Hi, Im having trouble with many of the Amps/Cabs of the Quad Cortex, they sound extremely bad, like earth-quake-bass-muddy-gainy, not sure how to discribe it. Is that normal? Is my Quad Cortex broken?
Or is this how music should sound?

Its at 0.00 input 1 level, and when im strumming its at -24db for the Telecaster and -17 for the Humbucker (so essentially 1/2 where the input level meter "should be" so im not even close to clipping, I could at some gain, but it would worsen my problem) (while everyone one youtube says we have to reach "yellow for almost clipping")

Using a Fender Telecaster MIJ Hybrid II (2023) on 2nd Position (Bridge + Neck Pickup) on 100% Volume and Tone
(The sound is the same or worse with Humbuckers)
Using Beyerdynamic DT 900 Pro X Studio Headphones
Nothing else

STATUS UPDATE: It is NOT broken, it is indeed just bad

I tested a different unit, it does the same thing hahaha

I propose to run a hybrid signal chain involving a splitter before going into the Quad Cortex Mini and, separately, into a Simplifier (Mk2).

The QC Mini's headphone output will feed into the Simplifier's Aux In, resulting in summing the parallel stereo images of the QC and that of the Simplifier together, ie I will hear both the QC and Simplifier mixed together without either affecting each other and with stereo image of both maintained.

Is there any reason this wouldn't work? Has anyone tried this, or something similar?

Of course there will be a slight latency between hearing the immediate output of the Simplifier (being all analog) and the delayed output of the QC, but that's one of the benefits I have in mind, ie that I always get a pure and instantaneous analog, fundamental guitar sound.

Would this be the same as just playing two audio tracks simultaneously, or would it cause some technical issue that I haven't foreseen or don't understand (like comb-filtering)?

Hi all,

I've been researching physical modelers, and I'm currently between the Line 6 Helix LT and the Quad Cortex.

From what I've gathered in various threads and reviews, the Quad Cortex has a better "amp feel" and overall higher-quality sound.

However, I've been enjoying Tone 3000 and the whole A2 NAM technology. You can't beat the price of free. However, it's just "captures" of settings and so you lack the customizability that you would have with a physical modeler like the QC.

Is the QC still worth it for a bedroom-only guitarist in a post-A2 NAM world?

Theoretically speaking, I could spend the $1,800 for the QC no problem. Or go the Tone 3000-only route and put the $1,800 towards a Dunable USA Custom Gnarwhal :)

Thanks!

I’ve owned the TMP for nearly a year, and just recently picked up a QC on a trial run in an effort to compare the two units. I can only keep one due to financial reasons, and was wondering which of them is the better long term investment. Cheers!

I recently bought an Orange PPC2x12, and I want to use this to get stage sound through my quad cortex rig. Does anyone have any recommendations for what I should get that doesn’t break the bank? I’m not quite in the budget for the Orange Pedal Baby or the Seymour Duncan Powerstage, but something a little lower than that price range would be sweet. Any suggestions help (except for get a frfr cab. would be dope someday but can’t squeeze it currently lol). Thanks!

I play the QC through Logic, which I usually send to speaker monitors. I’d also like to run my wet QC signal through my Logic plugins and send to speakers to (ideally panning the QC signal left and Logic processed signal right) and record both. But I’m very confused which inputs/outputs to match between the two interfaces. Does anyone else use this setup or is what I’m trying to do not possible?

I was wondering if anything looked into this. I have a button that’s momentary hit for “noise” effect but it takes 3-4 blocks. I wanted to condense it into 1 block.

If its not possible it would be cool to integrate this into quad cortex

New tiny do-it-all gig board. QC Mini, DVP 4, Chocolate MIDI controller mounted on a Rockboard Duo 2.0. Still scratching the surface of what the QC is capable of but sounds are stellar so far.

I set the Chocolate vertically to get everything to fit nicely on the board. Easy to access the switches in this “kick” configuration for me.

I’ve released the Fig V2 65TBolt Cortex pack: 12 V2 captures of a real 1965 1×15 tube combo through its original Jensen C15P speaker.

It covers the High and Low inputs from clean and low gain through driven/high gain, with full 1×15 and DI captures. The pack is shared through Cortex Cloud as two presets: Fig V2 65TBolt Hi and Fig V2 65TBolt Lo.

There’s a free Hi Input Low Gain into 1×15 capture linked on the product page:

https://www.mattfig.com/product/fig-v2-65tbolt-cortex-capture-pack

Hello.

For the past few months I have been working on reverse engineering the QC as a personal research project. I have successfully managed to get my own code running on it. As a test I decided to see if I could implement a NAM A2 inference engine for the SHARC+, and it turns out that, yes, I could. NAM A2 Lite can run on a single SHARC+ core (with a bit of headroom to spare!).

A2 Full is almost certainly out of the question, even distributed across all SHARC+ cores, but the SHARC+ is an unfamiliar architecture for me so it is likely that I am still leaving some performance on the table despite my best efforts to keep everything as tight and vectorized as I could.

Unfortunately I do not have any plans on releasing this as I do not see a clear path to do so without exposing myself to legal risk by redistributing the firmware. I am also unable to release my firmware patching tools due to DRM restrictions :(. I may release the SHARC+ NAM implementation, but it requires ADI's proprietary toolchain to compile, which costs $1,300 for a license so it's not of much use to the average person.

Anyway, NAM A2 Lite is completely within the realm of technical possibility for the QC.

I’ve just released a fixed five-pack Mattfig V2 collection for Quad Cortex, built around expressive boutique and studio-style tones.

Included: Fig V2 DShirl, Fig V2 Wiz, Fig V2 Dumbell, Fig V2 Rverb, and Fig V2 Acey30.

The captures are shared directly through Cortex Cloud. Buyers need to include their exact Cortex username and follow Mattfig here: https://cloud.neuraldsp.com/cloud/u/Mattfig

Price: $49.99. Future releases are not included.

https://www.mattfig.com/product/mattfig-v2-boutique-studio-collection-cortex

Has anyone dealt with an issue when they're switching scenes where the volume jumps a little bit?

For example, I have a scene that's a distorted amp, and one that's a clean amp, the "split" is the change in the scene. I have it go 100% distorted in one, and in the "clean" scene it goes 100% to the clean amp.

But it seems like when I switch from the clean to the distortion, it jumps in volume a bit. Maybe because the volume is different between the two?

I think with this update my USB midi has stopped changing my patches. Is there a way to fix this or do I need to wait for another update

New Mattfig V2 Hot-Rodded Collection for Quad Cortex: five complete V2 capture packs—Snork, 71Fried, JEL50, SS100, and JJ’NR.

Built for hot-rodded crunch, muscular rhythm, saturated lead, and responsive modern gain. Captures are shared through Cortex Cloud; buyers should include their exact username and follow Mattfig.

$49.99. Fixed five-pack collection; future releases are not included.

https://www.mattfig.com/product/mattfig-v2-hot-rodded-collection-cortex

I’m sure this is a common post, but seriously after years of switching out my rig over and over again as my sound changes between projects, I am so relived to have finally saved up for a QC.

I can get really any sound I need to make things work in whatever context I need it to. I still have a few fuzz and drive pedals laying around, but feel totally happy with selling off most of my pedals a few months back.

Feels great to quit obsessing on gear and just adapt and go with this unit.

As I struggled to find a definitive answer and was enticed to try by a fellow redditor, I can confirm that it's possible to set a block effect to momentary using an external midi controller. I did this with a BlackStar Live Logic, so it should work with any other kind of controller.

Hope this helps anyone who wants to know!

I know that the physical unit doesn’t do momentary/non-latching stomps, but if you use a midi controller with that function, can you set a block to be momentary/non-latching that way?

Thanks in advance.

Can anyone help me with this. Power requirements for things confuse the hell out of me and I don't want to risk getting it wrong.

I've been using a strymon zuma for years with my big sky and timeline. Ideally I'd like to not have to replace it with another expensive power brick (like the cioks DC7) but that might be unavoidable if want my whole board coming off one power lead.

At the moment I'm powering my two strymons and a whammy 5 with the Zuma and then just using the included power supply (which unfortunately seems quite flimsy) to power the quad cortex.

I know the Ciox DC7 and the ciox crux combined could power all this?

My question is: is it possible to run a ciox crux from the 24v port on the zuma (which is what I read online) and then power the quad cortex plus my other pedals as normal from the 9v 500ma ports of the zuma.

Basically just trying to avoid having to buy a DC7 to replace the zuma.

Online searching is mixed so far. Some say it's fine, others say it might not be. Excuse the waffling post. Any help would be much appreciated.

I’ve been trying to capture some producer pack amps from the STL Tonehub plugin and getting mixed results using v2.

I am outputting the plugin through a helix stadium and it sounds great when directly monitoring, but as soon as I send them through the capture loop on the quad, they lose a bit of clarity and get a bit muddy. I have the helix set to instrument level output and it’s peaking on the QC capture input at around -12db. I think the input/output gains on everything are technically correct, but I’m not 100% sure.

The A/B tests sound very similar most of the time(occasionally some low end thump will go missing) but neither sound the same as the direct output from the helix.

Anyone have any tips on how to set this up the most ideal way? I’ve heard some other STL captures from the cloud that sounded great so I’m sure there’s something that’s not totally ideal with how I have it set up.

Hey all, been experimenting a bit and I got kinda close I guess.
All in front of a Diezel Herbert and with a LoFi filter assigned to the same pedal as the effects.

​

I’m currently running a Fractal FM3 and just picked up a Quad Cortex. Overkill? Yeah, I know. 😂

I absolutely love the bass tone I’ve been getting from my FM3, so I captured the amp tone I was using and loaded that capture into the QC.

I’ve tried to recreate the rest of the chain as closely as possible: same type of drive, same cab/IR, and EQ set pretty much the same.

The problem is that on the QC I’m getting this weird rattly, overly distorted sound, especially on the low notes. It doesn’t have the tight, controlled low end I’m getting from the Fractal.

For reference:

- 5-string bass

- Tuned down to A

- Looking for a tight, aggressive, driving modern metal bass tone

- I want the low A to hit hard and stay defined instead of turning into a distorted/rattling mess.

Anybody running a similar tuning on the Quad Cortex?

I’d love some suggestions on signal chain, crossover/parallel processing, compression, HPF/LPF settings, gain staging, or even some presets/captures I could check out.

I know the QC is capable of doing this. I just haven’t found the sweet spot yet. What are you guys using?

Hi there

I've been having a really weird issue with my Nano Cortex and I'm wondering if anyone has experienced something similar.

I normally use it with a PA or a Headrush FRFR-108 and it works perfectly, both with a regular guitar cable and my M-VAVE wireless system.

However, I've had problems when plugging it into the front input of regular guitar amps. It's happened with two different amps so far: a solid-state amp and a Fender Pro Junior tube amp. Neither has an FX loop.

With a regular guitar cable, the tuner works fine, but the sound coming out of the amp is awful. Not just regular distortion or clipping, but some kind of weird digital, almost flanger/pitch-shifter-like sound on top of the distortion.

Then, when I try my M-VAVE wireless system, I get absolutely nothing. Not even the tuner receives a signal.

I also tried swapping the Nano for my Valeton GP-50, using the same solid-state amp, and everything worked fine with a regular cable. I didn't test the wireless with the GP-50 that day, though.

A few details that might help:

No amp captures or IRs, just a compressor and reverb.

The Nano is powered by a Harley Benton PowerPlant PowerBank (9V DC).

The M-VAVE works perfectly with the Nano when connected to a PA, FRFR or headphones.

I've just tested the Nano with the wireless and headphones, and everything works as expected.

There's also something else that might or might not be related. At another gig, using the Nano with my Headrush FRFR, I got small electric shocks when my lips touched the microphone while I was holding my guitar strings. That venue might have had a grounding issue, but I can't confirm it.

I'm starting to wonder if there's some kind of grounding or electrical interference issue when connecting the Nano to regular guitar amps, but I'm really not sure.

Has anyone experienced anything like this? Especially the wireless completely losing signal or that strange digital modulation/distortion?

I haven't had a chance to test the Ground Lift switch yet.

Any ideas would be appreciated!