Neural Quad Cortex

  • I've always struggled with any test in a guitar shop so I've always bought on recommendation/research. I bought most of my valve amps like this and if I'd tried them probably not bought them because it took me time to get used to the sound.


    I think this is probably even more true for digital equipment because dialling in sounds can take time ( ironically the KPA could be the exception to this as I'd argue its been the most plug and play compared to other units but even then we know how different profiles can sound).


    What I'm really saying is I don;t have as much faith in my ears as you :)...can you come with me when I next buy an amp ha!

    Even with the Kemper approach, it was a slow process finding the ideal profiles and sound for live use. Having a Helix too, this just transfers the work to finding the right IR instead.


    If I buy a modeller or amplifier, I always give it at least 3 months to expect the best from that gear.

    Karl


    Kemper Rack OS 9.0.5 - Mac OS X 12.6.7

  • Kemper and a backup HX Stomp have everything covered for me, but tone-chasing always makes you wonder if the next unit is the secret to a perfect sound. And that is the dilemma of most guitarists tempted by new gear!

    During the last 10 years or so I came to the conclusion that "tone" depends to much on changing personal conditions (hearing/ears,mood,psychology,exhaustion etc) than for me to continue to "chase it" in form of gear.


    I know what works for certain things.


    The promise of any new piece of gear to bring us the "final tone redemption"..I dont have this anymore.I guess this passion is gone for good.


    What I have is the need for a tool which gives me all the possibilities I need to express my personal emotions for my own music and..to earn me a few bucks from time to time..?


    Good news is we finally get these tools.All for a reasonable price.And the profiler was the first of it's kind.Actually still is.So..yes..let's wait what the qc and the next pretenders can do better..or maybe not..

  • The high-gain tones I've heard in recent demos have been quite good.

    Helix supports mono IRs up to 46ms (2,048 samples). Iridium supports stereo IRs up to 500ms. Kemper does some crazy computational work to convert IRs into EQ curves.


    Just for your information:

    Unless impulse responces are not a couple hundred millseconds long, they are always (more complex) EQ curves.


    We convert IRs into our own format. However, there are no specific calculations involved.

  • Just for your information:

    Unless impulse responces are not a couple hundred millseconds long, they are always (more complex) EQ curves.


    We convert IRs into our own format. However, there are no specific calculations involved.

    Please excuse my swerve to the thread,


    In higher level math classes, this is not true. I always like to think of the impulse response as what happens to a system when you "kick it". Kind of like ringing a bell mathematically. The impulse function is defined as an infinite spike of 0 width at time=0. The interesting thing about "kicking" a system with the impulse function is that it gives you the response to the system for any possible input and is generally expressed as "H(S)" in signals and system processing lingo. Can that be transformed to a set of EQ curves the way that H(S) can be transformed into a frequency domain response H(jw) .... or does a set of EQ curves approximate H(jw)?


    Just to keep things relevant to this thread, I guess I assumed that all digital amps (well good ones anyway) operated on this kind of DSP math.

  • Just for your information:

    Unless impulse responces are not a couple hundred millseconds long, they are always (more complex) EQ curves.


    We convert IRs into our own format. However, there are no specific calculations involved.

    So I wonder what the difference would be between Helix 2048 IR and 1024 IR. Would that be a less detailed eq response, as it is very difficult to detect a difference in the audio; or is it just cutting the ambient part of the IR?


    After giving Ultra Res cabs on Fractal, I found a thread where the owner recommends cutting IRs to the shortest Normal Res of 1024 samples.

    Karl


    Kemper Rack OS 9.0.5 - Mac OS X 12.6.7

    Edited once, last by karlic ().

  • So I wonder what the difference would be between Helix 2048 IR and 1024 IR.

    Pete Thorn did a great video on this. 1,024 samples @ 44.1 kHz would give you a maximum length of 23ms. That's definitely enough to capture the tone of the cab, but not sufficient to capture frequencies below 43Hz or any room resonance. Do the longer IRs matter that much? Eh. I tell myself I can hear a difference. Whether or not the science bears that out is another story.


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  • dB Cooper Your experience with the high gain tones is disappointing, although the EVH demo already I heard was quite good. I guess capture will cover most things if there's a question over the modelling side.


    I don't really consider the big screen access on any modeller to be anything more than a pretty display with editors available. Kemper was always the easiest to make adjustments from the front panel, although who makes in depth edits at a show.


    Does anyone have a list of all the IR lengths supported on each Modelling platform?

    I agree with you. To each his own, but I cannot imagine not having the physical buttons and switches on the Kemper, playing live. I have my performance rigs set at stage volume, so I don't do a lot of tweaking, but it is so nice to just be able to turn a knob, when necessary, than paging through 20 pages of options, to adjust something simple. Kemper definitely nailed it with their physical interface.

  • Personally I think it will be a great unit, but I am not a fan of the waiting list approach.


    My name came up for an FM3. You feel second class already, as North Amercia is prioritised. Then the problem is that after waiting so long, they gave me a date in January that came after Brexit. Now there all sorts of uncertainty about imports.


    I just prefer that a product is available and anyone can order with a reasonable wait.

    Hi Karlic,

    the "waiting list" is the reason why i went for kemper even if i have it only since end nov 2020.

    I was in the FM3 waiting list and the feeling of being 2.class customer compared to others (f.e. bloggers in internet who received it much quicker) was in my humble opinion the decisional move.
    Definitely, the device is a great one, i think the quad cortex will be another good and solid one. Eager to see some valid back to back bench tests

  • I'm going to keep my stage ...potentially sell my toaster? My stage will be more just a pure guitar rig (with footswitch stickers cause I can't read that screen lol)

    I couldn't sell my stage after buying the thomman case and paying that nasty shipping urghh lol


    The big question is if I will sell my axe-fx iii and buy another QC.....I've VERY MUCH looking forward to that .....the PITA the fractal units have given me over the years with the UI will be a huge relief to be done with them! (I'll keep my ultra though lol)


    I do wish the QC had a rackmount version

  • I thought it sounds quite good immediately and much of that is down to cabs as usual. I always wonder if a simple Badonk amp model sounds just as good with those same IRs.


    Ola tends to make most things sounds good, so we need some demos from people that are less proficient:-)

    Karl


    Kemper Rack OS 9.0.5 - Mac OS X 12.6.7

  • What did I miss??

    I thought this thing was being sold in November by Sweetwater... now it shows pre-order status.... and (obviously), no reviews...


    Not really that interested, but I do a lot with Sweetwater, and knew they planned on a November sell date.

  • What did I miss??

    I thought this thing was being sold in November by Sweetwater... now it shows pre-order status.... and (obviously), no reviews...


    Not really that interested, but I do a lot with Sweetwater, and knew they planned on a November sell date.

    You're not really interested but still you're interested enough to know when?^^ Well one reason it's been delayed is so obvious if you didn't sleep thru the whole 2020.

    Think for yourself, or others will think for you wihout thinking of you

    Henry David Thoreau

  • he posted a short chimey AC30 clip to Instagram today which sounded fantastic.

    If it is a modelled AC30 then, yes, it passed the test. Even if it is a capture is sounds pleasing and full to me (admittedly in this case only through the spakers of my phone :D).


    (...man, this thread has the strongest legs in history...)

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