Neural DSP Quad Cortex Firmware Update Thread

[Whizzinby]

Someone at the other place clarified that the changes in this email are in addition to changes outlined in a previous announcement, including: Victory Kraken, Matchless DC30, Crybaby Clyde McCoy, "redesigned cabsim" (not sure I want this?), etc.

So, more here than I first assumed? (And by "here" I mean "S O O N" LOL.)

Haha, yeah they mentioned in addition to the April update, but it probably would have better to just have listed everything they’ve revealed to this point for that reason. In isolation it seems like “we’ve waited for this?” but when you combine the two dev updates it look a lot more in line with a proper 0.X update. The only whinge point then becomes “why does it take 6-7 months to drop updates that actually add anything?”

 

[Sleezy E]

Haha, yeah they mentioned in addition to the April update, but it probably would have better to just have listed everything they’ve revealed to this point for that reason. In isolation it seems like “we’ve waited for this?” but when you combine the two dev updates it look a lot more in line with a proper 0.X update. The only whinge point then becomes “why does it take 6-7 months to drop updates that actually add anything?”

[Xzibit]Yo dawg, I heard you like updates[/Xzibit]

 

[Elric]

Back in the old days the entire life span of a modeler was like 4 years.

And then people realized they could charge 2 grand for one. I think in the Full Helix/Helix Rack, KPA, QC, Axe III price range there is an expectation that the device will have some legs. Not everything in technology necessarily follows Moore's Law.

FWIW, the 2.1 update and public beta sounds pretty promising for existing users. The public beta for the editor seems like a really good idea.

I was kind of surprised they even dared say anything about the plug-ins; so given that their first priority of their Mac updates is clearly also moving forward, I took that as good news. Hopefully once they get a one or two done they will have a viable porting method and they will get a domino effect happening.

I don't care much about the plugs on the QC over much, though.

 

[GTR37]

Today I believe they have announced a new volume block
So you can use a separate volume pedal

 

[GTR37]

Cortex Control in the coming months? WTF?

Are they just having their marketing guys learn to code rather than hire developers?

I believe the term being used is later in the year , which I would think is most likely fall for the editor

 

[laxu]

NeuralDSP really would be better off maintaining radio silence and just dropping new firmware update when ready. I don't see why they need to do a "not yet in beta testing" update post, especially when the upcoming update's feature set is nothing to write home about.

If they have to have a monthly update, they could have simply said that they are working on the next firmware, the editor and porting plugins without going to any more detail than that.

 

[Lysander]

NeuralDSP really would be better off maintaining radio silence and just dropping new firmware update when ready. I don't see why they need to do a "not yet in beta testing" update post, especially when the upcoming update's feature set is nothing to write home about.

They would, but cannot. Overhyping everything to infinity seems to be ingrained in that company's DNA.

It's weird how they keep announcing individual plug-ins being ported to Apple silicon these days, like it's a major milestone. Not that porting happens without effort - but, guys, the platform was introduced in 2020.

 

[James Freeman]

I still don't understand why people choose the QC over a Helix Floor, what is the main thing that make people go "THIS feature was totally worth the lack of everything else".

 

[laxu]

I still don't understand why people choose the QC over a Helix Floor, what is the main thing that make people go "THIS feature was totally worth the lack of everything else".

Heavy marketing from NeuralDSP. If you read the QC product page alone, that makes it look a helluva lot better than most things on the market. On top of that NDSP does a lot of Instagram etc marketing.

I mean let's compare just the product pages of the competition:

• Kemper's product pages look pretty decent, but it's hard to understand the full feature set of the product because it's spread out all around the site and they quickly throw a lot of new terms at you.
• Line6's product pages look a bit crap and the "Explore features" section is just plain bad design. Clicking anything gives you a few line overview of the feature and nothing else. It's just annoying to try to read when you have to click each of those things individually and get very little extra info when you do so.
• Fractal's marketing is not good. They compare the Axe-Fx 3 exclusively to their past products and the first feature is "Dynamic color display" talking about a "large 800x480 color display". I mean your phone hasn't had that low res in like a decade. The FM3/FM9 pages are a bit better but overall don't really have the kind of modern look to them to make you excited about buying a Fractal product. Then at the end there's these warning type signs telling about US/Canada vs international purchases which can be offputting to the user instead of just "purchase in US/Canada" and "purchase from global vendors" buttons or something.

By comparison NeuralDSP's product page does a pretty decent job of highlighting the benefits and capabilities of the unit, even if it's not the full story. But that's marketing for you. I think their past version of it was much better than the current one though.

Most people aren't like us where we visit a bunch of forums etc to find the nitty gritty details and recommendations. Instead they see a Quad Cortex on FB, Instagram or YT, get interested, visit Neural's website and then buy it from a local dealer. And they'll probably be pretty happy with it because they don't know of the others or their differences.

 

[Lysander]

I still don't understand why people choose the QC over a Helix Floor, what is the main thing that make people go "THIS feature was totally worth the lack of everything else".

The QC has some nice features. The form factor is excellent (footswitches could use a bit more spacing though), and the ability to create and run multiple captures on a single device is something that no other flagship does to this day. It sounds pretty good too.

But, yeah. From a pure bang-for-your-buck standpoint, the QC should be hard sell. It's just that marketing... works.

 

[James Freeman]

Most people aren't like us where we visit a bunch of forums etc to find the nitty gritty details and recommendations.

I agree with everything except this.

Most people will google "X vs Y" and the vast majority of results are forums... and Reddit.
Reddit might be even more popular than forums these days for 'opinions'.

 

[Lysander]

Most people will google "X vs Y" and the vast majority of results are forums... and Reddit.
Reddit might be even more popular than forums these days for 'opinions'.

YouTube is apparently the most common destination for product review searches these days. To the point that Google is adding a shopping feature directly into the platform.

 

[DrewJD82]

NeuralDSP really would be better off maintaining radio silence and just dropping new firmware update when ready. I don't see why they need to do a "not yet in beta testing" update post, especially when the upcoming update's feature set is nothing to write home about.

If they have to have a monthly update, they could have simply said that they are working on the next firmware, the editor and porting plugins without going to any more detail than that.

I saw this morning that someone made a post on an unofficial FB group asking about the dev update yesterday, it filled up with some not-so-nice comments towards NDSP and an hour later the dev update was posted by NDSP. Totally possible they’re unrelated and it was coincidental, but might also explain why they didn’t write out the full list of things being worked on from the previous dev update if they were in a “Oh sh*t, we forgot to post that, quick, post it up” situation.

 

[Lysander]

I saw this morning that someone made a post on an unofficial FB group asking about the dev update yesterday, it filled up with some not-so-nice comments towards NDSP and an hour later the dev update was posted by NDSP.

Oh, it happens a lot with NDSP communications, particularly over "official" channels. I've seen Discord and forums posts getting deleted for no good reason, and multiple times too.

 

[Whizzinby]

And then people realized they could charge 2 grand for one. I think in the Full Helix/Helix Rack, KPA, QC, Axe III price range there is an expectation that the device will have some legs. Not everything in technology necessarily follows Moore's Law.

FWIW, the 2.1 update and public beta sounds pretty promising for existing users. The public beta for the editor seems like a really good idea.

I was kind of surprised they even dared say anything about the plug-ins; so given that their first priority of their Mac updates is clearly also moving forward, I took that as good news. Hopefully once they get a one or two done they will have a viable porting method and they will get a domino effect happening.

I don't care much about the plugs on the QC over much, though.

I agree 2.1 looks pretty solid to me, and at the risk of saying too many positive things in one post, their native plug-in updates have been dropping at a good consistent clip the last couple months. I’m really pleased with the pace of updates on that front. (Or maybe it’s just because they’ve gotten to plugs I use a lot )

 

[Whizzinby]

NeuralDSP really would be better off maintaining radio silence and just dropping new firmware update when ready.

They started the monthly dev updates (again) after people got pissed they were being radio silent while so many promised features had not been delivered.

 

[mbenigni]

I still don't understand why people choose the QC over a Helix Floor, what is the main thing that make people go "THIS feature was totally worth the lack of everything else".

For the record, I never pored over any marketing materials for QC. I ordered it, made my own judgement, and kept it. It's no great mystery why - the reasons have been cited a million times - but the question keeps popping up as if it were rhetorical.

Non-rhetorical answers:

1. Between the captures, the models, and the cab sims, I personally think the QC sounds better than Helix or Kemper. (100% subjective and non-scientific, but a major contributor.)

2. Versus any other device with a comparable set of features, the QC has a much better form factor for my purposes (i.e. not on a massive stage every night.) 100% objective, measurable in pounds, inches, or metric if that's your bag.

3. The touchscreen, encoders, and UI overall are easier to use than the next most attractive option (Helix.) I guess this is subjective since a lot of people like to nitpick about the QC UI. But I have QC and Helix products side by side, and I much prefer working with QC. To what extent this even matters will vary from customer to customer, but an intuitive UI is a big deal to me, personally. (Ergo however many months of my bitching about wack-a-mole capture menus before that was resolved. By far my biggest complaint from the onset, now resolved.)

4. Last but not least: this "lack of everything else". I think this has been substantially overstated right from the off. Totally a YMMV thing (i.e. depending on your need for very specific modulation and delay effects?) but I almost never find myself wanting for anything on my QC that isn't already there. (Exceptions are small and obscure, e.g. see above re: volume pedal curvatures.) Desktop editor? It sucks that they broke their promise, but I neither want nor need one. "Plugin support?" So I can get nickeled and dimed whenever NDSP drops a new variation on an effect? Thanks but no thanks. (If NDSP ever actually makes this happen, you'll start to see lightbulbs finally going on over people's heads - the very same people who clamored for plugin support - when they realize they've been begging for the opportunity to be upsold into $3K QC's.)

If any of this is unclear... well, I'm as bored as you are. Ask again and I'll answer again. As of this date and time, QC is still the unit I'd buy if I had to do it over again.

 

[Gearzilla]

the very same people who clamored for plugin support

Already had plugins before the QC was released. However it’s moot at this point because with 100% certainty I’d never purchase a QC going forward.

 

[mbenigni]

Already had plugins before the QC was released. However it’s moot at this point because with 100% certainty I’d never purchase a QC going forward.

Making the "plugin support" promise was always going to be a double-edged sword. For people who owned plugins, the QC could only provide the value advertised if and when that feature was delivered. For people that didn't own plugins, that feature would essentially present a paywall.

For future plugins, it's a paywall across the board. The interpretation of "plugin support" as "porting of discrete plugin models and presets to QC" is a bit of a fudge anyway, since it's never guaranteed to keep up with ongoing plugin development in any timely way.

 

[Whizzinby]

For the record, I never pored over any marketing materials for QC. I ordered it, made my own judgement, and kept it. It's no great mystery why - the reasons have been cited a million times - but the question keeps popping up as if it were rhetorical.

Non-rhetorical answers:

1. Between the captures, the models, and the cab sims, I personally think the QC sounds better than Helix or Kemper. (100% subjective and non-scientific, but a major contributor.)

2. Versus any other device with a comparable set of features, the QC has a much better form factor for my purposes (i.e. not on a massive stage every night.) 100% objective, measurable in pounds, inches, or metric if that's your bag.

3. The touchscreen, encoders, and UI overall are easier to use than the next most attractive option (Helix.) I guess this is subjective since a lot of people like to nitpick about the QC UI. But I have QC and Helix products side by side, and I much prefer working with QC. To what extent this even matters will vary from customer to customer, but an intuitive UI is a big deal to me, personally. (Ergo however many months of my bitching about wack-a-mole capture menus before that was resolved. By far my biggest complaint from the onset, now resolved.)

4. Last but not least: this "lack of everything else". I think this has been substantially overstated right from the off. Totally a YMMV thing (i.e. depending on your need for very specific modulation and delay effects?) but I almost never find myself wanting for anything on my QC that isn't already there. (Exceptions are small and obscure, e.g. see above re: volume pedal curvatures.) Desktop editor? It sucks that they broke their promise, but I neither want nor need one. "Plugin support?" So I can get nickeled and dimed whenever NDSP drops a new variation on an effect? Thanks but no thanks. (If NDSP ever actually makes this happen, you'll start to see lightbulbs finally going on over people's heads - the very same people who clamored for plugin support - when they realize they've been begging for the opportunity to be upsold into $3K QC's.)

If any of this is unclear... well, I'm as bored as you are. Ask again and I'll answer again. As of this date and time, QC is still the unit I'd buy if I had to do it over again.

I largely agree with you. I found the device to be pretty cool despite the POS nature of the company. I will say though that given the slow pace of updates I found myself too many times sorta bored with it. This is probably because I never leaned into the capture aspect of it, but it was really slow going getting new content in the thing (and still is) so if the appeal of the device is the endless ability to dick around with the history amps and effects, I found I was more like “well, I have my handful of presets and there is nothing left to discover”. I spent a crazy amount of time using the AC15 (fantastic model btw) I think for no other reason than it being “new”, even though they had a pretty good AC30 on it since launch. Consistent streams of new content is important for that reason imo. (Until they get to a Fractal level of amps/effects)

I’ve toyed with the idea of buying it again at times, for many of the reasons you mentioned, but hesitate when I realize in the close to a year I haven’t had it, they’ve released ONE new amp. I fear I’d be right back at the “poke it with a stick to check for life” territory. It’s really crazy when you consider how infrequent their content updates are on the thing.

2.1 looks cool though, and I suspect Cortex Control will be the on-ramp for the plugs. (But a staggered release of the plugs seems like it could be a slog) Always a glass half full - half empty scenario with the QC for me.