If possible, it could be awesome to load Cortex Control as a VST in a DAW.
Can open a world of possibilites such as automations or using “learn” to control pretty much anything, then possibly map it to interact with other hardware.
Automation is currently possible via midi, but this is obviously much more powerful and may offer a better workflow in terms of flexibility, efficiency and intuitiveness - it basically allows you think about it as just another plugin.
Edit: just to clarify, I don’t mean this as a native version, just to have the possibility of loading the Cortex Control as is to a DAW.
I voted but I’m just saying this is highly highly unlikely to ever happen given their preference for a closed system. No one would buy the hardware unit if this was the case which is where the money is at.
Oh, then I’ll just emphasize that I didn’t mean for this to become a native version, just that the Cortex Control as is could be loaded into a DAW, where it still only controls the QC. Obviously a fuly native version would be cool, but I too don’t expect this to happen anytime soon or at all.
With the recent ability to create a ‘local backup’ with CoCo , I had a look at the files created by those local backups.
They are JSON files with an embedded Payload (probably Base64 encoded and encrypted with unique QC machine key, but it’s another story..) , in one of the Json files, there’s a (not the exact word, I’m not in front of my usual PC) ‘Compatibility’ section , containing two subnodes : ‘Cortex’ and ‘Native’ …
In a distant future, when the Quad Cortex sales are starting to decline, or if NDSP create another hardware modeler, the ‘Native Cortex’ could eventually be a thing !
To be clear , I’m not saying that it will BE a thing, but it MIGHT be a thing (at least NDSP thinks about it)
We’ll have the answer in several years from now (10/2023)
So what you’re saying then is that it would be cool if it was used natively so long as it is plugged into the unit? I don’t really get it. I mean you can use Coretex control whilst using a DAW anyway.
Line 6 helix and their HX edit is like this. It would be wonderful to have cortex control as a plug-in for daws and as standalone. Then when you plug your helix in you can import the presets you make. They better make this a feature. I’m worried they won’t cause they wanna keep selling plugins
I totally get this concern and understand that it would be a barrier to a VST version of the QC being available, but if there were a way of syncing the VST to iLok and making it only available for people who purchased the Quad Cortex hardware then it might be useful. In theory such a plugin would allow for endless post processing of a DI track using all of the features available in the QC in a very simple way. They’d just have to make it impossible to use without owning the QC hardware.
Not that piracy isn’t a thing, of course and that needs to be considered if they ever take a path like this as it would certainly effect the expected ROI on the investment.
Yeah mate, just saying that these days they also crack iLok. There’s a reason UAD never went native for decades. Even Helix native is cracked, just saying…. You could compare it to apple stuff as well, they like to keep it all in the money.
Yeah, cracks are definitely a legitimate concern and argument against a Quad Cortex VST. I guess in theory if it were a situation where you needed your QC plugged in to use it then it might be easier to make the process of cracking it difficult? And then you could still reamp your DI signal from the QC if you were unhappy with the sound, but like the performance very easily and intuitively.
I don’t know if that kind of functionality is worth the trouble, but that’s the argument for it, I suppose.
I would love if this was an option. I still use Helix stuff on my board with my QC, and love being able to make effects while writing with Helix Native but be able to easily copy it into a stomp for live use. Just feeling like they would take so long to port the QC since they haven’t even added one of their plugins to QC, let alone porting the entire device to opposite way.
I dont even think making a VST version of QC would hurt them. Honestly would probably help them have a bigger ecosystem. A big draw for Helix to me and many other people I know is the flexibility of the plugin in the studio, and then the hardware live.
It would be such an improvement to the workflow, if you could record DI into your DAW across multiple tracks and save QC presets in a VST-based Crtex control. Processing of the signal could be done by the QC however I’m not sure if processig of multiple tracks with different presets would be technically possible?