Received the Quad Cortex - first thoughts

The global eq is helpful with this. Dialing in sounds using only headphone doesn’t usually translate well. I would try to get some quality time alone in the rehearsal space to dial in sounds.

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I suspect two key elements involved:

  • Fletcher-Munson-Curve, i.e. stuff you hear at practice/studio levels sounds completely different when played at live/rehearsal level with everythin screaming at high volume. Especially the lower range needs tuning - sounds you create at bedroom level will almost inevitably be boomy (and often also shrill) when played at “live” levels.

  • Amp in the room vs. mic’ed amp: the capture gives you the “P.A.” sound of your guitar rig (as the audience will hear it), not the feeling of an amp behind you, shaking the stage. That’s the nature of capturing/profiling, and it takes a bit to get used to.

Ideally, you would prepare your sounds in a “live-like” setup - I usually have an active FRFR speaker running at roughly live volumes when finalizing my guitar sounds. That ensures that I get no ugly surprises at rehearsals or gigs.

And I’ve gotten used to a “mic’ed amp” sound instead of the “amp-in-the-room” - by now, I actually prefer that. It also translates better between wedges and in-ear.

Just my 0.02 EUR…

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I don’t play at live volumes too often these days, but one thing I noticed is the reverb and delays really sound different at live volume compared to headphones or bedroom. You tend to either have to turn them way lower, or if you have a stereo setup live, you might run the Dry signal through one output, and the wet through another instead of summing them. But if you can’t do that, I would really lower the blend and see what that gets you. As well as adding a pretty heavy cut on the amp EQ or global EQ. (Low cut at 80hz or more and Hi cut at 5600K or so).

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Swipe down to main menu on the QC & touch Headphone ICON…I keep my HP LEVEL & MULTIOUT Level both at -6db’s…which translates all of my Preset Perfectly through my Studio Monitors & PA system. LIVE my XLR OUTPUTS ARE at -6db as well…I have my main Big Knob Volume set to HeadPhones ONLY and 100%.

Now when you are dialing in…it will translate to any speaker in my experience over a year so far.

Also, Alter Amp Works, Worship Tutorials, & Boutique Tones Have some AMAZINGLY Awesome Captures that are for sale…I use amps by all 3 live which I have purchased & am not affiliated with unfortunately!

Hope Some of these Insights will help others or at least give you a starting place.

HAPPY TONES!

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I have a gig this Saturday where the QC will debut… I’m not 100% confident yet to be honest. Let’s see how it goes, I will also try to make some adjustments during soundcheck but it’s always tricky… fellow band members also testing stuff, clock ticking to finish up…

I think I owe the QC the chance to at least put it thru paces on a gig. Don’t intend to give up as of yet, as the scenario of carrying 40 KG to gigs again just haunts me :sweat_smile:

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The point of difference for me, after taking the QC out for a few live situations (and coming home feeling like, wow that felt like playing a shoe string through a megaphone) was turning up an hour earlier than everyone else in the band to adjust every point of EQ (compression, OD, amp, cab, eq), delay feedback, reverb decay and routing to suit the venue/equipment and what I was hearing in my IEMs.

That was the first instance of me feeling good about the QC while playing live and also having the sound dude and people on the ground say nice things about what they were hearing.

The thing about the QC is, I don’t know if it’s made sound better as a person attempting to play the guitar, but I’ve certainly learned a lot more about sound engineering and the reality of “sound is different in every space”.

I can’t say I completely understand how it works , but I have learnt to realise and accept that what I hear through my dinky studio monitors cannot and will not be what I hear when I when I plug the QC into a live venue.

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100%!

Best is to take the time and set up your sounds (at the very least the basic amp sounds - effects like chorus, reverb, delay are a bit more forgiving if you set them up at lower levels) at gigging levels with an FRFR cabinet or a P.A. Once you’ve done that, my experience is that there is not a lot to be adapted to the venue - most of the venue specific differences will be solved at the main P.A. master EQ level for the audience. You may need to tune the global EQ for your monitor output if you’re using an FRFR monitor wedge, but typically not a lot.

I’ve found that there is very little value in tuning a virtual guitar sound using IEMs - it’s just a too different experience to actually moving air with a P.A. or a wedge. In fact, I’ve found that when I tune a guitar sound with live levels on an FRFR, it usually works well in my IEMs - you get used to the sound quickly…

Just my 0.02 EUR, though - YMMV

Cheers,

Torsten

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