wow, that's awesome" things in the QC.

My question was essentially rhetorical, reflecting the fact that Eagle's original question seemed semi-rhetorical as well (i.e. having arrived with its own answer in tow.)

Good enough in that Digitech rp100 sort of way

Seriously?

 

[Eagle]

My question was essentially rhetorical, reflecting the fact that Eagle's original question seemed semi-rhetorical as well (i.e. having arrived with its own answer in tow.)


Seriously?

I exagerate but my take from my limited experience with the unit is; good amp tone everything else is compromised including the build quality. I was wondering if that is fair.

 

[mbenigni]

I exagerate but my take from my limited experience with the unit is; good amp tone everything else is compromised including the build quality. I was wondering if that is fair.

How likely is an observation regarding "everything else" to be fair? Personally, I would say no, but we all know these things are highly subjective. (And everyone here already knows I dig the QC.)

If you want a meaningful answer, spend a little more time with the QC yourself. Especially if you have a friend who might be able to loan you one.

 

[deadpool_25]

It comes across like you just don’t like it. There are other options.

 

[Sedaxel]

Yeah, if you don´t like it, you don´t like it.

For me, it´s the unit I´d buy if I was in the market today. Well, for me it´d be the Mini.

 

[MirrorProfiles]

It craps out on the foot switches and is not robust.

Haven't heard that one before.

The fx suck.

Haven't heard that either. I think the main complaint was more with the lack of options, but by all accounts thats improved a lot at this point. They have some pretty decent Lexicon inspired reverbs and delays these days.

The midi implementation is woeful .

This one I think is fair.

Support is terrible and repairs are very slow.

I don't actually know anyone who's had to send theirs off aside from things I've read online. Seems they take care of customers though.

On the plus side I think the amp tones are mostly ok .

I think this is fair too - some models seem better than others but there's enough there that does the job.

 

[Eagle]

It comes across like you just don’t like it. There are other options.

I have those already apart from Helix which I hated pretty much immediately. I have an Axe 3 but I am only using the FX atm .I am back tube mostly with an X88ir and VHT and a VH4 .

 

[Eagle]

Haven't heard that one before.

Haven't heard that either. I think the main complaint was more with the lack of options, but by all accounts thats improved a lot at this point. They have some pretty decent Lexicon inspired reverbs and delays these days.


This one I think is fair.


I don't actually know anyone who's had to send theirs off aside from things I've read online. Seems they take care of customers though.


I think this is fair too - some models seem better than others but there's enough there that does the job.

Support in the UK is probably way worse . Maybe the crapped out switches and failing units is not representative but defiantly a problem here because the support is so bad. The Reverbs are terrible compared to old Lexicon which I used for years and way behind Axe 3 in every respect to my ears.