I couldn’t disagree more with this. I would say the cleaner the tone, the easier it is to replicate in a modeller because there’s far more non-linearity and harmonics with distortion, and therefore complexity.
Separately, and I’m not having a go but you’re clearly of the opinion that real tube amps sound better and can’t be replicated well enough by modellers and therefore you’re kind of proving the point as to why they don’t market as heavily to your market lol. That aside, they could have some plugins based around blues. The thing is you can probably get it from the plugins they have already.
Im not that sensitive… That’s your opinion and your entitled to see it your way… For me they sound great on recordings out front of house in headfones etc etc… But they have yet to get them to sound like real amps in your room I’m not saying they don’t sound good they just don’t sound like a real amp or maybe I should say perform the same as an actual valve amp in the room… Why cause it’s replicating a mic’ed up amp. And that’s just my opinion and what I think…I play country more not particularly a blues player…but lots of country styles out there with different sounds and setups not just a tube amp and overdrive pedal…
i dunno man they have a nice mix on their instagram of different types of players. I was just watching someone rip on a warm jazz tone with archetype henson yesterday.
I agree with this completely. Venue plays a huge role in tone too I think. I would also add that the country and blues styles are more associated with smaller clubs and honky-tonks where that “amp in a room sound” is much more noticeable even when it’s coming through PAs also. When you get up to the big arenas and stadiums, and those guys that are playing for the huge acts they’re probably using modelers like the quad cortex and Kemper and fractal, etc.. because with a venue that size, you’re not hearing stage volume that isn’t being sent through a FOH anyway.
I really really liked my quad cortex. But there were just some bugs and feature sets and requests that weren’t getting addressed. So if I’m having to add an external midi controller pedal and an external tuner pedal and external delay pedal, etc., then I just decided to go back to a complete analog pedal board and give The toneX one (plural) ecosystem a try. I was told that analog pedals react better with the tone X set up and I can confirm that as of today I agree. Much more organic and natural sounding through my in ear monitors than the quad cortex.
I sold my quad cortex after my experience with my new set up today. So this will probably be my last post on this board. It was great interacting with everyone. And I appreciate all of the help and feedback and information and support that I received on this forum, both directly and indirectly. Happy music-making everyone.
The thing with djent and prog genres is they have been historically defined by the use of digital equipment. If you go back to the early days of bands like Periphery, Monuments and others leaning heavily on early digital modelling, the sound kinda became known for being unlike anything you would get on a traditional amp and pedalboard setup. People are just more nerdy and open to trying new things in these genres.
But on the same hand, you could argue that djent/prog music is also less mainstream and profitable. NDSP should definitely be venturing out and appealing to a more widespread audience. Country music is an absolutely massive genre with a lot more potential to market to an entirely new audience. I’ve seen Fractal units used in country and pop music quite a bit (only because I pay attention to the gear). The thing with country is most guitarists seem to care more about the guitar they’re playing than what they’re playing through.
Another avenue that NDSP is missing out on is praise and worship. The large majority of churches these days playing worship music have guitarists playing outdated Line 6 Helix units. It’s like the defacto worship modeller despite lacking the power of the Quad Cortex. Everyone at my church uses some form of Helix unit (a lot of HX Stomps especially).
Maybe I am desensitised to it because it feels like every musician YouTuber is a djent player using the same Strandberg style headless guitar or down tuned bass, but it just feels stale. Even the instrumental stuff that’s shreddy is impressive for a moment, but seems to be devoid of personality and soul.
All this to say I would love to see Neural marketing worship, pop, blues, rock and other non-heavy genres because the Quad Cortex and plugins are so versatile you don’t have to lock yourself into hi-gain amps.
NDSP is a finnish company. Worship music isn’t a thing here in Europe, and country is barely a blip on the radar, and is heard of mostly through social networks (country artists others than Taylor Swift barely if ever tour Europe whatsoever).
While metal is still massively popular, especially in northern Europe (and even more in Scandinavia).
Which I guess answers your question.
HoW dArE a c0mPaNy MaRkEt TheiR Pr0dUcTs tO LaRgE CoNsUmEr BaSeS!!!
If crustpunk, grindcore, shakti-style-indian-jazz-fusion-guitar-adventures were top sellers, you’d see Archetype John McLaughlin in the blink of an eye.
To each their own, I guess! Not that anyone asked but I don’t find any particular style of player “annoying” … I mean, anyone who really likes their instrument and cares about the music they make is inherently awesome in their own unique way. I think that translates whether we enjoy the same genres or not.
Praise and worship music has become a genre all unto itself.
One thing about worship guitarists is that they have got moneyyyyyyy for their bafflingly high-tech pedalboards. Companies like Strymon and Worship Tutorials have figured out how to capitalize on that, for sure.
(While I cringe at the thought of worship music as its own genre, I also have an elaborate pedalboard setup and play in the worship band at my church. I get around that in my head by declaring that I’m a punk/hardcore/metal guitarist first, but I know that argument is flimsy.)
Anyway, I do think Neural would make more profit by marketing their hardware specifically to guitarists in the P&W space.
Similar experience here! I cut my teeth in the church realm… still do the odd gig to support friends I met from that time of my life. I’ve always liked metal more, so that’s what I enjoy the most for playing and writing but I can say without doubt that some of the most gifted musicians I’ve ever met have come from the gospel community. It seemed like every other drummer or bass player lived by this formula lol:
I kinda agree. I mean we all know that the QC is great for metal. But looking at how great the Asato or Toneking Plugin turned out, they could get more into that area of music.
But i think most people are more interested in metal and prog nowadays. (which i love btw)
I love to use the QC for my Whitesnake Tribute Band (i always get a praise for my sound). At home im completely into blues, ambient, instrumental black metal and so on. It does it so well!
I do lots of broadway style musical theater as well as background music for TV networks. I use the Quad Cortex for the former and the plugins for the latter. The hardware and software products are perfect for me regardless of what style of music I need to play. It does surprise me that they don’t market it to a wider range of musicians of all styles.
I get the impression it’s what the Neural DSP guys like to listen to. I cringe but I know music sensibilities are subjective. I have had the best results from the Tone King, Morgan Amps, and Nameless. The named archetypes associated with the prog players who to my ears all have really bad taste and cringy tones are a turnoff to me and I say this as someone who for the most part has matured beyond my hipster ways. Go listen to these guys Cory Wong, Tim Henson, Wasabi, etc. They sound bad.
That said, the Tom Morello amp and the Mesa and SLO amps sound quite good. My opinion. As far as where the money is… well that’s easy… boomers and gen x are guitar oriented and are locked and loaded with the funds. Far be it from me to tell NeuralDSP their business, but America is where the goldmine is. No offense. The West is the best.
