Quad Cortex Mini

[Dez]

I know nothing about the Quad Cortex or Neural DSP except they make like... plugins you can use on your computer for recording and then the modeler stuff and the QC for live use?

I've been kind of interested in some of their plugins. But I don't want to use my laptop at all. Can the Quad Cortex and this new Mini run their plugins/profiles without the use a computer? Like when I see videos of their Granophyre or Archetype or Fortin plugins, the actual Quad Cortex or Mini can run those and I have full access to the plugin features?

And can I run these devices right into a power amp and get a live sound?

The Quad Cortex and the QC mini both run plugins that have been made compatible, their plugins will have “PCOM compatible” tagged on their site if they’ve been ported over: https://neuraldsp.com/plugins?g_acc...MIhei2ucShkgMVBF1HAR0duzr8EAAYASABEgJVlfD_BwE

You can run the QC into a power amp and get your live sound!

 

[dws2384]

Many touring acts had full size QC’s in rack drawers and many more users have them sitting on desks. In both instances the footswitches of the QC are just extra size and weight. To me this is just “Rack Cortex” akin to what the Axe FX is for Neural. Full power of their flagship bit in a studio/rack format. I say ‘rack’ as 4 of these can fit in a single rack drawer and I’m not sure the traditional rack format is more useful or a better design than this in 2026. It also is great for users who want it for a desktop/studio use only.

tldr - Quad Cortex ideal for live, Mini Cortex ideal for Studio (or live with a rack setup)

 

[Sascha Franck]

Quad Cortex ideal for live, Mini Cortex ideal for Studio

I would *vastly* prefer the QC for studio usage. Said so before: simply because more encoders allow for faster editing.

 

[Dez]

I would *vastly* prefer the QC for studio usage. Said so before: simply because more encoders allow for faster editing.

 

[dws2384]

I would *vastly* prefer the QC for studio usage. Said so before: simply because more encoders allow for faster editing.

Fair enough. I don’t even touch the thing for that use. Prefer using cortex control personally.

I did forget a major use case for this….pedalboards. I just played around with it on pedal playground and I could see this thing going on board for me and just replacing my verb and delay in a traditional setup while also allowing me to go direct if I wanted, practice with headphones, add a looper, etc etc.

Here it is in context to some common pedal sizes

 

[Los-D]

From my experience working at a company that does SW and dedicated HW with embedded SW I can totally understand the choices they made on the QC Mini. To me it all aligns with them trying to catch up on the SW development side but having to do more than just SW as well.

Their industrial designers have gotten to do work (instead of laid off), the SW dev items have been kept to a minimum to just support the new HW (form factor and amount of switches) but will now not interfere much with their (probably gargantuan) backlog of development tasks they have in front of them still. The company also stays relevant and gets buzz since they are releasing (and selling out) a new HW product so marketing and sales depts gets to shine. And also there’s a bunch of people getting a shiny new modeler and being happy about that as well.

Of course it’s not what everyone wanted and the price point is a bit puzzling, but this all makes perfect sense to me. And as @Whizzinby has stated they didn’t dumb down anything so it’s still full featured so is bedroom guitarists aren’t missing out on anything.

Great take! And I say this as someone who’s probably never gonna buy the QC Mini (though I am likely not the target audience either).

 

[Dez]

https://www.pedalboardplanner.com/ Has a rendering for the mini already

 

[TubeStack]

I think it looks super cool. If I were to use it, I'd want to supplement the effects with HX or Fractal, as while they were definitely usable when I had the QC, I did miss HX and/or Fractal delays. Can't remember if I liked the Uni-Vibe or not. QC effects in general were not at HX/Fractal level but were good for the basics. I also loved being able to capture my two favourite drives with the QC, both of which were not modeled anywhere at the time (MXR CBMOD and Keeley Fuzz Head, the former of which is now modeled by Fractal).

All that being said, I'd probably go AM4 these days, as I just love my VP4. Still all-in on my Mk VII, though.

 

[Progressive_disclosure]

I think it looks super cool. If I were to use it, I'd want to supplement the effects with HX or Fractal, as while they were definitely usable when I had the QC, I did miss HX and/or Fractal delays. Can't remember if I liked the Uni-Vibe or not. QC effects in general were not at HX/Fractal level but were good for the basics. I also loved being able to capture my two favourite drives with the QC, both of which were not modeled anywhere at the time (MXR CBMOD and Keeley Fuzz Head, the former of which is now modeled by Fractal).

All that being said, I'd probably go AM4 these days, as I just love my VP4. Still all-in on my Mk VII, though.

I’m also interested but I think I’ll go ahead and keep waiting for an AM4. It gets extra dicey with the EU pricing of Fractal stuff but the QC Mini costing so much makes it just too expensive for me.

I also feel like if I don’t get my hands on a Fractal modeler and try it out myself I’ll always wonder about it. I can (and have) tried the QC in stores.

 

[Orvillain]

I think it looks super cool. If I were to use it, I'd want to supplement the effects with HX or Fractal, as while they were definitely usable when I had the QC, I did miss HX and/or Fractal delays. Can't remember if I liked the Uni-Vibe or not. QC effects in general were not at HX/Fractal level but were good for the basics. I also loved being able to capture my two favourite drives with the QC, both of which were not modeled anywhere at the time (MXR CBMOD and Keeley Fuzz Head, the former of which is now modeled by Fractal).

All that being said, I'd probably go AM4 these days, as I just love my VP4. Still all-in on my Mk VII, though.

TBH, I think the reverbs on QC are a lot better than the reverbs on HX.

 

[Chocol8]

https://www.pedalboardplanner.com/ Has a rendering for the mini already

Fucking enablers!

 

[Progressive_disclosure]

https://www.pedalboardplanner.com/ Has a rendering for the mini already

I made a custom pedal there yesterday to see the size. Have a json saved on my work computer for emergency gear planning!

 

[Orvillain]

json

 

[Progressive_disclosure]

Ah fuck, I mixed up pedalboardplanner with pedalplayground. Still no image there.

 

[Dez]

Ah fuck, I mixed up pedalboardplanner with pedalplayground. Still no image there.

Pedalplayground > pedalboardplanner

 

[Progressive_disclosure]

I’m guessing I have the same look in my eyes after another week of work.

 

[Dez]

I’m guessing I have the same look in my eyes after another week of work.

My look whenever I'm in meetings that could have been emails

 

[dws2384]

TBH, I think the reverbs on QC are a lot better than the reverbs on HX.

The effects in version 1.XX releases were meh.

Everything after that including most of the plugin effects are excellent and I wouldn’t feel them lacking vs competition.

The effects released recently are extremely good and on par with anyone else.

I tried out the newest verbs against my bigSky MX and I’m questioning whether to keep the MX or not anymore.

 

[Blix]

Plini is happy, and check out what he says about his main lead tone in the comments.

 

[Dez]

The effects in version 1.XX releases were meh.

Everything after that including most of the plugin effects are excellent and I wouldn’t feel them lacking vs competition. The effects released recently are extremely good and on par with anyone else.

I tried out the newest verbs against my bigSky MX and I’m questioning whether to keep the MX or not anymore.

In 2025 I had a QC, a Helix rack, a Tonex pedal and a VP4 all at various times. I found the quality of effects that I cared about (drives, chorus, reverb, delay, cab/IR) to be neck and neck with the QC and VP4, but the VP4 has more variety and deeper parameter editing so technically it wins there. With HX I was happy with 2 chorus blocks and their delays - not so much with their drives and reverbs. Tonex effects weren't anything to write home about. I haven't ever heard a FAS amp model in person, so I can't speak to that piece, but the QC has the best amp tones that I have experienced out of a modeler.