Quad Cortex - Neural DSP

#3,401
I came to the QC after a HX and then a GT. I loved everything about the GT apart from the sounds. A number of the DSP blocks made me feel like they were not as diligent in the design and exhibited the typical DSP hash you get from trying to do too much with a processor. In a live context you would be hard pressed to hear this, but I found myself wanting something more powerful.

I found the GT-1000 UI, controls and form factor to be near perfect. The pots that they used for the knobs are some of the more rewarding and tactile pots I have found on a pedal. I wish the QC used these (and also allowed for a linear rotation parameter mapping)
 
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#3,402
MrDinsdale said:
Yo! I had a GT1000Core, which I loved.

The QC out of the box got me tones I'd given up trying to emulate on the GT, a really chewy valve amp tones, as well as more modern options. IMO, they beat the GT and HX hands down. I also loved the drive tones, which I'd always struggle with on other units.

Captures are awesome if you have pedals you love. I have a bunch of drives I use for bass and guitar, and now I can do captures of my favourite settings and recall them at the press of a button rather than endlessly dialling in settings on the real pedal.

The modulation, delays, and reverbs seem fine. There's stuff I like more, stuff I like less across the two, but I'm way less picky about them.

The Gojira octaver is ace, tracks better than the GT for me.

I didn't mind the GT interface, but the QC is waaaay more intuitive.
Click to expand...
Thanks a lot for your input! As a matter of fact I got a QC some days ago an honestly been struggling getting a nice modern metal tone whereas I get blown every time by the one I've been using the last few years with the GT, based on the X-drive and parallel paths. The QC ones, even those on the cloud sound super muffled and harsh to me, mainly on the distorted side, no matter what amp/cab I use and high/low passing settings (reminds me of what my HX experience was some years ago)... I have to be doing something wrong. Do you happen to have some presets to get me going?

Thanks in advance!
 
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#3,404
sydneytdc said:
Could you elaborate on that a bit more? Muffled and Harsh sound like opposites to me? Do you have some examples of the tone are you looking to create? The QC appears to be over-represented with modern metal tones from my ears.
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Yeah sorry, I meant muffled on the clean side and harsh on the distorted side. What I'm trying to achieve is not necessarily a Parallax-like, scooped or over-distorted sound. I can upload some extract of my actual GT tone when I get home, but in the meantime it is similar to this one:

Youtube
 
#3,409
MascisMan said:
Agree, the QC has largely cured my GAS as well in regards to pedals. I only add a couple supplemental because I have room on the board, but, could do just fine with the QC.
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Again, this was my exp too. Actually since I got an HXFX then a stomp years back, that curbed a lot of my GAS. I'm like you, I'll get something from time to time. But since I took the dive into modeling/multi FX units, my GAS has been very low to non existent for the most part. Never thought I'd say that. But then when our band broke up going back 6 years almost now, that had a lot to do with it as well.
 
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#3,412
Has anyone tried the new compressors? I'm not sure I know how to use them. I was thinking that it might be useful when using dirt, but I'm getting some volume jumps, obviously user error. Anyone know how to set them up, or where they need to be in the chain?
 
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#3,413
sydneytdc said:
Am curious as to what blocks you are using for the clean tones? I suppose clean has a broad definition - but muffled doesn’t come to mind when I think off all the clean tones I am using.
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I managed to get very nice clean tones with the Ampeg SVT factory captures, but I'm still struggling with the distorted side... The best way I can explain is that it sounds way "separated" from the clean side... Kind of behind?
 
#3,414
sydneytdc said:
You should make it a goal to get back playing if life allows!
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Me, the guitarist and drummer did all get back together a couple years ago now. It's been really nice. It moves hella slow now haha life, adulting, they got married and one just had a baby :) But we are recording and are going to release our stuff ourselves and on our time. But things are progressing. Slowly. We are having fun and not taking it too serious.
 
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#3,415

Quad Cortex Development Update #53 & Plugin Development Update

neuraldsp.com neuraldsp.com

Alright, they are saying update by the end of the month. In addition to everything else promised they are adding momentary foot switch functionality. You can import presets from compatible plugins. And bulk editing will be possible.

Rabea and Henson get the X update next.
 
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#3,417
DeltaPhoenix said:
Alright, they are saying update by the end of the month.
Click to expand...

But not which year :roflmao:
Captain Ray said:
Has anyone tried the new compressors? I'm not sure I know how to use them. I was thinking that it might be useful when using dirt, but I'm getting some volume jumps, obviously user error. Anyone know how to set them up, or where they need to be in the chain?
Click to expand...

There are no new compressors? Or do you mean the old ones, sidechained?
 
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#3,420
I’m thinking about the QC and trying to decide if it’s a good idea or not, so naturally I’m going to ask a bunch of people who already love it so I can get some confirmation bias 😂

I currently have a Stomp, C4, and tech 21 VTDI. I use IEMs and usually either use no amp or a combo amp for monitoring on stage. The VTDI was my way of getting a good FOH/IEM sound without having to waste blocks in the stomp and for amps and sends to have a signal go to my onstage amp without the amp blocks. I’m happy with my setup, but always like exploring options.

Here are the things I would like in the QC:
The extra switches and extra room for multiple blocks. I’m in a cover band, and like being able to hit a switch to get a more dubby sound for hip hop and R&B, get a nice slap sound, a slightly gritty sound, a more distorted sound, a fuzz sound, etc. I’m at my limit with the stomp even with an extra 2 button foot switch. I also like to be able to add an eq block with a distortion or something else, and this takes up space really quickly with the stomp.
I really like how the QC has a DI and I would be able to do everything in the box in terms of having an amp block for the FOH and not for the on stage combo.
The library of captures sounds awesome. The overdrive and distortion blocks on the stomp are good, but I feel limited with them. There are guitar ones that sound good if you have the space to add other blocks, but again you run out of space really quickly. I used to have a great distortion sound I used with an original band but it took about 5 blocks just for that one sound.


Things I’m not sure about with the QC:
The amps list looks pretty short. Are there more coming down the pike? I assume amp captures don’t have anything you can tweak, you’d just have to add eq to change anything on it, right? So you’re kind of stuck hoping you find a capture you really like.

How is the durability/reliability?

How does the sound compare? I haven’t used a ton of modelers, but I know the difference between a Zoom B3N and the Stomp was pretty drastic IMO. Does the QC go much further than the stomp? There are definitely times when I’ve played tube amps (V4B, SVT2, DB751) that just sounded amazing in a way I haven’t heard from the stomp. I don’t know how much of that is the modeling and how much is just the variables surrounding playing in a different room and with different cabs.

Anything else I should think about?

I appreciate any and all advice!
 
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