Quad Cortex Mini

[Jarick]

I share a lot of Drew’s negativity towards NDSP for the same reasons but I think for as bad as the QC launch and development has been the Mini launch as been pretty smooth. They seemed to fix a few of the biggest hardware gripes I had with the device.

 

[paisleywookiee]

I think given NDSP's overall track record, there's nothing wrong with buying their hardware, if it does what you want it to do, today. If there are promised features that sound cool, all the better when they arrive.

 

[Chocol8]

My belief is that NDSP had 2 major issues...

1) They were a software company and didn't know how much they didn't know about making hardware. They got WAY in over their heads and had a lot of digging to do to dig themselves out as they learned along the way.

2) They ran into significant financial trouble. This meant they didn't have the resources to fix problems and deliver on past promises nearly fast enough.

To make the problems worse, they were horrible communicators and did themselves no favors there.

That said, the problems with NDSP are not necessarily still problems. They have three hardware devices under their belt with a lot of lessons learned. Their stuff is selling well and it looks like the lean years where they were teetering on the edge of going under are well behind them. Yes, it's the same poor communicators but even there they seem to have learned.

My point... I think it's perfectly reasonable to cut them some slack on the 4.5 years of being a shitty company and consider that they might be a much different and much better company going forward. I think there are a whole lot of us on this forum who are better people now than we were at some time in the past. People can learn and improve and so can businesses, which are really just a collection of people.

 

[Orvillain]

Dude I’m so not rehashing all that shit, especially when you wrote it out in your own post for me. They’re not dealbreakers for you, they are for me. Those actions can’t even exist in the profession I’m in, but it’d be humorous to see a tenant take ownership of a space and we’re like “Oh we’ll get your doorknobs soon” and then spend 5 years installing them while they see us finishing other tenant spaces.

 

[DrewJD82]

Like, ultimately.... current opinions are not invalid because of past issues. That's where I draw the line really. If my wife accidentally kicks me in the bollocks during a game of Twister whilst snorting snakebites off the floor.. that's not gonna really change how much I love her when she hands me a big juicy steak.

Is that a good metaphor? I don't know anymore.

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”

 

[JiveTurkey]

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”

Print it on a circuit board

 

[Orvillain]

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”

Fuckin' Schindler's Fist over here. Jesus.

 

[MirrorProfiles]

Unless.......one thinks they sound mediocre.

I mean, you can think what you want but:

- they’ve been shown time and time again to at worst sound indistinguishable to other leading modelling platforms (and I’d say they sound better than the vast majority). I just don’t buy that they sound bad or that their approach produces bad results.

- Individual opinions don’t mean much when they’re selling them by the bucketload and totally meeting or exceeding customer expectations. Regardless of your own views of them, they are the products that Line 6, Mixwave, Nembrini, Wavemind and countless others are trying to base their own products on.

 

[JiveTurkey]

I’m actually curious about that too. I was around back then but don’t remember reading about anyone opening one up.

This was a definite "talking point" between Donald and myself. More times than I care to count

 

[GTR37]

View attachment 62220

I have

I still have one of the OG headphoneless models

I'd call that fairly fucked. A batch of 1000 units (just to pull a number out of my ass) missing the headphone jack is a collosal fucking mistake that should never have happened, in all honesty. I'm sure Cliff was absolutely raging at the dumb fuck who made that mistake.

Offering them anyway is a way to ensure you recoup the cost of BOM. Whether that is an ethical way of dealing with it or not, that's in the eye of the beholder.

A lot of other companies who did a similar mistake would recall the units, or otherwise ensure that the end user never experienced the issue.

Between the two... I'm picking waiting 5 years to be able to load a plugin, versus a hardware problem that AS A USER I CAN NEVER FUCKING FIX!

Technically you can fix it the NDSP way by adding a and additional headphone amp to your board

I know too soon

 

[paisleywookiee]

I mean, you can think what you want but:

- they’ve been shown time and time again to at worst sound indistinguishable to other leading modelling platforms (and I’d say they sound better than the vast majority). I just don’t buy that they sound bad or that their approach produces bad results.

- Individual opinions don’t mean much when they’re selling them by the bucketload and totally meeting or exceeding customer expectations. Regardless of your own views of them, they are the products that Line 6, Mixwave, Nembrini, Wavemind and countless others are trying to base their own products on.

I mean, Britney Spears sold a lot of albums. Doesn't mean she's got a great singing voice.

 

[MirrorProfiles]

I mean, Britney Spears sold a lot of albums. Doesn't mean she's got a great singing voice.

No, but I wouldn’t argue that she isn’t one of the best pop stars of a generation. Not really sure her success is down to whether her singing voice is great or not.

I think saying the NDSP don’t sound good is a tough argument - I’d say it’s undeniable that the plugins are good. Not liking the company or their marketing etc is valid, but pointless.

 

[paisleywookiee]

No, but I wouldn’t argue that she isn’t one of the best pop stars of a generation. Not really sure her success is down to whether her singing voice is great or not.

I think saying the NDSP don’t sound good is a tough argument - I’d say it’s undeniable that the plugins are good. Not liking the company or their marketing etc is valid, but pointless.

Nothing to do with the latter. I bought Nolly on sale, and I don't find any of it really usable. I've tried several others. I'm glad others enjoy them, but I don't think they're the be-all/end-all. Great marketing though.

 

[Orvillain]

Nothing to do with the latter. I bought Nolly on sale, and I don't find any of it really usable. I've tried several others. I'm glad others enjoy them, but I don't think they're the be-all/end-all. Great marketing though.

Did you ever try Nameless? If that one doesn't tickle your pickle, then in the words of Dylan from Predator... ARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

 

[paisleywookiee]

Did you ever try Nameless? If that one doesn't tickle your pickle, then in the words of Dylan from Predator... ARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

No. I gave up after Nolly, Plini, SLO, Morgan, and Mark IIC+.

 

[GTR37]

No. I gave up after Nolly, Plini, SLO, Morgan, and Mark IIC+.

The SLO I honestly thought was their best one IMO that I tried
Although many rave about Mayer and the Misha now

 

[paisleywookiee]

The SLO I honestly thought was their best one IMO that I tried
Although many rave about Mayer and the Misha now

I thought it was terrible, compared to FAS. I was pretty bummed out. I'd definitely give the QCM a shot, if they modeling were better. To me, they excel as capture+effects boxes, and not so much amp modeler+effects.