Neural DSP Nano Cortex

[Lysander]

So much missing the forest for the trees going on with this device imo.

No, not really. I should've probably said "target audience" instead of price, because the price is what places this device in a category where some features are now tablestakes. Lack of proper MIDI support is probably fine for a mid-tier modeler, but certainly not a $550 device with the pedigree NDSP wants to imprint to the Nano Cortex.

Apologies if i'm coming along as a hater (i'm really not!), but this is IMHO all valid criticism. From what i've gathered the NC sounds pretty damn good - which is also my experience with captures on the QC - yet, some design decisions here are just... weird.

Then again, stuff like crappy MIDI support and lack of overdrive blocks are potentially fixable with updates down the line. Fingers crossed.

 

[Los-D]

iPad+iRig Pro (both already on hand) and the right collection of AU plugins

Great timing. I have been playing around building a headphone rig around the GigFast Lite NAM player on my iPad 7 (10.1), using Nembrini plugins + the Spiral Chorus. Sounds pretty decent.

 

[GTR37]

And I can respect that, but you've gotta realize A. it's not free from criticism, and B. it would have been for me, as I wanted a smaller QC. Ask @GTR37, we've been shooting the shit about it.

100% , I get why they did what they did and went after the Kemper player and ToneX
Though and it’s disappointing but they obviously went with the option they felt was the strongest which was more the capture tech vs the modelling and I am sure it will pay off for them anyway

But for me I would have preferred something like the Hotone Mini Smaller screen
but all the NDSP stuff

 

[Cellomangler]

Can we talk about USB-C power? Like how does a device that requires 9v 600ma DC run on 5v USB supply? Does it consume less power in this mode? Can I run it off of my rechargeable power brick? Lots of jesting, yes. Thank you.

The 5 volt power supplies have more current available so the Nano can use an internal transformer to bring the 5 volts up to whatever voltage they need at a lower demand for current. This is how many audio interfaces that run off USB can still supply 48 volts phantom power. And yes you could run it off a rechargeable USB power brick. The current demand on batteries is eaten up in terms of amp hours or basically how long the batteries will last.

 

[Achilles]

Where's that new Fractal unit???


All's fair in love and modeler wars, right?

 

[likitlikeyoulikeit]

 

[paisleywookiee]

If I get another QC for "mobile" work, it'll be much more functional than an NC, and it will save me the $300 I would have spent upgrading to an iPad with USB-C. I'll sell the FM3 and (gasp) probably even the HX Stomp, and actually come out with a few extra bucks in my pocket. (To put toward a Fender FR-12, maybe?)

I don’t have much to offer constructive this thread anymore, except to say these are all awful ideas. Do not sell the FM3, do not sell the Stomp. Keep the QC. Get the iPad. Get that extra scoop of ice cream.

 

[norminal]

Where's that new Fractal unit???

It appears to be a nothing burger, as the cool kids say these days.

 

[paisleywookiee]

And that is precisely why latency figures won't be too good. High quality interfaces come with their own drivers for macOS as well. All of them, not one exception. Anything else isn't a high quality interface.

Eh, bullshit. The Fractal sounds amazing recorded, latency is low enough (sub-7ms?) and it’s direct monitoring when recording guitar/bass anyway.
My UA Volt 476 is class complaint. Again, sounds amazing.
Your definition of “high quality interface” is extremely narrow. An interface can have dedicated drivers, low latency, and have shit dynamic headroom and crappy s/n ratio.

 

[Jarick]

So this thing doesn’t have an effects loop and doesn’t have any drive pedals right? So the idea is you’d add a real drive before. But then you can’t use the pitch transpose right? That needs a clean signal. Same thing with any stereo effect that’s not dimension chorus…you’d run that after the nano. But that means you’re running delay and reverb into say a rotary.

Sorry I just think this device is half baked.

 

[mbenigni]

I don’t have much to offer constructive this thread anymore, except to say these are all awful ideas. Do not sell the FM3, do not sell the Stomp. Keep the QC. Get the iPad. Get that extra scoop of ice cream.

Leave the gun, take the cannoli?

No wait - take the gun, take the cannoli.

 

[Achilles]

Hey, Kyle digs it.

Mezzabarba capture.

 

[BenIfin]

Anyone wanting to turn off an effect within a patch will need MIDI, since it’s not possible otherwise. Having to create another patch just to have delay or reverb on/off is positively stupid.

Are you sure 'bout that? I believe the manual shows how to toggle effects on and off using those little buttons. I believe what you can't do is to change any additional effect parameters. A drive block doesn't bother me - I'm always going to put my fav pedal in front for much better control and options.

F.w.i.w ... I've gone through the manual with a "fine-tooth comb" ..... 59 references to the word "midi" :)

Neither Midi Port ... USB or TRS ... supports receiving Midi CC messages.

Now that could be an accidental omission or error in the manual ..... (?) ..... but assuming the manual is correct, there is no way to connect even a basic external Midi FSW pedal and use it to engage or disengage any of the onboard 5 effects.

Any modern external Midi FSW will send PC and CC as a minimum. The N.C does receive Midi PC so going from preset-to-preset is no issue ..... but not receiving Midi CC means no efx on/off with your external Midi FSW.

Now .... maybe (?) .... NDSP have coded the EFX to be linkable to the 2 onboard FSW with inbuilt proprietary-coding (?) ..... but even if that is the case, that still leaves you in the cold with your external Midi FSW and wanting to turn the 5 EFX on/off.

Happy to be corrected about the above but the Midi section in the manual is very detailed and explicit about what it does and does not do.

Ben

 

[Cellomangler]

F.w.i.w ... I've gone through the manual with a "fine-tooth comb" ..... 59 references to the word "midi" :)

Happy to be corrected about the above but the Midi section in the manual is very detailed and explicit about what it does and does not do.

Ben

Glad to make you happy!
Not in the manual but on a separate page. Yeah, sloppy info management.

Using MIDI on Nano Cortex

This guide will walk you through the various ways to use MIDI with your Nano Cortex, including sending and receiving MIDI messages, configuring footswitches, and using MIDI with your DAW.

neuraldsp.com

Still though, no mention at all about controlling effect "parameters" using MIDI CC.
But you can turn the effects on and off with the buttons on the Nano.

 

[Sascha Franck]

Eh, bullshit. The Fractal sounds amazing recorded, latency is low enough (sub-7ms?) and it’s direct monitoring when recording guitar/bass anyway.
My UA Volt 476 is class complaint. Again, sounds amazing.

I've read different things about the Fractal latencies. Did you measure them?
Anyhow, dedicated drivers often also allow for a bunch of other things. Such as running various hosts at different samplerates simultaneously (which isn't even all that uncommon - I often have Wavelab running all the time and slap any files into it, could as well be something else than a 44.1 file, but 44.1 is what I'm running Logic at), which usually doesn't work well in class compliant mode. Even recording at others than the internal sample rate (typically 48kHz with most modelers) has a potential to cause some issues in a DAW (for instance, the dreaded "error trying to synchronize audio and MIDI" message in Logic often is a result of that).
I stay with "no proper driver, no decent interface".
Let alone that the onboard interfaces of FAS units had huge issues with recording offsets (no idea whether they fixed that - but that's usually adressed through a dedicated driver as well).

 

[neutrino]

Hi!

I mainly gig with amps in clubs and sometimes, more seldomly, straight to PA.
I change up my effects often, but I always keep delay, reverb and a drive on my board, and I always tinker with the parameters a little bit before and during the gig. I have been using my Fractal FM3 sometimes just as an multi FX into amp but I hate adjusting things on it on the fly due to all the menus and stuff.

The nano cortex seems like a nice choice since it covers these things and also of course has great recording functionality and amps, but I’m wondering about these things:

• Could I customize the footswitch functions; for example, set the right footswitch to toggle a captured Drive on/off or do I have to use the footswitches for presets
• Are captured drive pedals in any way tweakable? If I capture my Tumnus drive pedal, does the gain knob on Nano behave like the gain knob on my real pedal?
• Are the delay and reverb effects comparable in quality to similar effect pedals by Strymon, Universal audio etc.

Lastly, would be nice to hear if someone has been using a Nano cortex yet in similar settings and their overall experience.

Thanks

 

[Sascha Franck]

So, fwiw, but again (and in fact out of genuine interest): Is the XLR input available in your DAW?

 

[ian_dissonance]

Glad to make you happy!
Not in the manual but on a separate page. Yeah, sloppy info management.

Using MIDI on Nano Cortex

This guide will walk you through the various ways to use MIDI with your Nano Cortex, including sending and receiving MIDI messages, configuring footswitches, and using MIDI with your DAW.

neuraldsp.com

Still though, no mention at all about controlling effect "parameters" using MIDI CC.
But you can turn the effects on and off with the buttons on the Nano.

So according to this you can bypass FX with an expression pedal, but not with foot switches? I guess that’s ….. something.

 

[laxu]

So according to this you can bypass FX with an expression pedal, but not with foot switches? I guess that’s ….. something.

Good catch. This makes the lack of MIDI CCs to toggle fx slots even more baffling.

I stand by my "beta software" statement.

 

[mbenigni]

But you can turn the effects on and off with the buttons on the Nano.

As far as I can tell, this is misleading. It looks like you can turn effects on and off via Expr In, and perhaps MIDI - but not with the buttons on the Nano. Do you have a page number where it says otherwise?