NDSP Quad Cortex

[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

 

[Boudoir Guitar]

Are you from the future?

2203 is a real amp, the Line 6 model of which also sounds very real. I've always found real amps to be very sensitive to the gear and player they are used with

 

[Jynx]

2203 as in the amp

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

Read it, "as of late 2203." Thought it was a typo.

 

[GTR37]

Are you from the future?

Nope, “just poor punctuation;

 

[Badonkey Kong]

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.

Sure on one path, once you have that much stuff, things like Poly Capo, etc that take 50% of 1 of the CPU's will get greyed out...

 

[laxu]

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.

The dual path management is one of the few things that is not pretty intuitive to do on the Helix. Without reading to manual you are unlikely to know you can do this or that you should do this. To be fair it's the same deal on the QC because they copied that functionality.

Only other buried thing is snapshots adjusting parameters. There's really no way other than the manual to discover that "hold this knob and turn" makes a snapshot control. I am all for shortcuts like these, because they make it easy for users familiar with the gear. But there should be a second way to do it by just using a menu.

 

[laxu]

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 haven't watched those videos but I guess the intent is to replicate what people often do with miced tracks? Add a bit of compression and EQ to make it more punchy and more to your liking.

That said, why not just do that with plugins so you don't bake that sound in...

 

[mbenigni]

...its dumb as fuck that you have to bridge paths 1 and 2 together to use both processors.

I think this is a little bit reductive.

There are circumstances where having two completely independent signal paths is desirable. (For me, most of the time.) If you design the OS to present the pair of processors as one monolithic resource, sure it might be a little more intuitive for new users, but:

a) You increase latency. (And then TGP explodes...)
b) You complicate the process of building out presets for multiple instruments. (E.g. vocals via the phantom-powered XLR input on Helix Floor.)

The latter is especially problematic on HX and QC, where Send blocks are limited to 1/4" analog I/O for some reason. (I assume it's an insurmountable reason since neither Line 6 nor NDSP have managed to... surmount it.) The only way to get at XLR or USB audio is by way of reconfiguring each processors Input / Output blocks differently.

In any case, it's not as complicated as we're making it out to be. The only thing the user needs to understand is that the end of the top lanes needs to be routed into the beginning of the bottom lanes (if you’re just cramming one guitar signal through the entire Helix, as most guitarists will.) Even then most presets - and some templates - are already set up this way. And you often run out of screen space for amp/effect blocks before you run out of actual DSP power (unless you’re throwing a lot amps or poly effects in series) so the GUI is kind of self-explanatory in this regard.