NDSP Quad Cortex

[Boudoir Guitar]

See I didn't even know that. Not intuitive. I could have given it more time but I was put off. Maybe I'll give it another go sometime.

There are a lot of folks that have gotten one and then been like "WAIT, THIS IS ALL IT CAN DO?!?!?". It really should be in big, huge, bold print on the boot screen: "you don't have to link paths 1 and 2 together, but unless you have good reason not to, you should. And realize that one processor per path is a hard and fast rule with no sharing allowed."

 

[mbenigni]

See I didn't even know that. Not intuitive. I could have given it more time but I was put off. Maybe I'll give it another go sometime.

This whole subtopic is confusing the hell out of me, because the Helix and QC are just about identical in this regard. 2 CPUs, 2 lanes per. If you want to use all of the processing power of either, you've gotta route from one to the other. Personally I think they both have plenty of juice, and I almost never bother to do so.

The Helix Floor is obscenely large, though. That much I can agree with.

 

[Jynx]

Playing the devils advocate. Didn't you just start playing when you got the QC? If so; how would you know what sounds "real"?

No. I started a couple of years before. I had the PodGo for half a year when the QC was announced and kept it right up to when I finally got one. But I also played guitar for a very short time in the 90s as a teen where I used a real, no name amp (might even have been home made) I bought off a guy, which I discovered had dried up vomit inside it when I opened it up one day.

I also have friends who were in a metal band and I even used to do rap songs for them. Rage Against the Machine and Cypress Hill. Etc.

 

[Achilles]

What is that even supposed to look like on the device?

Rumor has been that every amp/effect/cab, etc. from all of the early suites were in the QC from the beginning.
No matter what they do on that front, if anything at all, it's going to be a massive disappointment if someone's
coming from running them on a PC.

 

[Jynx]

Even against Quad Cortex, I hesitate to make blanket appraisals of the quality of amp modeling. Every modeling platform - even Fractal - has gems and stinkers.

To wit, the @GuitarJon recent videos comparing the Soldano model on modelers to his real Soldano, made even the "updated" Soldano on QC sound like bum piss comparatively, while the HX Stomp matched preeeeetty closely.

The thing about Helix is I know it can sound great. I've heard other people use it and make it sound great. But it always seems like a ton of effort to make it sound great. When I went to TGP for advice it was all buy these extra IRs, and high cut and low cut, and get a degree in sound engineering.

Sure, that probably points to a user issue on my side, but I like the QC just sounds great without trying.

 

[LCW]

This whole subtopic is confusing the hell out of me, because the Helix and QC are just about identical in this regard. 2 CPUs, 2 lanes per. If you want to use all of the processing power of either, you've gotta route from one to the other. Personally I think they both have plenty of juice, and I almost never bother to do so.

The Helix Floor is obscenely large, though. That much I can agree with.

I don't know what each has, but I found with the QC I can run "more shit" on one CPU (lanes 1/2) than the Helix could. My take-away is that the QC just has more processing power than a Helix.

 

[JiveTurkey]

The thing about Helix is I now it can sound great. I've heard other people use it and make it sound great. But it always seems like a ton of effort to make it sound great. When I went to TGP for advice it was all buy these extra IRs, and high cut and low cut, and get a degree in sound engineering.

Sure, that probably points to a user issue on my side, but I like the QC just sounds great without trying.

When you start going down the Saddites YT rabbit-hole of adding a compressor at the end; it's time to move in a different direction.

 

[mbenigni]

I don't know what each has, but I found with the QC I can run "more shit" on one CPU (lanes 1/2) than the Helix could. My take-away is that the QC just has more processing power than a Helix.

I can neither confirm nor deny. I've lost track of which chips each uses, because overall processing power was never a deciding factor for me in choosing between them. But their architecture is fundamentally the same, and in this regard, so is usage. Maybe the QC is more powerful, or maybe the blocks you're using are less DSP-hungry. (I think the captures are "cheaper" than models in most instances, for example.)

 

[timbuck3]

When you start going down the Saddites YT rabbit-hole of adding a compressor at the end; it's time to move in a different direction.

i agree...that guy was adding eq curves all over the place to get the sound he wanted...hi-cut/lo-cut/ compressor etc. His vids are detailed but i always wondered why? Just get a modeler you dont need to do all that to...but maybe he is ocd.

 

[JiveTurkey]

i agree...that guy was adding eq curves all over the place to get the sound he wanted...hi-cut/lo-cut/ compressor etc. His vids are detailed but i always wondered why? Just get a modeler you dont need to do all that to...but maybe he is ocd.

Great player. I don't like his tones at all though. He gets (more than) a bit wound up when people have differing opinions on things so I stopped watching him ages ago.

 

[came the rain]

Tried a PodGo. Helix amp stuff sounds fake as fuck to me and no amount of third-party IRs or any other tips I could find helped. Great effects, sure, but that's it. The whole enterprise was just a Sysphean waste of time.

Some of the early Podgo had an input issue that was a warranty repair that was corrected in the later units. Perhaps your PodGo never sounded right. In addition the Helix has a variable input, and better oversampling.

 

[mikah912]

The thing about Helix is I know it can sound great. I've heard other people use it and make it sound great. But it always seems like a ton of effort to make it sound great. When I went to TGP for advice it was all buy these extra IRs, and high cut and low cut, and get a degree in sound engineering.

Sure, that probably points to a user issue on my side, but I like the QC just sounds great without trying.

I would say a lot of the consensus on that came before oversampling and cab updates in recent years (and I was able to get simple patches to sound good well before that).

But I completely believe you when you say that's your experience. Sometimes we just don't vibe with the sound and/or feel of a platform.

 

[Jynx]

That was another thing about PodGo. I'd see these YouTube videos and they'd have a patch that sounds great and there'd be a link to download it yourself and I'd upload it to my own device but it would sound like shit with my equipment.

This is always an issue that things sound different with your own stuff but at least with QC different just means different. A great patch is still great.

Maybe Helix is just far more sensitive to variables or something?

 

[Jynx]

Some of the early Podgo had an input issue that was a warranty repair that was corrected in the later units. Perhaps your PodGo never sounded right.

Nah. I don't think it was an issue like that. I did hear of some people getting that but mine sounded fine except just 'digital'. Plugins like Amplitube sound similarly plastic to me. And BiasFX even more so.

 

[came the rain]

Maybe Helix is just far more sensitive to variables or something?

I think HX and NDSP(my experience being with the NDSP plugins)can both sound good. However, yes it easier to make HX sound bad.

 

[Jynx]

I think HX and NDSP(my experience being with the NDSP plugins)can both sound good. However, yes it easier to make HX sound bad.

I'm probably just shite at dialling amps in and HX just gives a far wider set of parameters for me to fuck it up.

 

[Jynx]

I ordered one of these. I'm looking forward to hearing how the QC deals with the more glassy, plinky sounds of vintage-style pickups. All my guitars have high output, Humbuckers with high fidelity and clarity.

 

[GTR37]

Even against Quad Cortex, I hesitate to make blanket appraisals of the quality of amp modeling. Every modeling platform - even Fractal - has gems and stinkers.

To wit, the @GuitarJon recent videos comparing the Soldano model on modelers to his real Soldano, made even the "updated" Soldano on QC sound like bum piss comparatively, while the HX Stomp matched preeeeetty closely.

Line 6 amps and cabs have really stepped it up IMO as of late the new 2203 , Vitriol, Drip, and some of the original models are quite good
It would be nice to see an update that just went back to the earlier ones where they added like 3 or 4 amps
Couple of cabs
They are already pretty stocked with drives , delays IMO

 

[Jynx]

Line 6 amps and cabs have really stepped it up IMO as of late the new 2203

Are you from the future?

 

[Mongillo19]

Are you from the future?

2203 as in the amp

I'm sure it was a joke but just to be painstakingly clear