Questions about Kemper vs Quad Cortex

Quad Cortex
1

Hi All,
Long-time Kemper user here and I’m looking to try out a Quad Cortex. I think both units have great features, so I’m not looking to start a “which is better” conversation. I just have 3 questions and I’m hoping I can get clarity on these before I pull the trigger on a QC.

I’m a little unclear on the difference between presets and scenes. On the Kemper, we have rigs and performances. The performances are basically banks of 5 different rigs (or presets/patches). In one performance, I could for example, have 5 different rigs; one rig could be an AC20 clean, the next rig could be a Marshall JCM 800, and then another could be a Mesa Rectifier, etc. There is no noticeable lag when switching between any rig, in any performance. My question is, are the scenes the QC equivalent to performances on the Kemper? Meaning, they’re basically banks that can have different amps/effects loaded into each slot/rig?

Also, on the Kemper, it has a layout where the bottom 5 buttons on the footswitch are used to switch between different rigs in that performance/bank. Then the top row of buttons can be used like a traditional pedalboard where you can program the buttons to be assigned to individual effects that you have loaded in that individual preset/rig. So I could have slow/rig #1 in bank #1 be a crunchy rhythm and above that, one of the buttons could be a delay that I turn on/off. Then when I switch to slot #2, the button may be programmed to a different effect for that particular rig.

Lastly, one of the things I like about the Kemper is you can set the stage or the Kemper foot controller up in a way that it will show me the names of the 5 different rigs (or presets) that I have stored in the 1-5 slots. This is helpful because I use about 20 different rigs throughout the night and I can’t remember which one is stored in Bank 2, slot 3 for example. When I change banks on the Kemper, I can set the disply up to show me which rigs are in that bank of 5 slots. Is there a way to do this on the QC?

Thanks for the help!

2

I don’t have a Kemper… but, based on your descriptions;

  1. Think of Scenes as mini-presets inside the Mother Preset. Each Preset can have up to 8 scenes. Within the Scenes, any parameter can be adjusted. Sounds like it’s the same idea as ‘performances.’ You create a Preset with every device you’ll need (multiple amps/cabs/fx, etc) across the 4 lanes, and then use Scenes to assign which blocks are in use and control those blocks’ parameters (per scene) page 53 of manual

  2. Hybrid Mode allows 2 rows of 4 switches each in either Preset, Stomp, or Scene Mode. So you can only have 2 combos; 4 stomps/4 scenes or 4 scenes/4 presets, etc… (pg 56 of manual)

  3. Gig View displays the names of what each switch will do, depending on the Mode you’re in. Stomp will display the names of the 8 fx assigned to each switch (or if you have multiples assigned to 1 switch, you can edit the name displayed)
    Scene Mode allows you to name each individual scene, and that’ll be displayed. In Preset Mode, it shows the names of the 8 presets in that Bank.
    Hybrid Mode will show the corresponding info in Gig View. (pg 58 of manual)

hope that helps some. I usually like to post screenshots, but these particular features spread across several pages of the manual.
here’s the link to the pdf manual: https://downloads.neuraldsp.com/file/quad-cortex/Quad%20Cortex%20User%20Manual%20v3.0.0.pdf

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Thank you very much for the info. I appreciate it.

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As a Kemper (Stage) & QC owner, let me pitch in on question 1 (rigs/performances vs. presets/scenes):

The key difference is that on the Kemper, every rig in a performance can have a completely different set of amp profiles, effects etc. A Kemper performance switches between completely distinct rigs, i.e. complete processing chains.

The seamless switching is achieved essentially by having TWO such processing chains in memory and the necessary processing power, so that e.g. delay and reverb can ring out from the previous rig.

On the QC, the equivalent to processing chains (rigs) are really the presets. But due to the complexity of such setups, seamless switching between presets isn’t possible on the QC - it needs some time to set up all the processing and connectivity before starting processing on a new preset. So there’s an audible gap between presets, and there is no effects tails from a previous preset ringing out.

That’s where scenes come in - these are more like multiple “morph” states on the Kemper: you stay with the same processing chain, but you change its configuration. So between all scenes, you have to stick with the same processing chain you have set up for the preset - you can’t exchange effects or amps between scenes, but of course you can turn individual boxes on or off per scene, and you can change their parameters (like morph on the Kemper).

This is more limited compared to the five completely separate rigs in a Kemper performance, but since the QC has quite a lot of processing power and a far more flexible routing system, you can put all the effects and amps into a preset that you may need in a single song, and use scenes to only activate the ones that you need in a specific sound. It may be difficult (CPU-wise) to have five different amps in a single preset; also you’ll get in trouble with too many power-hungry effects, but you’ll learn to get the most out of a single preset with the resources available.

So one of my typical “Rock” preset contains two amp blocks (a clean and a higher-gain one), a noise gate, one or two overdrives, maybe a chorus and/or a wah, plus delay and reverb. Also a bit of EQ to tame nastiness… My scenes then switch the correct amp and pedals on, plus maybe configure the parameters of the effect blocks (e.g. delay and reverb mix, reverb time, …), so now I have scenes for clean / chorus / dirty / crunch / driven crunch / lead - good for most rock songs. Maybe two different cleans and two different leads, since I have 8 foot switches :wink:

Now give these scenes useful names, then switch to Gig View and enjoy…

I haven’t used Hybrid mode yet - I’m more of a preset player than trying to combine presets and individual stomps. Typically, I get by quite nicely with 6-8 scenes without fiddling with the individual effect blocks. But that’s personal preference - I have to play AND sing, so I try to focus on that rather than on operating machinery…

Hope this helps!

Cheers,

Torsten

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