What's Wrong with the Nano Cortex? I asked some Pro Guitarists....They All Agreed

[@jbbourbon178]

Tomorrows episode: The Nano Cortex is once again perfect

[@mrhelpnow]

😅

[@CorbCorbin]

No, but in a couple weeks, he’ll do “why I’m going back to modelers for gigs,” because he just did the “back to amps video.” 😄 If I had a lot of high quality choices, I’d probably be back and forth too. The titles are more for the algorithm, usually. He has really good content, about techniques, and parts that he likes, with how to incorporate them.

[@steveliberty]

"Its fine" -- this is a profound statement. We buy too much gear, always chasing the next best thing. But whether you have a Nano Cortex or an HX Stomp or a cheap Flamma multiFX, we should always see whether or not we can get tones that are "fine", and if we can, STOP RIGHT THERE. Step away from the Amazon shopping cart, and just play guitar.

[@rutger4131]

This video probably does Neural more favors than the original marketing campaign

[@mattc1176]

As others have said or alluded to… the crux of the issue is, who’s the Nano Cortex for? Unless you a) already own a Quad Cortex and/or b) need the specific capture features of the NC and/or c) don’t care about price … The Tonex ecosystem is just a blatantly superior option (and probably a better long haul bet too). The NC is a very decent product - the Tonex One is just a better one for most people.

[@NightOwlEd]

This ^ whenever someone makes an argument about where exactly in the market it sits, i could find two other arguments on why it’s not the best solution for that particular situation. Perhaps, its best meant for those who want a portable means of capturing and carrying their own gear, but yet the price does not seem right given the influx of competition recently.

[@peterjessop1878]

@@mattc1176 Tonex one is better for most people purely on price of the pedal. I have zero trust in IK multimedia when it comes to software. Don’t be surprised if future Tonex software doesn’t work on your present computer hardware as has happened to me several times in the past with both their guitar and sampler software. That’s an issue you don’t get with standalone hardware.

[@mattc1176]

@@peterjessop1878 That's a very fair point. Mine was I suppose more that Tonex (& probably Line6) are going to dominate the market in terms of users. And it's hard to shake the thought that Neural has been constantly a day late and a dollar short in competing since Quad Cortex came out.

[@theoreticalapproach5666]

Yeah. If you already have amps lying around and want to capture it as a portable solution for gigging, NC might be ideal. Otherwise, I don’t see why one would get NC over Tonex

[@lyricbread]

Beebee nailed it. Well said! Anything more, then you should be looking at the Quad Cortex or another full-featured capture device or modeler.

[@Headroom1]

I can't believe I'm saying this, but you post too many videos dude. All back and forth with "I'm done" with digital or analog. I can't keep up with you

[@Smart-Alex]

KZbinrs need to make video content to make money. Just don’t watch it

[@AlecBourneMidiMadScientist]

Fairly reminiscent of the path taken by so many guitarists who flip flop all over the place year after year no? Cherry pick, remember this is just one person's daily voyage and an excuse to play guitar daily, it's not a sermon from the mount or even really much of a sales pitch... Just one humans take.

[@nickrouse8426]

Like someone said, making a living on KZbin is extremely demanding. If creators don't keep up with frequent video drops, their channel will literally crumble in the algorithm. If my creators post too much, I'll typically click like and leave.

[@sledgehammer80sband37]

Totally agree. Load of nonsense. Click bait titles etc. Don't get me wrong, as I watch lots of them (!), they're very entertaining, but gotta take it all with a pinch of salt and make your own minds up as to what gear you like and what works for the band/situation you're in. And if you're a youtuber then doing what John does is certainly one way of doing it! We're helping him to get more views by commenting too! And he does play very tastefully. :)

[@bryanh3057]

Seems like some folks miss the point. The idea is too keep conversations going. And he’s successful with that. Sometimes the topics and talking points bring some heat with them, and that’s part of what draws certain people to participate in the discussions. Discussions bring more viewers, more viewers means more income. He’s actually playing the KZbin game correctly. You as a viewer are free to participate, or not. My 2 cents. 👍

[@ultimatescalerc7151]

I think the IR-2 needs some love. For $200 bucks that is the most organic sounding amp / cab sim there is. You can not beat it!! Yeah its cool you can capture the tones but you cant capture the dynamics and that is everything. The IR-2 does that better than anything out there in the 200 dollar price range. If you dont need to capture anything but want captures of the real deal then get a Tone X One. Heck you can use your TX-1 for FX for your IR-2. Yeah get Valeton GP-100 and you got a fly rig that can do it all for under 500 bucks and it will sound like a $1200 plus rig. I know because I just returned one that cant match this cheap set up.

[@StryngsMagee]

More great playing. You've got me jonesing for a PRS core silver sky!

[@joesaxon6566]

They are amazing!

[@cyrildavid]

Second that. 🎉

[@NO-TALK-GuitarPlugin]

The only bad thing I find to the nano cortex is that ToneX one and pedal exist 😂

[@steveareton697]

Pretty much agree here - the one thing that REALLY sets the nano apart to make it special is its ability to make world-class captures so quickly and easily. Now, for those of us who don't have any/much use for capturing functionality, I'm not sure the $550 is justifiable for many while the Tone-X does it's thing extremely well for close to 1/2 the price. of the nano.

[@MrBlank0907]

Exactly. The ToneX One is the real game changer to me. It’s incredible

[@AlexGiordaniMusic]

And cost a lot less!

[@AlecBourneMidiMadScientist]

@@steveareton697 you can't capture anything with a tonex one can you?? I am not yet in the capture game but pretty much all my mates are and have the various tonex pedal offerings, most had to go and buy better CPU with faster graphics cards, they all love sharing captures done by others, but you need other gear to do your own captures right? What's the real world cost here if you want into the capture world?

[@steveareton697]

@@AlecBourneMidiMadScientist Yes, to make your own captures in the Tone-X world, you need an additional DI box (I think around $100?) and a computer to run the capture software. I've heard that an especially good computer is nice to keep the capture time required down but I've never heard of it being a requirement. If it were me, and I didn't already have a good computer AND I was mostly interested in doing my own captures much of the time, I'd get myself a nano-cortex in a heart-beat. Having said that, I don't have enough time in the day to go through all the 100s/1'000s(?) of great captures already available to tone-x let alone the time and ambition to make my own captures that very likely wouldn't be as good as all the ones I can already get for free.

[@donaldrowe8460]

I love it !~ I use it with My HX FX or Helix (put it in the HX FX/ Helix loop) as my amp/cab. Between my buddies and I, we have a lot of great amps to capture, I don't use the baked-in amps. As for the internal FX blocks, I don't use them, though they aren't bad, just not part of my needs. I like it much more than anything else that I've tried :)

[@mglax35]

Awesome playing! can i ask do you have a video or can you point me in the right direction for how you do your chord melody? your progressions are always so awesome!

[@tperry5839]

Fantastic video bruh 🔥

[@ksharpe10]

Nice opening playing and Tones.

[@MattW4319]

I use the nano for a learning tool. Not for songs but tones. Capture your own amps and play tbe capture through studio monitors. If something is off re eq your amp and do it again til you get it the way you want. When playing out either have your amp or nano through the pa and it will be right in the mix. Nano just sounds better to me than tonex or the friedman ir pedals.

[@TLMuse]

"1 delay, 1 chorus, 1 reverb-that's fine!" Reminds me of my Alesis Quadraverb days-that's basically what it offered. And it's pretty much how I use my Eleven Rack (which I still often use despite adding an HX Stomp XL and ToneX to my arsenal). -Tom

[@Caitorine]

If its just an amp with some reverb then I'll take a tonex one for $150 thanks

[@johnplaystheguitar123]

Apart from the compressor block issue, drive block thing isnt really an issue as can just alternate between two captures one with drive one without on the one footswitch?

[@johnplaystheguitar123]

apart from capturing joyo american sound or oxford sound for the lols, i have no need for capturing so went with the tonex one pedal on sale. will arrive before xmas hopefully.

[@jonblake7871]

Agree - change out the Transpose block for compression/drive block

[@donaldrowe8460]

better yet, let you capture a separate device live and overdrive!

[@xvii8693]

Im on the fence with selling mine. I ended up getting the quad cortex 3 weeks later.

[@gear-head]

John is right. It's a great piece of gear. The problem today is that we have normalized the incredible technology we have to choose from that would have been impossible comprehend a few years ago. The nano does what it does...and does it extremely well, but unfortunately in today's world of incredible guitar technology there are those that expect everything from every product while at the same time wanting to pay next to nothing for it.

[@MrGul]

Leaving out compression is an utterly baffling decision to me.

[@andypeacockmusic]

I think a lot of people who don’t like it haven’t used it, it’s simple but in a practical and enjoyable way.

[@TLMuse]

As a non-owner, it seems to that what sets it apart from the ToneX is the ease of *making* captures. So folks who have other gear they want to capture for the road are perhaps the main audience. I don't have any amps I want to capture, so though the tones are impressive, it's overpriced for my needs (why pay for capture capability I won't use?). Though there are some tones on my Eleven Rack that I haven't yet been able to quite duplicate elsewhere, so maybe capturing other amp sims is a niche use I should consider!

[@michaelschneider7590]

Given the many lawsuits by writers and actors about their work being used to train A.I., without their approval, a license, or compensation, I wonder if there will be a similar backlash against capture tools by amp or pedal builders if the Nano Cortex were to expand beyond “capture your own gear” to offering the “pricey less obtainables.”

[@josuastangl7140]

You mean like Kemper does with their market place since more than a decade ago?

[@michael1]

Not a chance. That's like saying that Marshall own some kind of rights over the sound that comes out of their amps - that they can sue AC/DC and Sabbath for royalties because their songs have a 'marshall sound". TBH I doubt the writers and actors will have that much luck. If I read Animal farm, Brave new world and Robinson Crusoe and then write a novel about a man shipwrecked on an island who finds a talking pig there's not a lot the writers can do about that. If chatgpt is spewing out quotes and extracts on the other hand they may well fall foul (I guess it falls down to that thing where if you do a google search for similar material is a copyright broken?) I doubt actors will have much success either. I recall a clip of Michael Caine on a chat show saying that an impression of his voice has been used on Satnavs and birthday cards but so long as there's some small text saying it's an impression there's nothing he can do. He has certain rights over his name and image but they are limited in scope.

[@andykerass3695]

Fair question, but I don't think it's the same thing. You can recreate a sound in many different ways, and different amps can be made to sound similar. You then create the art with the sound like an artist would create art with colours. It is more like AI pretending to be you and ripping off your style and music through mindless imitation. I guess people lap it up, though for the novelty factor. Until it becomes repetitious and boring.

[@andykerass3695]

And I'll add, people still love their amps 😄

[@Bluesunrising24]

I have the Nano and highly recommend Amalgamaudio for captures. Best captures I have, but I agree with the compressor and drive Block. Please Neural, give us the options to add a drive block or a second capture block

[@MrMishagui]

Neural is thinking , “you want drive and compressor” ? Buy the QC

[@Trs_trS]

I love the transpose.. it is a gig pedal… if you need more get the QC…

[@andiNoUseForAHandle]

Jason's feedback about fuzz pedals. I can second that. Ok, as if that would make any difference 🤣🤣🤣🤣 But yeah, I A/B it with ToneX and the Nano Cortex does a better job. And I'm probably the only person in the world that appreciates the transpose block. It saves time tuning guitars down...

[@serpensnovus9869]

Don't have collection of amps to capture, don't want to sound like [insert famous name here] Modelling means I can tweak an amp/speaker to suit me, my guitar, the song. IMHO capture is a dead end . . . Modelling is an exciting open road to the future.

[@777strat]

I owned a Quad Cortex for several years, created many fantastic amp/pedal captures and loved it! However, I became a bit disillusioned after 2yrs as the QCs effects loop output leveling was glitchy and I began using more effects from my H90 then I did in the QC. I sold the QC and began using the Friedman IR-X with a UA OX Stomp w/my pedalboard...fantastic amp in a box tones when combining these two devices;) I still use the Friedman/Ox Stomp combination but, upon seeing the Nano Cortex releasee and due to missing my QC captures...I purchased the Nano Cortex. Personally and although the QC is an absolutely amazing piece of gear, i prefer how I've been able to incorporate the Nano Cortex into my pedalboard. I can also easily use the Nano Cortex as four separate Overdrive pedals in front of my amp - sounds great! I run my H90 Pre/Post with the Nano so that solves it's limitation without on-board effects loop. I'm fine with the lack of a Global EQ, as it's one less piece to deal with. I find the Pitch effect useful as well, I find the Nano Cortex the perfect compliment to my pedalboard and it's smaller footprint is welcome as well...saving space for another pedal or maybe two mini pedals. Way to go Neural!

[@tiagoramalhais5493]

That K-line is buzzing a little bit when clean, time to adjust the "truss rod from hell".

[@Ozman77]

It’s been killer for me. It’s in the loop of my FM9, the Amalgam “Rex” Marshall capture is incredible. That combine with Fractal effects is outstanding.

[@scottlowe8657]

@Ozman77 You like that Rex capture more than any Marshall model in the FM9? You've got me curious for sure. FM9 / Axe-Fx III owner here. Can you discribe the difference that you're enjoying?

[@Kevinschart]

This product differentiation at it's finest. There is a market for this product, but this thing mostly exists to hook you with an inferior product so that you eventually mosey down their upgrade path. The hx stomp is an older product, but at this price it is the far more superior and flexible pedal. Don't be a sucker consumer.

[@Seeger96]

You should check out the Dimehead Nam Player 🤭

[@prakharbhardwaj303]

I think most of the anger against the Nano Cortex is just QC customers being upset that Neural took ages to get the plugins on the QC and their general tardiness in meeting existing customers demands. Plus they really really hyped it up way too much for their own good 😂

[@TechnoRiff]

IMO - if the Nano Cortex included an effects loop as many other units have, it would be be that much better.

[@rgbplumbinghilton]

It doesn't need one as it is a pre amp. FX are after the pre am and you would run it into a power amp!! If you have effects, they go after the nano before the power amp. That is all the fx loop does. That my friend is why it doesn't have one.

[@TechnoRiff]

@@rgbplumbinghilton I see your point - however, why does its big brother the Quad Cortex have a stereo effects loop? How would FRFRs be supported?

[@rgbplumbinghilton]

Because they offer a few options, like parallel and series and may offer +/- pad for loud effects. Doesn't mean it needs one. It's a sales gimmick 😂😂 So pre amp Fx Cab Ir FrFr out simple set up.

[@TechnoRiff]

@@rgbplumbinghilton It may not need one though would be nice to have.

[@rjaquin31]

Hahaha intro got me good 😂

[@phillipbland2861]

Love that Swan Station hoodie😂

[@dividedbytimestudios]

What’s wrong with John Cordy?

[@nikhilnarahari8424]

Lol, same as the Nano Cortex - absolutely nothing. In fact, I'd say they're both pretty great! 😊 Thanks for the fantastic content and inspirational playing as always, Mr. Cordy 🤘🏽

[@david_heryanto]

I recently got tonex pedal limited edition that include a lot of premium capture. For me who not own real amp to capture, tonex is better than NanoCortex because the library of capture, price and more fx type. What do you think about tonex pedal vs nanocortex?

[@deconline1320]

Not sure why somebody would buy this instead of a Boss GT1000 Core. The boss is way more capable for the same form factor.

[@dansomerville]

Tonex one is hard to beat.

[@mattdylan664]

for a $199 the Nano Cortex is a great pedal , anything more than that and you're just throwing away hard earned cash

[@reidautin917]

Plenty amp sim pedals that that are more expensive than Nano. And they don’t do a fraction of what Nano does. Tonex is the only outlier.

[@AlecBourneMidiMadScientist]

I have to disagree, the nano frees you of a rather expensive laptop and a whole heap of time. There are now faster capture devices for about the same price but those are bigger and a little less precise. I think there's probably a better usage case for the original bigger tonex pedal for all it can now do with midi included, but if I was gonna jump into profiling gear tomorrow it would be with the Nano. Fortunately I'm biding my time till next year. I have a good feeling we will see something more earth shattering just over the horizon. Done with pedals this year now. Merry Christmas 🎄

[@steveareton697]

For those just looking for great tones to play, yes. For those looking to make a bunch of quick and easy world-class captures, the nano is seemingly the best deal out there.

[@robyates136]

Originally ordered a Nano Cortex on release to fit into my extensive pedalboard. Had second thoughts. Canceled and ordered a Quad Cortex and sold all my pedals, switcher, and other stuff. Quad Cortex $1800. Pedals + accessories sold on Reverb $1600 (plus the $549 I would have paid for the Nano Cortex). So switching to the QC made sense for me and and cost was a wash because I added a Behringer FCB1010 midi controller (has two expression pedals) and is a vastly under-rated accessory for the QC. I'm much happier. Does everything, integrates well with my home Mac-based studio setup, is portable. I also captured all my drive pedals into it before selling them. Pedals and amps/amp model pedals were such a time soak for me. QC fits my guitar workflow so much better - I'm playing a lot more with greater satisfaction.

[@iamstan_rimp]

I’m on the fence about buying one. I have the Tonex One that does captures and has an ecosystem to get plenty of captures(if needed) but the Tonex One covers reverb and compression. It’s hard to justify getting this for $500 when it’s something at $150 that does the same or similar functionality.

[@dogdays7120]

Tonex One can do delay (digital or tape) and modulation (chorus, tremelo, phaser, flanger or rotary) as well. Download the new update.

[@iamstan_rimp]

@ I have the new update but I have yet to figure out how to control the delay live as far as tap tempo goes

[@dogdays7120]

@@iamstan_rimp While I have not tried this on my Tonex One, on the Tonex Pedal, tap tempo is accessed via the tuner function.

[@iamstan_rimp]

@@dogdays7120 if you figure it out please let me know lol! If I can get that feature I would get rid of my delay pedal lol!

[@peterjessop1878]

The Tonex One can't "do Captures" You need a computer and a DI box to do that plus the Tonex software. The point of the nano cortex is not needing a computer or the DI box.

[@harryknarry5572]

I like Guitar-Songs 🙏

[@jetcraft_vampire]

Hi 🎉

[@serpensnovus9869]

NC seems a bit limited (and a bit overpriced). The comments mention needing an external drive pedal/compressor . . . . really ? Is it true the Audio Interface is limited to 48kHz only ? That is a serious limitation.

[@ThePlanarchist]

I'd guess most of the potential market aren't Pro's and indeed most of us don't have amps we want to capture (this isn't to say Pro's views aren't interesting).....and if we really do prefer capture to modelling (relying on other folk's captures) the Tonex 1 is 1/3rd of the price. I don't have anything against this unit, just doesn't seem to do anything so great I'd need it. If i had to choose between this and a second Stomp I'd take the latter. The size is good though.

[@SlyRyFry]

The cool thing about neurals stuff is even if you don't have a bunch of amps and pedals to capture yourself, the Neural library is already filled with the communities captured presets, amps, pedals, preamps, etc. Can't speak for the nano cortex but the quad cortex is easily one of the best gear investments I've ever made. I use it for guitar, bass, vocals, drums, keyboard/synth, live and for studio stuff

[@ThePlanarchist]

@SlyRyFry yes, I'm sure there are great captures but finding the ones you want has always been my issue (or rather not finding!). Same for Tonex and Kemper. It's why I prefer modelling but each to their own.

[@sarahandthesafeword6632]

Hahaha great introduction

[@theoreticalapproach5666]

One dealbreaker for me was no fx-loop. The same goes for Kemper player.

[@hartlee1160]

Couldn't you route things after the cortex and have the same effect??

[@robertsimpson5801]

I’m sure there is an fx loop “upgrade” coming for the Kemper Player… 😂

[@theoreticalapproach5666]

@@hartlee1160 Or, you can have a better routing capability with something like hx stomp or gt1000 core. Depending on which order do you want to put effects in. For instance, if I want to put distortion pedal after noise gate or have compressor after cab, I cannot do it. I almost pulled the trigger on a used Kemper player and a new Nano, and probably would have been happy about them, but I didn’t want to limit the possibilities.

[@hartlee1160]

@theoreticalapproach5666 thank you for the clarification. That makes more sense. I see the advantage!

[@danyeo]

Who cares, thought you were all about Amps. Content content content.

[@AdamHumburg]

👀

[@jetcraft_vampire]

👀

[@jamesbennettmusic2154]

👀

[@stephenhancock9100]

I think their mistake was calling it the “QC Nano”, people were disappointed it didn’t have certain things and the bad taste stuck. If they had called it the “QC Capture” instead I suspect there would have been much less negativity as it would have managed expectations better.

[@aymenlouhibi5775]

No affiliation with NDSP followed by a laugh, what do we make of that ? lol

[@moonchard]

Cynical lol

[@davidcjupp]

Put the OD slot in and watch QC sales dip. That's the reality.

[@DDPAV]

I picked up one to test out since I don't trust the glut of paid youtube hypers that flood every product release the day they get the OK from the companies to post. After my first capture I was sold. Currently in the process of capturing the dozen amps I have sitting in my studio and have to second thoughts about using the nano captures over settling up an amp for most sessions. Also capturing clients amps as they track songs is a no brainer. While compiling about the onslaught of KZbinrs flooding the feeds the minute their agreements allows makes sense to me, complaining about any product that actually works like it's marketed is just human nature to complain about everything. Real simple- don't want to hear about a product, don't click in the thumbnail. Imagine that- it's up to the end user to decide what to waste their day watching.......

[@pizzaisgood4877]

I had the Nano Cortex for 1 day and returned. I was very disappointed with the sound. Very stiff unforgiving tone to play on. That characteristic was present on every preset in the unit as well as captures I tried and I had to send it back to Sweetwater. I had a Kemper for many years and that sounded way better than the Nano Cortex to me. As bad as the Nano was I wouldn’t dare try a QC either because I don’t trust I’d be happy with it. I love the NDSP plugins but the hardware units are sketch city for me.🫤

[@moonchard]

No you wouldn’t be happy because both have the same algorithm.