Neural DSP Quad Cortex Real-World Experience: Andrew Plassman 

4:35 “Samsonite! I was way off”

@@Redeemingthetimestudios I knew it start with an "S" though 🤓

Been waiting for a demo on these that does something like Pdub tones, everything is heavy demos, which I’m fine with but that is only half of my context as you know. So Andrew, will it Pdub?!

Lol I couldn’t take my eyes off that cup of black coffee , his hands gestures were waving around and I was like watch the cup of Jo ..yo

Check out Tom Quayle doing his review . Incredible .

😋🎶

Hey, Paul. I was in the room when we shot this. The audio you are hearing is running directly out of the main L/R outputs of the Quad Cortex directly into a Zoom field recorder. We ran out from the zoom recorder into a FR powered cabinet just so we could hear what was being played in the room, but that audio was not recorded. The only mic in the room that we are hearing is the shotgun mic for Andrew's voice, which is ducked during the playing examples. The guitar sounds are 100% direct out from the Quad Cortex (the two XLRs you see connected in the video on the overhead shots). We didn't do anything with the USB in this shoot (though if we had recorded directly from USB to a DAW, we would have had arguably even cleaner audio, bypassing the DAC in the Quad Cortex and the ADC in the Zoom recorder... but those converters are so good, I don't think too many people could tell the difference between what we did and a purely digital capture over USB). One thing Andrew was talking about right after we wrapped is how the tube amp captures not only sound like the real amps, but also FEEL like them (when playing with dynamics). I wish we had captured that.

@@DaveMcCall Dave, first, thank you so very much for your response. Second, thank you so very much for all the work your guys put in. I am a customer of Sweetwater's and trust me, what you guys do matters. Thirdly, and forgive my naivety on audio, I don't have cabs, primarily just a Fender 65 Deluxe Reverb reissue, Fender Mustang and a Spark. AND considering I may never playout, for the Quad Cortex would you recommend an FRFR speaker (powered or not powered, because forgive me I forgot what the QC takes), just a good set of monitors for my lap top, or just a quality all around cab? Thank you in advance for your response and keep up the great work.

@@paulcasilio1119 Thanks for the kind words. We do our best to make helpful, honest content that accurately represents products for you and our other musical friends. It's nice to know that our efforts are appreciated. We were using a FRFR speaker (powered, stereo) in the video studio and it sounded really nice, though watching the video on headphones or on my studio monitors (Adam Audio) at home sounds even better. The Quad Cortex lends itself really well to recording/playing at home, for sure. If you like to FEEL the sound, I'd recommend a good FRFR stereo powered cab. Stereo is pretty important since the reverb and delay effects really shine in stereo. If you're more about the quality of the sound and recording (over feeling the sound), I'd make sure your monitor/headphone game is good. If you think you'll jam with others (in a post-vaccine future), consider how that will work. An FRFR cab might be useful for that, unless you all are using in-ear monitors or you can run through a small PA for your jam sessions. I have a Quad Cortex on my wish-list now, too! I'm already thinking of which amps and pedals I'll want to capture.

@@davemccall9594 Dave, I probably have now watched 3 plus hours on this thing going back a couple of months. I have a wife and daughter that I am always mindful of concerning my playing so headphones are MANDATORY :), and considering I am not presently loaded with pedals, amps and cabs I have previously looked into the Kemper and Axe FXIII, along with other modellers (including the amps which I mentioned above). The utility of QC for home use and the ease of navigating its control scheme can't be overlooked and, respectfully, exceeds the other options. Your input has helped put me over the top. Thank you. I plan on talking to my rep Taylor from Sweetwater shortly. I plan on ordering hopefully shortly, and it comes in when it comes in giving the backlog of everything music right now, but honestly I cannot wait. Have a good one, brother, and to all of you and yours and Sweetwater and your families, be safe!

Great question! You can share your captures online by connecting the unit over USB. It also syncs up with a mobile app. Feel free to reach out with any other questions. Thanks! Jason Filloramo, Sweetwater Sales Engineer, (800) 222-4700 ext. 1281, Jason_Filloramo@sweetwater.com

You can use it as your interface. Plug it in via USB. That way you're only going in through one A to D converter. If you take the analog outs you could plug them into your Apollo twin, but then you'll add a whole set of Digital to Analog and Analog to Digital conversion that is completely unnecessary.

I am glad you enjoyed the video! That guitar is my 1974 Strat. The original pups were stripped out of it years before I acquired the guitar so I dropped in a set of Fenders Hot Noiseless... www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/099-2105-000--fender-hot-noiseless-strat-pickup-set Line 6 makes great stuff and if you're happy with the Helix and its workflow I don't see any reason to upgrade. I do personally think the Quad Cortex feels better and has more to offer though. The ability to capture your own amplifiers and pedals is obviously something the Helix can not do so if that is something you were interested in its definitely worth the investment! It also has 2 mic pres on board making it a more flexible audio interface for direct recording purposes which is nice benefit and something I didn't touch on in the video.

You could do that. You don't have to use impulse responses and amp preamp models, etc. You could use it primarily for effects and also as a way to switch between different preamp stages of various amps, using your amp's power tube section. You could profile your own amp and use that profile to easily record with the Quad Cortex. This doesn't make your current gear obsolete. It makes it more flexible and lets you pack it all into a small box and interface with it in many different ways, quickly and easily (while also providing you access to the pre-loaded models).

@@DaveMcCall thank you! Thats powerfull tool :)

Yea you'll need either powered speakers or a power amp into a cab

Thanks for your question, Don! Hope you're safe and well. Your guy will be happy to hear from you! Since the Neural DSP is an open platform for creating presets, it'll work with anything using a pickup/instrument output. It has the ability to profile amps so you could capture your favorite acoustic amp. EQ and processing is top notch and with multiple signal paths, you can create studio quality sounds. I highly recommend it. Robert Williams, Senior Sweetwater Sales Engineer, (800) 222-4700 ext. 2371, robert_williams@sweetwater.com

Thanks for the kind words! It’s a 1974. Got it at a pawn shop when I was 17 with the original case for $300. Deals like that don’t pop up as often with Reverb and EBay now :(

@@andrewplassman4556 original pickups ?

@@jcserrano1663 There was 1 original pup which was dead and needs rewound and 2 wide range humbuckers from a ‘76 Tele Deluxe in it when I got it. It has Fenders Hot Noiseless in it now.

@@andrewplassman4556 Ok, the important thing is that you bring it back to its original look and those pickups sound really good

Hi, Killfloor420. If you're wanting to use the power section of your amp, you'll use a single 1/4" out from the Quad Cortex (make sure everything is set up for mono output) and run that cable into the FX loop return of your Mesa. That's all you need to do from a cabling perspective. From there, you can select whatever amp models and effects you want from the Quad Cortex. Since you're running through the Mesa cab, you wouldn't want to select any cab models on the Quad Cortex. Thanks for your interest! Charlie Davis, Sweetwater Sales Engineer, (800) 222-4700 ext. 1320, charlie_davis@sweetwater.com

@@sweetwater awesome, i really cant wait to receive mine, one more question, when i select a preset amp on the quad cortex is there a way to cancel out the power section of the amp preset? would that even be necessary? would the double power amp from my dual rec/ preset ruin my tone? thanks again charlie

​@@killfloor420 You're very welcome! To the best of my knowledge there isn't a way to turn off the power section modeling for the sounds in the Quad Cortex. That shouldn't be a problem, though. It's pretty common to run these types of modelers through power amp sections on tube amps, and it seems to work very well. Thanks again for your interest! Charlie Davis, Sweetwater Sales Engineer, (800) 222-4700 ext. 1320, charlie_davis@sweetwater.com

@@sweetwater ok that’s sounds good, I already have one pre ordered, thanks man

Buttery biscuits...

The difference is, fractal delivered on the hype. 🤷🏼‍♂️

Yea, why not? Ha

Update. I preordered one 🤭

This. This type of gear technology keeps progressing, why go back?

It does not have an internal power amp. You can hook it up to powered speakers, run it into a PA directly, and/or record directly out of it (or any combination of those).

@@DaveMcCall thanks

Its got treble. Its not overly trebley. Its a strat and has clearly been dialed in to cut through. But no its definitely not overly trebley. Except for that last patch. Thats too brittle for my taste, but I do think he has it dialed in that way on purpose. Based on all the videos iv seen, its not an overly trebley unit

Imo Helix doesn't do vintage clean or breakup tones as good as I heard from some QC videos. I have owned the Helix and currently own the Stomp

You play yours, let others play theirs...do people like you get off on trying to ruin other peoples interest or opinions?

@@OlliAlexander I disagree, I’m getting great results going FOH/IEM wedges and sound guys are always blown away. I use the Vox’s, Marshall’s, the Fullerton’s,, Tweeds, derailed Ingrid, etc I myself am not a death metal player. I do a lot of R&B, Jazz Funk Gospel, slightly Heavy Blues Rock, and Hard Rock Alternative. I’m able to get great results, it’s all in how one sets it up with band dynamics at band level, I was able to do the same thing with my Boss GT 1000. It’s all in how one sets it up per applications in band dynamics...

@@williamdewolfe1813 we all have opinions that’s the beauty of the USA, no harm done and no animals were killed.😁

@@williamdewolfe1813 Did you respond to me or 4 eh?

"For what it is" haha, if somebody blindfolded you you wouldn't tell a les paul from a rickenbacker. Don't get why people act like they have sommelier level hearing. You can do 25 years of records with a plugin, no amps, and nobody would say shit unless they saw it. Then you come to the forum and you have Stockhausens all over the place.

Then don't buy it and let us enjoy.

“Quad” is because you can use 4 instruments

Really? Thank you for the info

@@jazzylei143 it’s also not called the “quad core” it’s the “quad cortex”. I’m not sure if/why cortex is supposed to be a refers to cores, but I’m not sure it shouldn’t be since it has a 6 core processor.

I wish I could understand your comment. What did you just say?

My wife likes her biscuits buttered :) lol...