Neural DSP Nano Cortex

[laxu]

Let's have an official thread for this thing without all the pages of speculation.

Nano Cortex

An infinite number of amps and pedals on your pedalboard

neuraldsp.com

Features:

• Complete guitar or bass rig in an ultra-compact pedal
• Neural Capture technology with the same resolution and quality as on Quad Cortex
• Fits in the palm of your hand and weighs just 620g/1.36lbs
• Impulse Response loader
• Adaptive Noise Gate and Transpose for easily changing the tuning of your instrument
• Customizable footswitch functions
• Gapless Preset switching
• Fully-fledged low-latency audio interface with 24-bit, 48kHz recording
• Wirelessly download Captures, control parameters, and manage your presets over Bluetooth with the Cortex Cloud app
• MIDI TRS in + full MIDI control via USB
• Built-in tuner

 

[Orvillain]

So even though I'm not necessarily part of the target market for this, I actually don't think it is all that dumb. I can think of several scenarios where this would be a good option:

- People who have a stack of effects pedals they love already
- People who have pedal looper/switcher units that send midi to their pedalboard amplifier
- People who are tied into another multi-effect eco-system but who also want to use amp captures
- People who need to travel light
- People who need to practice in the green room before a show
- People who want a small option for home recording or practicing

Honestly, you could throw this onto a Pedaltrain Nano along with a few other pedals, and gig with it:

The fact it can flick through a bunch of captures and IR's seamlessly, with no gaps or latency... means controlling it from a midi controller at the same time as controlling one or more other pedals... that could be a seriously powerful thing.

The only thing I can think of that seems like it might suck, is no ability to send a the full tone to FOH, while sending a no-IR version to an on stage poweramp + guitar cab for moving air on stage.

 

[nightlight]

It's an interesting device, but the FX are too limited and you can't reorder them. Form factor is great, but I prefer an all-in-one device that I don't have to add more pedals to.

Of course, it's a very compelling idea as just a tone engine, if you want to spring for other FX to add to the signal chain.

 

[[Nathan]]

It's an interesting device, but the FX are too limited and you can't reorder them. Form factor is great, but I prefer an all-in-one device that I don't have to add more pedals to.

Of course, it's a very compelling idea as just a tone engine, if you want to spring for other FX to add to the signal chain.

I have to assume there’s more coming or DLC fx

 

[NKP]

It doesn’t have a touch screen so I won’t buy it

 

[TubeStack]

I might add this to my Stomp board… I did love being able to have a profile of my Electra Dyne and fave niche boosts.

 

[Foxmeister]

Complete guitar or bass rig in an ultra-compact pedal

Is it a complete rig though?

I'd argue that for most people, the Pod Express is a better solution if you want a "complete" rig,.and even that is a little bit lacking in that department, but then again it's a third of the money.

 

[2dor]

Putting the "Transpose" feature inside = GREAT!
Not adding a "Drive" block after that "Transpose" = "FAIL"

If I'm going to put a TS808 in front of the Nano and then use the Transpose, it'll track like a$$; transpose works best with a clean DI.

 

[Lysander]

I have to assume there’s more coming or DLC fx

I really wonder if the NC is already DSP-constrained. Having stuff like transpose instead of a drive block is a weird decision.

If I recall correctly NDSP's transpose is monophonic, which makes it of limited use as an "always available" pre block.

 

[laxu]

It's an interesting device, but the FX are too limited and you can't reorder them. Form factor is great, but I prefer an all-in-one device that I don't have to add more pedals to.

Of course, it's a very compelling idea as just a tone engine, if you want to spring for other FX to add to the signal chain.

I think the lack of reordering fx is not a major issue. But they better bring more fx for each of the categories because it's wild to have a pedal like this that only comes with a chorus for modulation, only comes with an analog delay etc.

Makes me wonder how much of this is basically beta software that they managed to get out and make those fx run on the cheap processor they chose for this.

Watching the deep dive, they chose the most complicated way to adjust the effects. They could have instead simply had the fx button toggle between "amp layer" and "fx layer". Then each of the knobs would control a single parameter of one effect (usually mix/depth), with you being able to see the exact amount of each effect in use. There's literally 6 knobs for 5 effect slots.

It could be Noise gate threshold - Transpose semitones - Modulation depth - Delay mix - Reverb mix - Output level.

I might be even interested if it worked like that and had more fx options.

EDIT: Submitted a feature request for this: https://unity.neuraldsp.com/t/different-way-to-edit-the-fx/15409

 

[laxu]

Putting the "Transpose" feature inside = GREAT!
Not adding a "Drive" block after that "Transpose" = "FAIL"

If I'm going to put a TS808 in front of the Nano and then use the Transpose, it'll track like a$$; transpose works best with a clean DI.

With so many captures available, the lack of a drive block is understandable. I almost never used the drives on the QC or Fractal because I had so many great amp tones to choose from.

But I totally agree that it should have a drive block option you can swap in place of the Transpose (if DSP limited), or in place of modulation to avoid the issue you describe. Which again makes me wonder how "beta" software this is and how they might need to optimize every effect for the Nano.

It's also possible that like not having the full amp models, the full drive model algorithms of the QC are somewhat demanding or unoptimized so they hog enough CPU to not fit the Nano easily.

 

[Eagle]

Many if not most od tones in real amps are a mix of amp and drive so this lack is a huge problem. Particularly in mid gain . Drives are rarely about just gain but do a huge amount of smoothing and shaping. Without this it is pointless imo.

 

[Sascha Franck]

Complete guitar or bass rig in an ultra-compact pedal

Hm. I beg to differ. How many guitarists never using any drive stompboxes (regardless of their analog or digital nature) do you know?

With so many captures available, the lack of a drive block is understandable.

Not for me. If there's anything I constantly do, it's adding whatever drives to amps. IMO that's allowing for some otherwise not possible sounds and it's also a certain matter of workflow. Like "let me use this patch throughout the song but on the chorus I'll push it a little by adding a pre-boost". With the NC you'd have to re-capture the combination of drive and amp (which sometimes isn't even possible in case you didn't capture the amp yourself) and waste a new preset (which is resulting in further issues) or come up with some pretty nifty expression assignments (and it'd still sound very differently).

 

[MirrorProfiles]

it’s a capture player. use your own drives and fx, that’s what it’s designed for.

If you want all the options for different fx, routing etc, then the QC exists.

The naming is confusing because it sounds like it should be a quad cortex mini. It ain’t that.

 

[Sascha Franck]

it’s a capture player. use your own drives and fx, that’s what it’s designed for.

Well. Why don't they make it a pure capture player then and skip all the FX stuff in favour of, say, a second capture that you could load simultaneously? Onboard editing would likely profit from that, too.

 

[laxu]

Hm. I beg to differ. How many guitarists never using any drive stompboxes (regardless of their analog or digital nature) do you know?

Please stop quoting me for NeuralDSP marketing where I copied that. I removed the most reaching statements from that list already. I think you can say it's a "complete guitar rig" well enough. Like you could do a gig with what it has, even if it does not have everything.

 

[Sascha Franck]

Please stop quoting me for NeuralDSP marketing where I copied that.

Yeah, sorry.

 

[HotRats]

it’s a capture player. use your own drives and fx, that’s what it’s designed for.

If you want all the options for different fx, routing etc, then the QC exists.

The naming is confusing because it sounds like it should be a quad cortex mini. It ain’t that.

idk, while you're not wrong I'd say that once you start putting fxs into a digital device derived from big device like the quad cortex, players expect some degree of flexibility.

maybe it's just a naming issue here.

 

[2dor]

it’s a capture player. use your own drives and fx, that’s what it’s designed for.

If you want all the options for different fx, routing etc, then the QC exists.

The naming is confusing because it sounds like it should be a quad cortex mini. It ain’t that.

Well it is and isn't. Just adding that Transpose in there y'know? Should have left it out if they expect people to put a boost before the Nano - it'll screw the pitch shifting.

Anyway, that's just my take on it.

 

[Orvillain]

How many guitarists never using any drive stompboxes (regardless of their analog or digital nature) do you know?

To be honest, LOADS.