I tried to capture my whole bass rig and the Parallax plugin. While getting close, they always felt like they lacked the punch which typically the compression gives you, especially in the lower frequencies.
I remembered that the QC doesn’t capture compression pedals, but wouldn’t that mean that it also doesn’t capture the natural compression that any distortion (and overdrive and fuzz) adds? If so, that would lead to wrong dynamics and EQ and therefore the wrong tone?
I remember reading the official statement of NDSP when I bought the QC, which is: “Quad Cortex can learn and replicate the sonic characteristics of any physical amplifier, overdrive, and cabinet with unprecedented accuracy.”
But as I just explained, isn’t that a contradiction in itself?
Compressors are a tricky subject with the QC;
the effect of compression over time is the factor that can’t be captured supposedly. Tonal characteristics of the specific compressor can be imparted- you will hear a difference, but not so much FEEL a difference.
I think it’s still a bit of a mystery on that front. Some users like the results they get, some not so much.
I am no expert on compression, but isn’t compression just like EQ a tone-shaping and instant effect, rather than a time based? Except of course the attack and release time, but that only tells the compressor when to jump in and when to let go.
True. I think it would really help if we would know what capturing actually does to better understand how to use it.