SoOOoN (Neural DSP Nano Cortex)

[Sedaxel]

Line6 and NDSP are not comparable companies. Line6/Yamaha... Is a monster. And they've also been in this market for much more time than NDSP. As I see it, NDSP can't follow such a strong hardware development. They struggle to launch the products they launch. For their size, I find it quite impressive they deliver all their products (software and hardware). Yeah, they've been hardly criticized because of their delivery times, marketing strategies and whatnot. And they surely deserve it. But hey, they make great products, and obviously they're not sitting on the dock of the bay, wasting time...

 

[TheTrueZoltan!]

[…] and obviously they're not sitting on the dock of the bay, wasting time...

No, they‘re wasting time playing Doom on QC touch screens and filming idiotic marketing movies instead.

 

[Sedaxel]

No, they‘re wasting time playing Doom on QC touch screens and filming idiotic marketing movies instead.

Yeah, well... Maybe they've become addicted to critics and now they can't stop that s---t.

 

[deepskyone]

Line6 and NDSP are not comparable companies. Line6/Yamaha... Is a monster. And they've also been in this market for much more time than NDSP. As I see it, NDSP can't follow such a strong hardware development. They struggle to launch the products they launch. For their size, I find it quite impressive they deliver all their products (software and hardware). Yeah, they've been hardly criticized because of their delivery times, marketing strategies and whatnot. And they surely deserve it. But hey, they make great products, and obviously they're not sitting on the dock of the bay, wasting time...

Is that really the case, though? Honest question...

Neural DSP seems to have around 100 employees and I found a number of 200+ for Line 6 and the same for YGG. That's the same order of magnitude.
Yes, Line 6 is part of YGG which is part of Yamaha but that does not mean that they have access to all of the resources of the group.

In the past, I worked for a 400+ people subsidiary of a 3000+ people company which was a joint venture of a 50K people and an 80K people group. The parent companies did nothing but skim some of our profits and require approvals for everything. Our independent competitors were running circles around us. Completely different industry, though...

 

[OneEng]

You never let us done Nicolas :) Never stop ..... :)

My ruthless and honest opinion. PART 1

Probably %95 or more of people .... not including most people here on TGF ...... as witnessed with the Kemper and Tonex ....

(a) never bother to Capture their own gear
(b) don't have the gear to properly capture their own rig wells
(c) haven't got a clue about gain-staging a Capture
(d) have little to no idea about how to dial-in a useable tone
(e) the Profile / Capture market is already pretty much owned by Kemper and Tonex and is well and truly already over-saturated
(f) kids in their basement bedrooms are too busy null-testing NAM and screaming out that its better than everything if only people would listen to them and
(g) all of the above.

Oh ... and what is actually "Cortex" about this ?

The whole idea here is for NDSP to "apple'ize" Captuing via their eventual store via selling small-paid - probably single amp packs - made by "pro's" whilst NDSP takes a decent cut out of each sale.

Nothing wrong with that ... it just is what it is.

Just my 5c

All the best Nicolas :)

Ben

I mostly agree. Most people (including me) that own devices that can capture, don't capture. For those that do, it is an important feature.

My ruthless and honest opinion. PART 2

=> 1/3rd the $US price of a full QC
=> %100 fewer Amps
=> %99 fewer EFX
=> %80 fewer FSW's
=> No Screen
=> Capture Player Only

I went from a KPA Stage running L/P's to the FM3 when it went to CX3.

Even though the Kemper Player is $150 more, I would buy a Kemper Player every day of the week over this.

Just my 4c.

Ben

The NC is WAY more limited than any other device in its price range IMO. It costs enough that it isn't "inexpensive" by any stretch.

All good :)

^^^ Just checked on Sweetwater ...... HX Stomp is US $ 649 ...... NC is US $549 ..... for like US $100 more, this makes the NC look like the no-brainer no-buy of the year ... i.m.h.o at least.

Ben

I did the same; however, the HX Stomp is a FAR more comprehensive pedal.

Well given the Kemper sounds like a monkey's ass covered in mouldy baked beans, yes I would pick the Nano Cortex over the Kemper Player too.

Not my experience at all. Also, considering the number of professional touring musicians using the Kemper, it hardly seems reasonable to give such a dismal state of the tone it can produce.

Oh for me, it was night and day. I don't even mean other peoples, I just mean doing my own. I had the Kemper side-by-side with the QC back in 2021, and to me it was extremely clear that the Kemper was quite far away from the source amp, and the QC was a lot closer. Taken in broader context, I'd put the accuracy hierarchy like this:

1. NAM
2. ToneX (but on advanced training)
3. QC
4. ToneX (on fast training)
5. Kemper

If the ONLY thing someone wants is a pure capture device, I agree. If you actually want to PLAY LIVE, you need way more than this.

 

[2dor]

If the ONLY thing someone wants is a pure capture device, I agree. If you actually want to PLAY LIVE, you need way more than this.

I'm sure I could use something like this live and it would cover my needs though. Really depends on what type of music you're playing.

 

[texhex]

What do you mean? The cloud contacts you and gives you 24-48 hours to download everything.
You now have all of your content and your unit and editor.

But your unit and editor need to be able to support the new "offline" content.

 

[Achilles]

But your unit and editor need to be able to support the new "offline" content.

I gotta be especially dense here cause I'm not getting it.

Neural is gone at this point, right?
You have an obsolete unit with an obsolete editor and all of your content
that use to be on Neural's now obsolete cloud.

There's no longer support for anything at that point.

 

[OneEng]

Ok, my review on this beast:

Competition (Price)

Fractal FM3: $1100.00
Kemper Player: $750.00
Helix Stomp XL: $700.00
Helix Stomp HX: $650.00
Neural Nano Cortex: $550.00
ToneX: $400.00
Line 6 POD Express: $180.00

Since I only gig with my setup, I will limit my discussion on the merits where I am most experienced with. Further, I will limit the discussion to a stand alone device for its use as Backup or throw-and-go live rig

Fractal FM3. If you can stomach the money, it's the best in THIS lineup; however, at $1100.00 it is perilously close to the price of a Kemper Stage that is a much better device for live gigging for a performers Main Rig. It is also the ultimate throw and go IMO. Again, pretty expensive.

Kemper Player: Nearly as useful as the FM3. Might be a bit closer with the next firmware update (but will be more expensive then too). I would note that since the Kemper Player has a compressor outside of the signal chain, and an amp EQ in the amp block, it actually has more "efx" slots than the NC.... and 4 of them are infinitely more configurable than the NC.

Helix Stomp XL: This is the only offering I would consider for my main rig really. It has enough foot switches to make it usable in a nightly gigging situation. It is a bit big for a throw and go backup.

Helix Stomp HX: Great throw and go. Likely the best value for what you get (EXCEPT for the XL)

NC: Missing so many features of all of the above pedals. Hard coded signal path. Hard coded efx slot usage. No boost, VERY limited EFX library. Seriously at $550 this one is a hard Hell No for even a throw and go backup in comparison to others near its price (Helix and Kemper offerings).

ToneX: Included EFX are pretty bad .... unusable compared to the above competition. Not even suitable for a backup.

POD Express: I included this because it is closest to the functionality of the NC at a fraction of the cost.

I don't know guys. I'm not impressed for what it costs and what else is out there in this space.

 

[texhex]

I gotta be especially dense here cause I'm not getting it.

Neural is gone at this point, right?
You have an obsolete unit with an obsolete editor and all of your content
that use to be on Neural's now obsolete cloud.

There's no longer support for anything at that point.

Correct, NDSP is gone. I don't care about support, I care about being able to use the piece of equipment I own.

 

[namathan_zirwir]

I didn’t hear any Capture that sounded any better than Profiles when I had one, but I wasn’t using high gain..

Quite the opposite for me. I had both at the same time, and Captures sounded better every time.

 

[texhex]

You can get good sounding high gain Profiles but they don't sound as close to the real amp (not by a long shot) compared to Tonex.

This is a blanket statement and doesn't apply 100% to every Profile or Capture but generally, in my experience, my high gain (EVH 5150iii, Mesa Mark V, Mesa Dual Rec. Multi-Watt) Tonex Captures sound closer to the amp than Kemper Profiles.

 

[metropolis_4]

Quite the opposite for me. I had both at the same time, and Captures sounded better every time.

What Captures and what Profiles?

 

[Frankencat]

So this thing has built-in effects?

 

[Mongillo19]

So this thing has built-in effects?

If truly asking it has a fixed chain

Noise gate-Transpose-Capture-IR-1 type of chorus-1 type of delay- 1 type of reverb

 

[Frankencat]

Can you run them all together at the same time?

 

[Mongillo19]

Can you run them all together at the same time?

Yup!

 

[Frankencat]

I think I’m in love

 

[GTR37]

But there's really nothing tying their hands in this regard. It's not like Kemper where they silkscreened MOD DLY REV right over the buttons. If NDSP eventually releases another revision of the OS that allows you to select different effects in each of these slots, it'll just be a matter of updating their owner's manual.

Of course, whether the hardware is capable of doing much more is anyone's guess.

neural is an interesting beast they could really do anything if people want a drive block or another delay the will probably give you a Nu Vibe in spring 2025

 

[Mongillo19]

I think I’m in love

Just keep in mind it isn't multiple options for chorus delay and reverb

You can only choose
DC2W Chorus
Analog Delay
Mind Hall Reverb