NDSP Quad Cortex

[GTR37]

I meant stolen from you

Not me man my photo shop skills are no where near that
The original guy who did that they should have hired

Here’s a quick photoshop from my catalogue

 

[GTR37]

Anyone in on the beta?

Quad Cortex Development Update #48 - PCOM beta

neuraldsp.com

There could be some fine folks on the team
Or a famous you tuber or 2

 

[Los-D]

There could be some fine folks on the team
Or a famous you tuber or 2

Reposting an old meme

 

[mbenigni]

I have posted this mock up before that Doug loved on the QC forum and I think for me this is their best and most familiar option that retains
Most of the the GUI
You get a slightly smaller screen , so maybe you can’t view the path and the block controls simultaneously no biggie
You still have the switch combo to do preset / scene / stomp
Maybe no Hybrid mode
No ability to make captures but you can load them
Bank up / down switches
A 4 presets / 4 scene / 4 stomp.
Would it appeal to everyone probably not , but I think it would be a nice contender
View attachment 23666

This looks great on its own terms. My main issue is that you’ve got a wider screen (relative to height), and a more narrow set of fewer encoders. This means the usability is going to suffer somewhat, and NDSP are going to have to maintain two code bases with divergent approaches to parameter display and editing. Depending on how much cheaper that smaller display is (if it exists), that may or may not be worthwhile.

 

[mbenigni]

Can you send a separate set of midi commands in scene and stomp mode yet?

It’s the million dollar question. The screen cap in their update shows a configuration screen for “Stomp A”, but I can’t recall whether that’s any different than the current label. One would hope it implies there’s an alternate “Scene A” configuration, but who knows (yet)?

 

[GTR37]

This looks great on its own terms. My main issue is that you’ve got a wider screen (relative to height), and a more narrow set of fewer encoders. This means the usability is going to suffer somewhat, and NDSP are going to have to maintain two code bases with divergent approaches to parameter display and editing. Depending on how much cheaper that smaller display is (if it exists), that may or may not be worthwhile.

That’s a valid consideration
One thing is for sure I am sure they will want to keep it closest to the original design as to avoid having to order different parts and reorganize layouts but technically they can’t keep everything the same and at the same time cut it in half
Yes the touchscreen
Yeas the encoders but somewhere they will need some redesign likely

 

[laxu]

My hope for a mini would be basically the same device, but just chopping off the bottom row of footswitches. Same screen, same power, same IO, but even smaller. Would almost be the perfect desktop modeler imo. It might not cut the price down enough though to get in that $1k range. All a matter of compromise I suppose though.

That would reduce cost very little.

Here's a good teardown video of the QC, including some speculation for the cost of different parts.



The dude says the whole thing is probably around $600-700 in parts, and says the retail price is pretty much in line when you add on top development, manufacturing, marketing, shipping etc costs that make a typical product's retail price.

So if they could cut the cost of the I/O and footswitch boards in half, and reduce the processor board cost by about $100, maybe save a 3rd in smaller box cost, you'd end up with a manufacturing price of ~$450-500.

That would end up with a retail cost around $1100-1250, but maybe they would aim for $999 with the idea that sales volume makes up for lower margins, or there's less development cost due to multiple products sharing most of the same code.

I think GTR37's mockup is closer, but also optimistic for what can be crammed in without bezels. I don't know if that form factor display would be available either. More likely scenario is a bit bigger box with a smaller 16:9 display.

The size of a Hotone Ampero II Stomp is about half the QC when turned sideways. Take something like that, but make it deeper with a bigger screen and it might be pretty close.

I think it needs to have more than 4 encoders if they want the parameters to work well without having to retool a lot of block views into more pages. I'd say most blocks can be edited with no more than 6 params per page.

Quick shit-tier mockup:

 

[laxu]

Another mockup, but keeping the original screen and chopping the bottom row and part of the side. I think this runs into issues where 4 encoders is not enough so you end up with the paging hell any HX Stomp user knows, just a bit less bad. Extra cost in retooling the software to show only 4 params per page.

 

[Aleksi]

Maybe it'll be made in China. Much cheaper labor than Finland.

 

[Jynx]

Can you send a separate set of midi commands in scene and stomp mode yet?

There's a bunch of new MIDI stuff coming in 3.0 but I'm not sure if it translates to separate commands for stomp and scene.

Quad Cortex Development Update #46 CorOS 3.0.0 and PCOM

neuraldsp.com

 

[GTR37]

That would reduce cost very little.

Here's a good teardown video of the QC, including some speculation for the cost of different parts.



The dude says the whole thing is probably around $600-700 in parts, and says the retail price is pretty much in line when you add on top development, manufacturing, marketing, shipping etc costs that make a typical product's retail price.

So if they could cut the cost of the I/O and footswitch boards in half, and reduce the processor board cost by about $100, maybe save a 3rd in smaller box cost, you'd end up with a manufacturing price of ~$450-500.

That would end up with a retail cost around $1100-1250, but maybe they would aim for $999 with the idea that sales volume makes up for lower margins, or there's less development cost due to multiple products sharing most of the same code.

I think GTR37's mockup is closer, but also optimistic for what can be crammed in without bezels. I don't know if that form factor display would be available either. More likely scenario is a bit bigger box with a smaller 16:9 display.

The size of a Hotone Ampero II Stomp is about half the QC when turned sideways. Take something like that, but make it deeper with a bigger screen and it might be pretty close.

I think it needs to have more than 4 encoders if they want the parameters to work well without having to retool a lot of block views into more pages. I'd say most blocks can be edited with no more than 6 params per page.

Quick shit-tier mockup:

View attachment 23685

Does the full Qc display 8 parameters I can’t remember
I think your design above is probably the closest and least amount of work although I expect they will possibly keep the 2 right switches as the combo mode and bank / up/down
So you can use all 6 encoders editing , but only 4 presets
4 scenes 4 stomps
If they get into 999 -1049
I think they will get some strong sales

 

[mbenigni]

...maybe save a 3rd in smaller box cost...

I think we may be focusing too much on "smaller" box here. There's a lot of money to be saved by making a less "elegant" box out of less premium materials. Maintain something close to the overall size and there's less of a need to deviate from the existing UI/UX and codebase. Use a cheap(er) plastic box (black, naturally), cut non-essential I/O, use a cheaper DSP (with firmware automatically disabling lanes 3 and 4, probably)...

Profit!

EDIT: This is basically the Helix LT strategy (excepting the Nerfed DSP) as opposed to the HX Stomp strategy.

 

[Orvillain]

There's a bunch of new MIDI stuff coming in 3.0 but I'm not sure if it translates to separate commands for stomp and scene.

Quad Cortex Development Update #46 CorOS 3.0.0 and PCOM

neuraldsp.com

Uber Lame if so.

 

[GTR37]

I think we may be focusing too much on "smaller" box here. There's a lot of money to be saved by making a less "elegant" box out of less premium materials. Maintain something close the overall size and there's less of a need to deviate from the existing UI/UX and codebase. Use a cheap(er) plastic box (black, naturally), cut non-essential I/O, use a cheaper DSP (with firmware automatically disabling lanes 3 and 4, probably)...

Profit!

EDIT: This is basically the Helix LT strategy (excepting the Nerfed DSP) as opposed to the HX Stomp strategy.

Hard to say if they Nerf the DSP one chip probably is not that expensive
Single lane operation I could see so much less routing options
As someone said above if you out source builds like Line6 you can probably get costs down by a good chunk

At any rate , we still don’t know what IT is except for the guys that likely saw a mock up product page on a laptop in an off the floor corner of NAMM.

One thing is for sure available shortly in NDSP speech could be spring 2025

If I am a gambling man and it is close to completion , I suspect we may hear more about it at Summer Namm in Nashville next month
I bet they will have reps there
And probably release a new plug in around that time too

 

[mbenigni]

Hard to say if they Nerf the DSP one chip probably is not that expensive
Single lane operation I could see so much less routing options
As someone said above if you out source builds like Line6 you can probably get costs down by a good chunk

At any rate , we still don’t know what IT is except for the guys that likely saw a mock up product page on a laptop in an off the floor corner of NAMM.

One thing is for sure available shortly in NDSP speech could be spring 2025

If I am a gambling man and it is close to completion , I suspect we may here more about it at Summer Namm in Nashville next month
I bet they will have reps there
And probably release a new plug in around that time too

Sure. I'm not actually trying to predict what this alleged new product will be. I'm just managing my blood pressure at work by playing armchair designer. The "what would I do" game. As for NDSP's actual plans, I don't have a horse in the race. A less than full-fat QC would defeat the purpose... for my purposes.

 

[timbuck3]

I think we may be focusing too much on "smaller" box here. There's a lot of money to be saved by making a less "elegant" box out of less premium materials. Maintain something close to the overall size and there's less of a need to deviate from the existing UI/UX and codebase. Use a cheap(er) plastic box (black, naturally), cut non-essential I/O, use a cheaper DSP (with firmware automatically disabling lanes 3 and 4, probably)...

Profit!

EDIT: This is basically the Helix LT strategy (excepting the Nerfed DSP) as opposed to the HX Stomp strategy.

They should just put their time and effort in making the box what it was promised to be years ago on release. Add a ton more amps and effects.Foget a smaller one thats $500 less as that one will likely be not as promised as well.

 

[GTR37]

They should just put their time and effort in making the box what it was promised to be years ago on release. Add a ton more amps and effects.Foget a smaller one thats $500 less as that one will likely be not as promised as well.

Are you in the market

 

[MindCrime]

Are you in the market

It's doubtful. Supposedly, he has a Fractal FM9 Turbo MKII....

 

[GTR37]

They should just put their time and effort in making the box what it was promised to be years ago on release. Add a ton more amps and effects.Foget a smaller one thats $500 less as that one will likely be not as promised as well.

You missed the advantages of a smaller unit though
A) they have already added a ton of content since I had one
B) I am not waiting for a desktop editor
C) it will probably ship w plug in compatibility
D) there is a wealth of captures out that there was not 3 years ago
E) they may use a different power supply

 

[mbenigni]

You missed the advantages of a smaller unit though
A) they have already added a ton of content since I had one
B) I am not waiting for a desktop editor
C) it will probably ship w plug in compatibility
D) there is a wealth of captures out that there was not 3 years ago
E) they may use a different power supply

Regarding B, the desktop editor was released month's ago. Supposedly it's very good? (I tested it for 2 minutes and haven't used it since. Editing on the QC is way more fun than editing on a PC.)

Regarding item E, nope.