Neural DSP Quad Cortex

WiresDreamDisasters · August 2021

My switching jacks on my cab broke, so I hard wired it to be 16 ohms. Looks like I need to resolve that.

rayttk · September 2021

Another delay on Quad Cortex stock.

I have £150 deposit paid but am spending the money I had saved for the balance left right and centre.

Currently only able to play through headphones at home, I have a Strymon Iridium into a Helix Stomp into my PC.

Sound quality is awesome for me but was looking at treating myself to the QC so I could capture my valve amps and play at home.

I can't help feeling like it may be a mistake to be pay out so much for the QC while its still in it's infancy.

Opinions please....

wintoid · September 2021

rayttk said:

Another delay on Quad Cortex stock.
I have £150 deposit paid but am spending the money I had saved for the balance left right and centre.
Currently only able to play through headphones at home, I have a Strymon Iridium into a Helix Stomp into my PC.
Sound quality is awesome for me but was looking at treating myself to the QC so I could capture my valve amps and play at home.
I can't help feeling like it may be a mistake to be pay out so much for the QC while its still in it's infancy.

Opinions please....

Personally, I'm waiting on a QC myself. I do keep looking at other things, but keep coming back to the QC as the best option for me.

Would you mind sharing your info about the delay? I'm buying from GuitarGuitar, and at the time I purchased it said due 31st August, which is obviously past.

FarleyUK · September 2021

rayttk said:

Another delay on Quad Cortex stock.
I have £150 deposit paid but am spending the money I had saved for the balance left right and centre.
Currently only able to play through headphones at home, I have a Strymon Iridium into a Helix Stomp into my PC.
Sound quality is awesome for me but was looking at treating myself to the QC so I could capture my valve amps and play at home.
I can't help feeling like it may be a mistake to be pay out so much for the QC while its still in it's infancy.

Opinions please....

Depends how quickly you need a new toy. Personally, I'd go down the Kemper route.

TeleMaster · September 2021

Hmm. If you want the whole package and you want profiling, I’d have to agree with @FarleyUK and go for a Kemper. The range of sounds, the effects, the support are all more realised with the Kemper. They sound just as good and are very cheap. My only caveat would be if you get a Stage to make sure the switches are all good when you get it. I had 4 replacements and they all had switch issues. I was unlucky.

The QC is good but I think it needs a couple of years

Heartfeltdawn · September 2021

@TeleMaster is that 4 replacements all at once or spread over time? Either way, that's pretty rubbish.

TeleMaster · September 2021

Heartfeltdawn said:

@TeleMaster is that 4 replacements all at once or spread over time? Either way, that's pretty rubbish.

More or less one after the other. If I remember correctly it went something like this.

The first one had this strange cycling ticking noise that wouldn’t go away. It was meant to have been fixed with an update but it wasn’t so the shop sent me another one.

Then there was an issue with one of the switches and it was sticky, then the input stopped working so I sent it back to the shop again.

Then I got another one and then one of the switches stopped working. I sent it back to Kemper and they sent me a replacement, and guess what, one of the switches was sticky and crunched when you stepped on it. I sent it back to the shop and cancelled my order.

I was an early adopter but that was ridiculous. I think they’ve sorted it all out now.

WiresDreamDisasters · September 2021

The QC has more of a future than the current iteration of the Kemper. Current QC you get:

- 4 captures in one preset
- Modelled amps as well
- A ton of delays and reverbs with spillover between scenes even when they're put before the amp (not true of the Kemper)
- A better impulse response loading scheme than the Kemper
- Better drive options
- Better bass guitar options

I own the Kemper and the QC. Both sound very good to me. But if I was buying completely fresh now, I'd just get the QC.

rayttk · September 2021

wintoid

Would you mind sharing your info about the delay? I'm buying from GuitarGuitar, and at the time I purchased it said due 31st August, which is obviously past.

I paid a deposit to Andertons in June for July delivery, then put back to mid August, then the end of August now ……who knows.
I have not had a Kemper so would have been up for that but I’m actually using the Stomp as an interface and prefer the all in one set up rather than buying an interface .
I think I will try it when it eventually arrives and just send it back if it’s not as good as I was expecting

wintoid · September 2021

rayttk said:

wintoid

Would you mind sharing your info about the delay? I'm buying from GuitarGuitar, and at the time I purchased it said due 31st August, which is obviously past.

I paid a deposit to Andertons in June for July delivery, then put back to mid August, then the end of August now ……who knows.
I have not had a Kemper so would have been up for that but I’m actually using the Stomp as an interface and prefer the all in one set up rather than buying an interface .
I think I will try it when it eventually arrives and just send it back if it’s not as good as I was expecting

Thank you!

WiresDreamDisasters · September 2021

Before my next practice I'm gonna rewire my cab to be 4ohm, and try the Powerstage 200 again. At home it sounds really good, with any of my modellers. So I think it's worth persevering.

Failing that.... I'll just stick with my JVM and/or VH4. Those are my favourite amps right now.

What I'd like to see from Kemper is a completely new unit, something to truly rival the AxeIII, Helix, and now QC. The tones in the studio are great. But it doesn't really work in a live situation for me, and I have the remote too!!

I know a lot of people use them though, so it's probably just my particular quirks and expectations. Which is totally fine. We all have them.

I don't think any of the modelling platforms are superior to one another - I've heard some super shit tones from an AxeIII and I've heard some balls out amazing tones from the Helix. The received wisdom is that the Helix is shite, and the AxeIII is good. But it's all dependent on the player and their ears and how they dial in their tones.

I think it's objectively true though that the QC has more room to grow than the Kemper. The Kemper hasn't had a significant form factor change or DSP power change since it was released. That was 10 or 11 years ago now!

firepaulmusic · September 2021

My Kemper totally works in a live environment for me, nice and loud through my Redsound. I’ve been back to a ‘real’ amp and been disappointed with it’s lack of flexibility...

NelsonP · September 2021

Atomic Amplifire still sounds great after all these years :-)

chrisv · September 2021

A video I made showcasing the QC capture tech in conjunction with a couple of vintage amps: https://youtu.be/hosHMI31-NA

rayttk · September 2021

chrisv said:

A video I made showcasing the QC capture tech in conjunction with a couple of vintage amps: https://youtu.be/hosHMI31-NA

Nice one, looking forward to doing this when my QC arrives.

WiresDreamDisasters · September 2021

@chrisv ;

Really nice tones and playing man!!

To me, the fuzzy tones sounded gainier, but not even in a bad way. I've sometimes observed similar when capturing amps and pedals too.

chrisv · September 2021

WiresDreamDisasters said:

@chrisv ;

Really nice tones and playing man!!

To me, the fuzzy tones sounded gainier, but not even in a bad way. I've sometimes observed similar when capturing amps and pedals too.

Thanks! I’m having a LOT of fun with this thing…

rayttk · September 2021

QC in bound!
received an email from Andertons today saying it was in stock, phoned immediately to pay in full and asked for quickest delivery which is Sunday

kjdowd · September 2021

1.2.0 is out. 4 new amps, 4 new reverbs, 3 overdrives. Won't have a chance to download until next week but looks cool

WiresDreamDisasters · September 2021

I installed it yesterday. The 5150's are cool. The reverbs are cool. That's about it.

kjdowd · September 2021

Cool

WiresDreamDisasters · September 2021

Yeah.

Sorry. Struggling to generate much enthusiasm for it at the moment!

rayttk · September 2021

Mega happy with the QC.
only using it for home practice, interface and recording atm but everything seems better quality than the Stomp and Iridium, which is as expected at this price point.
I will be trying to capture my valve amps at the weekend.

Jonathanthomas83 · February 2022

Sorry to bump an old thread, I assume that, like the Kemper, fractal and helix threads, this is the official one for the QC?

If so...have Neural DSP indicated when they intend to include the capability to use purchased plugin tones within the QC yet?

Many thanks

onyir · February 2022

They have said including Plugins is in the plan, but not given any date estimates.
From their discord:

- Current CorOS: 1.3.2

https://neuraldsp.com/news/coros-1-3-2-is-now-availalable

- Next CorOS Update: speech_balloon

- QC Features Roadmap: The following have been confirmed to be added to QC, but their timeline has not be confirmed and they have not been promised for the next version of CorOS:

- Looper

- File Manager

- Desktop Editor

- Plugins ported to QC

The looper is already available

Jonathanthomas83 · February 2022

onyir said:

They have said including Plugins is in the plan, but not given any date estimates.
From their discord:
- Current CorOS: 1.3.2
https://neuraldsp.com/news/coros-1-3-2-is-now-availalable
- Next CorOS Update: speech_balloon
- QC Features Roadmap: The following have been confirmed to be added to QC, but their timeline has not be confirmed and they have not been promised for the next version of CorOS:
- Looper
- File Manager
- Desktop Editor
- Plugins ported to QC

The looper is already available

Thank you very much, man, much appreciated. I think that when this happens, it's going to be incredibly hard for me to ignore the QC. I really enjoy their plugins. Thanks again.

-Ed- · March 2022

Interesting read here and nice to see some honest commentary on the QC. It's so disappointing (yet predictable) to see so many 5 star reviews for something so clearly lacking in maturity. It's £1600. 5 stars should mean it is equal to or better than the competition.

I will find out soon as I've managed to snag one and have it incoming, Will share thoughts here as I'm buying a few releases after launch.

keir · March 2022

rayttk said:

Mega happy with the QC.
only using it for home practice, interface and recording atm but everything seems better quality than the Stomp and Iridium, which is as expected at this price point.
I will be trying to capture my valve amps at the weekend.

How are you finding the QC still?

My current home setup is with a captor x and my board which takes up a lot of space and requires regular setup and breakdown which is a pain.

When running it as an interface do you connect your monitors directly to the QC?

I’m wondering if it’s worth selling my captor x and interface and putting it towards a QC…

-Ed- · March 2022

keir said:

rayttk said:

Mega happy with the QC.
only using it for home practice, interface and recording atm but everything seems better quality than the Stomp and Iridium, which is as expected at this price point.
I will be trying to capture my valve amps at the weekend.

How are you finding the QC still?

My current home setup is with a captor x and my board which takes up a lot of space and requires regular setup and breakdown which is a pain.

When running it as an interface do you connect your monitors directly to the QC?

I’m wondering if it’s worth selling my captor x and interface and putting it towards a QC…

I’ve only had the QC an afternoon with monitors and PC connected and been playing with a few backing tracks. I've not recorded using it yet, I will over the next few days.

https://support.neuraldsp.com/help/hardware-daw-monitoring ;

-Ed- · March 2022

-Ed- said:

Interesting read here and nice to see some honest commentary on the QC. It's so disappointing (yet predictable) to see so many 5 star reviews for something so clearly lacking in maturity. It's £1600. 5 stars should mean it is equal to or better than the competition.

I will find out soon as I've managed to snag one and have it incoming, Will share thoughts here as I'm buying a few releases after launch.

Just in case anyone is interested in non sponsored opinion on the QC, here are my first impressions:

I've spent the afternoon playing it through studio monitors and was genuinely surprised and impressed at how easy it was to sound great. I dislike IR tweaking and found the QC approach excellent.

It's a bit buggy, the screen can be temperamental, but the screen is very nice. Bloody good job as there's no editor for it. I really want an editor - massive gap in the platform.

I haven't tried it on the floor. While it feels well built, it's no fractal FC so would be a bit nervous jumping on it.

The effects are OK but not stellar. Found the odd bug. Fractal are in a different league in quantity and have the edge on quality

I have only used the stock amps, I've not tried any of the supplied captures or taken my own yet. I will do this in the coming days. The amp models instantly impressed me both in feel and in tone. I played through some models that I own and they are as close as it gets in sound and feel.

I have setup some very nice presets with seamless switching between clean, gain and lead tones. I also like their implementation of Fractal's scene controllers. Very impressed

It's just about at MVP, there are bugs and significant things missing - it does not feel polished but it is serviceable and sounds great. The UI once you get your head around it is OK but needs some workflow tweaks. An editor as good as axe edit would make the user experience the best of the bunch.

I was and remain very sceptical but keep going back and smiling so they are doing something right. I'm genuinely impressed.

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