Neural DSP Quad Cortex Quad-Core Digital Effects Modeler/Profiling Floorboard

7-inch multi-touch screen

A bright, responsive, full-color 7-inch 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.

“When you have both knobs and footswitches, you need to have enough clearance between them, so you don’t stomp on the knobs and break them. With the Quad Cortex, you not only save room, you’re actually shielding the weakest part [knobs] with the strongest part [footswitches]. The footswitch itself isn’t any less reliable, but the knob becomes as reliable as the switch. So you end up with a knob that doesn’t break.” — Doug Castro, Neural DSP/Darkglass Electronics

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.

• Stomp Mode: transforms the Quad Cortex into an elegant analog-styled pedalboard. Here you can activate or disable any block in a rig just by assigning it to a dedicated switch and tapping.
• Scene Mode: activate multiple blocks (overdrive and boost; reverb and delay) in a rig at once. Each preset has eight scenes recallable from switches A–H.
• Preset Mode: keeps your eight favorite rigs accessible via switches. This mode is great for players who want their clean, lead, and rhythm tones neatly lined up for quick access.

Dedicated tuner/tap switch

Need to tune up before a set or tighten up a rhythmic delay? A dedicated footswitch at the bottom-right corner of the Quad Cortex ensures you never lose your place. Just hold to tune or tap in time to tempo coordinate. The ultra-fine resolution tuner displays values in cents. Plus, you have the option to engage or disengage the tap tempo LED via the tap tempo screen.