NDSP Quad Cortex

[mbenigni]

Dont you won't like it

I flip-flopped for the zillionth time and decided to keep mine. It's way too limited and way too obtuse to unseat the QC in my studio, but stuck in front of a little TC BAM200 and whatever cabinet you trip over, it's a killer "live rig" amp substitute. (I tested extensively a couple of days ago, and literally made one of my ears bleed. )

 

[laxu]

Very much a "utility" update for everyone but the owners of those two plugins.

I like the sidechain feature. It's the right amount of simple for most users.

 

[mbenigni]

Imo it really wasn't anything different from their last one. At least from what I recall

This assumption may also have played a part.

 

[mbenigni]

Very much a "utility" update for everyone but the owners of those two plugins.

I like the sidechain feature. It's the right amount of simple for most users.

QoL features are usually what I get most excited about. I had good amp sounds on day one; otherwise I'd have returned it. I do wish they'd throw some new effects at us, though.

 

[Mongillo19]

QoL features are usually what I get most excited about. I had good amp sounds on day one; otherwise I'd have returned it. I do wish they'd throw some new effects at us, though.

The bulk of "new" effects in this update stem from if you own the plugins. If so you get some of the plugin effects.

Unfortunately they aren't doing much to ease my concern of paywalled updates

 

[laxu]

QoL features are usually what I get most excited about. I had good amp sounds on day one; otherwise I'd have returned it. I do wish they'd throw some new effects at us, though.

Yeah you could just replace any drive or amp sounds with captures from day one, or use custom IRs if you didn't like the stock cabs for some reason. But you can't do anything but use a pedal if a mod/delay/reverb/pitch effect is not there, so addition to those are always welcome.

Otherwise I totally agree on QoL features. I've been barking up that wall with Fractal for years only to eventually give up and accept it's not happening. A lot of QoL stuff is not rocket science, just little improvements that make it just that little bit nicer to work with.

The bulk of "new" effects in this update stem from if you own the plugins. If so you get some of the plugin effects.

Unfortunately they aren't doing much to ease my concern of paywalled updates

IMO a lot of the plugin effects are pretty similar between the plugins, just reskinned visually. Not all of them are good either. I think for example the shimmer function in the Petrucci plugin's reverb sounded like crap.

 

[mbenigni]

Otherwise I totally agree on QoL features. I've been barking up that wall with Fractal for years only to eventually give up and accept it's not happening. A lot of QoL stuff is not rocket science, just little improvements that make it just that little bit nicer to work with.

I'm sloooowly getting used to the FM3, but I feel like I'm entering cheat codes for a Nintendo game from the '90s. "Uh-oh! Blinky FX block boss! Home Enter Edit Page Right Page Right Page Right..."

 

[Achilles]

Home Enter Edit Page Right Page Right Page Right..."

Digitech flashback....

 

[mbenigni]

Best thing is bulk actions change my mind lol

OK, let the games begin. For me personally, "Unified add/change device screens" is huge. (Why were these ever different to begin with?)

For a lot of people, "Multiple MIDI Messages per footswitch/expression" will be crucial. (I don't use enough outboard gear to be affected, but I totally get it.) It's still not clear whether those messages have an "awareness" as to whether the switch was pressed as a Scene vs. Stomp event, though.

 

[mbenigni]

If you are a plugin user who doesn’t use a Quad Cortex, this change will not affect you. If you are a plugin user who uses X plugins and the Quad Cortex, you can enjoy the updated plugins while you wait for them to be available on Quad Cortex. If you are a Quad Cortex user who doesn’t own the plugins but wants them on the Quad Cortex, we recommend you wait for the accompanying CorOS version to be released.

Our developers are working around the clock to find a longer, more convoluted way to say this. S O O N.

The addition of these plugins will also include the factory and artists’ presets included in the plugins. Being able to import your own plugin presets via Cortex Control will come in a later update. We opted to delay this feature so we could release plugin compatibility sooner.

To recap: Our next round of QC-compatible plugins won't be compatible with the QC. (See above.) The QC-compatible QC-compatible plugins will feature artist presets from the plugins, but you won't be able to use them. We're releasing this broken implementation in order to provide you with a working implementation immediately. But this will not happen immediately. (We just wanted to send this exciting update to tell you we have nothing new to tell you.)

#butilovemyQC

 

[mbenigni]

Digitech flashback....

See also EHX. Though EHX is more like a game of blindfolded Twister for your fingers.

 

[GTR37]

Honestly like I mentioned above just create a Delay engine . like they did for chorus/ flanger
with your options for mutlitap, diffusion , ducking , reverse , then let users create their own , its easier than going lets do a BossDD2 and tera echo and strymon

Port the spring verb from Morgan as most people seem to like that , add a few amp models , pedal models and call it a day
there 3.1 update September /October

and better wah. with more control of the sweep , or Wah engine

also I cannot recall but does QC have the room mics of the plugins in the cab block?

 

[laxu]

OK, let the games begin. For me personally, "Unified add/change device screens" is huge. (Why were these ever different to begin with?)

Developer A works on feature X and developer B works on feature Y, and they end up doing the same thing their own way.

For a lot of people, "Multiple MIDI Messages per footswitch/expression" will be crucial. (I don't use enough outboard gear to be affected, but I totally get it.) It's still not clear whether those messages have an "awareness" as to whether the switch was pressed as a Scene vs. Stomp event, though.

IMO the "MIDI tied to footswitches or expression" is still a poor way to do it. A better system would be defining MIDI actions (chain of MIDI messages) and then having freedom to assign what triggers them - footswitch X, expression pedal Y, scene changes, incoming MIDI message etc.

It seems like one of those systems hacked together because they needed any MIDI output support.

To be fair, Line6 and Fractal are equally poor at external MIDI control. I'm totally spoiled by the capabilities of the Luminite stuff.

 

[Jarick]

Best thing is bulk actions change my mind lol

I'm really excited for the improved library access including folders. Being able to drill into different brands of IR's would be awesome.

Some of the plugin effect will likely be really nice to have too.

Honestly like I mentioned above just create a Delay engine . like they did for chorus/ flanger
with your options for mutlitap, diffusion , ducking , reverse , then let users create their own , its easier than going lets do a BossDD2 and tera echo and strymon

Port the spring verb from Morgan as most people seem to like that , add a few amp models , pedal models and call it a day
there 3.1 update September /October

and better wah. with more control of the sweep , or Wah engine

also I cannot recall but does QC have the room mics of the plugins in the cab block?

Yeah that's kind of what Kemper does right? It's a generic delay with a lot of options. I think that would be a great catch-all, although I also really like the more simple direct models too.

QC has a room mix in the IR block, only high pass and low pass on cabs.

 

[Jarick]

That’s not an NDSP problem that was the tech writers and editor
They forget to delete about 20 models , the desktop editor
And Hybrid mode from the
Final copy of the users manual

No idea how NDSP works on the inside but I've always thought they likely either didn't have a product owner or had a lot of turnover there. Clearly the company can do great work...look at their plugins and the hardware design of the QC (outside of the power supply). But they have struggled to really drive the delivery of the QC product. That's typically a product owner role I believe.

 

[mbenigni]

Developer A works on feature X and developer B works on feature Y, and they end up doing the same thing their own way.

I think in this instance it was more a case of developer A implements feature poorly and shares code across several interfaces; user base demands improvement; developer A improves feature but "meets his deadline" by ignoring half of those interfaces.

IMO the "MIDI tied to footswitches or expression" is still a poor way to do it. A better system would be defining MIDI actions (chain of MIDI messages) and then having freedom to assign what triggers them - footswitch X, expression pedal Y, scene changes, incoming MIDI message etc.

It seems like one of those systems hacked together because they needed any MIDI output support.

In some ways I agree, but in some ways I feel like there's a necessary balance between flexibility and simplicity here. The applies to a lot of things about the QC (most clearly in contrast with Fractal), where things are really simplified - sometimes less versatile - but the resulting UI is nice and flat and can be intuited at a glance. Years ago I might have felt differently, but I've come to value that simplicity in many cases. Which is kind of weird, because I consider myself more "techie" than 99.9% of actual guitarists LOL.

 

[Jarick]

Neural said today the beta has moved to the next stage and they are targeting release before the end of the month, FWIW.

 

[laxu]

In some ways I agree, but in some ways I feel like there's a necessary balance between flexibility and simplicity here. The applies to a lot of things about the QC (most clearly in contrast with Fractal), where things are really simplified - sometimes less versatile - but the resulting UI is nice and flat and can be intuited at a glance. Years ago I might have felt differently, but I've come to value that simplicity in many cases. Which is kind of weird, because I consider myself more "techie" than 99.9% of actual guitarists LOL.

Sure, but I think the "footswitch sends MIDI...but also does all this other stuff" quickly makes it harder to understand. With one message it was fine, but being able to send up to 12 messages you quickly get into "wtf is MIDI ch 3 CC 20 doing again?" if you can't name them or add some sort of description.

I love that on my Luminite M1 I don't have to consult the manual for MIDI PC/CC functions for any of my pedals because the PC/CC labels are mapped inside the M1, and the MIDI presets (what I called "MIDI actions" in my previous post) become very readable lists of "set this pedal to this preset" etc.

Doing the same thing on Fractal very quickly lead me to scratch my head for what was going on when I had enough MIDI commands chained together.

Granted, with something like this you are unlikely to be controlling a whole pedalboard worth of gear, but still being able to give some indication of what is going to happen makes a big difference. It's one of those little QoL things.

 

[Deadpan]

Neural said today the beta has moved to the next stage and they are targeting release before the end of the month, FWIW.

Indeed.

 

[mbenigni]

I'm really excited for the improved library access including folders. Being able to drill into different brands of IR's would be awesome.

I hope in updating this implementation they've also made some minor fixes that aren't specifically documented. For instance, it annoys the crap out of me that when I do a "Save As", it defaults to the first user library, rather than the first unused slot in the library I'm already in (i.e. the library the originating preset was in.)