More than likely I’m over-complicating this but I’m going to ask anyways since I’m new to the Neural DSP Quad Cortex.
What I’m trying to do is connect the Neural DSP Quad Cortex to my Focusrite Clarett +4 Pre. Currently I’ve got my studio monitors and subwoofer connected to the Clarett which is then connected to my iMac.
I want to connect the Quad Cortex to the Clarett so that I can play my instruments though the Quad Cortex and hear them through the studio monitors.
From my research it looks like the best way to do this is connect the XLR out on the Quad Cortex to the 1/4" input on the Clarett.
Someone told me to connect the Quad Cortex directly to my iMac using the USB port and the sound would come out the studio monitors (assuming the Clarett is turned on).
FWIW I won’t be using the Quad Cortex for any recording on the computer. I’ll use the Neural plugins for that. My only reason for wanting to put the Neural Quad Cortex through the studio monitors is just so I can practice in my home studio and have a flat response (for amp / cab modeling) from my studio monitors.
Anyways, seems like there’s a few ways to do it and I’m just curious if there is one way that is better than the other.
I would utilize QC as your interface. That will prevent latency, you won’t need to worry about gain-staging and you will be able to take advantage of the USB audio routing.
I thought about that but someone told me that the Clarett is most likely better for that task. Not sure what that means or even if it’s true. Hard to know with online opinions these days since most people are just parroting things.
FWIW I won’t be using the Quad Cortex for any recording on the computer. I’ll use the Neural plugins for that. My only reason for wanting to put the Neural Quad Cortex through the studio monitors is just so I can practice in my home studio and have a flat response (for amp / cab modeling) from my studio monitors.
You can make either way work as intended but it would be easier to go the QC route IMO.
If you are fine with tweaking and configuring gain staging etc., stay with your interface.
Just make sure your interface has direct monitoring for no latency etc.
on the Mac you can also create an ‘aggregate device’ that allows both interfaces to function simultaneously. You could assign the QC as the input device and the Claret as output via the Audio/Midi settings on the Mac
I think this is how I started to overthink it. There’s quite a few possibilities in terms of setting it up and I am not sure if one way is better than another.
My QC is strictly for playing live venues and church. I don’t intend to use it when recording with Logic Pro. My only reason for wanting to run it through the Clarett is so that when I am at home practicing (and working on my own patches) I can listen to the output through my studio monitors and subwoofer.
I could run it through my amp / cab setup, but as I’m sure you’re aware, most amp / cabs don’t have a flat response from the speakers like the studio monitors would.
I suppose what I’ll probably do is just run a 1/4" TRS from the QC output to the input on the back of the Clarett. That makes it easy for me to just unplug the QC and take it with me wherever I go.
By doing it this way I’m avoiding having to buy some sort of flat response active amp / cab. Makes more sense to just run it through the studio monitors.
Hi there, I run my QC through a Clarett 4 pre, with no problems I connect output 3/4 on the QC to input 7/8 on the Focusrite, with TRS cables. No perceivable latency and with the volume knob on the QC at 80 it’s far from clipping the inputs.
If your Focusrite is connected to the speakers and you don’t need the DI signal from the QC I think that is the best solution.