Hi good fellas,
Although this beast is the most powerful processor on the planet, there is still a tiny gap while switching amps even within the preset just using the scene automations. I tried every factory preset as well as my own ones. There’s not 100% seamless transition IF you engage one amp while bypassing another one. Fortunately this beast provides a good workaround for this issue.
As Ola Englund shows in his YouTube video: Creating different rows with separate IN1. Leaving every amp and cab engaged all the time, but controlling the signal going into them with volume block in order mute them or listen to them. This seems fine and really works seamless. However with this setup, every amp row should include its pre and post effects individually, which ends up with a very limited block usage and multiple usage of the same block sometimes. Absolutely inefficient.
This is what I recently started to execute: Having dual amp setup with splitter (with A/B setup) on 2nd row. Here I leave both amps and cabs engaged in both paths A and B of splitted signal, and I just automate Level A and Level B with scenes in order to mute them or hear the signal through them. Perfectly seamless amp switching. We might place any fx block in front of or after the splitter/mixer so that everything holds for both amps as the cpu allows us.
So what is the problem? :))) If I want to use a 3rd amp or if I want to use a 3 channel amp as in Friedman Clean/Rhythm/Lead, then I need at least 3 parallel rows of splitter/mixer. With this setup I could for ex use the 4th row for post FX. However, Quad Cortex does not give me the opportunity to use a 3rd parallel path with splitting.
If for workaround I try to combine 2 options I suggested, then the grid should look like this. 1st and 2nd row dual amp setup with splitter; 3rd row starting again with IN1 separately including 3rd amp. The problem here is again that I should reuse some pre FX blocks. And it does not end with this. Let us say we hope to use 4th row for continuation of both 1st and 3rd row in order to place common post FX, nope, no chance. because Quad Cortex grid does not allow to route 2 different rows to another single row.
So, enhancing the routing possibilities and also adding a 3rd parallel splitter would certainly solve the issue. I hope to witness that in advance.
Best regards.
The scenario you just described sounds like you’re using the QC in mono, AND you’re using Scenes. Using three separate rows, one each for clean / rhythm / lead, is inefficient and it takes up a lot of unnecessary space.
When I’m setting up an “amp with multiple channels” preset, I’ll put the amp blocks together in series in one row, then use Scenes to turn on/off which amp block I need, and differentiate gain and EQ settings between them. Then I send them into the same cab block. Easy, flexible, and it’s seamless since it’s all in one preset. I’ve been doing it this way for 2 years and it’s great.
Likewise, if you need separate cab blocks for different amp heads, you can put them in series and use Scenes to turn them on and off with the appropriate head. No need for a split, and to automate a mixer to choose between signal levels.
Splitting across multiple rows (or splitting from Rows 1/2 to 3/4) has been brought up in this forum before, though the topic hasn’t gained much attention:
Thank you for your detailed explanation.
I don’t use MONO. My every setup is Stereo. I started to use just as you described, namely, amps and their cabs successively in one row. Unfortunately Quad does not allow a 3rd one in one row for CPU issues. And also 2nd row does not rescue. If you want a 3rd amp , you need to place it top 3rd or 4th row. And I also need to check if engaging and bypassing amps in a single row also 100% seamless. But I don’t think so. Even with separated DSP power for different rows it cannot manage that totally seamless if you engage and bypass amps at the same time.
I read the topic you mentioned. But that is not Exactly what I request since it isn’t asking for triple parallel path. It only focuses on splitting from 3rd top 4th row. Something else, as you guess.
I hope that there would be som changes in advance. The unit is now on baby level.
Have you experimented with different amps or captures? There are only a few amp models that take so much DSP that you can’t get multiples in the same row. Most models will allow several amps in a row, and captures take even less CPU/DSP.
Most amps will also let you switch between them without audible gaps in scene mode- the only one I’ve noticed that doesn’t is the new Kraken/Squid models.
Regardless of the hints and tips the others posted and the question about the need for a three way split for your use case, I would absolutely love the ability to split to three or even four rows. For bass processing it would be super useful if you could split up to three frequency ranges at a freely choosable point.
Yes I experimented different amps. I recently use US SPR (fender) for clean and Friedman for drive. There is recognizable gap while changing amps in a row. I tried them even with Friedman clean and rhythm models together. I admit QC is fast on switching, maybe the fastest in the market. However, whatever we do, if we bypass and engage different amps at the same time there is a tine drop which may be totally eliminated thanks to automated splitter line levels.
When you say drop, do you mean a drop in audio?; as far as I know there’s no audio drop out when switching between amp blocks within the same scene, but there is a slight lag before the amp you are switching to is audiable?; is that what you mean?
The slight lag isn’t the end of the end of the world to me, but is a bit annoying, as there’s instances within some of the tunes I write where I go from clean to dirty right on the beat and at fairly fast tempos (whilst singing, so can be difficult to compensate for the slight lag, although I haven’t gigged with the QC yet*)
To be fair, I will point out that an amp head I used to own actually had similar (if not more lag) when changing channels than the QC (my friend with a Mesa DR says his amp has the same)
*my plan if the lag is a big enough issue is for certain songs to where possible use clean amp block+distortion block (engaging the dirt pedal for my dirty sound via stomp/Hybrid mode or a preset
As a side note, I remember when I had a Fractal it was set to activate/switch upon release of the switch/lift of the foot - changing that to activate when pressed made pedal changes feel better - not sure if QC has these kinds of settings (IIRC though, switching between amps on the Fractal AX8 within scenes had longer lag that QC)
On the Fractal the activate upon release could be useful though, as you could hold to switch between X/Y for each switch (some kind of X/Y switching would be great on QC, for say within Hybrid mode, you wanted switch A to be say an Overdrive pedal, but then wanted that same switch to be a Fuzz for a different song, without having to change Preset.
Yes I meant “a slight lag”. I have always been so annoyed of those lags since I sold my three channel pre amp Tubeman and G System, and updated my setup to AX8 years ago. Now with the power and speed of QC, I admit it is far better and less recognizable. However, it still does not give the taste of analog switching gear unless you have a workaround as I mentioned before, namely, leaving the amp blocks ON and just automating routing/volume of splitter paths via scene change.