Has anyone noticed that after a few hours of running, the QC captures become more an d more “less good” sounding?
I haven’t done much scientific study on this, so… but here is what I have noticed and the small amount of “testing” I have done.
Sometimes I will have my QC on for 6+ hours. I have several amps I am trying to get good captures from, about half are non-master volume amps that I just started to think was not going to go well… I had a similar result from Kemper. Marshall type NMV amps are quite touch/pressure sensitive - I’m sure it’s the same for all NMV amps, but this is my area of experience.
I was getting sometimes great results, and nasty hashy distorted results at other times.
One night I was trying to capture a 50 watt Lead (NMV) and the results were awful… I “rage quit” for the evening and went back to it the next morning - same amp, same settings. Results were very good.
TWO hours later, captures started to sound bad again. Like the QC is incapable of capturing the gain correctly. Shut it off.
Three hours later, same amp, same settings, great capture.
This is as far as I have gotten with my “testing”. It seems the capture quality goes down after about two hours.
Perhaps the internal components are getting warm enough to lose their tolerances? It’s hard to know.
Just record/reamp with some DAW any sample going through those captures at different moments and compare. If you’re comparing at the same exact volume, same exact guitar and QC settings, I doubt it should change…
Are you sure it’s not something with the amp? Some older amps can start to sound different the longer they’re on.
Other option is you’re getting ear fatigue. Sorta doubt a digital device like the QC is changing from any components getting warm. Would consider the amp itself sounding different after a few hours of being on or ear fatigue from a few hours of listening. Also considering this with your comment about the same thing happening with Kemper.
It does not have to be related to heat or some other physical circumstances but there could indeed be some software related problem that leads to buffers running full or overflowing, memory running full(er), etc. So there indeed always is the chance that any software (or software based device) can show changes in behaviour over timer.
I remember the Helix had a memory leak that would cause the Mesa Mk IV to slowly lose volume, but it could only be tested/confirmed by leaving the thing on for a day or so.
I’d suggest testing this scientifically; make a capture when you first turn it on, then wait however long you think you’ve noticed a change, then make the exact capture again. Who knows? Might’ve found something… Or you’re just getting ear fatigue lol
After making those two captures try to reamp something with both each one at a time and record it with a DAW, if there are differences they could also be visible in the recorded waveforms - that would take the ear out of the equation.
When you have the unpleasant sound, turn off the QC, turn off all the components connected to it, turn on the QC first and then turn on all the other connected devices. This should tell you if it is an ear fatigue problem.
The QC is known to have grounding issues, so it is important to turn on first the QC. (I read it on the forum but can’t find it anymore).
You may also need to plug an xlr output to something to have the qc connected to the ground.
Def not ear fatigue - I know the difference clicking back and forth between cortex and reference sound. When the reference sounds as it should and the cortex sounds like heavily compressed high end distortion.
It hasn’t been happening when capturing an amp with a master volume - except on rare occasion which usually gets fixed with re-capturing the sound… It seems to be limited to non master volume amps, at least in my findings… and it’s amps like old marshall circuits that naturally have tons of inter-modulation distortion.
So far amps that have a lot of preamp distortion with a clean power section, such as a 5150 or Orange Rockerverb make great captures especially when the master volume is set conservatively (at 5 or less on the dial).
And so, as I am capturing more and more, I am finding the limitations to what I can and can’t capture. I had a preliminary thought that maybe there was a link to running for hours with degrading captures. But I yield to the current statement that this is not the case. Thanks!
Create the simplest possible preset with a capture, and a Looper block
Play guitar while recording your perf with the looper
Press ‘play’ on the Looper and record the result as a WAV file (using any DAW) shortly after having booted your QC
Let you QC switched on for several hours
Press ‘play’ on the looper and record (again) the result as a WAV file
Play both WAV files in your DAW , while having the phase turned 180° for one of the tracks. There should be silent, since each track would cancel the other.
If the result is a silence, then everything is ok, otherwise you spotted one obscure bug in the QC itself !
Thanks!