I’m super stoked for you; it sounds like it hit the sweetspot of what you need and what you wanted 
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Timing of activities. He doesn’t email me directly. The hype of the QC was about to start up. A revelation was made about “chug”. The QC videos started coming out and viola Cygnus beta was released.
They are in a competitive business. They have their finger on the pulse of what everyone else is doing.
Kemper Stage was released during the FM3 delay hype period - Coincidence? Nope.
It’s the world we live in and the business they are in.
Eh. I have to respectfully disagree. Cliff is on his own clock. He KNOWS he’s so far ahead of the competition that he doesn’t need to worry about that sort of thing. I suspect he foresaw the issues I’ve experienced and he went back to doing what he does. Again; Cygnus is not the second coming; I literally noticed zero difference when I updated my Axe Fx. If you can hear such a dramatic difference, that’s cool; I’m envious of you - to me, it’s sounded great for years already. As far as the FM3 goes, Fractal users have been wanting an updated pedal for a long time, so it’s not surprising that one came out (as have Kemper users).
In any case, our opinions and conjectures are just that; neither of really us knows for sure what goes on behind closed doors, so there’s not really any point in arguing this further lol. I do appreciate your response, though.
Sure.
So your feelings about the subject trump my actual observations of activities that transpired before my eyes as well as other?
Not sure who’s arguing - that’s TGP. I’m simply stating the activities that transpired and don’t feel they are a coincidence. You don’t have to downplay what I think or agree with what I think to make me feel better or worse. I still like you even if you don’t agree with me…
I’ve even more compelled to think this after comparing the Axe FX 3 cygnus against the QC against the FM3 ares against a tube amp.
If you don’t think that way then don’t.
Bill Gates stole Windows from Apple. You can believe it or not.
They are in a competitive business group. To think they don’t know what’s going on or adjust to be the most competitive they can be is nice and warm, but not realistic.
Tone Match was added to give some form of profiling but it doesn’t work well. It doesn’t really need to because the models are done well. Space was added in the Kemper to provide what the Cab mic/room feature had in Fractal. It’s all before your eyes. You can choose to see what and how you want to, but what is evident is hard to pass over.
Again, I have nothing bad to say about Fractal and may even buy another as I have the same gear addiction you have.
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I meant arguing in the academic sense; healthy, respectful discussion & debate, not, like, forum trolling lol. You make some very compelling points.
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Not. 
The graphical user interface (GUI), including windows, mouse, menus, and icons, was chiefly developed at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center in the 1970s. Apple didn’t invent it, it copied it.
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Thanks, but I didn’t say Apple invented it I said he did the same to Apple that they did to Xerox.
He was helping the Apple guys and then all of a sudden Windows comes out to market and looks a lot like Apple’s interface.
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I see what you’re saying. I think if you don’t own something, it can’t be stolen. But no question Gates made Windows in response to Apple’s product.
Back on topic.
Sweetwater is shipping like mad and I’m loving the QC. Life keeps getting in the way!
So far I’ve spent most of my time playing and grinning. I have created a dual amp preset with a MKIII clean capture and the EVHIII Blue channel. It chugs and shreds while the MKIII gives me pristine articulation. So much to explore.
I will add that the effects are a bit disappointing. In preparing a preset for church (lots of wet effects) I immediately am limited to an unworkable subset of reverbs. The one flanger is next to useless.
Considering using my HX stomp as an effects unit, until future updates.
Retracked some guitars on a demo song, big upgrade. Looking forward to band practice on Tuesday.
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The problem with the complexity of the parameters of the Fractal modeling philosophy is that every time there’s an upgrade, your patches change in tone and volume. That’s the one thing I’ll miss the least from my FM3. I no longer have weeks to devote to re-tweaking after every firmware upgrade. And honestly, I wouldn’t do it any longer even if I have the time.
There’s a little something going on in the Fractal community that makes me think of The Emperor’s New Clothes. Now, the FM3 is a quality unit with quality sounds but the demos I heard of Cygnus didn’t make me think this was the second coming of a deity. Yet everyone was going on and on about how this was going to change the world. Uhm, no.
Also, when I compared the QC in side by side tone tests with the FM3, I much preferred the QC. Wasn’t even that close overall. The FM3 was sold the next day.
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You make some really good points. I, too, see this all the time but I’ve actually never once tweaked a preset after a FW upgrade, nor have I needed to. I think I switch guitars so often that I more or less just accept a certain range of tone when I play, so I just haven’t noticed the subtleties of the FW updates. As I’ve said earlier in this thread; I thought it sounded great when I bought it 3 years ago and I think it still sounds great lol! Which leads us to…
I couldn’t agree more. I’ve even gotten bashed in this very thread for admitting I didn’t hear any appreciable difference when Cygnus was dropped. That said, I spent nearly all of Saturday porting over my Axe Fx III presets to my FM3 and for the first time - when I compared the tones at identical settings side by side - I could actually hear a difference. It’s not so night & day that I couldn’t get close to the sound with the FM3, but it was noticeable, and I do hope Cygnus comes to the FM3 sooner rather than later. I noticed the difference particularly on my clean patches that have just a TINY bit of hair on them for some added bite: they sounded a bit flat and lifeless on the FM3 at identical settings. I ended up needing to add some boost and saturation to get in the neighborhood of my Axe III patches.
I’m sure in a couple years I’ll probably be in your same boat; A/B’ing the FM3 with the QC. But it won’t be until the QC adds a significant amount of power-user features & MIDI control, since I rely on this for my gigs.
Awesome! I’d love to know how you like it for your live performance workflow and how easy it is to dial in with a full band. Have fun! (sadly, my band isn’t practicing this week since my drummer is away on vacation).
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I agree with all your points. Hope you stick around even though the QC won’t be in your hands for a little while.
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Absolutely; I want to see it succeed. Hell, I want to see it become better than the Fractal gear - because you know who wins? Me, as a musician
I’m also a mod on the ‘Original’ NDSP group on FB, so it behooves me to keep my finger on the pulse and follow updates. I’m also going to be making suggestions as well to help it grow into the unit I need it to be. I really do love its UI!
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Sadly had to send the Cortex back 2day, it is just not ready for prime time, but has the potential to be, so I’ll stick with my AXE III. Maybe re-purchase the Cortex when it gets up to speed. But for now its just not in the same class as a AXE or Kemper, hopefully they keep improving on it, especially the effects they really need a lot of work.
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Quad Cortex is aimed at me and FXiii is aimed at you. It’s all good.
I hope Neural stick to their vision for Quad Cortex, and don’t change it to be a tweaking and editing nightmare requiring to buy a PC to be able edit things.
I don’t need 100 parameters for an Amp block like (I made it up) adjusting the thickness of a wire insulation in the primary winding of the power supply transformer 
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Yeah, if they can add the features pros need without making it a tweaking nightmare, then they’ll have something special, for sure.
The thing about the 100+ parameters is that while you may not ever need that many, there may be one or two that completely change the feel of the amp in such a way that makes it the best thing you’ve ever played. For me, I’m a sucker for Variac and the subtle dynamic adjustments available. I also appreciate the added tone controls; presence, high treble, and the myriad boost options (basically saves you having to use a drive block if you’re just using it to goose the amp, like an 808 or something).
I guess I would like to see, if not 100+ amp parameters, SOME degree of deep diving. Hell, even the Helix has sag and bias controls which can dramatically change the feel.
But you may be right; maybe the QC is aimed at people who want even fewer tweaking options than the Helix. The real winners here are all of us musicians who get all this great gear to play with!
What were the reasons for AxeFxiii owner to buy Quad Cortex? Was it that AxeFXiii lacking features Quad Cortex have? I’m sure Cliff will address that in AxeFXiv. Until then Rock On on the gear you have and I will on my Quad Cortex!
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Eh, it was more or less to try it out, see how it stacks up in feel and sound (and features, of course). Mostly it was GAS; just to have the new toy on the block. I was hoping it might be better than the FM3. I tried the FM3 this time last year and sold it almost immediately. It just wasn’t powerful enough for the presets I was building at the time. I used to make ‘kitchen sink’ presets where I could use 1 for my band’s entire 140-song repertoire, but I’ve since started making simpler, more song-specific presets which easily fit on the FM3. But if the QC had all the features I need PLUS the power of the Axe Fx III, then it would have become my main rig. It still might, at some point in the future. I suspect, though, that by the time it gets the features I need it to have today, Fractal will be on their next version of the FM3 which will not only have what I need it to have off the bat, but it might even have some of the UI and connectivity improvements that make the QC so spectacular in that regard.
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Capturing Amp/Cab sounds from other guitarists AXEIII. Sounds IDENTICAL. I now have all of his core tones. Wow!
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I agree with UglyBunny on the boost feature. Put an optional boost in the amp controls to save space on the grid if you just want to goose the amp. A good idea.
And Rekt gave me the idea of capturing some sounds from my FM3. I love the Bassman presets in the AXE3 and FM3 - I’ll try capturing them later Good idea.
I just sent two emails with video/sound clips to NDSP support to demonstrate the volume drop in the chorus (3dB) and the pitch block (4dB) when engaged. The pitch block also has issues when you set the values back to default (no detune set) it sounds like a trash can
Links to the vids on request. They are not pro though … just iPhone with iPhone sound … but they serve their purpose.
Otherwise I can reconfirm that I am loving the unit. I’m sure that NDSP will be updating the UI with more features and making fixes to all the bugs users are finding.
Cheers, Todde
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