Neural DSP teasing something new (Quad Cortex)

[The Thing Upstairs]

There are a couple of used FM3s being sold used in the UK at the moment. For the asking prices I would buy new - G66 has stock and for what it is, the FM3 is still a decent price.

FM9 is Q422 in EU I think. Fractal want to polish it before it comes further afield. NDSP take note.

I ordered a QC - I've only a few hours in it so far just using everything stock through monitors. I've not used any of their captures or captured my own kit. I'm keeping it pristine as I'm viewing this as a try before I buy.

As a platform, it still has work to do, basics like editor missing, fewer effects than fractal and not quite at the same level as fractal. There are bugs, the occasional screen lag etc but not too bad at all.

I love a parallel London plate with a delay in the fractal going into my stock studio reverb (mix 10%, size .6). Not quite there with the QC but soo close. As much as I've just criticised their effects, please take this in the context of cork sniffing. They are very good.

I am genuinely blown away with the amp modelling. The sound is spot on but the feel - that has surprised me. Comparing their models to my real amps and it is more than close enough.

The cab section for me knocks it out of the park. I have an aversion to IRs, they're very much like marmite for me. I just chuck in the Zilla 412 they have and it sounds and feels close to my 212.

Being a fractal fanboi, I have a bias toward fractal and toward real amps. The QC has really challenged my bias.

Hurry the F up with the editor NDSP. What is the point of a floor unit that has to be on the desk for editing - we're not all 18 and bendy FFS!

 

[broangiel]

Fractal want to polish it before it comes further afield. NDSP take note.

It's more like, Fractal can't build more FM9's due to semiconductor shortages. In comparison to the FM3 launch, this has been much smoother and doesn't require as much polish.

That said, Is there anything you feel needs polishing? Mine functions and sounds just fine. I'm eager to see my FM9 get up to par with my Axe III with the new goodies Cliff has added in recent FWs, but other than that, the FM9 is comparable to whatever FW the Axe III was running when the FM9 launched. (I think that makes sense...)

 

[The Thing Upstairs]

It's more like, Fractal can't build more FM9's due to semiconductor shortages. In comparison to the FM3 launch, this has been much smoother and doesn't require as much polish.

That said, Is there anything you feel needs polishing? Mine functions and sounds just fine. I'm eager to see my FM9 get up to par with my Axe III with the new goodies Cliff has added in recent FWs, but other than that, the FM9 is comparable to whatever FW the Axe III was running when the FM9 launched. (I think that makes sense...)

Fair point - I'd forgotten the FM3 launch and was thinking more AF3 as that's what I own.

In terms of polish, there are a few things off the top of my head.

An editor
The knobs lining up with the display
Reverbs (and other effects) that rival my favourites in axefx such as London plate, north church etc
The ability to be able to push and hold so I can access the looper from within a scene - I do this on my AF3 by pushing and holding one of the buttons to change to the looper layout. I haven't found a way to do this yet\
Hybrid switching - haven't figured out if this is possible yet
Can a single expression be used to control two different effects on a per scene basis? I haven't figured this out yet either
Noise

Just a few things, I'm sure there's more if I really thought about it. I'm sure it'll come in time.

From a sound and feel perspective, I think it's an excellent. The feel especially so.

 

[laxu]

FM9 is Q422 in EU I think. Fractal want to polish it before it comes further afield. NDSP take note.

I ordered a QC - I've only a few hours in it so far just using everything stock through monitors. I've not used any of their captures or captured my own kit. I'm keeping it pristine as I'm viewing this as a try before I buy.

As a platform, it still has work to do, basics like editor missing, fewer effects than fractal and not quite at the same level as fractal. There are bugs, the occasional screen lag etc but not too bad at all.

I love a parallel London plate with a delay in the fractal going into my stock studio reverb (mix 10%, size .6). Not quite there with the QC but soo close. As much as I've just criticised their effects, please take this in the context of cork sniffing. They are very good.

I am genuinely blown away with the amp modelling. The sound is spot on but the feel - that has surprised me. Comparing their models to my real amps and it is more than close enough.

The cab section for me knocks it out of the park. I have an aversion to IRs, they're very much like marmite for me. I just chuck in the Zilla 412 they have and it sounds and feels close to my 212.

Being a fractal fanboi, I have a bias toward fractal and toward real amps. The QC has really challenged my bias.

Hurry the F up with the editor NDSP. What is the point of a floor unit that has to be on the desk for editing - we're not all 18 and bendy FFS!

They simply cannot make and deliver the FM9s because of component shortages. They've said so on their forums.

Meanwhile the FM9 2.0 firmware has been waiting for a new beta for a long time so I assume they have run into some severe bugs with it considering the equivalent fw for the FM3 was already released.

I can agree with your corksniffing about the QC effects. Some of them are equal, some of them are worse compared to both Line6 Helix and Fractal.

If you own any real amps, try capturing them. It's a killer feature.

Due to the form factor of the QC I think just putting it on a desk was a perfectly fine workflow in absence of a computer editor. While a computer editor is something they should put out sooner than later, the user editing experience from the front panel is really nice.

I think you can do some very convoluted version of hybrid switching by basically utilising the MIDI features of the QC and mapping those to the footswitches. I saw some video about it on YT but I don't understand what is so difficult about just releasing a feature they hyped initially but have since simply removed it from their website. It would add a ton of usability to the unit and should not be that complicated to implement either. Even better would be just make it possible for you to map the footswitches any way you like as I see no technical problem with that.

 

[Elric]

Sounds like an FM3 would be the way to go. Half the price of a QC and you'll be able to bring over your presets.

Unless you want to mess with something new/different, which then I'd probably recommend a HX Stomp.

You really got to want a QC for it to be the best option.

@The Thing Upstairs

Own both an FM3 and a QC… If they are close in price in your part of the world, I’d go QC if you are willing to tolerate that it is still under development. It is highly usable with the current firmware. The FM3 is hamstrung by the UI and 3 buttons; it is also a bit under powered. The QC’s limitations are with the current software version but the hardware slays. The DSP power feels more on par with the Axe III than the FM3, you can’t fix that with a FW update.

I am a huge Fractal fan. I own an Axe II and an Axe III as well as the FM3. But the QC kicks all kinds of a**; too. A lot of people just repeat negative stuff they have heard about it, a lot of which has been addressed with the February FW update. The captures are insane. It is like a Kemper from the future or something.

Use it more than either my FM3 or Axe III. I’d absolutely trade my FM3 for a QC straight up if someone wanted too, so if the costs are close, I’d recommend one for sure.

 

[Emperoff]

I'd buy a QC at half the buttons and half the price

 

[MaxOfMetal]

@The Thing Upstairs

Own both an FM3 and a QC… If they are close in price in your part of the world, I’d go QC if you are willing to tolerate that it is still under development. It is highly usable with the current firmware. The FM3 is hamstrung by the UI and 3 buttons; it is also a bit under powered. The QC’s limitations are with the current software version but the hardware slays. The DSP power feels more on par with the Axe III than the FM3, you can’t fix that with a FW update.

I am a huge Fractal fan. I own an Axe II and an Axe III as well as the FM3. But the QC kicks all kinds of a**; too. A lot of people just repeat negative stuff they have heard about it, a lot of which has been addressed with the February FW update. The captures are insane. It is like a Kemper from the future or something.

Use it more than either my FM3 or Axe III. I’d absolutely trade my FM3 for a QC straight up if someone wanted too, so if the costs are close, I’d recommend one for sure.

I've used the QC about a dozen times now, and pretty much can whenever I want.

I just haven't been blown away compared to any of the other modelers or profilers. I have a few Fractal products and a toaster.

Still great on its own, but I haven't been blown away like you hear from folks. Different strokes and all that.

 

[The Thing Upstairs]

They simply cannot make and deliver the FM9s because of component shortages. They've said so on their forums.

Meanwhile the FM9 2.0 firmware has been waiting for a new beta for a long time so I assume they have run into some severe bugs with it considering the equivalent fw for the FM3 was already released.

I can agree with your corksniffing about the QC effects. Some of them are equal, some of them are worse compared to both Line6 Helix and Fractal.

If you own any real amps, try capturing them. It's a killer feature.

Due to the form factor of the QC I think just putting it on a desk was a perfectly fine workflow in absence of a computer editor. While a computer editor is something they should put out sooner than later, the user editing experience from the front panel is really nice.

I think you can do some very convoluted version of hybrid switching by basically utilising the MIDI features of the QC and mapping those to the footswitches. I saw some video about it on YT but I don't understand what is so difficult about just releasing a feature they hyped initially but have since simply removed it from their website. It would add a ton of usability to the unit and should not be that complicated to implement either. Even better would be just make it possible for you to map the footswitches any way you like as I see no technical problem with that.

What I really need right now is a Leon Todd of the QC world

@The Thing Upstairs

Own both an FM3 and a QC… If they are close in price in your part of the world, I’d go QC if you are willing to tolerate that it is still under development. It is highly usable with the current firmware. The FM3 is hamstrung by the UI and 3 buttons; it is also a bit under powered. The QC’s limitations are with the current software version but the hardware slays. The DSP power feels more on par with the Axe III than the FM3, you can’t fix that with a FW update.

I am a huge Fractal fan. I own an Axe II and an Axe III as well as the FM3. But the QC kicks all kinds of a**; too. A lot of people just repeat negative stuff they have heard about it, a lot of which has been addressed with the February FW update. The captures are insane. It is like a Kemper from the future or something.

Use it more than either my FM3 or Axe III. I’d absolutely trade my FM3 for a QC straight up if someone wanted too, so if the costs are close, I’d recommend one for sure.

ive picked up a QC and own a axefx3. You’re on the money above, I’ll admit to being very impressed.

I’ve tried the factory captures and they sound great but have spent most of my time with the models. Very, very good.
what’s held me back on the captures is that they capture the signal chain at a point in time. When I owned a KPA, I had some amazing captures but if you stray too far from the capture point, it would go a bit sideways. I need to get past that and do some captures of my amps.

@laxu no fans! it doesn’t even seem to get warm

 

[broangiel]

What I really need right now is a Leon Todd of the QC world

Might want to hang out on TGP, if you can stand it. The QC Faithful are much more active over there, relative to SSO. The Discord may be a good resource too.

 

[The Thing Upstairs]

Might want to hang out on TGP, if you can stand it. The QC Faithful are much more active over there, relative to SSO. The Discord may be a good resource too.

Thanks - will check it out

 

[The Thing Upstairs]

So, had the QC a couple of weeks now, still enjoying it.

Question for other users on noise. How do you find the hiss when using high gain amps? I'm finding I have to use a noise gate whereas I don't have to on my axefx or real amps.

I've contacted NDSP and they say its normal which surprised me.

 

[Emperoff]

So, had the QC a couple of weeks now, still enjoying it.

Question for other users on noise. How do you find the hiss when using high gain amps? I'm finding I have to use a noise gate whereas I don't have to on my axefx or real amps.

I've contacted NDSP and they say its normal which surprised me.

Apparently its power supply is very noisy, so you might want to look into that.

 

[The Thing Upstairs]

Apparently its power supply is very noisy, so you might want to look into that.

hmmm…. overlooked that the axefx by default has a gate on the input. Turning it off, the axefx has slightly less noise through studio monitors. I don’t really want to drop cash on a new power supply if I can avoid it.

what QC gate do you folks use? I’m mostly using the smart gate but find the decay a bit stuttery ( compared to a Zuul or decimation)

 

[MetalDaze]

CorOS 2.0.0 has been released.

Only 1 new amp (JP2C ch1, ch2, ch3) but a bunch of additional captures. They've also updated some of the existing models.

Here are the deets: https://neuraldsp.com/news/coros-2-0-0-is-now-available

 

[Emperoff]

CorOS 2.0.0 has been released.

Only 1 new amp (JP2C ch1, ch2, ch3) but a bunch of additional captures. They've also updated some of the existing models.

Here are the deets: https://neuraldsp.com/news/coros-2-0-0-is-now-available

I may have missed the part about the VST models implementation

 

[MetalDaze]

I may have missed the part about the VST models implementation

Yeah, they haven't talked about that in a long time. I don't own any Neural plugins, so it's no big deal to me.

Just updated my QC, but I'll be honest. I'm playing through my recently acquired EVH 100 Stealth tonight

 

[The Thing Upstairs]

Nice to see they implemented hybrid mode at last. I had the bodge with the midi cable until I sold it.

When I stripped back and was more objective A/B'ing with my AxeFx, there's very little between the two in terms of sound and feel. But in terms of development cadence, routing, content etc. It wasn't a difficult decision at the time.

 

[Ben Pinkus]

Some big feature improvements there finally (that are and standard on like everything else). Interesting that they've gone all in on the captures (I guess this takes them ALOT less time to capture than to model stuff).
Was hoping for some more fx variations in this update.
I have an FM9 and it's great but I'm still really intrigued by the QC

 

[Kyle Jordan]

I have an FM9 and it's great but I'm still really intrigued by the QC

I definitely understand this.

I still call me Axe FX III the best gear purchase I've ever made, but the profile/capture idea is great because it works off of the individual piece, so you can get a variety of one model. There's also the fact that you get more amps captured and even if you have to make multiple captures of the same amp with just little tweaks done on the amp to truly represent it, they are still available. Quite frankly, there are some missing amps and missing channels/features from amps in the Fractal ecosystem that baffle me. And in some cases, they seem like lost causes to wish for.

 

[broangiel]

I have an FM9 and it's great but I'm still really intrigued by the QC

I tried a QC and wasn't impressed personally. I found it super clunky to navigate, and I wasn't enthused with the high gain tones. It often felt like there was a clanky, Darkglassy bass buried beneath the core guitar sound. I opted to add a Helix Rack to my (Fractal-centric) rig instead, and that was pre-3.5. Post-3.5, the Helix is seeing a good bit of action.