The NDSP Nano Cortex…

[quadgear]

Also, does the NC have a boost capability?

Yes. Drives (and other effects and more slots for effects) were part of the 2.0 firmware that just dropped.

• Guitar overdrive: Obsessive Drive, OD250, Rodent Drive, Exotic, Chief OD1, Chief BD2, Facial Fuzz, Exotic Z Boost, Green 808
• Bass overdrive: Microtubes B3K, Exotic Bass Z Boost

 

[Lysander]

Not sure if anyone pointed this out already, but as of NanOS 2.0.0, the Nano Cortex is no longer doing gapless switching This is a common downfall for modellers with flexible signal chains.

60ms is not a lot, but it IS audible.

 

[paisleywookiee]

Not sure if anyone pointed this out already, but as of NanOS 2.0.0, the Nano Cortex is no longer doing gapless switching This is a common downfall for modellers with flexible signal chains.

60ms is not a lot, but it IS audible.

View attachment 43055

I can’t believe they took away a feature.

 

[jellodog]

I can’t believe they took away a feature.

They probably need the memory for the other features.

 

[paisleywookiee]

They probably need the memory for the other features.

Kinda poor planning then, IMO.

 

[GTR37]

Kinda poor planning then, IMO.

 

[paisleywookiee]

I kinda still want one though.

 

[norminal]

Kinda poor planning then, IMO.

Could’ve rushed out the firmware. Maybe they’ll optimize it eventually.

 

[OneEng]

Not sure if anyone pointed this out already, but as of NanOS 2.0.0, the Nano Cortex is no longer doing gapless switching This is a common downfall for modellers with flexible signal chains.

60ms is not a lot, but it IS audible.

View attachment 43055

60mSec is a short slap delay time, so yes, this is clearly audible. Still, I wonder if anyone in an audience would be able to hear it live with a band in context in a noisy bar?

I think that anyone who is seriously gigging for money will have something bigger than a NC anyway with more buttons and likely a much higher level "big boy" unit (Kemper, Axe III Fx, QC, full Helix, etc). I suspect none of these have any delay. I measured my Kemper at 4 mSec (I think Kemper says 3 mSec, but that isn't what I measured). At this level, it really isn't audible. Most people can't detect this low of a latency even with IEM's.

 

[Lysander]

I think that anyone who is seriously gigging for money will have something bigger than a NC anyway with more buttons and likely a much higher level "big boy" unit (Kemper, Axe III Fx, QC, full Helix, etc). I suspect none of these have any delay.

Most do, but that's beside the point. Once you have scenes/snapshots support this is mostly a non-issue, and even cheaper units offer that feature nowadays.

The problem with tthe NC is that there's no way to switch captures/effects other than switching full presets, so you're stuck with the gap no matter what.

 

[jellodog]

I kinda still want one though.

They are fun little boxes; just so long as your expectations are set in terms of what they can and can't do.

And you already have that clear perspective :-)

 

[laxu]

60mSec is a short slap delay time, so yes, this is clearly audible. Still, I wonder if anyone in an audience would be able to hear it live with a band in context in a noisy bar?

For comparison, the 112 € cheaper Hotone Ampero 2 Stomp has ~1ms preset changes. Just tested this. So truly gapless.

So I don't think 60ms is acceptable from a recently released, more expensive product.

60ms is enough that the player has to account for it if they don't want the audience to notice a gap. This is fine for e.g clean to overdrive transition as there's likely to be at least a beat to do it. But if you need to add an effect while you are playing then you are left with no options since there's no scenes to fall back on. Best you can do is bringing it in via an expression pedal.

It seems the NC does not support MIDI Control Changes at all, so you can't even turn blocks on/off via MIDI as a workaround.

To be fair, both QC and Helix have preset switching delays, possibly longer ones than the NC. But both products offer scenes/snapshots so you can work around it.

Hopefully NDSP can optimize it in future updates to either being gapless again, or at least much shorter.

 

[ian_dissonance]

And just imagine if you have to get from preset 1 to preset 4. That’s two preset switches (unless they figured out a work around for that). This seems more and more like something fun for the basement, but that’s about it.

 

[laxu]

And just imagine if you have to get from preset 1 to preset 4. That’s two preset switches (unless they figured out a work around for that). This seems more and more like something fun for the basement, but that’s about it.

With MIDI you could load any preset at least. With the onboard footswitches it's preset A/B vs C/D on each footswitch. I don't think there's a bank up/down footswitch function other than pressing the Bank button?

 

[OneEng]

For comparison, the 112 € cheaper Hotone Ampero 2 Stomp has ~1ms preset changes. Just tested this. So truly gapless.

So I don't think 60ms is acceptable from a recently released, more expensive product.

60ms is enough that the player has to account for it if they don't want the audience to notice a gap. This is fine for e.g clean to overdrive transition as there's likely to be at least a beat to do it. But if you need to add an effect while you are playing then you are left with no options since there's no scenes to fall back on. Best you can do is bringing it in via an expression pedal.

It seems the NC does not support MIDI Control Changes at all, so you can't even turn blocks on/off via MIDI as a workaround.

To be fair, both QC and Helix have preset switching delays, possibly longer ones than the NC. But both products offer scenes/snapshots so you can work around it.

Hopefully NDSP can optimize it in future updates to either being gapless again, or at least much shorter.

I had heard about the QC and Helix preset switching delays, but also understood that you can turn blocks on/off via MIDI as a workaround.... but that means increased cost and setup complexity as well.

As for what is "acceptable" I would think anything under 10msec would likely be inaudible in a live environment.

NC not having MIDI control over blocks is kinda a big deal since Helix I believe does and it exists at around the same price IIRC. Of course, Helix can't capture.

Just for the record, I always look at these devices in the context of a live gig setup .... so realistically, none of the small form factor devices would ever be more than a backup in my rig. I am definitely not the target audience for the small form factor device.

 

[ian_dissonance]

With MIDI you could load any preset at least. With the onboard footswitches it's preset A/B vs C/D on each footswitch. I don't think there's a bank up/down footswitch function other than pressing the Bank button?

Right. So without a MIDI device you’re on patch A and you want to go to do D you have to hit C first, then D.

 

[ejecta]

Can the expression pedal control the pitch in the Transpose like a Whammy ?

The transpose or “virtual capo” effect on the QC isn’t good. IMHO it’s not even usable but to be fair none of the digital units do it well… even the Drop from Digitech isn’t really usable to me and none do as good as the Line 6 poly capo which is usable but not amazing

 

[OneEng]

The transpose or “virtual capo” effect on the QC isn’t good. IMHO it’s not even usable but to be fair none of the digital units do it well… even the Drop from Digitech isn’t really usable to me and none do as good as the Line 6 poly capo which is usable but not amazing

Yea, I have had the same experience with the Kemper. I would LOVE for the feature to work well, but it just doesn't. First, I use IEM's in my band so the latency is painful (I am guessing it is around 20-30mSec) for me to deal with live. Second, it makes a mess out of highly harmonic distortion.

I would so love not to have to have a drop tuned guitar on stage for a couple of songs, but I can't live with the loss of sound quality or the latency.

 

[Sedaxel]

One thing I´m going to explore is the on/off function via expression pedal. The manual says you can activate/deactivate slots with it. Supposedly, with several options (toe switch, heel position or still state). This could add a little flexibility... not outstanding by any means, but maybe useful for some use cases. If you add a USB-MIDI foot controller (yeah, with host function or adding a host device) and an expression pedal (better with toe switch) you can increase controlling functionality.

 

[2112]

There's a few examples of expression control here; at 14:45 (wah auto engage) & 33:30 (controlling multiple parameters)