Neural DSP Quad Cortex

The Quad Cortex floor processor from Neural DSP fuses high-precision studio guitar and bass tones with real-world gigging flexibility. This slim, self-contained floor processor is powered by Quad-Core SHARC DSP and Neural’s proven sound-modeling technology to bring today’s players the ultimate in grab-and-go session accessibility. Inside, more than 50 amps, 1,000 impulse responses, and 70 stomps serve as building blocks for crafting your favorite rigs, along with a built-in performance looper. Download presets from the cloud for instant genre/artist inspiration — no computer required — or use Quad Cortex’s Neural Capture to bring your favorite studio tones on the road with you. The Quad Cortex’s elegant layout is driven by a 7-inch full-color touchscreen and 11 rotary footswitches that twist and stomp to bridge hands-on amp tweaking and navigation with fuss-free foot control. Quad Cortex also gives you configurable inputs and outputs, which can be saved independently for each of its two user presets, along with MIDI and audio delivery over USB for producer-grade plug-and-play recorded tones. Believe it or not, Quad Cortex packs enough horsepower to serve multiple amp chains and even multiple players at once. So, whether you’re touring or tracking, both you and a bandmate can leave your amps at home when you’ve got the Neural DSP Quad Cortex in tow. Factor in firmware updates and user backups over Wi-Fi (again, no laptop required), unlimited set lists, and three modes of operation to line up tones to go, and it’s hard to overstate how dramatic an impact the Neural DSP Quad Cortex floor processor can have on your performance life.

Neural Capture digitizes your favorite amps, stomps, and cabs

Already have the world’s best amps waiting for you at home? Digitize them and take them on the road using Neural DSP’s powerful Neural Capture feature. Unlike traditional capture models, Neural Capture uses machine learning to replicate the sophisticated interaction between amp, cab, pedal, and player. Sag, saturation, breakup, compression — it’s all carefully preserved from the sound source straight into the Quad Cortex for instant recall. Neural Capture’s perception is based on the human ear, not on physics models, making it one of the most natural-sounding capture devices ever built.

Capture complete rigs or component parts

Neural Capture digitizes your favorite real-world amps, cabs, and pedals down to the building-block level. Let’s say you’ve got a JCM Hot Mod you just can’t gig without or a particularly smooth-sounding TS pedal you want to front-end other amps with. The Quad Cortex lets you capture the entire rig or save just the amp or pedal as blocks, which can then be used to build signal chains the same as any device from Neural’s device list.

XLR mic preamps with 48-volt phantom power

You’re not limited to just ’57s when capturing amps from your Neural DSP Quad Cortex. Mic preamps with XLR combo inputs and onboard 48-volt phantom power mean you can really experiment with mic choice and placement.

17.7 cm multi-touch screen

A bright, responsive, full-color 17.7 cm touchscreen makes the Neural DSP Quad Cortex a breeze to navigate and a ton of fun to explore. Accessing settings and blocks is similar to using your mobile device: swipe up to show presets, swipe down to reveal amp parameters, touch and drag blocks to remove and reorder them in the chain, etc. Paired with the hands-on rotary switches, the Quad Cortex ensures you never get lost when you’re cruising for tones.

11 dual-function rotary footswitches

In addition to its snappy touchscreen interface, the Quad Cortex gives you a half score of stainless steel 2-in-1 rotary footswitches. These dual-purpose footswitch encoders put an entire amp-face of controls at your fingers all at once. The encoders twist like real knobs in your hands, and the switches stomp every bit as quickly and reliably as traditional footswitches. This not only saves space on the Quad Cortex — it also safeguards you from accidentally stepping on any fragile knobs in the heat of a performance.

2GHz Quad-Core SHARC DSP

When Neural DSP refers to its Quad Cortex floorboard as the most powerful floor modeler on the planet, it’s thanks in part to the cutting-edge Quad-Core SHARC architecture contained inside. These SHARC chips pack a dedicated 2GHz of processing power to handle complex signal chains and shave latency down to imperceptible levels. Want to run four amplifier chains at once? How about stereo reverbs and a plethora of other effects simultaneously? The Neural DSP Quad Cortex won’t even break a sweat.

Supports multiple amps — or guitarists — at once!

Quad tracking — recording the same part four times and stacking the tracks — has become a common practice for capturing high-gain music. The Quad Cortex lets you approximate this practice in the live environment by giving you four independent signal paths complete with amps, stomps, cabs, and effects. Whether you’re cascading a single part into different flavors of amp saturation or building the ultimate virtual wet-dry rig to end all wet-dry rigs, it’s now possible from a single floorboard. Combine this with the Quad Cortex’s assignable inputs, and you can even share your Neural DSP guitar and bass tones with a bandmate to conserve space on the road. Now that’s cool!

Audio and MIDI over USB

You can capture stereo rigs straight into a recording session using the Quad Cortex’s low-latency USB connection. No additional interface is required, and the USB playback headphone feed offers several options, including none, USB 1/2, USB 3/4, or both via the I/O settings screen, letting you choose how you listen when using the Quad Cortex as an audio interface. Cirrus Logic codecs secure your place in the front of a mix. You can also access MIDI control over USB for deeper dives.

10 set lists, 256 presets per set list

The Neural DSP Quad Cortex lets you organize your user presets into 10 set lists with 256 presets per set list for 2560 total presets. Now you can organize by band, project, genre, or date, allowing you to step through patches sequentially without stopping the flow of creativity. Searchable user tags (“djent,”“SRV,” etc.) help you quickly locate the tones you’re jonesing for — no more browsing and auditioning to locate that special rig.

Three modes of operation

A tap of the Active Mode soft button or a press of the two bottom-right footswitches cycles the Quad Cortex’s three operation modes. Modes let you get the most out of your Quad Cortex’s footswitch and patch customization.