NDSP Quad Cortex

Are there any good tips for playing using headphones to stop getting ear fatigue and discomfort?
Use room reverb so it doesn't sound like you stuffed your head where the mic is on a cab.

Otherwise it would be comfortable, preferably fairly neutral sounding headphones. A lot of headphones out there emphasize the shit out of particular frequency ranges.
 
I’ve tried many headphones… open and closed back (770, 770X, 990, AKG 702). My favorite by far are simple Audio Technica ATH-M50x’s.
 
Open back headphones are a must for me if it's going to be more than 10 minutes or so.
Same here. I have some DT-880s that are semi-open technically, but it’s enough to make it not so claustrophobic. As others have mentioned, a little stereo reverb of any variety is huge as well.

Are there any good tips for playing using headphones to stop getting ear fatigue and discomfort?
For fatigue specifically, I find the high end is what really gets me. Much like putting your ear right inline with a guitar cab, you get all those treble freqs emphasized with a pair of headphones. To compensate, I use darker versions of my favorite IRs or move the mic a notch or two away from the dust cap when using a dynamic cab. This makes it feel a bit more like “standing” off axis from a cab.
 
Yep for me having four presets available will cover most practice use cases without needless fiddling around. I also have a midi footswitch I could hook up with TRS MIDI if I want to toggle FX but I’m actively trying not to go into shit like that right now and just get to fucking practicing and playing instead
Initially, I built a small arduino-based 6 button midi controller that I velcroed to the side of the NC for quick access to more presets when I had it on my desk. Eventually, I realized the 4 did fine for how I was using it. Fun project though!

I would like though to get some of the blends of IR’s I’ve now got set up in the Nolly plugin so need to look into the Logic Pro Space Designer and see if I can figure it out.
I haven’t used it in a while, but I’ve used the IR Utility in space designer to shoot IRs of both my real cabs and from other devices. Getting the routing right is probably the hardest part. Aside from that, you are just shooting a 10s sweep with mostly default settings in the utility. Then just convert the resulting track to wave and you are good to go.
 
Are there any good tips for playing using headphones to stop getting ear fatigue and discomfort?
I got you, fam. Put on open back headphones, then unplug them and play through a guitar cab. Loud.

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Initially, I built a small arduino-based 6 button midi controller that I velcroed to the side of the NC for quick access to more presets when I had it on my desk. Eventually, I realized the 4 did fine for how I was using it. Fun project though!
I did something similar with a Waveshare Zero for the Tonex One and my MIDI controller! It was fun and a colleague got to 3D print a case for it. There’s a GitHub project for the software which worked really well also. Ultimately it was fun getting it together but too many loose parts. I had a cable from the controller to a HX Stomp and Bluetooth connection to the Tonex, and set it up to toggle Snapshots on Stomp and presets on Tonex.

I haven’t used it in a while, but I’ve used the IR Utility in space designer to shoot IRs of both my real cabs and from other devices. Getting the routing right is probably the hardest part. Aside from that, you are just shooting a 10s sweep with mostly default settings in the utility. Then just convert the resulting track to wave and you are good to go.
Thanks! I’ll dive into it when I have time.

Yesterday I tried making a few caps of Nolly with IR and EQ baked in yesterday with the unit. Workable for practice and the whole capturing process is damn fast! Looking forward to V2 now…
 
OK, this is an actual QC question, for all you actual TGF Quad Cortex users. Both of you.

Is it a known limitation - or maybe even an intentional one for reasons I can't fathom - that you can't put a split node after the very last block in a lane? It's weird because if you press and hold, you can clearly see another little circle that looks like a node destination, but if you drop the split there, it jumps to the next lane down, creating a completely independent signal path.

Here's an example. I have a split right after the second to the last block. I want it after the last block. My workaround is to duplicate that reverb block on Lane 2, but that's a waste of DSP resources. And stupid. And annoying. Also stupid.

1770242499994.png


Is there a different way I'm supposed to construct the routing I'm talking about here? I have to be missing something...
 
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Here's another workaround for the above problem. (Getting seriously nerdy now.)

I can add a Transparent Blend block on Lane 2, and set it to take its input from that reverb block. (The split routing becomes irrelevant at this point.)

1770243463951.png


Presumably "cheaper" than duplicating the reverb, but not "free" either. I feel like you ought to be able to put that Split anywhere on Lane 1.
 
Here's another workaround for the above problem. (Getting seriously nerdy now.)

I can add a Transparent Blend block on Lane 2, and set it to take its input from that reverb block. (The split routing becomes irrelevant at this point.)

View attachment 58825

Presumably "cheaper" than duplicating the reverb, but not "free" either. I feel like you ought to be able to put that Split anywhere on Lane 1.
I will take a look later but I doubt I’ll experience anything different. That’s worth a feature request imo
 
OK, this is an actual QC question, for all you actual TGF Quad Cortex users. Both of you.

Is it a known limitation - or maybe even an intentional one for reasons I can't fathom - that you can't put a split node after the very last block in a lane? It's weird because if you press and hold, you can clearly see another little circle that looks like a node destination, but if you drop the split there, it jumps to the next lane down, creating a completely independent signal path.

Here's an example. I have a split right after the second to the last block. I want it after the last block. My workaround is to duplicate that reverb block on Lane 2, but that's a waste of DSP resources. And stupid. And annoying. Also stupid.

View attachment 58824

Is there a different way I'm supposed to construct the routing I'm talking about here? I have to be missing something...
You are not alone. This drives me insane. At least take away the node if we can’t actually use it.
 
You are not alone. This drives me insane. At least take away the node if we can’t actually use it.
Thank you! It's good just having a sanity check on this one. (Next up: searching/ filtering/ ordering downloaded captures...)

1770296593126.png


FWIW, I can confirm that using the Transparent Blend block as a workaround (as in my second post) saves DSP vs. duplicating that "hanging" post-FX block from Lane 1. (It allowed me to make an amp swap that had been grayed out prior.)

That simple Transparent Blend block - for my weirdo purposes - has been the single greatest post-1.0 addition to QC. I wouldn't trade it for the new spring, the new synth... not even V2 captures. (But I'm glad I don't have to make these trades!)

P.S. Walton Goggins is awesome.
 
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That’s worth a feature request imo
So now that I've had my nap... what's the "correct" way to make a feature request. (I'll try not to quibble over whether this constitutes a bug fix LOL.)
 
That simple Transparent Blend block - for my weirdo purposes - has been the single greatest post-1.0 addition to QC. I wouldn't trade it for the new spring, the new synth... not even V2 captures. (But I'm glad I don't have to make these trades!)

P.S. Walton Goggins is awesome.
That Transparent Blend block is great! It’s how I managed to get my WDW setup running the way I wanted with multiple parallel effects.

I still wish for a third lane for each CPU or DSP or whatever though!
 
That Transparent Blend block is great! It’s how I managed to get my WDW setup running the way I wanted with multiple parallel effects.
It's let me pull a lot of routing stunts on single lanes that would otherwise have clobbered two - and looked more confusing to boot. It's also an effective way to get USB audio inline, if you happen to have a class-compliant audio interface hanging off the USB port, which is essential for iOS MIDI Guitar tomfoolery. (Ahem, Helix/ Stadium.)

I still wish for a third lane for each CPU or DSP or whatever though!
Woah, that would be insanely powerful... but a UI/ presentation nightmare I imagine. This is where I assume the Fractal "grid" approach excels, although I personally never managed to get that far.

I also have "multiple parallel splits envy" looking at the Stadium (which I've decided to hold off on purchasing for now.)
 
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