NDSP Quad Cortex

[timbuck3]

Would the new little guy count as another?

Yup, owned both simultaneously - bit of a long story and involves my only black mark against Sweetwater so far.

looks like a shortwave radio

 

[jellodog]

looks like a shortwave radio

Is that somehow bad?

 

[Achilles]

looks like a shortwave radio

Or a regular radio. 1958 from Italy.

 

[timbuck3]

Is that somehow bad? View attachment 16192

not if you are ART BELL

 

[Jarick]

Not much time to play today as I spent much of the day painting my office / music space.

But I'm really happy with the Fender clean tones. Sounds and feels great. I haven't spent as much time with the dirty stuff but it sounds pretty good too.

The cab block works really well and I find it a lot easier to dial in a good sound compared to the Fractal and Helix honestly. It's got less flub than the Fractal and less high mid harshness than the Helix. There's a really good clarity to the tone.

The effects are more hit or miss and sparse, but the basics seem to be there.

USB audio works really well so far with my Mac.

The interface is fantastic, really feels like a big step above the competition. That's not to say something like Helix is bad...it's quite good really. But the big screen with 10 switch/knobs and the high resolution full color display touchscreen, it's just great. So much better than the Headrush touchscreen. And I love Fractal but it's so far behind from a usability standpoint IMO.

 

[Achilles]

The interface is fantastic, really feels like a big step above the competition.

Let's be honest, it is a step up - if we're just talking UI and ergonomics. There's no argument.

 

[laxu]

Yeah not really. One really cool thing about Kemper tho (to me) is that you could have bought the original unit at launch (2011?) and you are still getting updates for it.

That's wild to think about in a way

It's also a double-edged sword where they can't make it more powerful, have a better front panel or completely overhaul the profiling process. Imagine if us Fractal owners were still using the Axe-Fx 2/AX8 hardware, the same floor controller etc. I can bet there would be a lot more complaints.

Kemper seems set to double down on it even further with the Kemper Player. That most likely means we should not expect a "Kemper 2" in the next few years.

To me it seems like the company is playing a reaction game to their competition instead of proactively making the product so much better that it makes no sense to go to the competition. Tonex and QC get shown as more accurate -> Liquid Profiling. Tonex pedal -> Kemper Player. The most baffling is the USB audio interface capabilities that were there all along but somehow took 10 years to implement.

 

[Stone]

the big screen with 10 switch/knobs and the high resolution full color display touchscreen, it's just great

True but then again in my books nothing beats this
Fractal Edit is simply amazing !!

But really Happy that your enjoying your QC

 

[Orvillain]

Let's be honest, it is a step up - if we're just talking UI and ergonomics. There's no argument.

There really is.

 

[Achilles]

There really is.

True but then again in my books nothing beats this

@Jarick
I know that my reply threw you off a bit. These are probably more along the lines of what you were expecting.
Excuse my temporary insanity (enthusiasm) yesterday.

 

[laxu]

"They can't make it more powerful." - who says?
What do you know about the software code that tells you they can't revise the profiling process?

And based on their sales success, who says they don't just tool up a new model if improved tech warrants it?

(woke up feeling all argumentative from the Prednisone this morning)

Eventually you simply run out of capabilities for the DSP itself. Even if you optimize the shit out of your algorithms you can't do magic. I would expect that Kemper is fairly optimized by this point.

Kemper apparently uses a 400 MHz 3 or 4 core Freescale DSP. While it's not easy to compare different processors let alone the modeling of each company, modern DSPs are likely to be massively faster with less power use even if on paper the frequencies and core counts look similar.

I would be happy to see Kemper release a next gen capturing process that puts them on par with the other players in the capture market. I just don't see it happening without a hardware overhaul.

 

[laxu]

Are we discussing a toaster or a cortex? I'm talking about Jarick's new QC.

Toaster/Stage/Player in this case. QC would have certainly more room to grow.

 

[Achilles]

Toaster/Stage/Player in this case. QC would have certainly more room to grow.

My apologies @laxu

I mistakenly lumped your reply to Mongo19 in with the two other replies to me.
I''m deleting/editing my posts to avoid confusing others with the subsequent back and forth.

Pay no attention to the dullard in the corner.......

 

[laxu]

My apologies @laxu

I mistakenly lumped your reply to Mongo19 in with the two other replies to me.
I''m deleting/editing my posts to avoid confusing others with the subsequent back and forth.

Pay no attention to the dullard in the corner.......

No worries, I mean you are still adjusting your ear speaker impedance curves after all!

 

[Orvillain]

Pay no attention to the dullard in the corner.......

Stop attacking me!

 

[Jarick]

@Stone - yeah the Axe Edit software really is sweet. I have zero plans to ever sell the Axe FX 3 + FC12. I see it as the core of my home studio gear. Really it's looking at what's a good complimentary piece for a more portable and easy to use alternative.

I'm really interested to see how the Plini X plugin gets adapted whenever that happens. That's such a great sounding and easy to use plug, and if they break out the components to use across the various blocks that would be awesome. I have several of those plugins already (Plini, Soldano, Tone King, Petrucci, Hensen) and I could see picking up a couple more. Really that's what I would love to see in the plugin world too, give me a unified platform to mix and match like on a hardware unit.

I could also see them completely botching the release and launching a standalone version of the plugin on the QC which is almost like the worst of both worlds too.

 

[Jarick]

Lone Star clean channel is just

Added that and a Suhr 2x12 cab, bump up the gain and volume, and it's awesome. No tweaking on this model required.

Added a few more effects including dual delay with cross feedback and modulation, and got a killer Andy Timmons tone. Just a blast to play.

 

[Jarick]

Just tried out the Tremoverb model and it's possibly the best Mesa I've heard in a modeler. I don't know about most accurate but it sounds like a killer 90's high gain amp. I've never liked Recto models before but I remember really wanting a Tremoverb around 2000. Again plug and play no tweaking required.

 

[Achilles]

Just tried out the Tremoverb model

Have you tried the Capture of the Mesa Boogie Mark III Red Stripe? Best high gain Mesa in the box imo.

 

[Mongillo19]

Just tried out the Tremoverb model and it's possibly the best Mesa I've heard in a modeler.