NDSP Quad Cortex

[MirrorProfiles]

The NDSP update mentions plugin conditions can change. Do we think there would ever be a scenario where a plugin that is currently PCOM is removed due to a contract renewal?

I’d imagine the most they’d do is remove the official naming. But who knows.

 

[RiffDuck]

The NDSP update mentions plugin conditions can change. Do we think there would ever be a scenario where a plugin that is currently PCOM is removed due to a contract renewal?

That all depends on how they approach the licensing contracts. To my understanding, most of these are essentially treated as endorsement deals, and the artist/brand is unlikely to own the copyright to any part of the algorithms themselves unless there's some messy clause regarding certain reference amps used or something like that, but I would think that's still unlikely given the time and work that goes into creating new digital gear or plugins. There are a ton of reasons these contracts can end or be suddenly broken, and I doubt NDSP wants the existence any of their IP they spent months developing to be contingent on those contracts alone.

In my opinion what would most likely happen if there was a contract issue is the plugin tied to a brand or artist name would be temporarily pulled, then eventually brought back with a generic name. But who knows, maybe there are indeed copyright clauses involved for reference amps or whatever, and I'm sure there are even extreme hypothetical scenarios where NDSP might say "we don't want so much as implied association with this artist or brand" and remove the plugin(s) altogether.

 

[mikah912]

Yeah, the second amp specifically is a mix between a Granophyre and a Peavey 5150.

The first is said to be an "American clean" amp of some sort, and the third is specified as a BE100.

I thought it was a mixture of Bogner Snorkler and BE100?

 

[[Nathan]]

View attachment 61966

He also said he’d love to see NTS updated but it doesn’t seem likely

The fact that he’s stoked to talk about it give me hope that a pumpkin plugin will happen one day

 

[RiffDuck]

I thought it was a mixture of Bogner Snorkler and BE100?

I just looked it up and you're right! My mistake

 

[Whizzinby]

View attachment 61966

He also said he’d love to see NTS updated but it doesn’t seem likely

This is awesome.

The other advantage of laying it all out on the table like Neural did is getting the fans of the plugs to urge companies to get the deals over the finish line.

Mesa still probably be like…

 

[2dor]

Even the Granophyre is debatable I think? Aren’t all the amps in Misha’s plugin mixes of some sort?

I think they’re mixes alright but each amp's tied to a switch. Take amp3 for instance: in the Up switch position it's a Bogner Snorkler and a Friedman with the switch Down.
That's how they sound to me. I doubt they went and mixed both amps together on both switch positions.

 

[Jynx]

View attachment 61966

He also said he’d love to see NTS updated but it doesn’t seem likely

The Cali is probably the most under-rated plugin.

 

[Orvillain]

The Cali Suite is the plugin I most regret buying. I've just never found a use for it, and don't really like the tones.

 

[MirrorProfiles]

The Cali is probably the most under-rated plugin.

It got a fair bit of hype around launch but it’s definitely misunderstood. I think, like NTS, the range of tones mean it can be easy to land on bad/unexpected tones. It really helps to understand what the switches in Cali do to the actual amp circuit as you can kind of design your own amp with what’s there. It’s just easy to make a weird/bad configuration too.

Nameless, and things like the 5150’s in Nolly and Gojira are way more straightforward and hard to mess up (but with less tonal range as a result)

 

[laxu]

Licensing issues with porting plugs over is about as obvious of a stumbling block really as any stumbling block ever. Of course people are going to want paid for their licensed whatever when it gets ported over and used in the hardware.

My beef is that they releasing this information now, several years from QC launch.

Licensing issues should have been an obvious hurdle from the start but NDSP still decided to advertise support for their plugins on QC, and made no indication which plugins would not receive QC compatibility. I don't think anyone would care if this was revealed early.

It seems shady because for years you could have e.g bought plugins with the expectation that you can use them on the QC.

Personally I never cared for PCOM beyond "you advertised it, so you better deliver" accountability. I'd rather the company focused on adding more unique content to the unit in the form of new effects. For any amp that's not there, there's always some capture or you just use another model.

 

[2dor]

My beef is that they releasing this information now, several years from QC launch.

Licensing issues should have been an obvious hurdle from the start but NDSP still decided to advertise support for their plugins on QC, and made no indication which plugins would not receive QC compatibility. I don't think anyone would care if this was revealed early.

It seems shady because for years you could have e.g bought plugins with the expectation that you can use them on the QC.

Personally I never cared for PCOM beyond "you advertised it, so you better deliver" accountability. I'd rather the company focused on adding more unique content to the unit in the form of new effects. For any amp that's not there, there's always some capture or you just use another model.

+ there's nothing stopping them from adding amps in but without a formal licensing deal.

Anyway, we'd all have been better off if they would have been upfront with this stuff years ago - very much agreed.

 

[ian_dissonance]

Since it’s getting Misha it should get the laser or whatever, right? More cool shit like that would give me reason to look at it.

 

[Whizzinby]

It got a fair bit of hype around launch but it’s definitely misunderstood. I think, like NTS, the range of tones mean it can be easy to land on bad/unexpected tones. It really helps to understand what the switches in Cali do to the actual amp circuit as you can kind of design your own amp with what’s there. It’s just easy to make a weird/bad configuration too.

Yeah I think this is exactly it. You can hang yourself pretty easily with that amp.

On the flip side Nolly has a couple of absolute banger presets, (Chokehold and Aggro Mids) so I think the key is just finding a preset you like and then using that as your new starting point.

 

[deadpool_25]

I think they’re mixes alright but each amp's tied to a switch. Take amp3 for instance: in the Up switch position it's a Bogner Snorkler and a Friedman with the switch Down.
That's how they sound to me. I doubt they went and mixed both amps together on both switch positions.

Interesting. I suppose that could be the case. My impression was that they had actually mixed the amps but that’s just from listening to the descriptions in videos—I haven’t tried that one myself.

 

[Jkist7]

My beef is that they releasing this information now, several years from QC launch.

Licensing issues should have been an obvious hurdle from the start but NDSP still decided to advertise support for their plugins on QC, and made no indication which plugins would not receive QC compatibility. I don't think anyone would care if this was revealed early.

It seems shady because for years you could have e.g bought plugins with the expectation that you can use them on the QC.

Personally I never cared for PCOM beyond "you advertised it, so you better deliver" accountability. I'd rather the company focused on adding more unique content to the unit in the form of new effects. For any amp that's not there, there's always some capture or you just use another model.

I mean I think its fair enough to say that Darkglass at the time was probably mainly focused on pedals. Neural at the time was mainly a plugin company. When they announced the QC, that was a huge deal. Neural's first foray into the hardware world. It would have been pretty incredible if Darkglass had the foresight to be like "Hey, actually we don't want you to do anything with Darkglass on the hardware side of things because in a decade we are actually going to be moving in a similar direction, and we don't want you competing."

Like its just the way things played out. It doesn't matter until it does. But yeah, it would have been nice to know all this shit from the beginning. Whats getting ported. How long will this take. etc. etc.

EDIT: I realize now you are talking about just after QC launched, but still. QC launched 6 years ago.

 

[Stone]

Way i see it is NDSP jumped the gun over promising PCOM without realizing everything involved, shady practice? maybe bust still i dont think most folks who bought or will be a QC is going to be a deciding factor in either selling their unit or prevent a purchase.