hey, I am currently a long time fractal user and thinking about getting a quad cortex for its form factor. Since I am a full time musician and rely on my gear that it doesnt fail during shows, I want to ask those that have had the Quad Cortex for some time and have used it extensively live, how it is holding up in terms of build quality and overall stability of the system?
I heard from some people that use it that it freezes sometimes/becomes unresponsive and that the power supply is on the cheaper side and also likely to have problems.
But on the other hand I saw bands like Holly Humberstone and Arlo Parks use it live, and those acts have pretty busy touring schedules and rely on the Quad Cortex.
Used mine extensively live for a year and a half and had absolutely no issues.
It even had a mic and stand fall on it and that didn’t even leave a mark.
Never had it freeze or be unresponsive at all since owning it, not sure where that rumour has come from.
The power supply is just a standard wall adaptor, not great, but certainly not terrible. I switched to a Cioks Crux pretty early on so that all my pedals run off the same supply.
No issues in 3y (knock on wood)
I have used the QC in hot weather, sunny (even a little drizzle) without issue. The build quality is better than most modelers IMO. I also came from the Fractal world (AXFX2) and ended up dumping for the QC and never looked back mainly due to the horrible UI didn’t work for me. The power supply is a wall wart and not the best quality but it works fine. If you plan to use live, you will likely use a CIOKS to power other pedals etc., so that wouldn’t be an issue. A majority (if not all) freeze issues are due to some utilizing incompatible power supplies and or hubs (when recording). Plugin compatibility and new FX are on the horizon for the next update which is very exciting. Regardless, I would recommend trying some of the top vendors if possible and see what you do/don’t like for each. Plenty of top tier musicians have migrated to the QC and that number seems to be growing every day. It’s a good time to be a player as there are multiple products available now that may or may not meet your needs. Lastly, NDSP support is top tier all the way. I haven’t seen many arguments against that which also says a lot IMO.
I’ve been using mine for close to two years without a problem on stage. I had one glitch with Cortex Control (programming software) not opening but It turned out that I didn’t have the compatible OS version loaded into the Quad Cortex. I also had one incident where it wouldn’t connect to wi-fi after an update but it was quickly remedied with a follow-up update. We play mostly outdoor events in the summer so it’s been exposed to plenty of Northern California heat (95°F+), including direct sunlight, with no problems. The anodized cast aluminum housing and tempered glass display are tough as nails. I assume the power supply is a digital switching supply (no transformer) which makes it light. Some people interpret this as “cheap”. I’ve never read about a PS failure but I bought a spare to carry as any wall-wart can fail or be damaged. The floating (ungrounded) supply seems to be a problem for some (buzz/hum) but I’ve never had an issue at home or any venue. Just plan to connect it to another piece of grounded equipment and you’ll be fine. Live, I’m sending stereo to my FRFR cabs and to the board with zero hum issues. The floating supply reduces the chance of ground loops. To some degree, the QC OS is a bit of a work-in-progress but I believe it works fine for 98% of users. I’d recommend spending a little time on the forum to learn about some of the current limitations (i.e. MIDI capabilities and footswitch configurations) to make sure it’ll do everything you need in it’s current state. I believe NDSP will continue to expand it’s capabilities but updates are natoriously slow to come. That said, it does everything I need, and then some, and sounds fantastic doing it.
