Laptop vs Quad Cortex

[c7spheres]

Appreciate the feedback y'all. Some responses to questions below.

First! Am I getting out of tube amps? Hell naw. Zero chance of that happening for now. Fun thought but no.

Do I have a laptop? No, iPads all around. Could I use a laptop? Sure. Do I HAVE to have one? No.

Why no AxeFx/Line 6? I really just dig the layout of the QC, the way the buttons work and the interface. I've sold gear at least a half dozen pieces of gear because too many buttons for this neanderthal. I'm certain those boys can throw down, it's been proven, I'm just a little behind on the desire to hunt through menus. From what I've seen of the Neural plug-in reviews, they seem straightforward and I'm fairly confident I can get a good enough tone quickly and a very good tone shortly thereafter. I keep talking about Neural because they're who I've researched the most, open to options/opinions.

Why no reactive load? Honestly, originally put the Boss Waza TAE in there but pulled it on a basis of portability of the other options. Not against it at all other than you still gotta move the amp to where you can jam and with a little baby in the house, that puts me on the move to not poke the bear. Something like the QC would be the pretty streamlined but a laptop with a DAC wouldn't be far from it.

More to consider... Even though I've been playing for a while I'm just now getting to the point of attempting to use effects. I've generally been a 1 cord dude. Having a gigantic effects library is not as crucial for me as is having very good amp feel. I would like to profile what I've got from an ease of trying different amps out with songs fairly quickly. My space is currently in flux but generally having my "fancy" stuff out with toddlers is a recipe for disaster, my MB mod Mesa MkIII Black Dot's graphic eq knobs come to mind...

Thanks for the feedback y'all!

Alternatively, since effects are not a huge deal, there's also the ISP Theta Pro. It get's some incredible tones I've heard on Youtube from blues to metal. Seriously some of the best modeller clips I've heard out of them all. Oh, wait, that's right, they say it's not a modeller. hehe. Basically you can create almost anything you want because all the pre and post eq bands. Much less complex than other units too. Very similar but not the same to Rocktron Voodu Valve which is also cool. Going super old there's the Taboo Artist. Sky's the limit.

I also agree Reactive Load since you already have the amps. It will sound/feel better most likely, and give you a lot of flexibility, as you can run it into a SS poweramp if you use cabs, can run into computer for recording, or headphones, or whatever.

I recently got a Fractal LB-2, and it is sounding great with my amps, and then running that signal into modelers for effects and speaker sims.

How do you like the feel of the LB-2?

 

[budda]

If you buy a Fractal product you'll still have to buy a laptop because that is the only way to edit anything on that God-awful interface, LOL. And I say this as a huge Fractal fan. (Own: Axe III, FM3, Axe II).

I mean, we both know that’s hyperbole

 

[Shask]

How do you like the feel of the LB-2?

It sounds and feels great to me. I really don't notice much of a difference between having my amps plugged into my cab, vs my amp into the LB-2, into a Matrix GT1000FX, and then into my cabs. Similar volume, of course.

What it is letting me do is run that signal into an effects unit (as I talked about in the Axe Fx Thread), and run a stereo signal into 2 cabs for huge lower volume sounds.

 

[trem licking]

Y'all talk like computers and interface can't do the work of the vastly inferior shark processors that's in all these modelers. Save some money and just skip the modeler. You want a helix? Get helix native. Just saved a buttload of cash and got a more overall useful setup. Yo welcome!

 

[nickgray]

of the vastly inferior shark processors

Misguided comparison. It's special purpose vs general purpose computing. You're also completely missing the importance of audio interface drivers.

 

[budda]

Y'all talk like computers and interface can't do the work of the vastly inferior shark processors that's in all these modelers. Save some money and just skip the modeler. You want a helix? Get helix native. Just saved a buttload of cash and got a more overall useful setup. Yo welcome!

I’d take my axe 3 over a spec’d computer (wait I kinda own one) and vst’s any day. No one quite does what Cliff Chase does.

 

[FunkyMunky71]

I use a 2016 Mac Book Pro and various Neural DSP plugins for headphone practice at home and it’s pretty good. You can set up user patches to go with songs you might be playing along too, there’s usable effects, plus you can get into recording from there if you want.

 

[trem licking]

Noth

Misguided comparison. It's special purpose vs general purpose computing. You're also completely missing the importance of audio interface drivers.

Nothing misguided about it. Nearly everything on the market can hit low latency these days. If you want to absolutely nerd out on sim mods, i could see the case for a fractal. anything else will be in parity using a simple interface and a computer

 

[ATRguitar91]

You want a helix? Get helix native. Just saved a buttload of cash and got a more overall useful setup.

Counter: Buy a used HX Stomp for $450 and then Native for $100 if you really want it. Only spent another $150 and is infinitely more practical. An interface with plugins will definitely compete on a pure tone basis, but the connectivity options are lacking in comparison. The hardware modeler is usually much easier to use, which is a big deal I think.

For example, I have my HX Stomp setup so that with a single snapshot change I send the signal to my stereo poweramp and cab setup. It also allows me to keep my monitors, poweramp, and FRFR/headphones hooked up at all times. You could do this with an interface, but it wouldn't be nearly as intuitive.

 

[nickgray]

Nothing misguided about it

Of course it is, that's computing 101 - general purpose and special purpose computers are different things.

Nearly everything on the market can hit low latency these days

Depends on your definition of low latency.

https://gearspace.com/board/music-computers/618474-audio-interface-low-latency-performance-data-base.html

You can hit the 2-3ms mark that hardware modelers offer, but you'll have to buy an expensive audio interface to do it, and your CPU is better be up for the task because you'll be running the lowest buffer size. With normal budget interfaces (your Scarletts and such) you're looking at 5ms RTL tops, and you'll also be running very low buffer sizes,

 

[Nitro]

One more opinion to add to the mix - I'd suggest if you have a recent iPad with a USB-C port - use that (I've used my older iPad with a lightning port too - but that requires more adapters). Just check that the Interface you want to use works on iPad. There's not as much variety of plugins/software, but there's Garageband for some basic recording, and BIAS and others for modelling.

Otherwise, I'd suggest if you're getting laptop, a Mac is good option - and I'd suggest getting anything with an M1/M2 CPU. I know there's still heaps of software that's not native Apple Silicon yet, but that will change over time, and for what you're going, it doesn't matter if it's running through rosetta. Any M1/M2 will be plenty powerful enough for what you need, and will be much more future proof than an Intel Mac (not to mention MUCH quieter). A refurb base model M1 Air will the cheapest option, and will be fine for practice.

 

[trem licking]

There are many possibilities with this situation but it's inaccurate to say an off the shelf interface can't absolutely nail performance of any modeler

 

[trem licking]

Of course it is, that's computing 101 - general purpose and special purpose computers are different things.


Depends on your definition of low latency.

https://gearspace.com/board/music-computers/618474-audio-interface-low-latency-performance-data-base.html

You can hit the 2-3ms mark that hardware modelers offer, but you'll have to buy an expensive audio interface to do it, and your CPU is better be up for the task because you'll be running the lowest buffer size. With normal budget interfaces (your Scarletts and such) you're looking at 5ms RTL tops, and you'll also be running very low buffer sizes,

Computer cpus are infinitely more powerful than those special purpose processors, even at the specific task. And you do not need an expensive interface to get par performance

 

[budda]

There are many possibilities with this situation but it's inaccurate to say an off the shelf interface can't absolutely nail performance of any modeler

Except spec sheets are never the whole story. What sounds best at what price point?

 

[trem licking]

Except spec sheets are never the whole story. What sounds best at what price point?

Nearly all plugin suites sound great, at whatever price. Just find any 100-200 dollar interface with a 1Mohm input and you're golden

 

[Paul Gilbert]

PODx3–>IR loader—>Your new fancy laptop
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V
Behringer midi FB
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V
Oh look extra money!!

 

[Shask]

Fair, I had a Katana Air that was good from an easy to make electric guitar noises but I ended up selling it because I couldn't get the sound I wanted out of it. If I don't like the sound, I just don't want to play as much. That alone may make the pricier options "worth it" for me. We shall see. The idea of recording riffs and such may get me pointed towards a laptop rig, I'm still not just completely sold one way or the other. I think I'm looking at a FM3 vs the laptop rig at the moment. Maybe some Labor Day deals will sway me.

Spending the max amount of money may not work in your favor either, especially if you don't really use effects or complex signal chains. It can just add extra complexity which can annoy you.

 

[kentheterrible]

Spending the max amount of money may not work in your favor either, especially if you don't really use effects or complex signal chains. It can just add extra complexity which can annoy you.

Very well may be true. I think something like the FM# and a laptop could be good if just slightly more money than the QC. FM3 can run as the interface with the Mac, right? Several bands I really enjoy are running Fractal or similar gear and I enjoy their tone so stands to reason I could get a tone I like. Also may be fun to try some effects to attempt to learn how to properly utilize them. Still trying to feel it out in my head but appreciate all the angles.

 

[laxu]

Very well may be true. I think something like the FM# and a laptop could be good if just slightly more money than the QC. FM3 can run as the interface with the Mac, right? Several bands I really enjoy are running Fractal or similar gear and I enjoy their tone so stands to reason I could get a tone I like. Also may be fun to try some effects to attempt to learn how to properly utilize them. Still trying to feel it out in my head but appreciate all the angles.

Yes the FM3 can work as an audio interface but it doesn't offer any mic preamps and has a fairly limited set of inputs and outputs. Which generally is not an issue if you just want to play and record guitar. The FM3 also has the best headphone amp out of all the compact modelers so it can easily drive high impedance headphones very well.

 

[kentheterrible]

Yes the FM3 can work as an audio interface but it doesn't offer any mic preamps and has a fairly limited set of inputs and outputs. Which generally is not an issue if you just want to play and record guitar. The FM3 also has the best headphone amp out of all the compact modelers so it can easily drive high impedance headphones very well.

Very good information! Thank you sir!