Quad Cortex plugin support officially goes from "soon" to "eventually"

So basically "set compile target to arm64, fix any problems that occur that prevent build, then fix any issues it might have while running"?
Yeah, I mean, of course theres always some crazy details, but really for us and it seems a lot of companies, the main hurdle was just getting past apple's constant paranoia for things like registration and such, but that's normal no matter what you change
 
I think that is semantics Sascha. If I get the amp, cabs, and effects from a plugin, all in different blocks, then in effect I've got that plugin on my QC.
I think tis more than semantics...like audio assault does something similar to neural, where each plugin is its own ecosystem, while amplitube, helix native and overlouds THx stuff is all pieces inside an overarching single plugin.

And it always trips me out how IK didn't build the Helix first, and still hasn't. I expected by now a QC native, until I realized these separate, incompatible things is what likely keeps them in business
 
For any of us who own a ton of their plugs—and I’m not exactly sure how I ended up with so many since I was pretty offended by their way of doing business, and the culture that emerged around their big product launch on the other website—it’s cool that we’ll get some more of those features from later plug-ins in the ones we already own. But it might be a good idea for anyone who recorded tracks with these to bounce those tracks to audio, just in case the new builds change the sound in any unexpected ways.
 
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Fresh off the presses:


TL;DR: NDSP is prioritizing work on their plugins, i.e. Native Apple Silicon-compatibility, and porting new features to older releases.

"Plugin compatibility requires a lot of work. Embedded systems and architectures differ significantly from x86 processors and consumer computers in general, which means code needs to be ported to ensure optimized performance on the Quad Cortex. Our software teams have prioritized porting our plugins at full speed while only a handful of our team members remain working on new products.

Additionally, only recently have all the plugin formats been made available for development for Native Apple Silicon support. Therefore, the plugins we have already released with Native Apple Silicon support will have to be updated again to support the missing format (AAX), and had we updated all of our existing plugins, they would have to be updated again to include this support, which would have involved a significant time commitment from the development team.

In light of this, we have decided to prioritize making all of our plugins Native Apple Silicon compatible to provide you with an improved experience while we continue to work on bringing the new core features (such as transpose and the doubler) to older plugins and delivering plugin compatibility. A large portion of our development and QA teams will halt work on other projects to expedite this, and we hope to deliver the updates within the next couple of months."

I could well be wrong, but from memory, I thinks its not far off nearly 3 years since their initial "FUD" pre-announcement of the Quad Cortex .... happy to be corrected.

From Day 1 of the QC, they "sold" the plugins as "to be integrated" into the QC as if it were just a matter of weeks or months post initial shipping.

If I were to guess now ..... I actually think they don't give a flying f$$k about this issue anymore ... in their minds, it will or wont come, whenever it does or doesn't come.

It makes you realize just how lucky we are with the customer support and focus of Fractal and Line 6 ... and dare I say, even Kemper.

On a purely personal level, with so many at least equal if not better options available, I cant fathom why anyone would - these days - buy anything from a company that, at least outwardly, treats its customers with such disdain and contempt.

Rant over.

Ben
 
"Plugin compatibility requires a lot of work. Embedded systems and architectures differ significantly from x86 processors and consumer computers in general, which means code needs to be ported to ensure optimized performance on the Quad Cortex. Our software teams have prioritized porting our plugins at full speed while only a handful of our team members remain working on new products."

Never forget!

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Eerily quiet in the owners thread on TheOtherPlace after this news.

ToneX+Pedal ate their lunch.
ToneNET has more content from real people in just 2 months in comparison to QC cloud in 2+ years and the other QC features are half-assed from Helix and barely working.
And the essentially confirmation that plugins are never coming to QC.
In other words, owners starting to quietly question the value of their 2k$ investment.
 
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In all honesty, while I will never ever purchase any product from NDSP, as said, I absolutely don't understand why they don't just put an end to all this.
For a start, be honest and tell your users plugin compatibility wasn't working well and likely isn't ever going to. Yes, plenty of them will get angry (be it for real as they expected this or just on principle because it was promised), but NDSP could sort of easily come up with some compensation, namely an update to a) considerably add all kinds of models (amps and effects), b) feature an editor and local file management and c) improve usability. That'd instantly turn the QC into a very competetive and attractive product. And if they wanted to be really clever, they'd come up with a kind of answer to IKMM, such as in releasing a plugin that'd load your QC captures, obviously free for QC owners. IMO that'd add some considerable value to their ecosystem.
However, all that ongoing "we don't know and have to suspend things - but we're still working on it" while constantly releasing plugins and plugin updates is doing exactly the opposite, users simply feel shafted. And understandably so.
 
In all honesty, while I will never ever purchase any product from NDSP, as said, I absolutely don't understand why they don't just put an end to all this.
For a start, be honest and tell your users plugin compatibility wasn't working well and likely isn't ever going to. Yes, plenty of them will get angry (be it for real as they expected this or just on principle because it was promised), but NDSP could sort of easily come up with some compensation, namely an update to a) considerably add all kinds of models (amps and effects), b) feature an editor and local file management and c) improve usability. That'd instantly turn the QC into a very competetive and attractive product. And if they wanted to be really clever, they'd come up with a kind of answer to IKMM, such as in releasing a plugin that'd load your QC captures, obviously free for QC owners. IMO that'd add some considerable value to their ecosystem.
However, all that ongoing "we don't know and have to suspend things - but we're still working on it" while constantly releasing plugins and plugin updates is doing exactly the opposite, users simply feel shafted. And understandably so.
Maybe there's legal ramifications for this? QC was originally sold with the premise of being able to load the plugin content and even though that has been scrubbed from the product page, plenty of evidence to this exists elsewhere. QC support could have been a factor for both plugin sales and QC sales.

I suppose they could give a free plugin to plugin owners and maybe offer free plugins for QC owners or something as compensation for canceling the feature.

I do think they are genuinely working on it, but the blog post this thread is about clearly shows they don't have the resources to do all of it and need to focus on what is more likely to bring money in and native Apple processor support can be a factor for plugin sales. It can also be the goal they can reach in the shortest amount of time so it's best to get it out of the way.

I don't have an Apple silicon Mac yet so I don't know the ramifications of x86 plugin running on the Rosetta translation layer vs native ARM and what problems that causes for DAW usage.
 
Maybe there's legal ramifications for this? QC was originally sold with the premise of being able to load the plugin content and even though that has been scrubbed from the product page, plenty of evidence to this exists elsewhere. QC support could have been a factor for both plugin sales and QC sales.

There is a (now infamous) thread on TGP from a guy contemplating a lawsuit against NDSP. Most of the comments were trash, but an actual lawyer had a couple interesting takes there. In particular, he noted the main issue is jurisdiction: the QC sells all over the world, through business partnerships.

So yeah, there are potential legal angles regarding false advertisement and manipulation of terms, but it is not clear who would be liable, and for what. NDSP is a Finnish company, where they have relatively sane consumer protection law frameworks, but a lawsuit in, say, the US would likely impact Sweetwater alone.
 
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