NDSP Quad Cortex

[DrewJD82]

A couple of years ago, when the PCOM issue was getting salty, I tried to find the basis for the contention that it was promised prior to the launch. I couldn't find anything. Maybe I was looking in the wrong places, but the closest thing I could find was an interview at that first NAMM where they showed the QC with someone who might or might not have been a NDSP employee. That person made a vague reference to how the QC would, at some point, run the NDSP plugins that you own.

PCOM eventually became a topic in development updates from NDSP, but not until after the initial launch.

It was born on TGP during the Oprah phase of the pre-order days.

“Will the QC have the ability to run NDSP plugins?”

Doug- (paraphrasing) “Sure, should be no problem”

I had a screenshot of it for a while and while I can’t find that specific post anymore, there are other posts from Doug stating the plugins were already running on their test units before the launch. It wasn’t a thing in the initial announcement and became a thing during the pre-order days. You can check the main QC thread at TOP, I think it’s the one Fireproof started, there’ll be discussion of it there.

 

[DrewJD82]

And here, for @Orvillain and @LP59 -

\

In addition to PCOM and a “boutique power supply”.

And as for things changing during the pre-order, anyone remember “Implement Gate”?

Only for it to ship without it, which brought a couple days of debating the meaning of the word “implemented”

This was just the first Development Update I clicked on, I’m sure there are several other items if I went through them, but I’m not going to as A), this should suffice and B) this wasn’t the point I was making, only a repercussion of it.

 

[Los-D]

“implemented”

Forgot about that one lol

 

[Desertdweller]

View attachment 58147

Technically speaking, you could use an Ally X or Legion Go like this guy did. Load some VSTs into Reaper, hook up a Scarlett... profit.

 

[fiftyshadesofslay]

I was a massive QC doubter for ages, and it still kind of sucks that they haven’t fulfilled all their promises from launch.

However given the last few updates I’d argue it’s the best unit out there currently for power and form factor if you’re just going direct. I’m back using one and it’s even more impressive now.

Also, not a slight on Line 6 as the Stadium has huge potential, but I’d argue releasing a unit that has everything promised but with show stopping bugs is worse than releasing a stable unit missing some features.

 

[deadpool_25]

Okay this is a legitimate question. I think am just realizing something I think maybe should have been obvious before now but I’m not really sure if this is correct.

Is this forum being created directly related to the fact that at TOP people were getting banned for ripping on NDSP? So this forum was basically started with a primary motivation being the freedom to rip on NDSP without consequence?

 

[2dor]

Okay this is a legitimate question. I think am just realizing something I think maybe should have been obvious before now but I’m not really sure if this is correct.

Is this forum being created directly related to the fact that at TOP people were getting banned for ripping on NDSP? So this forum was basically started with a primary motivation being the freedom to rip on NDSP without consequence?

A lot of the folks who got bans at TOP moved here - not sure if that's the primary "source" of this place being populated but that's a fact (unfortunately).

 

[GearAng3l]

On the QC can there be different midi messaged programmed linked to Scene AND Stomp mode?

 

[SeeD]

 

[ian_dissonance]

Okay this is a legitimate question. I think am just realizing something I think maybe should have been obvious before now but I’m not really sure if this is correct.

Is this forum being created directly related to the fact that at TOP people were getting banned for ripping on NDSP? So this forum was basically started with a primary motivation being the freedom to rip on NDSP without consequence?

To not have manufacturers control the conversation like they can at places where they can buy control.

 

[Los-D]

Okay this is a legitimate question. I think am just realizing something I think maybe should have been obvious before now but I’m not really sure if this is correct.

Is this forum being created directly related to the fact that at TOP people were getting banned for ripping on NDSP? So this forum was basically started with a primary motivation being the freedom to rip on NDSP without consequence?

Maybe?

(J/k still all fun and games… for the most part)

 

[[Nathan]]

They’re pretty close if not all in there now, or they released official captures.

7 out of 22 plugins are available on the quad cortex. I wouldn’t call this “pretty close”.

 

[DrewJD82]

Okay this is a legitimate question. I think am just realizing something I think maybe should have been obvious before now but I’m not really sure if this is correct.

Is this forum being created directly related to the fact that at TOP people were getting banned for ripping on NDSP? So this forum was basically started with a primary motivation being the freedom to rip on NDSP without consequence?

That's accurate right up to the last line; it's not just to rip on NDSP but to speak freely on any company or gear issue without repercussion.

Of course people were banned who deserved to be banned during that whole period, but there were a good number who did not and it made it easy to toss out a few people asking questions/pointing out inconsistencies when there were several people being banned a day. I believe I was first temp-banned when one of the NDSP Discord mods came into the thread to lob a grenade which resulted in a good number of member bans immediately after, I believe pointing out the abusrdity of it is what got me banned but it's hard to remember. I was perma-banned for pointing out that Waterbound was an NDSP mod but wasn't disclosing it at a time many people he'd interact with would get banned at TOP.

A few of us found all that....'behavior' uncool, so we made this place in opposition to that behavior. It's not easy to navigate a lot of times, I read plenty of things here I outright disagree with or think is presented poorly or is disingenous at the start, but I do believe people should have a legit avenue to speak their mind about gear/companies without repurcussion, which cannot be done on the majority of company social media spots. Hell, they banned someone just for being guilty by association (I believe their account was reinstated. Was that @mikah912?)

It's not always going to please everyone when their company of choice is in the crosshairs and I do admit I can get carried away with NDSP at times (I often forget to check which NDSP thread I'm in, as I believe there is one in the Rant section and one in the main sub), but since we've been up and running I've had more than one company rep tell me there's merit to the way we run this place, even when they themselves have been in the crosshairs.

Hell, I think I was the one that made an FM3/USB thread when people tried claiming we were favoring Fractal over other manufacturers.

My personal stake in the matter is that while I'm practically sleeping on cabs and pedals these days, things were not like this for me for the majority of my life and the expensive gear I did obtain through the years I had to really bust my ass for and while it may seem sad to some, gear/music has filled the space that family does for most people, it's all a bit more important to me than just being some shit we plug guitars into and the more time goes on the more companies want to give less for your dollar while the places you can air your greivances carry a hefty amount of censorship. Even when I don't agree with the things posted here, I'm happy to maintain it when these things are not permitted at other places...usually.

 

[ian_dissonance]

7 out of 22 plugins are available on the quad cortex. I wouldn’t call this “pretty close”.

I just meant amp models. I thought they had a lot of overlap there. But yeah, as far as official plugin porting they’re terribly behind from launch, lol.

 

[Lysander]

That's accurate right up to the last line; it's not just to rip on NDSP but to speak freely on any company or gear issue without repercussion.

+100. And it's not only NDSP, mind you - many topics/discussions on TOP™ were deleted for other brands as well.

See f.ex. Fender and criticisms related to the ToneMaster Pro at launch.

 

[Orvillain]

Very strange... there are some effects there that any decent software engineer could write within a day.

Multi-tap delay is a doddle. Quite why they would list two of them in the list, I don't know.
A graphic 10 band EQ and a peak/notch EQ .... easy as chips.
8 voice chorus? Easy.
Tremolo/Panner? Easy.


A wah pedal really isn't that hard to do either.

Reverbs.... if you build a toolkit for them, they don't have to be hard either. None of them are modelled on other bits of kit....

The cabinets.... they've presumably got the underlying convolution tech.... and they must surely have the IR's to have even had the cabs on their list... so why not just bundle the IR's up into the constituent cab specification files (assuming JSON) and call it done.

So really... apart from the amps.... what is taking so long??

 

[Tito83]

Very strange... there are some effects there that any decent software engineer could write within a day.

Multi-tap delay is a doddle. Quite why they would list two of them in the list, I don't know.
A graphic 10 band EQ and a peak/notch EQ .... easy as chips.
8 voice chorus? Easy.
Tremolo/Panner? Easy.


A wah pedal really isn't that hard to do either.

Reverbs.... if you build a toolkit for them, they don't have to be hard either. None of them are modelled on other bits of kit....

The cabinets.... they've presumably got the underlying convolution tech.... and they must surely have the IR's to have even had the cabs on their list... so why not just bundle the IR's up into the constituent cab specification files (assuming JSON) and call it done.

So really... apart from the amps.... what is taking so long??

But is it that simple? I don't know. Sure, making the effect should be easy enough, making it sound good on the other hand doesn't look as simple. I have zero knowledge on the technical aspect, but playing through a few of these effects on different units, even EQ, just aren't as close as I'd expect them to be.

 

[laxu]

But is it that simple? I don't know. Sure, making the effect should be easy enough, making it sound good on the other hand doesn't look as simple. I have zero knowledge on the technical aspect, but playing through a few of these effects on different units, even EQ, just aren't as close as I'd expect them to be.

Depends on the goal. If it's emulating a specific pedal or just "a multitap delay" which would be a digital delay with multiple delay lines and maybe some basic ass modulation. Versus emulating say multiple tape decks etc.

It's still pretty weird that they have basically abandoned that roadmap of announced devices.

 

[Mongillo19]

we were favoring Fractal over other manufacturers.

I mean we definitely favor FAS over other manufacturers here. Which is fine. But we definitely do

 

[deadpool_25]

That's accurate right up to the last line; it's not just to rip on NDSP but to speak freely on any company or gear issue without repercussion.

Of course people were banned who deserved to be banned during that whole period, but there were a good number who did not and it made it easy to toss out a few people asking questions/pointing out inconsistencies when there were several people being banned a day. I believe I was first temp-banned when one of the NDSP Discord mods came into the thread to lob a grenade which resulted in a good number of member bans immediately after, I believe pointing out the abusrdity of it is what got me banned but it's hard to remember. I was perma-banned for pointing out that Waterbound was an NDSP mod but wasn't disclosing it at a time many people he'd interact with would get banned at TOP.

A few of us found all that....'behavior' uncool, so we made this place in opposition to that behavior. It's not easy to navigate a lot of times, I read plenty of things here I outright disagree with or think is presented poorly or is disingenous at the start, but I do believe people should have a legit avenue to speak their mind about gear/companies without repurcussion, which cannot be done on the majority of company social media spots. Hell, they banned someone just for being guilty by association (I believe their account was reinstated. Was that @mikah912?)

It's not always going to please everyone when their company of choice is in the crosshairs and I do admit I can get carried away with NDSP at times (I often forget to check which NDSP thread I'm in, as I believe there is one in the Rant section and one in the main sub), but since we've been up and running I've had more than one company rep tell me there's merit to the way we run this place, even when they themselves have been in the crosshairs.

Hell, I think I was the one that made an FM3/USB thread when people tried claiming we were favoring Fractal over other manufacturers.

My personal stake in the matter is that while I'm practically sleeping on cabs and pedals these days, things were not like this for me for the majority of my life and the expensive gear I did obtain through the years I had to really bust my ass for and while it may seem sad to some, gear/music has filled the space that family does for most people, it's all a bit more important to me than just being some shit we plug guitars into and the more time goes on the more companies want to give less for your dollar while the places you can air your greivances carry a hefty amount of censorship. Even when I don't agree with the things posted here, I'm happy to maintain it when these things are not permitted at other places...usually.

Ah cool. So I’m not crazy lol. And note I didn’t say “just”. I meant that that fiasco seemed to be a primary catalyst? From your post it appears that was the case.

Right on. I completely understand and agree with you guys for taking action against that bullshit. And this place, as I’ve said, is still the best gear-focused forum I know of.

This also makes me much more accepting of what has, in the past, seemed like a strangely high hatred of NDSP. Like “holy shit, some of these folks are enthusiastic about it.” But in this light of course they are—it was somewhat foundational.

Philosophical musings incoming:

I often consider how we Americans have a rebellious spirit in general, and how that kinda seems to increase a bit as you travel west across the country. And how here in Arizona there’s a strong “Wild West” mentality that is still evident. While those things seem to surprise some people, I think they forget the origins of this country and the history here. That stuff is built into our psyches in a large way I think.

The point is, I don’t underestimate how much the mentality that inspires the creation of something can influence that thing well into the future. I came here after that TOP crap and I was lucky enough to avoid most of, if not all, of it over there because I dipped out before that started or at least before all the bans. I heard about them well after coming here and didn’t realize just how strongly they’d affected the members here.

I understand now and won’t be surprised at the NDSP-trashing spirit anymore. I mean…it’s maybe also a relatively minor type of PTSD. Having served, I know that shit, regardless of the degree, is fucking real. It can manifest in things that are as life-changing as combat, and can also manifest in things as small as like having multiple bad experiences at a restaurant (I fucking refuse to go into a Chili’s anymore; too many shitty service experiences; fuck that place).

So I get it. This understanding will make my ride here a bit smoother.