Quad Cortex Wish List

  • Expression pedal auto-engage for effects like wah and whammy is a must-have for me.
  • Global LFO(s) a la Fractal would be very nice as well.
  • Ability to substitute expression pedal for LFO control can allow for some interesting effects with things like phaser or flanger.
11 Likes

IME, if you have a nice acoustic IR, the rest of the stuff can be managed with existing blocks,particularly if you use an in-between pickup position on your guitar.

2 Likes

Anyone interested in trying out my claim can download these free Taylor IRs :slight_smile: link

2 Likes

My wishlist for the Quad Cortex.
Stoked to be on the first 2000 pre-order!

  1. Metronome
    • Footswitch on/off accessibility
  2. Looper
    • Ability to change presets during playback
  3. Custom Footswitch Assignments
    • E.g. blocks and scenes on the same footswitch map
  4. X/Y Block Settings
    • Maybe also control switches like the Ax8, so you can turn on an amp boost for certain scenes.
8 Likes
  1. Use one of the audio inputs for automatically converting an externally fed click-track/metronome signal (or even music/backing track) to tap-tempo/midi-clock for the time based effects.
  2. A digital talk-box like the ā€œDigitech Talkerā€
  3. Gap-less switching even between rigs (at least spill-over)
  4. Wireless accessory XY pad for live control like Korg Kaos Pad (Check out the GTC Revpad!!!)
  5. Custom footswitch assignment for press, 2nd press and for long-press (i.e. option of placing up to three functions per footswitch).
  6. Custom colour assignment of LEDs for the switches
  7. If hardware specs are still changeable: Ground lift and/or real DI outputs.
  8. Support for WiFi/Lan audio transmission/streaming
  9. Everything else what my Axe-FX II doesā€¦ :wink:
  10. Delivery on time!
    Best regards,
    ">V<
8 Likes
  1. Looper with HQ time stretch.
  2. Drummachine.
4 Likes

I donā€™t need 5000 amp models and 500 fx, but the best gain/dynamic TRUTH on a dozen of amps.
When you play tube amps since a very long time, you brain knows the exact interaction of gain structure and attack on a tube path.
It is where many of the best DSP system fail. Sound, but no real life sensation.
I donā€™t think itā€™s an AD converter resolution problem now.

So Iā€™m waiting for my Quad Cortex, to know ifā€¦

2 Likes

Also, clever thing would be some 10-20 second process for live use at different gigs, that would guide you through some clean, medium gain and high gain sounds, the process would then ā€œlearnā€ the noise character and itā€™s level (it would make you change the position against the lighting, monitor wedges, pickup combinations, no playing with volume up and then some playing and note sustaining). The process would then set up the clever noise gate for each type of sound.

1 Like

What Iā€™d really like is to be able to use preamps with the unit, like a Synergy preamp or a Horizon preamp, but that would require a power amp block type. Helix doesnā€™t have those, but it would be a deal maker for me if QC could include either the ability to separate pre and power amp, or just implement some well known power amp types as standalone blocks (6L6 or EL34, say). That would allow for the use of separate units as preamps, while allowing for the coloration of a power amp as well.

To my knowledge, no one else is doing this.

4 Likes

I have the strong suspicion that the Overloud simply profile the profiles you sent.

Compatibility would be cool, but the approach Kemper uses is Ok for the overall sound in many situations (in some cases the profiling can be quite off regardless of how much you try to refine it).

All in all, Neural Capture will do a much better job at capturing the rigā€™s sound but also the touch and feel, which is one of Kemper and THUā€™s main shortcomings.

4 Likes

A strong suspicion? Iā€™ve always understood that itā€™s a process unavailable to the TH-U community and that they also didnā€™t take profile-specific requests. That last part especially makes sense due to the massive demand it would create if they did!

Getting back to the original wish - Compatibility for me is absolutely key. If itā€™s not there, I canā€™t leave behind hundreds of profiles I personally created. Thatā€™s the main reason itā€™s my no.1 wish for the Q.Cā€¦

As for the profiles sounding off - I would advise on checking how youā€™re profiling. The only time something sounds off for me is during the initial micā€™ing up of an amp or the refining stage. Those are easy to deal with, though.

As for Neural capture - I donā€™t think anyone can claim that the Neural QC will do a, ā€œmuch better job at capturingā€ right now. It wasnā€™t demoā€™d at Namm, and they havenā€™t posted any videos showing that feature.

Other than tedium, is there a reason you couldnā€™t do a neural capture of any profiles you wanted through the KPA?

As I said earlier in this thread - I canā€™t afford to buy a Quad Cortex without first selling my Kemper.

I forgot to clarify, I am the CEO of Neural DSP, so I am quite well aware of Captureā€™s results in terms of accuracy, as well as understand Kemperā€™s profiling process as well as anyone who doesnā€™t work there.

It is very reassuring that you find KPAā€™s process so awesome, itā€™s a good sign that you should enjoy Neural Captureā€™s results.

9 Likes

Care to let us know how it captures amps better?

  • Option to turn off the screen. To use it as a sound card, you donā€™t need it to Shine all the time, especially at night.
  • Global input/output blocks, optional. Not everyone needs different options between patches, for me, on the contrary, setting up 1 time is more convenient.
  • MIDI commands:
    • emulating QC controls (although Line6 emulates footswitches and expression pedals, It does not have MIDI commands for front panel buttons and knobs, and the next\previous preset)
    • to control output volume and input sensitivity, to create convenient mixer panels based on TouchOSC
  • The ability to send a signal from the DAW directly to the any device outputs bypassing the precious stereo paths with processing, because all of them can be occupied by musicians. This is required for example for a sub-track with a metronome.
  • Parametric equalizer on the device output. This is very convenient for fine-tuning the room and to eliminate feedback. It is required that EQ process the instruments and the sound of the phonogram coming from the PC, too. All bands should be completely parametric, without dividing into zones, since the problem frequencies are usually close and require 2-3 bands. Also, an analyzer should be placed against the background of the equalization curve, which allows you to see the problem frequencies in real time. This is a controversial statement, but I think the most convenient visualization for this purpose is used in the EQ2 plugin from FL Studio
    QC - Global EQ
  • Page for monitoring input and output levels for each block. This is a very useful feature. very often guitarists have problems with sound quality because they canā€™t track overloading or insufficient amplification inside the chains. This is what it should look like:
    QC - monitoring
    Red dots indicate blocks with overload, it is required to reduce the signal in the block standing earlier
  • Multiple input/output selection.
    • For example, it is very convenient to have a signal from the guitar and from the DAW at the same time at the input of the guitar chain. To reamp or adjust the sound, so that you donā€™t have to fiddle with the strings all the time - record it once, run it for playback and adjust it.
    • Multiple outputs allow, for example, when using QC by four musicians to organize 4 lines of monophonic monitoring on the floor (or through in-ear headphones), using sends and outputs 3-4. Example in figure:
22 Likes

Wow, that was a very quality post. Thanks!

2 Likes

Several areas:

  1. Neural Capture seems more accurate at measuring and recreating the target deviceā€™s frequency and dynamic response (the capture not only sounds closer to the real amp, but it also feels so).

  2. Because the neural network has a much more flexible structure than what I speculate Kemperā€™s is, we can measure and recreate elements that Kemper is known to struggle with: for example any pedal that has a clean blend (such as the Tube Screamer), and other multi-band effects (bass pedals with a clean blend for instance).
    Other instances, such as dual microphones, we can do much more easily than Kemper.

All in all, having neural network training and real-time inference in an embedded system such as Cortex has indeed been an insane engineering challenge to tackle, but the results will make it worth it.

I look forward to demoing all of this sooner rather than later.

Kind regards,
D.

12 Likes

Itā€™s nice to see some info on how itā€™s going to work, and my hope is that we get to hear this demoā€™d very soon. Although, I would very much enjoy something from say, Andertons, Pete Thorn, Rabea, etc. etc. I say that because, those have been the most interesting videos, discussions and the best overall look at a piece of interesting gear. Some food for thought.

This is not the most convenient solution, but after buying QC, you can find a person who owns a Kemper and help you transfer profiles for little money, beer or even for free, for the opportunity to get to know QC. You can even do it the other way around by owning a Kemper find the owner of QC and try transferring.