Hi—I am just setting up a new Quad Cortex and struggling with the essential settings. Specifically, If I turn the reverb mix down to 0% on any patch or turn reverb off, there is no sound in the headphones whatsoever. Any suggestions?
If you want to turn off the Reverb block, don’t set it to 0% , disable it instead:
- On the QC screen double tap a block to disable it
- If you use Cortex Control, double-click to disable.
Chances are that you want to take advantage of the ‘Scene’ system in order to save the ‘disabled state’ of the block, if yes then :
- On the QC : tap on the block, the ‘parameters screen’ opens. Long press the small button that is on the upper-right corner of the Parameters screen section (an icon ‘abcd’ should be displayed near the button to indicate that this parameter is now ‘scene bound’). From now, the ‘disabled’ state is stored in each of your Scene !
- If you use Cortex Control, do a right-click on the same button in the Parameter section, and choose ‘Assign to scene’ (not 100% on the wording, i’m not in front of Cortex control…)
I strongly suggest you to read both the Quad Cortex manual AND the Cortex Control manual, there’s a lot of interesting things ! 
One additional thing : perhaps that you changed the ‘Muted/ByPassed’ state option in the settings ?
(if this option is set to ‘Mute’ , then when you double tap/click on a block a small ‘red bar’ is show in the lower part if the block icon)
See page 23 of the Quad Cortex 2.1.0 manual.
Again, disabling, removing or zeroing-out the Reverb cuts the sound completely. I suspect routing to the headphones is wrong. It’s a bit like a buss was set up with 100% reverb and all I’m hearing in the phones is that buss…
Does this happen on any of the unedited factory presets with reverb blocks? Have you tested the preset’s output using a monitor of some sort rather than headphones?
Take a look at your input settings and also the noise gate on the Input block; maybe try disabling it. Double check to make sure your headphones are plugged into the headphone jack properly. Check the headphones settings in the swipe-down I/O page to make sure the levels are set properly. Try a different pair of headphones.
Are you on the latest version of the CoreOS firmware? If not, I would update.
This has to be frustrating. I would delete that reverb block and try another reverb block to see if that changes your situation. If that solves it, try putting the original block back in place. It’s acting like it’s in series but if that was the case you wouldn’t have a mix knob.
I am indeed on latest firmware. This is happening on all OOTB presets, yes. All of them sound very reverb-heavy to me (like a room mic). It’s a brand new box and I haven’t edited anything yet—at least on purpose. Headphones are ok otherwise.
Can you long-press the “multi out” and check whether there is a problem with the panning maybe?
And if you swipe down the display, you should see the I/O settings and which outputs are routed to the headphones. Maybe there’s a problem there.
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Ah, Multi-out is set to pan “C” and produces no sound without the reverb. If I change that in either direction I do hear sound. This is progress!
That is not what I expected at all, but at least it seems to be related.
(Sounds almost like something is reversed and then summed to mono and signals cancel each other)
Did you check the headphone mix settings?
If you don’t find the problem, you can maybe share your preset so that others (or me) can have a look.
Agree with your diagnosis. Additionally, moving the pan left or right does not change left and right stereo image. It only changes the volume.
I don’t see many options for Headphone mix settings—only level and “multi out”. Level is at 0db and multi out is 6db.
Happy to share presets, although I just bought my QC and am using factory presets currently.
If you swipe down the screen you should see the I/O page. And if you click on the headdphone output, you should see which signals are mixed into the headphone out.
Maybe you can check there.
As noted, I’m not seeing much regarding headphone options. Only level and ‘multi-out’. Should I be seeing additional options?
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Do you have any other way to monitor your signal? Are you using an adapter on your headphone jack?
No, you only see the options if you have more than one output path in your preset.
Using ATH-M50X phones with the standard cord and jack. Unfortunately I just unboxed the unit and haven’t invested in a great monitor available. I can attempt to run through my USB audio interface.
Perhaps I should reset the unit and start again?
yes, this early in the game a reset/restore is definitely worth it.
I can’t duplicate that behavior on my unit, but I am monitoring thru the 1/4" outputs into speakers. That makes me think it’s a glitch in your OS/unit, or in the headphone jack itself
Ugh. To add to my confusion, neither reset options are working at all. I tap them on the device and/or click them in Cortex Control. The device remains the same and does not reboot.
ah, that’s not good. Contact Support@NeuralDSP.com if you haven’t already.
Your unit may require servicing. Who did you purchase from?
in the meantime, unplug it, let it sit a while then plug it back in and just let it try to reboot- if it only flashes, just let it keep sitting. There have been rare occasions where it takes an EXTRA-long time to boot after upgrades.
Interesting. Will try that. (I purchased from Sweetwater.)