Trying out the NDSP Quad Cortex

[GTR37]

If they chopped a row of footswitches off it still leaves 4 footswitches A-D plus two page switches.

Imo having both a 4fs dual and an 8fs quad is fine. Your aren’t going to be able to release 37 different versions to accommodate every persons preferred footswitch layout and midi switches are small and cheap these days if you have really specific needs.

If the 3-4fs could also have dual inputs (short vs long tap) You could still have 6-8 scenes easily accessible per preset without having to add another midi controller.

That brings us back to this or something close that the original guy mocked up so you basically have a stomp XL in a more compact package

 

[Whizzinby]

That brings us back to this or something close that the original guy mocked up so you basically have a stomp XL in a more compact package
View attachment 20800

Yep, or even more simple, take the existing QC and “simply” remove the bottom row. Same width, same IO, but shorter and half the horsepower.

 

[laxu]

So what are you thinking Laxu?
Hotone Ampero stomp size or slightly larger
With six switches underneath
Volume on the back
5” touchscreen

That would be pretty sweet. 4 switches sounds more plausible though if you want some proper spacing between them.

I had the Headrush MX5 with the tiny little touchscreen and while it was not terrible, I really wanted to have knobs to use along side it because adjusting settings was not fun at all. I'm sure it can be done well, just makes me skeptical.

Although if they had the rotary switches that would be an improvement.

Yeah encoders are essential.

It's always easier to augment these things with more footswitches whereas adding more knobs is just terrible on any modeler on the market.

 

[laxu]

Made some quick mockups in Affinity Designer 2. On top is the two DC's layered over the QC, which is drawn based on a pic of the real thing.

Dual Cortex 1 is like the QC, but with bottom row + 2 side switches chopped off, volume knob size reduced but the screen size kept the same.

Dual Cortex 2 is if you shrunk down the screen. 4 switches at the bottom is too cramped to use, but 3+1 might work.

 

[GTR37]

View attachment 20806
Made some quick mockups in Affinity Designer 2. On top is the two DC's layered over the QC, which is drawn based on a pic of the real thing.

Dual Cortex 1 is like the QC, but with bottom row + 2 side switches chopped off, volume knob size reduced but the screen size kept the same.

Dual Cortex 2 is if you shrunk down the screen. 4 switches at the bottom is too cramped to use, but 3+1 might work.

I like the Dual 1 design
Only issue is those 2 side switches are allowing you the combo to get the mode
And bank up and down
The original QC does not have tap/ hold functionality
That’s why I think that mock up I posted above may be close because that would give
4 presets , 4 scenes 4 stomps
With the combo switch
Plus bank up / down and hold for tuner

At any rate it fun to speculate
But I fear we will turn this thread into the monster Fractal reset thread lol
But all ideas are cool and thanks to all the owners for the insight as to CPU etc
I honestly bought one when it was first released w the coffee table book but a lot has changed since then so I would definitely be interested in checking it out again

 

[namathan_zirwir]

View attachment 20806
Made some quick mockups in Affinity Designer 2. On top is the two DC's layered over the QC, which is drawn based on a pic of the real thing.

Dual Cortex 1 is like the QC, but with bottom row + 2 side switches chopped off, volume knob size reduced but the screen size kept the same.

Dual Cortex 2 is if you shrunk down the screen. 4 switches at the bottom is too cramped to use, but 3+1 might work.

Dual Cortex 1 looks perfect. Love it

 

[Mongillo19]

I could try. Yeah I'll do that and report back.

Any luck?

 

[Jynx]

Any luck?

Still haven't got around to it.

 

[Los-D]

View attachment 20806
Made some quick mockups in Affinity Designer 2. On top is the two DC's layered over the QC, which is drawn based on a pic of the real thing.

Dual Cortex 1 is like the QC, but with bottom row + 2 side switches chopped off, volume knob size reduced but the screen size kept the same.

Dual Cortex 2 is if you shrunk down the screen. 4 switches at the bottom is too cramped to use, but 3+1 might work.

Nice

Also, can we get an FM0 thread started? Would love to see some FAS mockups…

EDIT: btw, if I were NDSP I would skip on new SKUs until they had the QC issues sorted out. Seems like something other more mature companies should do instead. But I’m not them so maybe we will see a smaller NDSP device after all.

 

[Jarick]

View attachment 20806
Made some quick mockups in Affinity Designer 2. On top is the two DC's layered over the QC, which is drawn based on a pic of the real thing.

Dual Cortex 1 is like the QC, but with bottom row + 2 side switches chopped off, volume knob size reduced but the screen size kept the same.

Dual Cortex 2 is if you shrunk down the screen. 4 switches at the bottom is too cramped to use, but 3+1 might work.

Nice work!

I could see DC1 except with a little smaller screen and a second switch above "D".

 

[GTR37]

Nice work!

I could see DC1 except with a little smaller screen and a second switch above "D".

Or maybe put the power , volume on the back and move that screen to the left to line up under the 3 buttons

 

[GTR37]

Nice

Also, can we get an FM0 thread started? Would love to see some FAS mockups…

EDIT: btw, if I were NDSP I would skip on new SKUs until they had the QC issues sorted out. Seems like something other more mature companies should do instead. But I’m not them so maybe we will see a smaller NDSP device after all.

I think they have done a decent job of fixing them replacing units

I think as Drew mentioned quite possibly they had a bad batch of parts and they have been able to identify and track the ser#
The issues of late are much less than end of last year so far

 

[AFKAEjay]

Well…I just got myself a QC. 30 days to decide if I’m gonna leave Kemper land after…8 years? If the KPA player had been full specs I would have stayed with kemper…but it isn’t .
Main buying reason: small enough to fit a gigbag, powerfull enough to do everything I need, full set of IOS.

Confident it will do amp sounds/captures perfectly fine…verbs and delays is where proof of the pudding is needed

 

[Mongillo19]

verbs and delays is where proof of the pudding is needed

Do you just use basic delay reverb for the most part?

 

[DrewJD82]

I think they have done a decent job of fixing them replacing units

I think as Drew mentioned quite possibly they had a bad batch of parts and they have been able to identify and track the ser#
The issues of late are much less than end of last year so far

From all I saw they did a fantastic job replacing the units and the majority were replaced in a timely manner, only a few times you’d see someone saying it took longer than a month.

I did read on Discord, I believe, that the I/O connector or connector board was on its 5th revision, but obviously I have no way of verifying that. It was fairly recent. I know that was a thing commonly being replaced so hopefully everyone who had an issue already had it and is good to go now. While I wasn’t stoked to see the lack of communication about the amount of failures, it seems they’ve gotten it sorted out now and that’s the important part.

 

[AFKAEjay]

Do you just use basic delay reverb for the most part?

I like the HALO a lot…thats 2 modulated tape delays with cross feedback…I’m gonna fiddle with 2 analog delays feeding into one another…hope the routing allows it..
If I can get working… my verb requirements drop to basic levels

 

[AFKAEjay]

So far…amps, both modeled as captured, are great. 100% confident that part is gonna work. Hard to compare when it’s not exactly same amp/capture…but I’m leaning towards giving it a slight edge compared to Kemper. QCs seem more direct/in your face/ more depth…for lack of better terms.

Verbs and delays however….Kempers put a smile on your face when you turn them on…QCs a frown. Offcourse you can get them to the level of “usable”. Hard to describe why…seems like when you start to hear the time efx they start to bother you…where with kemper, even when they’re too loud…it still sounds good…just too wet.
For now it seems I either except adding outboard time effects….or send it back and deal with the fact that a toaster doesn’t fit a gigbag

Or…if I’m correct the add plugin functionality…any significantly better time efx in one of those?

Edit:
Someone seems to agree:

 

[TubeStack]

So far…amps, both modeled as captured, are great. 100% confident that part is gonna work. Hard to compare when it’s not exactly same amp/capture…but I’m leaning towards giving it a slight edge compared to Kemper. QCs seem more direct/in your face/ more depth…for lack of better terms.

Verbs and delays however….Kempers put a smile on your face when you turn them on…QCs a frown. Offcourse you can get them to the level of “usable”. Hard to describe why…seems like when you start to hear the time efx they start to bother you…where with kemper, even when they’re too loud…it still sounds good…just too wet.
For now it seems I either except adding outboard time effects….or send it back and deal with the fact that a toaster doesn’t fit a gigbag

Or…if I’m correct the add plugin functionality…any significantly better time efx in one of those?

Edit:
Someone seems to agree:

I bought an HX One to fill out the delays and other effects. Was a sweet pairing and very compact, overall.

 

[JT]

So far…amps, both modeled as captured, are great. 100% confident that part is gonna work. Hard to compare when it’s not exactly same amp/capture…but I’m leaning towards giving it a slight edge compared to Kemper. QCs seem more direct/in your face/ more depth…for lack of better terms.

Verbs and delays however….Kempers put a smile on your face when you turn them on…QCs a frown. Offcourse you can get them to the level of “usable”. Hard to describe why…seems like when you start to hear the time efx they start to bother you…where with kemper, even when they’re too loud…it still sounds good…just too wet.
For now it seems I either except adding outboard time effects….or send it back and deal with the fact that a toaster doesn’t fit a gigbag

Or…if I’m correct the add plugin functionality…any significantly better time efx in one of those?

Edit:
Someone seems to agree:

Kemper verbs and delays are

 

[Los-D]

I bought an HX One to fill out the delays and other effects. Was a sweet pairing and very compact, overall.