NDSP Quad Cortex

[Mongillo19]

I agree many of them do need to be improved and more added. I never disputed that. I don't use reverb and use a few simple delays, so it suits my needs. Like I said, YMMV. If you want great delays and reverbs, don't buy a QC is solid advice.

And that's cool. But there are others on here who delay and reverb is their thing and are very knowledgeable about these effects. At the end of the day, use what works for you, and if that's a simple delay and reverb, great!

But to say someone like Orv, who is well versed in analog gear, is trolling just because they are calling out the poor reverbs and delays is silly. You even said yourself they need to be improved and you only use the most basic one.

 

[Mongillo19]

That you giving real life pedals way more credit than they deserve. Or talking shit about fractal effects.

The FM3 is almost worth its price as an effects only unit

I say almost but it probably truly is

 

[deadpool_25]

The FM3 is almost worth its price as an effects only unit

I say almost but it probably truly is

Absolutely it is.

 

[GTR37]

And that's cool. But there are others on here who delay and reverb is their thing and are very knowledgeable about these effects. At the end of the day, use what works for you, and if that's a simple delay and reverb, great!

But to say someone like Orv, who is well versed in analog gear, is trolling just because they are calling out the poor reverbs and delays is silly. You even said yourself they need to be improved and you only use the most basic one.

Exactly everyone has to use what works for them
I love the Fractal stuff and have been using it for years
But I don’t really need 60 reverbs or 75 delays for my use case
Some people love mod effects and I don’t really use them , I can’t stand chorus on distorted guitars for the most part or a phaser , I like some RUSH but I would never want that tone
But as you said people’s needs and requirements are different and as long as your making music and have a tone that inspires you that’s all that matters

 

[2112]

This just reminded me, QC has no dedicated dual detune. I feel personally attacked.

 

[GTR37]

This just reminded me, QC has no dedicated dual detune. I feel personally attacked.

That is true , nor does it have momentary switching IIRC ?
That’s a pain if you want to do the EVH unchained thing or a slicer type effect

 

[Mongillo19]

That is true , nor does it have momentary switching IIRC ?
That’s a pain if you want to do the EVH unchained thing or a slicer type effect

Could you assign it to a exp pedal?

 

[timbuck3]

Neural DSP’s new Quad Cortex update will bring long-awaited plugin compatibility

Neural DSP is set to roll out a new update for its Quad Cortex amp modeller soon, bringing plugin compatibility and a range of other new features.

guitar.com

 

[timbuck3]

 

[Aleksi]

I agree..many of them do need to be improved and more added. I never disputed that. I don't use reverb and use a few simple delays, so it suits my needs. Like I said, YMMV. If you want great delays and reverbs, don't buy a QC is solid advice.

The problem is that the QC is directly competing in the high-end with units that have actual great effects. If it was an amp/drive model/capture box at a lower price point, I'd not have had any issues with having to supplement it with outboard fx.

 

[laxu]

Of course a DD8 or many other "delay pedals" are better. Because, uh..that's what they were designed for. Delays. The Analog Delay sounds fine in the QC. Quite good actually. Have you actually owned a QC? Or do you just like to troll the QC threads across different forums/groups?

Having owned the QC at release, compared it to the Helix Floor and Fractal FM3 side by side...the delays and reverbs don't stack up. I wouldn't go as far as calling them complete crap like Orvillain, but I would call them alright at best.

Tape delays are my favorite, and for example Fractal's delays in this category are capable of doing everything my Strymon Volante does, but it requires much more work to get that out of them because of the complication of adjusting the Fractal. Hard to beat dedicated pedals there tho...

Line6 Helix is somewhere roughly on the same line as my Source Audio delays. Really good, but not blowing my socks off. Use without complaints.

Quad Cortex unfortunately comes in far behind, where it was never "ooh I love what I'm getting" but more like "eh, that's quite alright, could be better" stuff. Effects were the primary reason I sold mine, which came as a surprise for me to be honest - I wouldn't call myself super picky about anything but tape delays and plate reverbs.

I'd expect a high end modeler's effects to be up there with some of the top names in pedals, even if they may not do the quirkiest fx designs or won't have the ease of use.

You don't have to play P&W stuff to enjoy a great plate or hall reverb, or a nice analog or tape delay.

 

[SeeD]

I just want NDSP to give the Bogner XTC 101b model
Blue and red channels that were promised at launch
If they could nail that amp I would be a very happy camper

We got Captures of all the channels in the box. These sound good. We got Preamp captures and full amp captures. I was messing with the preamp capture going into a Mesa Boogie 2:90 capture, and into a Friedman SS 100. Sounded really good
But it would be sweet to have a model of the amp as well

 

[Orvillain]

Of course a DD8 or many other "delay pedals" are better. Because, uh..that's what they were designed for. Delays. The Analog Delay sounds fine in the QC. Quite good actually. Have you actually owned a QC? Or do you just like to troll the QC threads across different forums/groups?

I have actually owned a QC. In fact, I was one of the first people in the UK to get one. First 10 or 20 people I'm sure.

I owned it for about 9 months.

Your reasoning is flawed. The QC was designed to do amp modelling, amp captures, and effects. It fails in several key areas in terms of algorithm quality and breadth, and doesn't compare very well when you put it up against other products that aim to cover the same ground, even in the price-range.

The fact that a DD-8 can beat the delay sounds of a QC, and the fact that an RV-5 can be the reverb sounds of the QC.... is not a particular testament to those pedals, although they are good. It is more an indictment on the quality of effects in the QC, given the length of time it has been on the market. The longer time goes on, the happier I am that I sold it.

But also, yes. I do like t troll the QC threads across different forums and groups. So... lol.

 

[Orvillain]

You don't have to play P&W stuff to enjoy a great plate or hall reverb, or a nice analog or tape delay.

100% this. I have a lot of respect @GTR37 so I'm not going to ream him out. But I don't think P&W is a particular barometer. I'd put post-rock out there as an example of effects-orientated music that requires better than what the QC gives.

 

[Orvillain]

And for what it is worth, when I had the QC:

This is the board I put together. Honestly? It sounded fucking amazing. But there were some issues - the QC itself doesn't have particularly good effects loops. There are significant level drops throughout the signal path that mean your effects don't get the level they should. I measured it at a 3 or 6dB drop in level, if I recall correctly. One guy on the NDSP forum told me to try using balanced TRS cables instead, but I never got around to it.
Every single pedal there absolutely slayed the comparative effects on the QC. I had a lot of hopes for that setup, but along with the above, there were significant limitations in terms of midi switching too, that were not clear at launch. I don't know if they actually fixed any of that???

Given the gear I had at the time:

The QC as a holistic device, really didn't stand a chance.

Lot of these pedals got shifted on once I got my Axe FX III, but now I'm back in pedal land with the Meris units:

I fully admit it! I do have higher expectations than your typical AC/DC guitarist!

 

[GTR37]

Tones are great IMO
The reverb is not great
Delays were passable if not super inspiring more
As others have mentioned they both seem like just variations on a theme
The tones are good though
It really depends what you are looking for

 

[laxu]

100% this. I have a lot of respect @GTR37 so I'm not going to ream him out. But I don't think P&W is a particular barometer. I'd put post-rock out there as an example of effects-orientated music that requires better than what the QC gives.

Even if you play "AC/DC simple", you can still get use of a good room reverb for example, or a good delay for leads. Even if it's not "ooh there's the delay" it still enhances the sound and how that enhancement works out is where the quality of the delay or reverb will come in.

A bit off topic, but I've currently got a whole smörgåsbord of delays and reverbs in pedal form here:

• Strymon Flint V2
• Strymon Deco V2
• Strymon Nightsky
• Strymon Volante
• Source Audio Collider
• Source Audio Nemesis

I've been doing a lot of A/B comparisons between these to figure out which I want to keep because it's too much. The Deco stays because it does so much more than simple tape delays. Otherwise the current winners look like this:

• Source Audio Collider for reverbs. They all sound great, with the right amount of adjustment. The delay side is good but less impressive.
• Strymon Volante for delays. The Volante is a bit big physically, but totally worth the board space just because it makes so easy to play with multi-tap tape/drum delays. Love it.

I had high hopes for the Nemesis Binson Echorec models hidden inside it, but those just don't compare to the Volante and can't do more than two tap delay either. They sound really good, but we are playing at the upper echelon of good here.

I wish I could get the Binson models on the Collider because then I'd probably be ok with the compromise. The Collider Tape model is too clean and pristine for my tastes, the modulation seems to be the modulation section of the Nemesis rather than the wow&flutter section so the modulation sounds more "tacked on top" than the Volante's tape warble.

I used the Nightsky for years because it does sound great, but for my reverb needs it's generally just too much. There's a lot more ways to make it sound bad than the others. This is also why Meris's latest big boxes don't interest me at all, I can't be arsed with that user interface and all the options available.

Flint V2 is one of the greatest pedals ever made. It's just so hard to make it sound bad. I'll probably keep it and put it on some secondary board because I got it for a great price used in Japan.

This is what it looks like when you go into rabbit holes because all of these are great pedals with their unique strengths, and all of them a bit different that you can't necessarily dial any one of them to sound exactly like the other.

If Fractal ever made a pure delay or reverb pedal (better yet, both together ala Collider!), I'd buy that instantly because their effects truly play in the same category as all these great boxes. Fractal doesn't get enough kudos for how good job they've done with those effects when every modeling discussion is way too heavily centered on amp modeling.

 

[GTR37]

100% this. I have a lot of respect @GTR37 so I'm not going to ream him out. But I don't think P&W is a particular barometer. I'd put post-rock out there as an example of effects-orientated music that requires better than what the QC gives.

Ah it all good man flame away I don’t take anything personally it just gear
I am probably also at fault because I should not make assumptions about what is important to other players regardless of genre

actually owned the QC when it first came out so I really didn’t know how good or bad the delays are now , I kid not I think there were 3 or 4 types when I got it , ping pong
Digital and I think that was about it lol

don’t use the plug in so I can’t comment there
I know there was a lot of noise when I got my original unit about the delays not having any character and I thought they had worked on it a while , Doug himself did say BBD analog delays were difficult and they needed to get someone for that purpose
I guess I just assumed the new types would have been a big improvement especially considering what line6 is doing with a 300 dollar HX 1
So I can totally see the concern when a 1600 unit is not matching a $300 one and I agree that is a hole they need to look at repairing
If they want to sell an all in one solution

 

[2112]

...every modeling discussion is way too heavily centered on amp modeling.

This is such a good point. People split hairs searching for that magical upper-lower-mid-top thing while overlooking the often vast disparities in the effects selection.

 

[DrewJD82]

I think if 95% of guitarist went and saw my cover band, they’d assume I was mainly an AC/DC meat and potatoes kinda guy, it’d take that 5% of Orvillian-types to notice when I AM using delays/reverbs, they aren’t just basic ones you could dial in with a basic delay or reverb pedal. I get more picky with that stuff than I do amp tones, even though I’m playing straight into the amp 95% of the set.