@Salvo , I would request reaching out to NDSP via email and sharing your experience.
Thanks for the suggestion I have already reached out to them via email to share my experience and feedback directly.
I think having a constructive, respectful space here on the forum to discuss these topics is very valuable for the whole community. Thanks again for your time!
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Just to clear the air—my email to NDSP was sent a while ago, but individual feedback stays behind closed doors. The real value of a community forum is understanding the bigger picture.
Beyond individual use cases, don’t we think that establishing a precedent where a roadmap can be altered post-purchase impacts the trust factor for future hardware or software releases? I’m curious to hear from those who have been here since day one: how do you feel the communication style has evolved compared to the early promises?
We know what’s coming in the next update; there’s the roadmap whether you like it or you don’t. We don’t know when that update will come.
Beyond contacting Neural directly, there’s nothing else to really say or do. Among the existing community here, this topic is
and only serves to get people riled up.
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Fair point, and I totally get the ‘beating a dead horse’ fatigue.
It is an old topic and it’s completely fair if some users prefer to skip this thread and move on.
However, knowing what’s coming in the very next update isn’t really a roadmap—that’s just a preview of a patch. A roadmap is a long-term commercial commitment that guides a customer’s investment choice. My point wasn’t about demanding immediate updates, but rather about consumer trust and corporate transparency when those long-term commitments shift years down the line.
For context, I work for my country’s largest state-backed corporation. We track public sentiment obsessively even though criticism barely affects our bottom line. That’s why I simply don’t buy the idea that a company like Neural—whose survival directly depends on customer satisfaction—is just ignoring official forum sentiment and that email support is the only viable channel.
The topic feels dead only because the wait has been so long, not because the core issue was resolved. If a community stops discussing accountability just out of exhaustion, it basically signals to manufacturers that delaying promises indefinitely is a viable communication strategy.
I don’t want to get anyone riled up, but there’s a difference between beating a dead horse and simply tracking the lifespan of a promise.
For some of us, that’s still worth talking about.
I came from Fractal, where you buy the firmware as it exists at that specific stage of development. There are no announcements about upcoming updates and no public roadmap.
The problem here is that NDSP probably communicated more than they should have. It would have been better if each update had come as a surprise, without any prior announcements.
Instead of “coming soon”, maybe “Designed for future Quad Cortex compatibility” would have worked better.
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Spot on, @Gl4th.
The comparison with Fractal is actually the perfect way to highlight the core issue here.
With Fractal, the commercial contract is crystal clear: what you see is what you get. Any future firmware update is a bonus. But NDSP chose a completely different business model: they actively used the promise of a unified, hybrid ecosystem (Plugins + Hardware integration) as a core marketing pillar to drive pre-orders and early sales.
Changing the phrasing to ‘Designed for future compatibility’ back then would have been the honest approach, but it probably wouldn’t have generated the same massive sales volume upfront.
So, looking at it from a consumer standpoint: if a company funds its initial growth based on specific future commitments, shouldn’t the community hold them accountable to those exact promises, rather than just adjusting our expectations downward?
Where do we draw the line between a marketing slip-up and a commercial commitment?
I understand your frustration, I understand your point, and I see the “mistake” NDSP made and continues to make. However, in my opinion, you could only hold them accountable if they had set a specific date and then failed to meet it. Who am I to know what “soon” means in a software development timeline?
In the end, I can get almost the same tones as the Petrucci plugin (which I own) using the devices I already have on the QC, and I can get pretty close to the John Mayer tones as well.
It’s almost true, but not quite.
While you can get close by tweaking the stock blocks, the plugins contain specific, unique components—like custom overdrive pedals, precise pre-amp voicings, and specific EQ curves—that simply aren’t present in the standard QC library.
You can’t have the exact behavior and response of those specific archetypes.
As for ‘soon’, It all depends on how long this ‘soon’ actually lasts 
in commercial law and fair trading practices, constantly promising a feature to drive hardware sales without delivering a clear schedule borders on misleading communication, regardless of whether a precise date was set.
At the end of the day, we are the customers paying for these products and keeping the whole business afloat—our complaints matter, i hope 
I would love Neural to publish a roadmap where the most wished for features are being addressed. I really don’t understand why the forum here is not being used by Neural for horizontal communication with the community… I would love to know what updates I can hope for and which ones not.
Have you checked out the Loopy Pro community? If you search for Loopy Pro Roadmap or feedback, you will find a forum where all the most wished for features are being addressed by the one main developer (one!). As a Loopy Pro user, I’m stoked to see how many things are planned on the roadmap and which ones are currently in development. I feel connected to the developers, because everything is transparent and I don’t mind the release dates of Loopy Pro being “it’s ready when it’s ready”, too. Because I feel heard, I feel seen, I feel addressed.
As a Quad Cortex user, I am sad to see no statement from Neural on the most wished for features of this forum. It leaves me in the dark, disconnected from the company with a bittersweet feeling… I know the device could exactly do what so many people want it to do, it could be fabulous and sometimes I wonder if Neural is actually aware of this…
Then again, I’m happy with the last two updates which turned my device into being “just” very good right now 
PS: I’m also aware there seem to be different hopes on what future updates can bring, even though I agree with the most wished for feature list of this forum largely. I don’t need the PCOM updates, but quality of life updates, as in the midi features, multiple actions for footswitches, a new system for the Hybrid mode, a drum machine and a tuner that can tune all 4 inputs would be freakin amazing!
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Exactly. Whether it’s plugins or quality-of-life features, you completely hit the nail on the head: it’s all about transparency, communication, and making the community feel heard, which is exactly what’s missing here.
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You can capture the plugin if you need it right now. Just saying.
I think you’re mixing up poor communication with a commercial obligation.
Do I think NDSP handled the messaging badly? Yes.
Do I think “coming soon” was a poor choice of words given how long the rollout has taken? Absolutely.
But “coming soon” is not a date, a deadline, or a contractual commitment. If they had promised Q2, Q3, or a specific year and failed to deliver, I’d agree with you.
What I see is a company that has been overly optimistic and vague, not a company that promised something specific and then failed to provide it. There is a difference.
And honestly, while plugin compatibility is important to some users, I don’t think it’s accurate to claim it’s the number one priority for the entire Quad Cortex user base.
Capturing a plugin is a workaround, not a solution. A capture is a static snapshot; it doesn’t give you the dynamic response, the specific effect algorithms (delays, modulations), or the workflow of the actual plugin running natively on the hardware, which is what was advertised. Otherwise, we’d all just be trading profiles on a forum instead of buying a €1800+ modeling beast, right? 
Regarding the timeline: saying “coming soon” is not a blank check to make people wait for years. Just because they didn’t specify a concrete quarter or a deadline doesn’t mean they can stretch the release indefinitely. When a feature is used as a core selling point at launch, there is a reasonable timeframe to deliver it. Five years is not “over-optimistic communication”—it’s simply not delivering on what people paid for.
If I tell my bandmates I’m “coming soon” to rehearsal and show up three years later, I don’t think they’d call it “vague communication,” they’d just look for a new guitarist!
You say they didn’t promise something specific, but they actually did: they promised full plugin integration on the hardware. if you look back at the original launch campaign and the official FAQ from 2020/2021, plugin compatibility wasn’t a casual mention—it was prominently listed as a core feature. NDSP explicitly stated from day one that users would be able to load their Archetype plugins onto the hardware for free. It was one of the primary reasons many early adopters pre-ordered the unit instead of buying a competitor’s product.
“Coming soon” is a vague timeline, sure, but the feature itself is extremely specific. They sold a precise concept, used it to beat the competition, and then failed to deliver it. There is no difference between a broken specific promise and a specific promise delayed for half a decade.
Finally, regarding user priorities, it’s always hard to tell what the whole user base really wants. I certainly don’t speak for the community, and without an official survey, we’re all just looking at it from our own perspective. But that’s exactly the point: regardless of what individual users prioritize today, the only objective fact we have is that NDSP used this specific feature as a major marketing argument at launch. It’s totally fair for anyone who bought the unit based on that promise to hold them accountable for it, no matter how many other users might care about it.
Cheers! 
Another workaround is to sell the QC if you feel so unsatisfied.
We clearly have different views, I hope you will enjoy you unit “soon”
Selling it? And miss out on all the drama and the dictionary-redefining suspense (regarding the word “soon”)? No way, it’s too entertaining!
Thanks for the financial advice anyway. Have a good one, and may the “soon” be with you! 
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Maybe NDSP can change the plugin status to “coming in a future update”
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If only rephrasing were the ultimate fix for marketing issues!
Joking aside, I’m genuinely curious if there are any other early adopters left who still look at this from a consumer perspective, for whom this timeline isn’t normal, or if the consensus here is just to accept things as they are…
Neural’s Discord server has a lot of people. Maybe you can gather a pitchfork-and-torch mob there.
No torches needed. I actually prefer sending direct, formal feedback via forum to express my thoughts as a customer, rather than organizing mobs.
As I already mentioned, I understand this discussion might not be for everyone, but I’m sure you’ll find other threads better suited to your interests.
Honestly, all of your posts refer to ‘Soon’ and how it leads to what you believe is manipulating their marketing so it is about the status and verbiage used by NDSP. The reality is there is no roadmap (available to the external), there are updates posted here and on other NDSP socials when available. For example, on 4/21 NDSP posted:
CorOS 4.1.0 will be the largest PCOM (Plugin Compatibility) update we have released. It will bring compatibility for Archetype: Petrucci X, Archetype: Tim Henson X, Archetype: Rabea X, Archetype: Misha Mansoor X, and Archetype: John Mayer X, as well as additional free virtual devices and quality of life improvements. We will share more about this update as we get closer to the launch date.
We know what is coming in the next update regarding PCOM but NDSP has not stated when the release is expected. Since mods/beta testers are under NDA, only NDSP will announce/discuss updates on their socials when available. You emailed support and gave feedback which they will hopefully consider in order to clarify and prevent owners from having the same mind-set.
And I recommend others to feel comfortable to email NDSP with these related topics if needed to gain their visibility.
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