Makes sense Line 6 would have a new modeling algorithm haha. Helix has been out for 10 years, not even counting the years of research they would have had beforehand. I wouldn’t count their previous amp models sounding less accurate than Neural as a negative. They’re clearly trying to innovate. I think Line 6’s effects (aside from the modulation) is better than Neural though. Neural still needs to figure out a polyphonic pitch shifter, fixing the wet/dry mix of their delays/verbs, and creating some better algorithms for them.
I support the desire for innovation, and you’d probably still have a negative to say about Line 6 even if they didn’t update their modeling algorithm haha.
I think the competition that the Stadium adds to other modelers now is amazing. The price of the non XL unit also isn’t as big an issue as other are making it seem. The QC can maybe do half of what the stadium can….and is almost the same price (not to mention the Stadium has the IEC power cable which is awesome).
Of course Neural seemingly has less resources, but somehow they were able to make better amp models than a much larger company. Hopefully they can use that knowledge to get the Quad up to snuff.
If the Stadium’s models are on par with Neural + the DSP gets improved, I would absolutely consider switching back to Line 6. The quad is still leaps and bounds better to me than the Kemper, Headrush, Tone Master, or Fractal.
I’m not a fanboy of any of the brands. In fact I’ve been very critical of Neural, but I do find the Quad and some of their plugins to be useful tools. Unfortunately with most modelers right now there is always a big drawback to each choice, whether it’s size, DSP, amp model sounds, gaps with switching, screen type, etc.
The Stadium does seem to try and bridge the gap on each drawback all the modeler brands have. But we’ll have to see how it actually sounds to know. The original Helix did change the game a lot on modelers (yes kemper existed but we all know the UI of that thing is horrible).
You can load an audio file, it will split it into the separate stems, you can turn off the guitar track and play in the mix. You can add flags to the track which will trigger various actions e.g change preset for a solo, or send midi signals to lighting or video
Stay tuned for Christmas 2025, for the new NeuralDSP “modeller killer” … the SquadCortex: where every preset is your “A” rig!
Dedicated server farm for every single unit shipped, allowing you to use the most of our new cloud-based-computational-capture-correlation-cucumber-AI-empowered-TINA-tech
All units ship with a luthier to customize whatever instrument you’d plug into this
Completely wireless: just imagine a patch cable and boom you’re plugged in (summed mono, too!). Signal range is 40km… soundcheck from another city!
Powered by analog device hatred (or one half-drained AAA battery… whichever you have access to readily)
Provides emotional support whenever someone says the word “tubes” out loud
‘Sleep mode’ also gives you a good night’s rest
Whenever you save a preset, it improves your credit score by 0.1% and sends a Tony Soprano look-a-like to the last person who said something rude to you
Accepting pre-orders now! Retailing for 2 Schrute bucks.
Pretty much aligns with my view, I always loved the Line6 OS and I/O but could never get on with the sound, I love my QC, but this could oust it especially if you can assign buttons to launch wavs.
For example, i clone my softube speaker shaper (real Dynamic) cabs with headrush Flex via software with ampcloner.
The result Is out standing and my best ir now Is ridicolous.
QC cabs for example are static and 21ms
The Cab tech Is the Key, and this Is the last block far today from a real micking take.
Not Little distortion…but all the world that Is around a cabinet and speaker modelization.
I flicked through YouTube, talk about ridiculous hype it’s guitar pedal FGS…the helix didn’t sound good nor did it feel good to play through and I doubt this will be miles ahead..
using the QC with a midi floor means at gigs I’ve got the QC right beside me on a stand and the midi floor can take the spills and knocks, no having to bend down and scroll through settings when I have to… Neural got the design right I think…
I only said it mite even be a QC killer for the fun of it… Chill pill
Likewise, I will switch. I was warned by a staff member in the UK’s largest guitar store when I bought my QC that he’d sold his due to the slow pace of updates - or in other words a general lack of support.
That was in the early days, and since then things have improved - somewhat. But I think of what he said to me several years ago as words of wisdom now.
The one thing the L6 have over every other competitor, from what I can see, is unsurpassable support for the product - to have a piece of hardware last 10 years, and still keep going is incredible, so I’d say this is a warning shot to Neural and all the others - look after your customers first and foremost, and they will show loyalty to you. And I don’t mean you have to kick out updates every other week, but you do need to LISTEN to what they want (yes, some features requested here find their way on to the QC, but many of the more basic issues are never even acknowledged, let alone addressed) and then COMMUNICATE, and nobody here can argue that communication has been a strength for Neural.
The good news for Neural however is that all of the things that need addressing are within their gift; whether it’s coming up with a QC version of Showcase, or even having a direct official presence on this forum, would go a LONG way to get people who have spent a lot of money buying in to the Neural universe, onside…
I think those were only feature updates. The overall number has to be almost at 40 updates (including bugfixes).
I mean in general i don’t care about the update frequency if the device is fine. (which the QC is)
Also i’m not giving a thing on whats to come, it has more to do with promising stuff which gets you hyped.
I’m happy with the QC as it is and as i said multiple times in this forum: i don’t buy a piece of gear if it can’t do what i want from it (i don’t care what the future brings) - and the QC delivered that!
But mentioning more Plugins, FX and QoL Fixes to come and not delivering these (or at least clearly communicating them) is the bad part i think. (or at least not communicating realistic roadmaps)
Company size isn’t the issue here, i think it’s organization or prioritizing some things over others.
I’m 1 of 3 IT Admins of an international event company, while we’re always working really hard, we’re creating Roadmaps after evaluating every scenario for upcoming changes. That way our collegues can clearly see whats in progress and won’t become inpatient or cocky.
Lets see what the Stadium brings, how it will sound and how it will feel. I’ll definitely try to get my hands on a Testunit just for Testing it A/B with the QC when they’ll release it. But it sounds promising.
And don’t get me wrong - I love my QC. But some OFTEN mentioned Feature Requests / QoL improvements are taking freaking looong.
Yep, the quad cortex form factors is a huge selling point, The reason why I’m choosing not to jump ship and buy a Helix Stadium or a tone master pro, due to its huge size and no capture/ profiling capabilities. I feel like you get better value for your money with a quad cortex in a small footprint.
I’ve built my board around the quad cortex, small, light and practical and I surely don’t want anything bigger. My board consists of a QC, Shure PSM 900 IEM Transmitter, and a Peterson Strobo stomp HD with my own customized offsets. Its grab and go.
Line 6 stated it had 19 updates over a 10 year period. Fewer than 2 per year… I feel like Neural has that beat…