Neural DSP Quad Cortex For Acoustic

[AeroUSA]

I saw the Quad Cortex at Winter NAMM and loved the small form factor, DSP power and XLR inputs (vocals). If they add a decent looper and vocal harmony effect to this thing it could be awesome for acoustic players!

Quad Cortex

[ric4682]

I was thinking the same thing! It looks incredibly powerful and potentially being able to to run two separate paths, one for guitar and one for vocals would be a huge deal.

[JCW308]

Just picked one up. Will let you know how it goes.....

[AeroUSA]

I have tried one. It’s too bad it doesn’t have vocal harmonies and longer IR’s.

[idimata]

Originally Posted by AeroUSA

I have tried one. It’s too bad it doesn’t have vocal harmonies and longer IR’s.

What would you recommend as an alternative? Is it worth buying?

[rokdog49]

I was interested, then I saw the price.

[SpruceTop]

Originally Posted by AeroUSA

I saw the Quad Cortex at Winter NAMM and loved the small form factor, DSP power and XLR inputs (vocals). If they add a decent looper and vocal harmony effect to this thing it could be awesome for acoustic players!

Quad Cortex

At $1849, that's a lot of bread!

[DavidE]

Originally Posted by JCW308

Just picked one up. Will let you know how it goes.....

MIne is mostly gathering dust waiting for firmware 2.0 to hopefully fix fundamental design issues like file organization.

[rschultz]

Originally Posted by idimata

What would you recommend as an alternative? Is it worth buying?

Wow for $1800?!? I haven't used it, but the Helix Stomp or XL is the same size and has very similar functionality. Each has a few minor advantages, but for $1000 less, they don't really compare.

Here's a decent comparison of the two.

[AeroUSA]

Originally Posted by rschultz

Wow for $1800?!? I haven't used it, but the Helix Stomp or XL is the same size and has very similar functionality. Each has a few minor advantages, but for $1000 less, they don't really compare.

Here's a decent comparison of the two.

The Stomp has about half the power but it probably is the better choice for acoustic right now.

[rschultz]

Originally Posted by AeroUSA

The Stomp has about half the power but it probably is the better choice for acoustic right now.

Right, more processors. Helix just had a major firmware upgrade such that cabs and IR's take only 1/3 as much DSP. This is pretty significant, I doubt I'll bump up against the DSP limit anymore. So while Quad Cortex has more processors, Helix has many years jump start on optimizing their blocks to make them run more efficiently.

[AeroUSA]

Originally Posted by rschultz

Right, more processors. Helix just had a major firmware upgrade such that cabs and IR's take only 1/3 as much DSP. This is pretty significant, I doubt I'll bump up against the DSP limit anymore. So while Quad Cortex has more processors, Helix has many years jump start on optimizing their blocks to make them run more efficiently.

But the Stomp has no XLR inputs and I don’t care much for the electric guitar sounds myself. If Neural added more for vocalists I would switch to it immediately.

[AcouStickistNS]

I've put off answering this thread until I had put more hours into it with my acoustic guitar. I bought the Quad Cortex to replace my HX Stomp which grew into a pedalboard for my needs, which became counter intuitive to owing the Stomp in the first place. I've used my Helix since they first came out, and still use it, however the size and weight of the Helix sometimes made playing live a bit of a chore, so I needed something smaller. What the Quad Cortex did for me was replace the Stomp and the Aeros Looper that I had joined on a pedal board. In fact I sold off the whole board.

I've been using the QC now for about three months, and do weekly open mics.

I play multiple instruments solo, and do not sing. I waited for the looper option before buying it, and found it works exactly the same way that I used the Aeros, and has the nice moving graph visually showing you where you are in the loop. The eq functions are all graphical, and much more efficient to dial in than most other multi effects out there. The capture function I've used to capture multiple setting from my GED2112 bass DI; it works awesome capturing sound from DI/EQ/Comp/OD type effects. Does not do delays or reverbs or other special effects.

For mic'ing an acoustic guitar, it has 48V Phantom power, but the sound is not as good as the single mic input on Helix, plus it has no mic preamp like Helix offers. This comparison I did not add any eq blocks, just tested the raw output. QC offers two mic inputs vs Helix's one, but no preamp block makes it fall short of Helix. If they offer it in the future this may offer a bit more than Helix currently does. Helix was way easier for me to set up a condenser mic with, and sounds far better to my ears.

Outside of acoustic guitar, I play two types of Chapman Sticks, electric guitar, and a variety of electric basses, so dual inputs blending electric guitar and bass amps and cabs is a necessity for me. My acoustic is also a stereo output where I run a Y cable, and having two identical guitar inputs is nice. I wish the Helix's Aux input would work the same as the guitar input, so I often use the two effects return jacks as inputs.

One feature where the QC shines is the Shimmer. In my opinion, this is the best Shimmer effect I've ever used, I can really bring out the sound of it better than an H9 Stomp I also have. Works well on all of my instruments and I get a lot of compliments for using it, often as a dramatic way to end a song with.

QC is not a Helix killer. Despite the huge DSP it has, it's ability to be used as a standalone foot synth does not work as well as Helix. Nor does it have the stereo processing effects as Helix does, nor does it offer as many effects. Future upgrades may solve some of this. What the QC does have though are pretty well thought out effects, and the reviews about the awesome graphical interface I find to be true as well. In fairness - comparing the QC to Helix is not really apples to apples. The QC is more like the Kemper offerings where one can capture amps and effects with. For those that own an arsenal of stomp boxes and or amplifiers, the capture feature allows one to take those on the road with them without actually having to bring them. Also keep in mind the founder of Nueral DSP is the same guy behind Darkglass audio. For bass players, there's a lot of Darkglass captures in there, and a lot of nice features for electric bass players. A bit off topic for this forum, but I know there's quite a few bass players here that might find that interesting.

Specifically for this forum, if you use a looper and Shimmer a lot, but do not use microphones, this might be the perfect pedal. Setting up eq and compression is a breeze and basic reverbs and delays are there, and the interface is incredible and very readable on a dark stage. There's no specific feedback control, but if you know how to tweak a parametric eq to do so, you can with the QC. Otherwise the L6 Helix based effects that are cheaper might be a better option for those looking for a multieffect. Also - not a dealbreaker for me, but the Helix is much quieter switching effects off an on. I realize there's a few out there that demand the quietest foot switches, the Helix wins over the QC in that department.

[TedBPhx]

Great comparison write up. Thank you, AcouStick.

[AeroUSA]

Originally Posted by AcouStickistNS

I've put off answering this thread until I had put more hours into it with my acoustic guitar. I bought the Quad Cortex to replace my HX Stomp which grew into a pedalboard for my needs, which became counter intuitive to owing the Stomp in the first place. I've used my Helix since they first came out, and still use it, however the size and weight of the Helix sometimes made playing live a bit of a chore, so I needed something smaller. What the Quad Cortex did for me was replace the Stomp and the Aeros Looper that I had joined on a pedal board. In fact I sold off the whole board.

I've been using the QC now for about three months, and do weekly open mics.

I play multiple instruments solo, and do not sing. I waited for the looper option before buying it, and found it works exactly the same way that I used the Aeros, and has the nice moving graph visually showing you where you are in the loop. The eq functions are all graphical, and much more efficient to dial in than most other multi effects out there. The capture function I've used to capture multiple setting from my GED2112 bass DI; it works awesome capturing sound from DI/EQ/Comp/OD type effects. Does not do delays or reverbs or other special effects.

For mic'ing an acoustic guitar, it has 48V Phantom power, but the sound is not as good as the single mic input on Helix, plus it has no mic preamp like Helix offers. This comparison I did not add any eq blocks, just tested the raw output. QC offers two mic inputs vs Helix's one, but no preamp block makes it fall short of Helix. If they offer it in the future this may offer a bit more than Helix currently does. Helix was way easier for me to set up a condenser mic with, and sounds far better to my ears.

Outside of acoustic guitar, I play two types of Chapman Sticks, electric guitar, and a variety of electric basses, so dual inputs blending electric guitar and bass amps and cabs is a necessity for me. My acoustic is also a stereo output where I run a Y cable, and having two identical guitar inputs is nice. I wish the Helix's Aux input would work the same as the guitar input, so I often use the two effects return jacks as inputs.

One feature where the QC shines is the Shimmer. In my opinion, this is the best Shimmer effect I've ever used, I can really bring out the sound of it better than an H9 Stomp I also have. Works well on all of my instruments and I get a lot of compliments for using it, often as a dramatic way to end a song with.

QC is not a Helix killer. Despite the huge DSP it has, it's ability to be used as a standalone foot synth does not work as well as Helix. Nor does it have the stereo processing effects as Helix does, nor does it offer as many effects. Future upgrades may solve some of this. What the QC does have though are pretty well thought out effects, and the reviews about the awesome graphical interface I find to be true as well. In fairness - comparing the QC to Helix is not really apples to apples. The QC is more like the Kemper offerings where one can capture amps and effects with. For those that own an arsenal of stomp boxes and or amplifiers, the capture feature allows one to take those on the road with them without actually having to bring them. Also keep in mind the founder of Nueral DSP is the same guy behind Darkglass audio. For bass players, there's a lot of Darkglass captures in there, and a lot of nice features for electric bass players. A bit off topic for this forum, but I know there's quite a few bass players here that might find that interesting.

Specifically for this forum, if you use a looper and Shimmer a lot, but do not use microphones, this might be the perfect pedal. Setting up eq and compression is a breeze and basic reverbs and delays are there, and the interface is incredible and very readable on a dark stage. There's no specific feedback control, but if you know how to tweak a parametric eq to do so, you can with the QC. Otherwise the L6 Helix based effects that are cheaper might be a better option for those looking for a multieffect. Also - not a dealbreaker for me, but the Helix is much quieter switching effects off an on. I realize there's a few out there that demand the quietest foot switches, the Helix wins over the QC in that department.

To be clear, the QC does have physical mic preamps but no virtual ones at the moment. I never used those on the Helix anyway but it would be nice to see some in a future update.