Quad Cortex Mini

[DrewJD82]

I mean, of course the folks that already own a QC product are gonna yell "give me more free stuff". Your "customer base" assumes its people that are going to be buying stuff from you moving forward. Which...kind of auto excludes people that are asking for you to add free stuff to the thing they bought, but don't have interest in buying other stuff from you.

So "listen to their customer base" seems like it necessarily means "listening to folks that are looking for something in the modeling space that the market isn't yet providing" regardless of what sticker they currently have in their rear windshield.

I mean, considering how many VP4’s and AM4’s were sold to existing Fractal customers on this forum alone, it’s a fairly safe assumption to have. How many Stadiums just got sold to existing Helix owners? I’m lost as to why this is an oddity.

My entire customer-facing working life has been focused on getting return/repeat happy customers, it’s hard for me to see doing business as anything else but that.

 

[MirrorProfiles]

If Fractal or Line 6 released a Stadium unit somewhat like this I’d be all over it. Not sure what NDSP’s reverb variety is like these days, but generally speaking I like their reverbs better than L6. I’m still not totally sold on Agoura modelling (yet, and hoping that changes), so as it stands this is a more appealing product for me. I’m not too fussed about capture tech, but we know NDSP’s is now at a place where it performs well (L6 may well overtake but that’s still to come).

Line 6 could swing that around depending on what they release going forwards and how the Agoura stuff pans out. Fractal almost have a free pass from me - I’d chuck £2000 at something like this if it had really solid plugin integration (even if it’s just control/recall stuff).

Not completely sure on the form factor, I’d still rather something rack-mountable if there is enough I/O. The fact this can play nicely with the bigger unit is quite nice though

 

[Boudoir Guitar]

I mean, considering how many VP4’s and AM4’s were sold to existing Fractal customers on this forum alone, it’s a fairly safe assumption to have. How many Stadiums just got sold to existing Helix owners? I’m lost as to why this is an oddity.

Because your argument is "instead of building a new product that can expand their customer base they should just give free stuff to folks that were dumb enough to buy a product that wasn't what they wanted"?

 

[sashimi]

See it? We lived it

 

[mbenigni]

It's just odd because with that particular layout you'll likely want a MIDI controller and then you're right back at the price and size of a QC.

Yeah, but it's a sensible solution for someone who wanted the QC on the desktop and already had a MIDI controller on the floor. This arguably eliminates some redundancy.

On the other hand...

One major attraction of having the QC on the desk was all the encoders, and the QCM removes most of them. Yes, the touchscreen is fine 90% of the time, but still.

I'm looking at it and trying to find its pros and cons vs. full-fat QC. The price difference is pretty slim as we've noted, so I don't think people are going to tolerate much in the way of cons.

Pros:
-smaller, lighter
-better ergonomics for touchscreen-heavy use on desktop
-USB-C. I hate USB-B connectors.
-$400 cheaper, which isn't nothing, I guess. I sometimes forget how expensive the OG QC has gotten. Hopefully street price on the QCM will come down a little.

Cons:
-Fewer encoders. I'll be curious to see how 4.0 optimizes for the encoder placement.
-Input 1 is now 1/4" - no longer a combo jack. Probably fine since 99% of us are running at least one guitar into the thing.
-Input 2 is on the side. Ew, but I get it.
-MIDI is now on 1/8". I get it, but ew. I've got wireless MIDI dongles that pull power from the QC 5-pin.
-Send and return are ganged to stereo pairs. Again, I get it, but ew.
-Send and return are curiously distant from one another. Minor, but I'll be reaching for my reading glasses Every. Damn. Time.

Unknown:
-Maybe it will draw less current? I'd love to do a tiny QCM board with battery power, if I could use a lighter battery than the beast I use with my "live" QC.

 

[mbenigni]

lets gooooooooooooooooooooooooo



View attachment 58156

 

[DrewJD82]

Because your argument is "instead of building a new product that can expand their customer base they should just give free stuff to folks that were dumb enough to buy a product that wasn't what they wanted"?

Oh dude, I don’t do the “Let me spin what you said into something it wasn’t” thing. I never said anything about people buying a product they didn’t want, that kind of “debate” disgusts me.

 

[mbenigni]

I guess their next product will be a version with 3 switches for 1099.

My Magic 8 Ball says their next product will be this product for 1099.

 

[sleewell]

in this thread we are going to convince everyone to love NDSP and buy a QC product



hahahahahaha

 

[Boudoir Guitar]

I'm looking at it and trying to find its pros and cons vs. full-fat QC.

Pros:
-smaller, lighter

I don't see what's so hard to figure out? You can literally put this in your pocket. Not the front pocket of your gig bag. Your pocket. (granted, it's better if its coat pocket, and it might not fit ALL pockets...but still). It's the difference between having a laptop to carry around and having a phone. One requires preparation, the other...very little.

Yeah, you need to either have a power supply at the destination or carry a power supply with you, but still...the size alone is (wait for it) kind of a game changer.

We can get Laxu in here to critique the UI all day long, nitpick IO decisions, joke about stepping on a phone, etc., but the only real story to be told is "pocket sized; full powered".

Some will find the price absurd; others won't care.

 

[mbenigni]

be funny to see someone mount one in a guitar lol

Don't give me any ideas too late...

 

[yeky83]

in this thread we are going to convince everyone to love NDSP and buy a QC product



hahahahahaha

Why not not both?

 

[paisleywookiee]

I don't see what's so hard to figure out? You can literally put this in your pocket. Not the front pocket of your gig bag. Your pocket. (granted, it's better if its coat pocket, and it might not fit ALL pockets...but still). It's the difference between having a laptop to carry around and having a phone. One requires preparation, the other...very little.

Yeah, you need to either have a power supply at the destination or carry a power supply with you, but still...the size alone is (wait for it) kind of a game changer.

We can get Laxu in here to critique the UI all day long, nitpick IO decisions, joke about stepping on a phone, etc., but the only real story to be told is "pocket sized; full powered".

Some will find the price absurd; others won't care.

I don't know if this will work out for me then.

 

[JiveTurkey]

I don't know if this will work out for me then.

View attachment 58169

DON'T YOU WEAR THOSE AT THE STORE!

 

[paisleywookiee]

DON'T YOU WEAR THOSE AT THE STORE!

Yeah, but mine have the shop logo all over them. You know. Company pride and all.

 

[mbenigni]

I don't see what's so hard to figure out? You can literally put this in your pocket. Not the front pocket of your gig bag. Your pocket. (granted, it's better if its coat pocket, and it might not fit ALL pockets...but still). It's the difference between having a laptop to carry around and having a phone. One requires preparation, the other...very little.

Yeah, you need to either have a power supply at the destination or carry a power supply with you, but still...the size alone is (wait for it) kind of a game changer.

We can get Laxu in here to critique the UI all day long, nitpick IO decisions, joke about stepping on a phone, etc., but the only real story to be told is "pocket sized; full powered".

Some will find the price absurd; others won't care.

Oh, you don't have to convince me. I'm fighting my "Add to Cart" demons as we speak type.

The "trouble", if you want to call it that, is that the OG is already so damned compact, and it's a superior UX in several ways, and I already own two of them. (Maybe I'm not the target demographic LOL.)

P.S. You have huge pockets.

 

[JiveTurkey]

Oh, you don't have to convince me. I'm fighting my "Add to Cart" demons as we speak type.

The "trouble", if you want to call it that, is that the OG is already so damned compact, and it's a superior UX in several ways, and I already own two of them. (Maybe I'm not the target demographic LOL.)

P.S. You have huge pockets.

The BAZILLION dollar question.

How (easily) controllable is the QC via MIDI?

 

[Boudoir Guitar]

Oh, you don't have to convince me. I'm fighting my "Add to Cart" demons as we speak type.

The "trouble", if you want to call it that, is that the OG is already so damned compact, and it's a superior UX in several ways, and I already own two of them. (Maybe I'm not the target demographic LOL.)

P.S. You have huge pockets.

 

[JiveTurkey]

in this thread we are going to convince everyone to love NDSP and buy a QC product



hahahahahaha

Buy the product? Maybe. Keep the product? Maybe. Love NDSP?

 

[mbenigni]

The BAZILLION dollar question.

How (easily) controllable is the QC via MIDI?

This is SUCH a loaded question.

I would take a different tack: describe exactly what you need to do, and what MIDI controller you would prefer to do it with. Then we can have a conversation.

That's one answer. The other answer is: I find it very easy, because I make a point of keeping things very simple.