NDSP Quad Cortex

[GTR37]

Qc was a novel idea and if line6 or fractal had released it it would be pretty amazing by now.

lol , true when I first was being shown I even asked Digital Igloo did you guys form a partnership with NDSP
Based on the photo

 

[LCW]

Qc was a novel idea and if line6 or fractal had released it it would be pretty amazing by now.

Tried a Helix Floor and wanted to love it, but:

a), it's fucking gigantic, not desktop friendly. Gigging I could see it's appeal. But I'm just some loser hobbyist.
b) with the simplest of presets (no ellaborate or complex reverbs or delays even, just one basic reverb, a couple of ODs in front, 1 amp, 1 cab) it started greying out items to add to the preset. IMO, it's processing power in 2024 is a complete joke for a flagship unit.

 

[LCW]

Fourth! Impressive!

Well I would have kept the third one, but I thought it was wobbly and wouldn't lay flat. Good thing for Sweetwater returns. But turns out it's my table that's not 100% flat. Oops.

 

[Jynx]

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.

Helix effects on QC? I guess that would be pretty cool.

 

[Boudoir Guitar]

Tried a Helix Floor and wanted to love it, but:

b) with the simplest of presets (no ellaborate or complex reverbs or delays even, just one basic reverb, a couple of ODs in front, 1 amp, 1 cab) it started greying out items to add to the preset. IMO, it's processing power in 2024 is a complete joke for a flagship unit.

I'm gonna guess you were only leveraging one of the two processors. Which would be understandable because its dumb as fuck that you have to bridge paths 1 and 2 together to use both processors.

 

[JiveTurkey]

I'm gonna guess you were only leveraging one of the two processors. Which would be understandable because its dumb as fuck that you have to bridge paths 1 and 2 together to use both processors.

The first time I had HX hardware; trying to explain what I was trying to do to figure out how to do it was 1000% more difficult than it should be.

 

[Boudoir Guitar]

The first time I had HX hardware; trying to explain what I was trying to do to figure out how to do it was 1000% more difficult than it should be.

Its simple and intuitive, they said...

 

[JiveTurkey]

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.

Helix effects on QC? I guess that would be pretty cool.

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

 

[JiveTurkey]

Its simple and intuitive, they said...

PUT THE THINGY BLOCK THEN CLICK JOYDSTIC AND DRAGG IT DON

 

[LCW]

I'm gonna guess you were only leveraging one of the two processors. Which would be understandable because its dumb as fuck that you have to bridge paths 1 and 2 together to use both processors.

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.

 

[mbenigni]

Well I would have kept the third one, but I thought it was wobbly and wouldn't lay flat. Good thing for Sweetwater returns. But turns out it's my table that's not 100% flat. Oops.

Not the silliest reason I've heard for deciding against a QC.

 

[mikah912]

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.

Helix effects on QC? I guess that would be pretty cool.

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.

 

[JiveTurkey]

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.

One of the things with Helix is everyone telling you how easy it is to use. So when you get it in hand and find something that should be dead simple but it doesn't click for you for whatever reason; it's a bit of a head scratcher.

 

[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.