Hi there,
Since I bought my first NDSP PlugIn, I play this PlugIn more than my real Pink Taco.
It sounds just as good and I’m more versatile.
Now I’m thinking about buying more plugIns or the QC. Since I’m just playing at home at the moment, I don’t need anything portable.
My question is, does the QC sounds better than the PlugIns? Does it feel better? Can you feel the latency difference?
These would be the only reasons to get the QC instead of buying more PlugIns for me.
Thank you!
I don’t use plugins, but have had a QC for ~20 months.
My understanding is that people who have dialled in plugins think they sound slightly better than the equivalent models on the QC.
On the other hand, people who have a QC tend to lose interest in buying any more plugins.
It’s a great bit of kit, but as far as sound, feel and latency go, I think you’d be hard-pressed to find differences one way or the other.
The main benefit IMO of the QC is access to cortex cloud to download others’ captures.
Thank you! This is so helpful.
I think you are right.
The plugins sound so good, it is hard to imagine the QC would be any better.
I have both. The QC is not necessarily ‘better’- it’s just more versatile.
I can get comparable tones out of either.
The plugins have a fixed signal path vs the QC where anything goes- I think this may account for those who think the PIs sound better (it’s just harder to mess them up)
As much as I love the QC, sounds like it might be overkill for your situation.
This is good to hear.
When both sound equally good, I will use the sale at the moment and buy some plugins 
I think you are right, the QC is overkill for me at the moment. I can get it later when I start playing live again.
Thank you for your very helpful answer!
I have 5 plugins that I use on Imac (I have a Duet 2 sound card) and 5 days ago I purchased the Quad Cortex, I mainly play Jazz so I mainly use “Clean” sounds.
the Plugin I mainly use is Tone King Imperial MK2 (the others are Archetype Cory Wong, Soldano SLO 100, Archetype Plinio x and Archetype Mateus Asato).
Having said that, considering that my favorite styles are in the territory of modern Jazz, blues, fusion, the Tone King and Archetype Cory Wong plugins are the ones I personally prefer for dynamic response and, compared with the models available on the Quad Cortex, I have the feeling that sound slightly better precisely because of this characteristic… in fact one of the reasons why I purchased the Cortex is the prospect of future compatibility with plugins which, in this way, could be managed for “live” use with unmatched agility and flexibility comparable to a laptop.
Same here. The Wong and Tone King are my go-to plugins every time. I have four others, but they rarely get used.
I do prefer the sound of the plugins over my QC, but I’m sure that will change when those two plugins are available on my QC.
That being said, I can see a point in time where I would use my laptop for gigs. For what I do, it makes sense.
Thanks a lot! This helps a lot with my decision.
I am happy now with the plugins, they sound amazing.
I get the QC when I start gigging again. But for playing at home the plugins are the best option for me.
I first had Archetype Nolly only. Which i really loved. But when i’ve got the QC i stopped using it tbh. The QC sounds and feels better to my ears. I mean if you’re not playing any shows i’d say stick with the Plugins they’re great!
If you’re planning to play live, then get the QC.
Thank you, that is my plan 
I have a 2018 Mac Mini that I use NDSP plugins on. There is definitely noticeable latency (or crackling if you reduce sample size too much). There is zero latency with the QC (well, like 2-3ms probably). The plugin latency isn’t deal-breaking, though, even with pitch-shifting going on.
Once all plugins are X versions, and all X versions are ported to the QC, we won’t have to choose 
That said, sound-wise, both are excellent. I’ll still probably relegate my QC to my live rig and continue practicing at home on my Mac and NDSP plugins.
Hi all, I am in the same situation as I have many NDSP plugins that I use in Gig Performance 5 with a macbook pro mid 2014. They sound great but when I do some recording with OBS I encounter some crack and pops if I am also using other app and I am thinking to upgrade my studio and get me a mac studio and use my macbook pro only for plugins. The alternative is to buy a QC and use this as plugin platform. Actually I am not playing gig and I just play in my studio. What do you suggest? Thanks
Which macbook pro, and which audio interface are you using? Cracks and pops might be a sign that your buffer is set too low. (Could be thermal throttling if it’s an older intel mac…)
Have you checked activity monitor to see how much horsepower is being used while you have everything running? RAM useage, CPU useage etc. Is anything at 100%?
Hi! I have a macbook pro retina 15 inc mid 2014 (2,5 Ghz Intel Core i7) with 16 G of RAM running Mojave (10.14.6).
The interface is a Apogee Element 46 and I use GigPerformer 5 with 44100 Hz of sample rate and 128 sample as Audio buffer (2,9 ms of latency).
I have checked the activity monitor and the CPU usage never goes over 40% (in GP is 30-35% in OBS is below 6%) so I should be ok.
I also use TG pro to boost the fan speed in case of high temperature but I never reach very high temperature, so I don’t know why I have these issues, but only when using OBS with Ableton live… I guess it is a problem of the GPU as when I minimize the windows of GP and live it improves the situation… I use and external screen… but the issue happens also when using the macbook screen.
The issue is the sound repeated as a sort of echo (surely not nice as a nomal echo…ahaha!) that happens from time to time… is not really a crack and pops…
The strage thing is that when I minimize the windows it improves a lot… 
I think your cpu mite be abit on the low side… 2.5ghz dual core? And it sounds like your trying to run 3 to 4 programs at same time…to me it looks like it’s under powered…
macOS minimum requirements
Windows minimum requirements
Thank you! So I guess the better choice would be get me a Mac Studio rather than a QC… 
Always check minimum requirements…its usually a good indicator
Sure, but minimum requirements also evolve for marketing and commercial reasons… are good reference point but not the absolute truth… 
Yes but each program your using at the same time has certain requirements… And adding them altogether can cripple your system if it’s not meeting requirements on even 1 program
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