Quad Cortex Mini
- Thread starter Mongillo19
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paisleywookiee
Goatlord
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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
Rock Star
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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.
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.
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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.
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JiveTurkey
Goatlord
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Fuckin' Schindler's Fist over here. Jesus.
MirrorProfiles
Rock Star
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I mean, you can think what you want but:Unless.......one thinks they sound mediocre.
- 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
Goatlord
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This was a definite "talking point" between Donald and myself. More times than I care to count
GTR37
Rock Star
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I still have one of the OG headphoneless models
Technically you can fix it the NDSP way by adding a and additional headphone amp to your board
I know too soon
paisleywookiee
Goatlord
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I mean, Britney Spears sold a lot of albums. Doesn't mean she's got a great singing voice.
MirrorProfiles
Rock Star
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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 mean, Britney Spears sold a lot of albums. Doesn't mean she's got a great singing voice.
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
Goatlord
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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.
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Did you ever try Nameless? If that one doesn't tickle your pickle, then in the words of Dylan from Predator... ARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!
paisleywookiee
Goatlord
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No. I gave up after Nolly, Plini, SLO, Morgan, and Mark IIC+.Did you ever try Nameless? If that one doesn't tickle your pickle, then in the words of Dylan from Predator... ARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!
GTR37
Rock Star
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The SLO I honestly thought was their best one IMO that I tried
Although many rave about Mayer and the Misha now
paisleywookiee
Goatlord
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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.
Desertdweller
Shredder
- Messages
- 1,798
Part of it could be that I jumped in the deep end and immediately started building presets from scratch. It’s possible it’s more intuitive when you start with a build preset with scenes and effects laid out already.Undiagnosed adult ADHD and 297 page manuals aren't big friends
The most "concerning" observation from @Desertdweller for me was the less responsive screen and the Nano being more intuitive? I look at that thing and it just feels like everything that should be good on the QC gets removed and put on my phone. Not a big fan of that approach, no matter the manufacturer. Boomer confirmed
The screen was a little less responsive at first, but I think I’ve adapted in a couple days with it. It’s fine to me now. I setup the expression pedal with no problem. There’s a bit of menu diving and “swipe down from the top of the screen” type weirdness that the NC does not have in the phone app, but at the same time I prefer the on-device experience to a phone app anyway. Take that post of mine as the first impression, but I’m beginning to gel with the device, it’s pretty cool.
MirrorProfiles
Rock Star
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I mean, there are enough videos out there of NDSP models sounding indistinguishable to both the real amps they are based on and various Fractal models. Their tech is known to be good, and a front runner in machine learning based amp sims.
If there is that much of a difference between Fractal and NDSP’s amp modelling to you, I can only imagine it’s either down to your gear or how you’re using it. I’d say the same about any other top tier modelling platform, they tend to have more overlap than not.
I know you won’t like me suggesting that you may be doing something wrong, but your experience is just a total 180° to countless examples out there of the amps sounding extremely realistic AND at least on par with Fractals modelling.
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