Neural Quad Cortex

  • Yes, this would be indeed a very interesting question for CK himself. At least I would like to know the answer. In interviews I feel like he always remains quite vague. My own understanding of human psychology and my realy basic understanding of marketing lead me to conclusions like above. In my personal understanding a company like Kemper should present clearer plans for a Kemper2 in times when "profiling" will flood (I claim) the next generation of digital amplification. It is only the silence that many people hate. On the other hand, yes, maybe from his standpoint t really IS difficult because... with no capacities at the moment you cannot be more precise in interviews (?). And if you are not clear you create room for speculation. With Kemper we are well trained for waiting. "Let's wait and we will see some day" said the blind and fell into a hole.

    Hmm..


    People always want what the famous ones play..


    The famous ones..being permanently in recording studios and on many different sizes of stages..want a professional tool which is great,highly reliable,fit their needs and can be found everywhere...


    Maybe @CK knows this?And does not care so much (with exceptions aka stage) about other approaches?


    In any case..it is never professional musicians who want desperately new gear just for the sake of it.

  • Doesen’t the dsp chip the Kemper uses have just another couple of years till it won’t be in production, I thought I read that some where, will this put a deadline for new development?, would it be difficult to port the existing code to a new architecture? I have know idea, a bit of a Luddite here.

    New talent management advice to Laura Cox -


    “Laura want to break the internet? let’s shoot another video of you covering the Nightrain solo in the blue singlet, but this time we’ll crank up the air conditioning”.

  • The result and quality of the Cortex: total crap !


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    Not even a shade of the Kemper !

  • Doesen’t the dsp chip the Kemper uses have just another couple of years till it won’t be in production, I thought I read that some where, will this put a deadline for new development?, would it be difficult to port the existing code to a new architecture? I have know idea, a bit of a Luddite here.

    No worry's the DSP is a NXP some of the DSP56xx familix (formerly named Motorola 56K Chip )
    The processor for Display and I/O managment is also from NXP i think its a LPC2468 (ARM A7 architectur)


    So the 56K Series is the most used Instructionset in the world.

    The 56K series is very big one of the most used DSP processors, used in telecomunication, automotive and many more.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_56000


    I guess there will be always a followup processor with the same or extended instruction set.
    The UI is programed in C++ so it's portable and the DSP is programmed in Assembler for high performance.


    The Neural Quad Cortex uses two Analogdevice Sharc DSP (ADSP 589 and ADSP-573 both have DSP and ARM A5 core inside)

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/…ture_Single-Chip_Computer

    Be the force with you ;)

  • GuysX/.


    Wait until this thing will show if it is able to profile amps like it promises. Only then you can judge its sound compared to a Kemper. Who cares about modelling and death knob tweaking these days except those without a girl (or boy) friend.

    Better have it and not need it, than need it and not have it! - Michael Angelo Batio

  • The result and quality of the Cortex: total crap !


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    Not even a shade of the Kemper !

    Pretty easy to shoot a video with Kemper and have people dislike the tone. It would be rather premature to draw conclusions, as based on that, about what the device can do. People tweak things differently, use different IRs, pla pla pla, whatever the case may be.


    In this scenario: testing out capture function could at least give us an idea of how well this unit can "copy" a sound in a profiling style manner. In that case, whether one likes the tone or not is rather irrelevant, assuming the "capture" function is consistent enough/does similarly well for one's desired tones.

    The bonanza

  • GuysX/.


    Wait until this thing will show if it is able to profile amps like it promises. Only then you can judge its sound compared to a Kemper. Who cares about modelling and death knob tweaking these days except those without a girl (or boy) friend.

    Plenty of people care about modelling. People also use real amps, which typically involves some of the same knob tweaking. And profiles are snapshots of certain sounds, rigs set a particular way.


    It's just that with a "capture" test at least we'd be minimizing (assuming a good level of result consistency across tones) issues of "personal taste", something that comes into play heavily.

    The bonanza

  • Plenty of people care about modelling. People also use real amps, which typically involves some of the same knob tweaking. And profiles are snapshots of certain sounds, rigs set a particular way.

    Ok, just for smartassing: The rethorical question "who cares about..." very often (like in this case) translates to "I don't give a sh** about..." (in this case about modelling and all its tweaking because it is such a waste of time) 8o.


    Just for clarification.


    Next point: you need the same "amount" of tweaking for an amp like for a Helix??? :?:

    =O

    Better have it and not need it, than need it and not have it! - Michael Angelo Batio

  • Not impressed either..sure ...maybe I am biased..but still..sound a lot like what I hear from their plug ins..

    It uses the same tech they develop their plugins with...I'm sure there will be a wider tonal variety, so I don't think it's fair to say that if you don't like the plugins, you won't like the unit...but the heavier more modern stuff will sound more or less like what they have. The "Capture" algo is really the unknown.

    I can see how someone wouldn't like their plugs, but for anything modern, I absolutely love them.

    Disclaimer: When I post demo clips for profiles, there will be some minimal post-processing, unless stated otherwise. I normally double-track hard L/R, and add to the main buss a small amount of EQ and a limiter/comp set pretty light as well. Sometimes I get test profiles in advance of release, though 90% of my clips will be from packs I have purchased.

  • Next point: you need the same "amount" of tweaking for an amp like for a Helix??? :?:

    =O

    I don't think modelling inherently requires radically more tweaking, no; hence "some of the same". If the amp sim is far from accurate, perhaps more so in that case. But if it's close enough to the real amp overall "tweaking" may not be far off.


    Of course having many more possibilities than what is available for some in reality, smaller requirements of "how to" hardware technical knowledge, ECT ECT, means they may feel like a kid in candy store with something like an axe fx -- or even quite lost, heading down a rabbit hole they may not even need to for "good tone" alone.


    But overall with the best modellers I can't say it's much different for me compared to analog gear, provided the use case is similar, and not about getting an frfr sound like a real cab or some such issue (a rather special case).


    On this end, it will certainly be interesting to see if this new device seeks to mimic real amps as closely as possible, which may not always be the case. I'm rather confident in fractal's amp modelling, and this will likely require some hands on experience to see how accurate it possibly is (considering how people online tend to test modellers).

    The bonanza

  • But yes. I certainly want to see the capture function tested for stated reasons. Kemper already set the standards for such tests with their Kemper videos early on -- and if one is confident in the results of their unit, I don't see how/why they wouldn't go a similar route. If I were them, I'd already have been testing against Kemper regularly through development. It's likely part of what they've done, I would think.


    And they likely will publish Kemper style videos; not saying they won't. If they somehow wouldn't though.. I'd be way skeptical at that point certainly.

    The bonanza

  • The result and quality of the Cortex: total crap !


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    Not even a shade of the Kemper !

    Well... There is more crappy Profiles, than excellent ones. It doesn't make Kemper a bad unit. We must agree, that this QC clip wasn't a actual sound demo. More of a proof, that the actual unit already exists and it does have few amps etc. and actually the userinterface looked well finished and working already.


    Having played Neural DSP Plugins, I have no doubts, that this unit wouldn't sound excellent.


    Dynamics for example should be more than great:


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    Gear: Kemper Profiler | Neural DSP Plugins
    Guitars: .Strandberg*

  • When I first heard the marketing about the KPA 7 years ago or so, I was skeptical because I assumed it would probably profile a 2-dimensional, digitally harsh, and less responsive version of the amp/cab it was capturing. Or some some sort of "something's not right" when you try to put it in the mix. The difference is, at least to my ears and virtually everyone here, is that the KPA has lived up to the hype. It's just as dimensional, no harshness, and just as responsive to the original, with all the benefits of a digital solution.

    To that end, I don't see how anyone could improve the core sound of the original KPA. How do you improve on virtually indistinguishable? Whatever the process of this new product uses to "capture the sound" the relevant question is not how much processing power is included or utilized in the capture, but if it actually sounds, feels, responds, sits in the mix, like the original and/or a real amp and cab does.

    At the same time, should this product function similar to the Helix, regardless of accuracy of the "profiles" I want no part. Organizing sounds for live use on the Helix is an endless mess because of the lack of spillover and even a large audible gap between presets. The fact that you can do so much within a single preset means nothing. If I have a couple specialty combos of effects/amps saved to a preset, say a ideal autoswell for ambient stuff, I can't just plop that preset next to a song specific preset and toggle between them in the song, because of the gap. I have to make sure I have enough left over DSP in the song specific preset and copy and paste all of my individual effects from the autoswell preset into the song specific preset, and then set up a "snapshot" to use it. Nor do I want to go back to volume matching hell between presets, when I decide to increase or decrease the gain in the amp section of one rig. The KPA is still the only digital unit that solves this problem as well.

  • The fact that you can do so much within a single preset means nothing. If I have a couple specialty combos of effects/amps saved to a preset, say a ideal autoswell for ambient stuff, I can't just plop that preset next to a song specific preset and toggle between them in the song, because of the gap. I have to make sure I have enough left over DSP in the song specific preset and copy and paste all of my individual effects from the autoswell preset into the song specific preset, and then set up a "snapshot" to use it. Nor do I want to go back to volume matching hell between presets, when I decide to increase or decrease the gain in the amp section of one rig. The KPA is still the only digital unit that solves this problem as well.

    I used the Helix for several years before coming over to the Kemper in August and the "snapshots" do resolve the issues with the audible gap when switching. I have setup patches with up to 8 snapshot in a preset and had as many as 4 amps in the preset too. While you will not be able to select any 5 amps like in the Kemper without running out of DSP, you can do quite a bit. I enjoyed the flexibility a great deal when I had the Helix and came to the Kemper just for the improved tones and unlimited ability to get any amp and not wait for Line 6 to make it. Of the short comings of the Helix, switching amps/effects and such is no longer on of them.