Darkglass / NeuralDSP moving into hardware???? UPDATE: The Quad Cortex

[Kev]

2 hours ago, EBS_freak said:

A manual but no product. Perfect 👌 

No product? All 2,000 preorders and initial dealer orders are fully built, they have dozens out for final software testing before shipping end of next month.  I think it’s actually a pretty good idea to release this in advance, given how complex and new it is.  

[bjelkeman]

They have said the manual will be coming out shortly before shipping product. 

[EBS_freak]

9 hours ago, Kev said:

No product? All 2,000 preorders and initial dealer orders are fully built, they have dozens out for final software testing before shipping end of next month.  I think it’s actually a pretty good idea to release this in advance, given how complex and new it is.  

As in, a relatively small number of people actually have them in their hands...

[bjelkeman]

 

[Cuzzie]

Impressive for sure and Nat Nav is one of the best demo guys out there

[dayo]

This looks amazing, the capture option looks cool

[krispn]

It’s a lot of money but it really does blow all other units away. The ability to split the signal into four and even have them affecting various eq bands  is mighty interesting. OTT for my needs but would be fun to see what it can do! 

[CameronJ]

Oh dear. This is exactly what my bank account didn't want to see...

[Cuzzie]

6 minutes ago, CameronJ said:

Oh dear. This is exactly what my bank account didn't want to see...

This is right up your street bro

[Kev]

And to think, capturing fuzz pedals is one of its weaker captures.  It’s so good!

[bjelkeman]

Mine has shipped. May arrive tomorrow. 

[krispn]

I was just repeating myself

Look forward to hearing your experience with it and making captures of your bass head @bjelkeman

Edited March 18, 2021 by krispn
Blah blah

[bjelkeman]

2 hours ago, krispn said:

I was just repeating myself

Look forward to hearing your experience with it and making captures of your bass head @bjelkeman

As I have a Darkglass M900 it is going to be interesting comparing that with the B3K effect. I have very good experience with the Neural implementation of the Darkglass Ultra B3K/VMT. I will definitely also capture the Harmonic Booster, as I find it essential for my clean tone. 

[Owen]

There is stuff I have owned but sold that I really liked elements of. Getting captures of those would make this very attractive indeed.

Edited March 18, 2021 by owen

[bjelkeman]

On 18/03/2021 at 09:58, krispn said:

I was just repeating myself

Look forward to hearing your experience with it and making captures of your bass head @bjelkeman

So UPS manage to get it to me today. Yay.
 

Well, I spent 4-5 hours noodling, trying presets, setting up a signal chain I have wanted since I realised I shouldn’t have sold my Carbine M6. Captured the DG HB. Etc.

 

 Noise gate - DG Harmonic Booster - B3K - Carbine M6 - DG 212 cab

 

There is quite a lot of user interface to get used to, but most of it intuitive. I had to look up how to rename a preset (slide the preset to left and menu items appear). The power is amazing.

 

Hoocked it up to my Mac and Logic and started using it to record something. Very easy.  I think I am going to love this thing.

 

I ended up just playing quite a lot, because it just sounded good. My previous experience was an HX Stomp. I didn’t like the form factor, to much stuff crammed into to few buttons and a screen that was too small. (A standard Helix or LT was way to big, never an option) I never really liked the bass presets or amps. Maybe my expectations have changed, but I like the QC a lot better already.

 

Spent some time noodling on guitar with high gain presets. I never need anything else for guitar again, ever.

 

I think it is a winner.

[Kev]

I think at this stage really,  sound quality wise all these high end devices are equal, it’s the form factor and the strength of the capturing that interests me the most.  From the demos, it does seem to be more authentic than the Kemper, but in a mix/live, probably indistinguishable.  Seems to come down to the unit itself, and I think Neural have got it completely spot on, it seems fantastic to use.

[bjelkeman]

Today I spent some more time with it. So, some more impressions.

The Quad Cortex has a very good user interface for a floor model. There are some restrictions, based on the size of the screen, for example it is fiddly with the 32 banks of presets, was you don't know in which bank the stuff you are looking for is residing. Eventually you learn where it is. And once you have found it you can favourite it and also look at the "last accessed". But overall I would say that I am very happy how they have put it together. Once you learn a few user interface tricks, then it is quite easy to work with it. Like what I said before, rename/delete/copy/move a preset or a capture, swipe left and the icons for the tools show up.

I captured one bass pedal, the Harmonic Booster and several capture of a guitar amp, a Hughes & Kettner Tubmeister 18. There are some minute differences on the gain and high frequencies, especially for guitar, but there is no way I could actually hear that if I didn't A/B tested them directly. And just by tweaking the gain and the treble on the resulting capture, you seem to end up with a software version of my tube amp. Very nice. (The Captures are shared, search for Bjelkeman)

There are plenty of models for guitar and lots of effects, for me. The effects sound pretty good to me. Not everyone agree about that, but I am of the opinion that is very pleasing. There aren't enough bass amps and effects models. It is clear that the market is much bigger for guitar players. They focused first on that. There are quite some nice captures of amps I like, and I ended up preferring the Mesa Carbine M6 capture 8. It is quite some time since I played on an M6, so can't vouch for how it compares, and I haven't taken it to practice yet.

I plan to start running it through the power amp on a Darkglass M900, but later getting a stereo power amp and run one cab high/mid frequencies and one low frequencies. I created a preset with one lane with as above, Noise gate - DG Harmonic Booster - B3K - Carbine M6 - DG 212 cab, and added a paralell lane with a Mesa 400 Channel 1, with a compressor and Ampeg 810 cab, low passfilter, for that extra girth. Sounds good, but I need to test it with the band.

Build quality is outstanding and so was the box it comes in. The box is one of these things you don't really want to throw away and worry it gets dented. 

The twistable foot switches are great and the precision is very nice, at slow speeds it will step 0.1 dB and if you turn it quicker you can go fast through the full range.

I ended up putting it on a sturdy music stand, like I have seen a numbers of reviewers doing. Easier to work with when you are setting up stuff and adjusting it all the time. I added rubber feat and I think it will be great on the floor.

The touch screen isn't as good as an iPhone or iPad for touching, but similar to many Android phones. I was a bit too heavy handed on it initially. A lighter touch with the fingers works better. It has a software keyboard for entering names etc. none of that twisting nobs to find a letter. Phew.

It is great with the Cloud app for publishing, downloading, doing backups, sharing presets and captures. The app is a first release, so there are some things that doesn't work great with the UI yet. There is a bug in that Captures will not upload the tags you enter on the QC. There are other niggles with the UI as well, but overall it is good enough for a first release.

I think they have done a really good job with the Quad Cortex and I am looking forward to both getting software upgrades and using it a lot in the future. No regrets!

[bjelkeman]

4 hours ago, Kev said:

I think at this stage really,  sound quality wise all these high end devices are equal, it’s the form factor and the strength of the capturing that interests me the most.  From the demos, it does seem to be more authentic than the Kemper, but in a mix/live, probably indistinguishable.  Seems to come down to the unit itself, and I think Neural have got it completely spot on, it seems fantastic to use.

I did have an HX Stomp for a while and I really didn't think the bass presets and sounds were as easy to dial in for me as with the QC. Maybe it just comes down to the fact that it is easier in the QC UI and I enjoy doing the work. Not navigating a myriad of multifunction buttons and dials to try to get the result I am after. 

In the end, lots of people are happy with the Fractals/Helixes/Kempers and more power to them, that is great! I don't think I can hear the difference when they play anyway. But I wouldn't swap the QC for either of them or even all of them.

Edited March 20, 2021 by bjelkeman

[bjelkeman]

Nobody else got it yet? Or just can’t tear yourself away from it?

[powerplant]

Got one and I Agee with your comments 

[Kev]

Well this thread has been quiet!

 

Who else has got one?  My board has been entirely replaced by it, its absolutely fantastic.

 

They just released a new firmware release today, addressing tons of requests from users on the Discord/FB groups.  Really promising how its all developing!

 

https://neuraldsp.com/news/coros-1-3-0-is-now-availalable

[Owen]

I was wondering how they were shaping up in the wild. When you say whole board replaced, what did it replace? Does it do synthy stuff? Decent OC2 kind of thing? Is there a community for sharing captured preamps? The one preamp I miss is not one I could capture myself now. I have been VERY close to buying a Strymon Big Sky to access the chorale settings to use with bowed harmonics on a DB. Would the QC oblige?

 

So many questions, but you did lay yourself open to it.

Edited February 2, 2022 by Owen
but he does not want to talk about it.

[Kev]

https://www.instagram.com/p/CQ32Qq_sNg9/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

 

Nothing too wild, but its more that I have presets full of captures on my QC that replicate all the drive sounds and combinations made with the ES-5 almost indistinguishably.  It's paid for itself on that alone.

 

Its still a work in progress.  Beyond filters and pitch shifting there isn't a lot going on synth wise, but they are updating regularly.  The Neural DSP Cloud contains by now hundreds if not thousands of captures and presets.  Its similar to a social media platform, in that you follow users and "like" presets/captures, the latter allowing you to download them onto your QC direct from the QC.  Its a little disorganised and there is no appraisal for uploaded presets, so there is a lot of rubbish on there, but there's some brilliant stuff.  Regards to Strymon, again the strength of their effects models is still its weak point, I see plenty of boards with QC's and Strymon stuff still on.  But, based on what they're achieving in their plugins, its all to come.

[Owen]

<sigh>

 

I kind of run scared from this stuff because a friend traded a nice black Gibson 335 many years ago for whatever the latest rack mount Digitech (IIRC) thing was. Of course the Digitech was worth next to nothing 4 years later. I know that the technology is not the same. I know that the business model is built on developing and tweaking. So given the kit I can shift I can afford one. And yet, I am nervous.

 

<sigh>

 

Gregor has not helped.

 

[fretmeister]

The drop in value of kit that I like doesn't bother me.

If I've kept something for years then chances are I really enjoyed using it. The drop in value is just the cost of that enjoyment.

 

And even when it drops or a new thing comes out - the item sounds the same today as it did before.

 

I'd really like the try the QC - but I'm waiting until they do the firmware upgrade that will allow the Neural plugins to be run on it. Then I'll decide whether to spend the money.. which TBH is likely to clash with my kids being at university so I might not have any money anyway!