NDSP Quad Cortex

[fiftyshadesofjay]

Okay so I recently acquired another QC for myself. It's not my favourite unit (that honour goes to Kemper) but I have tons of function gigs and I'm trying to slim down the rig so the QC form factor and power is pretty much the best game in town right now for those needs.

It's been a while since I last owned one and I think the delays and reverbs are better than before.

I also disagree that it falls massively behind the others. Now It's not the best of the best but it's no slouch either. Just for fun here's a quick comparison between the QC's lush plate and an Eventide Blackhole, stock settings. I'll keep it blind for now, which one do you think sounds best and can you make out the QC? I have a favourite but it's close.

Reverb Test

Guitarist, Producer

on.soundcloud.com

 

[Achilles]

I also disagree that it falls massively behind the others.

 

[laxu]

I also disagree that it falls massively behind the others. Now It's not the best of the best but it's no slouch either. Just for fun here's a quick comparison between the QC's lush plate and an Eventide Blackhole, stock settings. I'll keep it blind for now, which one do you think sounds best and can you make out the QC? I have a favourite but it's close.

Reverb Test

Guitarist, Producer

on.soundcloud.com

Having never tried the Blackhole, out of these clips I like the second one more, but it seems like it's a bit brighter and marginally louder? Pretty similar sounds nevertheless.

 

[Orvillain]

Okay so I recently acquired another QC for myself. It's not my favourite unit (that honour goes to Kemper) but I have tons of function gigs and I'm trying to slim down the rig so the QC form factor and power is pretty much the best game in town right now for those needs.

It's been a while since I last owned one and I think the delays and reverbs are better than before.

I also disagree that it falls massively behind the others. Now It's not the best of the best but it's no slouch either. Just for fun here's a quick comparison between the QC's lush plate and an Eventide Blackhole, stock settings. I'll keep it blind for now, which one do you think sounds best and can you make out the QC? I have a favourite but it's close.

Reverb Test

Guitarist, Producer

on.soundcloud.com

I can't make out which is which. Both sound good.

 

[Los-D]

View attachment 21031

To be fair, it also applies here…

 

[Achilles]

To be fair, it also applies here…
View attachment 21036

Every brand plays that game though.
Plus, I believe that statement to be as true as this one.

 

[namathan_zirwir]

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.

Thanks for the detailed response. I appreciate the context

 

[namathan_zirwir]

I can't make out which is which. Both sound good.

What are your overall thoughts on the Reverbs and Delays in the HX Effects?

 

[timbuck3]

Wow

 

[Los-D]

Every brand plays that game though.
Plus, I believe that statement to be as true as this one.

View attachment 21037

That’s the thing, in this case it is objectively true (until a more powerful processor comes along) based on specs, capabilities, et al. My beef with the QC statement was the fact that it’s competing against mature floorboards like FM9, Helix, and now even the much maligned TBP.

But yeah, I get your point for sure on the marketing side. Definitely some embellishments across all companies

 

[Los-D]

Okay so I recently acquired another QC for myself. It's not my favourite unit (that honour goes to Kemper) but I have tons of function gigs and I'm trying to slim down the rig so the QC form factor and power is pretty much the best game in town right now for those needs.

It's been a while since I last owned one and I think the delays and reverbs are better than before.

I also disagree that it falls massively behind the others. Now It's not the best of the best but it's no slouch either. Just for fun here's a quick comparison between the QC's lush plate and an Eventide Blackhole, stock settings. I'll keep it blind for now, which one do you think sounds best and can you make out the QC? I have a favourite but it's close.

Reverb Test

Guitarist, Producer

on.soundcloud.com

They both sound really good. I prefer the first tone a bit more than the second one (don’t care which is which) but that’s based on my personal preference.

 

[laxu]

But yeah, I get your point for sure on the marketing side. Definitely some embellishments across all companies

If there's something that NeuralDSP does know how to do, it's marketing.

When Fractal's product page talks about having a color display, or how much faster it is versus previous generations of Fractal products...it's just not good marketing.

 

[Orvillain]

What are your overall thoughts on the Reverbs and Delays in the HX Effects?

For the breadth of effects you get, the HX stuff is very difficult to beat. But there are some quirks. For example, the straight up Simple Delay... I dunno, doesn't quite feel right to me in terms of how many echoes you get from it at various settings. Harder to dial in than the DD-8 I mentioned previously.

But then things like their Transistor Delay, Elephant Delay, Adriatic Delay, Glitch Delay.... those are top shelf material.

The reverbs are a bit more metallic than I'd like. Covered that in a thread before where I compared a bunch of reverbs.

 

[GTR37]

Okay so I recently acquired another QC for myself. It's not my favourite unit (that honour goes to Kemper) but I have tons of function gigs and I'm trying to slim down the rig so the QC form factor and power is pretty much the best game in town right now for those needs.

It's been a while since I last owned one and I think the delays and reverbs are better than before.

I also disagree that it falls massively behind the others. Now It's not the best of the best but it's no slouch either. Just for fun here's a quick comparison between the QC's lush plate and an Eventide Blackhole, stock settings. I'll keep it blind for now, which one do you think sounds best and can you make out the QC? I have a favourite but it's close.

Reverb Test

Guitarist, Producer

on.soundcloud.com

yeah I am not going to easily answer that they are close enough , 1 seemed a bit brighter maybe , both were very useable

 

[northern_fox]

Okay so I recently acquired another QC for myself. It's not my favourite unit (that honour goes to Kemper) but I have tons of function gigs and I'm trying to slim down the rig so the QC form factor and power is pretty much the best game in town right now for those needs.

It's been a while since I last owned one and I think the delays and reverbs are better than before.

I also disagree that it falls massively behind the others. Now It's not the best of the best but it's no slouch either. Just for fun here's a quick comparison between the QC's lush plate and an Eventide Blackhole, stock settings. I'll keep it blind for now, which one do you think sounds best and can you make out the QC? I have a favourite but it's close.

Reverb Test

Guitarist, Producer

on.soundcloud.com

I'm not an fx person and don't really know what "good" is supposed to sound like in that department, but I prefer the second one here because the decay seems more lively or smoother or something

 

[Aleksi]

Okay so I recently acquired another QC for myself. It's not my favourite unit (that honour goes to Kemper) but I have tons of function gigs and I'm trying to slim down the rig so the QC form factor and power is pretty much the best game in town right now for those needs.

It's been a while since I last owned one and I think the delays and reverbs are better than before.

I also disagree that it falls massively behind the others. Now It's not the best of the best but it's no slouch either. Just for fun here's a quick comparison between the QC's lush plate and an Eventide Blackhole, stock settings. I'll keep it blind for now, which one do you think sounds best and can you make out the QC? I have a favourite but it's close.

Reverb Test

Guitarist, Producer

on.soundcloud.com

Both sound good. The second one sounds slightly brighter to me, which would have me guess that it's the Blackhole. So the lush plate is at stock settings, what about the Blackhole? Which preset do you consider stock on it? I would expect a much more pronounced high end ringing with the "Blackhole" preset (at least on the H90).

 

[fiftyshadesofjay]

So the Blackhole is the first one and second is the QC. The Blackhole is the plug-in version so it’s just the stock settings as you pull it up in the DAW. The QC was adjusted to try and match it briefly, could probably get it closer with more effort.

But the real point is with not much effort you can cop very similar sounds using the QC.

 

[Mongillo19]

The $950 QC has been reposted at $1200 by the same guy. Probably realized how hard he low balled himself lol

 

[AFKAEjay]

I didn’t return it after all….just put Velcro underneath it…guess you’re keeping it when you done that.
Just put it on a board together with the Halo.
This probably means that my preferred solution, a kpa player with full kemper efx, will drop the market next week

Still think one could expect a little more from time efx in a unit this pricecategory…but it has a lot going for it in other departments.
Maybe the update the time efx soon in 2027?….or I buy 500,- worth of plugins to get what I want

 

[GTR37]

I didn’t return it after all….just put Velcro underneath it…guess you’re keeping it when you done that.
Just put it on a board together with the Halo.
This probably means that my preferred solution, a kpa player with full kemper efx, will drop the market next week

Still think one could expect a little more from time efx in a unit this pricecategory…but it has a lot going for it in other departments.
Maybe the update the time efx soon in 2027?….or I buy 500,- worth of plugins to get what I want

well once they have the plug ins ported over I will be interested to see the frequency of the updates they should be adding content at a much faster pace and since some of the fx lack maybe that’s where they will focus their efforts
At launch their modulation effects were horrible but they did come up with new chorus and flanger engine blocks
Maybe as Leon Todd said a delay engine is in the cards