Which current blocks in the QC do you think are the best, and why?
Utility stuff that solves a technical issue for you, an overdrive that made you ditch the real thing on your pedalboard, a modulation that just feels good, or an amp block that inspires riffs.
Let’s center this discussion around what exists–not speculation about what does not. (Take the NAM talk to the other thread.)
Thinking through my top 3 or top 5, I’ll share when I’ve finalized my list.
I own and use Fractal FM9, Helix, Tonex and QC for different things. I tend to favor the Fractal for just about everything.
But the “virtual capo” is where QC simply embarrasses everyone else.
On paper, Fractal might objectively “sound better”, that’s pretty fleeting when you consider the high latency you have to put up with. I think Fractal built their VC engine for recording, and - personally - I’d never record with a VC of any kind. I’d just tune the guitar as needed. VC is a “live/stage” effect, and as such - it just isn’t enjoyable when the latency is so high.
QC’s virtual capo sounds “pretty good / totally passable”. And while it, sonically, could use some refining - I am 100% happy with it thanks to the super fast latency. Again, I’m not recording with it, just using it live. And I can use without feeling disconnected from my guitar.
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My second mention - if PCOM plugins are allowed in this topic - is the Cory Wong “DI” preamp. I run that in front of the amps, and it’s an instant “make better-izer”.
Completely agree with you. I own Kemper and Helix and it’s the same as Fractal. On paper they would appear superior, but in practice the QC Transpose is way ahead.
Which virtual capo device do you like to use on the QC?
I forget what they call it (not at my QC). I think it’s just called “transpose” if I’m not mistaken.
Cool, thanks, thats also the one I use.
The SLO amp (feels very similar to a 5150 II, but a little squishier since it has that Solano gain thing), the high gain Gojira amp, Friedman BE100 Clean clone, Soldano Chorus, the chorus that tries to be the Dimension C, DOD 250 and tubescreamer clone blocks are maybe my favorite. The modulation is very fun in the QC. Hoping they can improve the Transpose to be polyphonic though
Transpose, as it is such a life saver for live playing. And is the reason why I went with the QC in the first place.
CE-2w chorus, it’s dead on the original (I used an early 80s CE-2 for years, and in a direct A/B the sounded the same).
SLO-100 amp, it’s THAT sound (EVH/Gary Moore/DeMartini/Sambora/Lukather…late 80s/early 90s lightning in a bottle).
CA 1star Clean (amazing big beefy clean tone).
The newer Micropitch mod block (spot on EVH Balance tone).
Circular Delay (pure Lukather, CAE rack Lexicon delay tones).
These are the building blocks of pretty much all my live presets.
I am really enjoying the Revival Drive capture posted by Rebea into a clean or edge of breakup Marshall capture.
D.I. Funk Console is underrated and sooooo good. Need to remind myself to try it with bass guitar.
Circular delay is really cool
Vemural Ray loving that at the moment.. 808 green most of the time and the brit blues,
Transpose works amazing with my gretsch love it
65 and 64 deluxe, enjoying them also at the moment and the Dumble ODS and a bunch of my own amp captures..
Mx vibe and phaser… And a bunch of verbs mind hall and the room verb at the end of the chain… Don’t use chorus not in my wheel house unless it’s paid work 
Here are my favorites off the top of my head:
I’ve had a different experience with the transpose and pitch shift blocks. I love my QC and have been gigging with it live for almost 2 years now. One of my only complaints is with the transpose capability. We shift keys for lots of songs to accommodate our singer, and I get glitches and audible artifacts with the QC transpose block, especially with open chords.
I have a Variax (JTV-69) that works flawlessly for key changes, but that is not the guitar I want to use on every song. A few weeks back I bought a Boss Poly Shifter XS-1, and it’s great, almost as good as the Variax. For the near future, it will be at the front of my signal chain before my QC.
I’m hoping Neural gives us an enhanced transpose block in a future release. I would be willing to accept a touch more latency for better pitch tracking… Or maybe keep both the current transpose block and add a higher fidelity block as an option.
EDIT - answering the original question, the blocks listed below end up in almost every preset. For amps and cabs, I tend to use captures and IRs via the IR Loader block. I am really liking the Rock-Box IRs from OwnHammer right now.
Boring choice: I use the 8-band parametric on everything. I’m usually studio-based and it’s great to have this tone shaping so easily available compared to using physical EQ pedals.
I also love the Capture block because I can use my own amp away from the studio. [Insert argument about NAM captures here…]
The main thing I like about the QC isn’t the blocks per say - it’s the flexibility. It’s so damn simple to mess about with the order of your FX and come up with new sounds. And the ability to change parameters on blocks per scene is far beyond what’s possible with most physical pedals, esp older pre-MIDI devices. You can very easily make sounds and setups that would be impossible, or at the least deeply impractical or very faffy, with physical gear.
Alright, here are my favorites:
Solid State Comp
I was already familiar with plug-in versions of the famed SSL bus compressor this before getting my QC. I’m super thankful they included it here.
I typically split my signal out to FOH (using Output 1 XLR) and a power amp + cab setup (using Output 3 1/4"). For the Output 1 signal, I like to put this compressor as the last thing in the chain in order to tidy up before sending to FOH. Ratio setting at 2, not aggressive, but sound guys I work with are typically pretty happy.
Parametric 8
It’s the closest thing you can get in the QC to the Fabfilter Pro-Q plug-in.
Harmonic Tremolo
This is the block where I say to myself, They thought of EVERYTHING. Neural actually included parameters for controlling the lowpass and highpass crossover frequencies, which I haven’t seen in any other harmonic trem ever. Plus it has fade in and fade out controls too. If it’s been a while since you tried it, give it another whirl.
Chief DC2W
Boss Dimension C Waza. They nailed it. Sounds so good.
Plini Octaver
Octave up and down effects in this one sound cleaner to my ears than the other pitch shifters.
I will explore the harm tremolo more. I use 2 right now, L and R, with one of them at 75% tempo (dotted eight to a quarter) to the other. It is my rotary / leslie hack). Sounds fantastic. Feeding it into the microsomething delay with similar mismatch tempo (Pink Floyd Run Like Hell setting) is awesome.
I really need to explore more of the QC devices, I’ve been pretty conservative.
The funk console is really good with bass (reason I bought the cory wong plugin)
G800K: I keep thinking “If only the QC modeled another high end solid state bass head.” And then I work the EQ and filters and get what I need out of it. Credit to Bob Gallien. And Neural DSP.
Parametric-8: An excellent Swiss army knife as a substitute for on-board bass EQ, some thump, or just making things a bit darker as an LPF.
Myth Drive: Many uses – thickener, low-cut, mild compression and drive
Bonus block: The Poly Octaver, subtle or unsubtle, it does the job
