Nah, the wifi connection is established after boot, so there is no way to check anything through the Internet on boot
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Fractal takes roughly 30s. I think its long. I donāt think modelers can do any better now and accept It. The fastest way is tube amp+stomps.
Hate to break to anyone hoping a tube amp is faster to warm up haha. Itās definitely just as long, if not longer for a tube amp to warm up
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I dont think its so much about the entire venue going down. But lets say you are in a middle of a song and somehow power to the cortex gets interrupted and needs to be plugged back in that is a problem. But that plug on the back is not the most secure. Even when running other power supplies. Anything on the board glitches that makes the QC have to restart 70 seconds is a long time. In some cases thats half a song for some people.
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You have the same risk if a tube amp gets shut off (or has a tube go), or you break a stringā¦.
No you dont. If a tube amp gets unplugged or you can plug that thing right back in. Those tubes have not cooled down enough that you risk doing any damage plugging it back in. Its going to take a few second to be at full volume. Its not like you are cold starting it. If you bust a string, its a problem if you are a gigging musician and dont have a backup guitar. I know people want to bring as little as possible. But if you are a minimalist expect minimalist results. As for tubes going out? its a very rare occurrence if you keep up with maintenance. Im not saying it cant happen. But what I am saying is we can play the game of unlikely variables until we start talking about getting mugged or your car running out of gas on the way to the gig and missing the entire show. You may not have a worry about it. But others do. And the concerns are valid.
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Youāre playing the game of unlikely variables haha
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No im not. Im stating what has happened to people and the stories they have told and weighing that against my own experiences with it powering down accidentally and witnessing with my own eyes the increased boot times since PCOM. You are the one bringing up any and every possibility other than the quad as a reason no one should be concerned about boot up times. Im sorry but its not the same thing as a broken string. Nor is it the same as an unplugged hot tube amp. My point is that anything can happen on stage. Some things are more likely to happen than others. And the unit shutting down and having to reboot or having long boot up times is not a good thing for many. If it doesnt matter to you great. But it matters to some. The point is no matter what I say you are going to move the goal post and say, āit could happen with thisā and when I say thats not exactly accurate and that we could keep playing this game until its beyond ridiculous and then you tell me im the one doing it. Be happy with whatever you are spoon fed. Life is easier that way.
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Talking about the venue losing power was meant to be for comparison and not a likelihood. I agree that the barrel power connector on the QC is a bit week but, with my QC being mounted on a pedalboard, with cables well routed and secured, Iāve never had it come loose at home, at a gig or in transit. Iāve seen guys show up at a gig with a bunch of loose pedals an start patching it all together but, to me, theyāre just asking for trouble. I too, hope that NDSP can improve the QCās boot time in future updates but, for me, it hasnāt been a major problem.
I agree with you there. having a dedicated pedal board with everything buttoned up and clean would help mitigate the issue. But I still think you have a valid point. Because if venue power goes down its a shit show until it all gets sorted. But in that case you arent sweating bullets figuring out your stuff because you know its not you. But yeah the guy bringing a quad and pedals and hooking everything up on stage is a good way to play the weakest link.
Its happened to me. But its because im clumsy and in my home I have really weird outlets put in the dumbest locations you could put them. So To get behind my drum kit I have to navigate an area of less than optimal cable management due to constantly changing things up. Im a classic dude. If I organize my stuff I will never find anything. But if I toss a wrench and it lands behind the lawnmower and behind the air compressor for some reason 3 years later I know exactly where to find that wrench. If I put it where my wrenches are supposed to go, ill stare at that thing until someone asks what is wrong with me. Either that or the wrench im looking for is already in my hand. Just how my world works.
It would be amazing if the boot time of the Quad was faster. But I will say Iāve experience more issues with a normal pedalboard with a ton of cables + tube head than a quad with a few patch cables. Iāve had multiple tube heads die on tours or change sound because of tubes dying, microphones getting hit or placed wrong, etc. Yes there is some annoying stuff with the QC, but I can dial in a sound thatās consistent every night + use the scenes to make pedalboard tap dancing a thing of the past. It used to be a huge annoyance to hit multiple pedals for each song section. Now itās just one button and I can dial in specific tones for each part way more in depth than ever before + tour internationally without needing to rent crazy power converters, amps, etc. I can fly with a pedalboard thatās half the size + weight and even have a power amp in there for a cab. Itās amazing.
Iāll take the inconvenience of a longer boot up time rather than having the wrong or poorly maintained amp from a backline company for a month long international tour.
I still do think Neural needs to improve the QC to match what they have told users they would do and get it up to snuff with other modelers. Itās crazy to live in a time where Line 6 is the most forward thinking and possibly more professional of the modeler companies. They used to be clowned on for the Spider series amps and the funny sounding models on the POD. Neural does need to step it up. They were supposed to be the most forward thinking and best sounding modeler company
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They were the most forward thinking but development is so slow that others are passing them. 
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I can understand the consistency of sound. Im not an amp guy. I used to be but I got into modeling early, got out of it then got back into it when the kemper came out because i felt it finally reached a level of realism that was acceptable. But even if your tubes dont fail, they are fickle little things. I dont care what tube amp it was I owned. Could have fresh matched quads of hand selected premium tubes whether one believes in that or not and the amp would sound different almost every day even in the room. Sure there were some times when I would go a few days and the amp would sound consistent. But next day (especially my mesa mark five when first released) it just didnt want to sound good that day. So as far as consistency goes? Definitely no disagreements there.
I think for me I just really wish it had a three prong connector that went into the back of the unit. My hotone is the same way as the quad. It has almost like a pedal plug that goes in the back but with a standard on off switch. And I didnt much like it on that either just because I would accidentally disconnect it. Boot up times on that are fast because wellā¦.. you can tell from the sound there aint much going on upstairs. But I guess it really depends on the persons situations and needs. But I just like that bigger plug to idiot proof the board because I know either Im going to be stupid or if im playing at a party (thats usually only when i play out. I play loud but mostly at home) some kid is gonna run in front of the thing and kick the cable. On the plus side my rig wont end up in the pool im playing behind if they really get it good.
Meh. Either way Im chilling on any criticisms of what neural chooses to do. I had to sell my quad to pay for a stadium xl. It may be the best choice i ever made or the worst I dont know. But the way I see it by the time the stadium is out if its horrible Ill buy another newer quad which will have the new codec and maybe they will have a cool limited color or something.
I originally planned on keeping the quad until I was for sure on the stadium but it was a lot easier of a sale now than it would be during christmas when people are looking to buy new or want to cut you off at the knees on the price. So Im taking a risk. But in the interim I have no right to complain about anything they do in relation to the quad unless I get another one which as I see it could be a 50/50 split with how little as you have mentioned that we actually know about the stadium.
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It appears that way. But, this is funny because now that I sold my quad im actually gonna defend neural because im not waiting for anything so I got no emotions effecting my thinking.
But in this case when I say appears thats what I mean. I admit I sold my quad because if I didnt I wouldnt be able to afford the new stadium XL. Do I have any idea if im going to like it? Not at all. I love the helix but the stadium is a new untested by the public platform. And much of what has been talked about isnt even going to be on launch like proxy which is their cloud based clone tech. Im sure we will know more before they start shipping but its a shiny new toy. And Im humble enough to admit that I may a have taken the hook before it was even baited. It remains to be seen.
Now fractal I heard rumors that they are coming out with something even better than the stadium. This was second hand on a group or forum. So I cant lend any credibility to whether or not the claim was valid or even stated in any variation. But that would lead me to believe they are saying they have a touch screen unit in the works. Because beyond the live and some 1 minute clips and interviews no one has REALLY played one of these and even they were given limited access to which amps they could play and how much they could be tweaked. So even the influencers who have heard it only heard what was spoon fed to them. That could be good or bad depending on your optimism/cynicism ratio. Mines like 0:100 so I always expect the worst so hopefully im not abnormally upset,lol.
But one thing is for sure kemper aint doing anything. If anything their kemper floor 2 just landed like a led zepplin. I think it made more existing kemper owners mad than excited. I had a kemper power rack and I saw the kemper II stage and I was like did anything even change besides the color?
Hotone I think is a jack of all trades master of none. I think they do a good but not amazing job. You definitely get the versatility and the options and really good screens but same user interface pretty much as the original units just more powerful. But still not going to put anyone out of business anytime soon. But great for the budget minded who want something better thanā¦
Headrush. I just dont think that lives up to being a premium unit. Despite its capabilities it doesnt do all of them well at all. I know people who have them, but they are all on youtube for some reason. But that parent company and many of its sub brands are just plagued with issues. And maybe thats being judgy but even in person the unit did not impress. Looks super cheaply made to me. But I felt the same way about my alesis strike module for elecronic drums. Failed like 4 times. Hi hat never worked.
So what im getting at is that while it may appear as though neural is getting lapped, and it seems like things arent in order and in all likelihood they probably arent. But, I dont think the radio silence is bad. In fact coming out and apologizing and not giving any more dates, while frustrating is better than setting another expectation and it not being met.
But we all have to remember that neural may be swaying but its definitely a far cry short of a TKO. And I think right now they are getting footing and If they are smart which they are they are going to come out swinging with an update after all the bs is over that will bring the heat. Maybe not to people using other produdts because everyone has their faves. Die hard fractal guys would use and Ax fx1 over a quad. But for quad users as much I let my frustrations be known now that I dont own one Its only in hindsight that I actually can sympathize with them.
Because if I was at neural doing any of the important work that needs to get done with actual hardware deadlines and seeing the disappointment in the community? I dont think I would want to be one of them. And I would only imagine they are just as frustrated as any owner is because the success of this product and the amount of R&D invested is a ship sinker if it doesnt get sorted. So im sure they are feeling the pressure internally and probably cant even focus on what others are claiming to be doing.
After a week of playing my hotone I miss the quad. You dont know what you got till its gone. And it was a gamble. But I may end up returning it and buying another quad again. But then it will have all the fully updated hardware and with any luck no choice will be the wrong choice when all is said and done things will be sorted with the quad.
Boot times are a concern. But If pcom did have something to do with it. And from my experience it did. I think it would be wise to not have plugins be installed on units by default as that is how they are doing it. All the info is on your screen the plugins are there whether you bought them or not. Some have expressed they dont want to use plugins at all. Some really care about it. But if it negatively effects boot times I think the best thing for all users is to have to make the plugin be a download and not have to have so much extra data to load. Lets say 10 plugins get released but only 1 you own. Why have all that loaded on the unit unless the person is going to use it. But if they can improve it and not make plugin boot time stack then I think that would be fine too. But either way, I dont think there is a single person at neural twiddling their thumbs or bouncing balls against the wall. We each have or In my case had about $2g minimum invested in the unit after taxes new. Thats a big investment. The investment for neural includes jobs, mortgages and the company itself. If they arent working their butts off right now there is a zombie apocalypse in finland we are unaware of. I think they will make a comeback. But it definitely needs to be soon. And I didnt mean that to be snarky.
I get what you are saying. Donāt get me wrong, I love my Quad. Unlike any other modeling device (and most real amps) Iāve used, every time I fire it up, my initial reaction is, ādamn, that sounds good!ā. I also love the UI and how easy it is to get great tones quickly. With only a few exceptions, it does just about everything I need it to do and, unlike some userās experiences, mine has been very reliable. Iām mainly concerned about Neuralās continued success.
When the QC was first releases, it had a lot of features that others didnāt, and that lead to solid sales. Now, several other companies have started to incorporate these features and improve modeling and capture tech to compete with the Quad. Most of the competition are much larger companies with more resources to speed development. NDSP seems to be struggling trying to implement features that were promised upon release and to make the QC more reliable. Iām hoping that they can get over these humps in the near future so they can focus on incorporating even basic features (full MIDI implementation and foot control, more amp and FX choices, gapless preset changing, etc.) that the competition already has. They need these features in order to stay viable in the market. If the QC were to be discontinued due to slumping sales, we would all lose. Come on NDSP, Iām rooting for you!
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Neural was able to benefit early on by not being stuck with an older legacy company that might not believe in the forward ideas they were trying to push. Unfortunately they have ground to an absolute halt with all the QC setbacks, and only releasing a couple plugins in the past few years. Itās crazy to see how much Neural has slowed down. Also they just keep sending endless emails about the same plugins that have been out for years, since they havenāt developed anything new in so long.
Not counting the Nano Cortex since thatās such an undercooked product + it doesnāt do anything new. Just a super limited version of the QC. Also their marketing for it has been so confusing and misleading. Iāve had to tell so many people that the Nano doesnāt do amp models, because theyāve all told me they were about to buy itā¦.but they all assumed it had the same amp models as the QC
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Iām just thankful they havenāt gone under. I can understand a business having to scrape by some tough times, Iāve been there myself.
Hopefully itās not a long-term nose-dive to a crash. You never know what is going on behind the scenes. Some days Iām mad at all the non-stop ad campaigns, sometimes Iām relieved and think āI hope they make as much $ from these as they can so they can hire more devs or whatever they need to get thru the lean timesā
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Thought this is about boot timesā¦?
Oops, I digress. 
I Hope that they will increase boot time in the next update. Output DA converters sounds Better after 3 Min of warm up.