Firmware timeline
This guide is checked against NanOS 2.2.1. Version fragmentation is the clearest weakness in existing coverage of this device — tutorials from four different NanOS eras are still circulating, none maintained. So every release lists what it invalidated.
If a tutorial about this device was published before April 2025, assume it describes different hardware. Before NanOS 2.0.0 the effect slots were hard-wired with no device choice at all, so any advice about which effects to load, where to put them, or how to shape a capture with EQ simply did not apply. The most-viewed videos about the Nano Cortex are from launch.
2.2.1
10 December 2025HotfixFixes a boot failure when an expression or MIDI pedal is connected.
- Fixed an issue that could prevent the Nano Cortex booting with an expression or MIDI pedal connected. Neural DSP recommends all users install it.
2.2.0
26 November 2025MajorNeural Capture V2 playback — but not V2 creation.
- Plays Neural Capture V2 captures made on a Quad Cortex. It cannot create them; V2 creation on the Nano is described as under development.
- 669 V2 captures across 41 device types published to Cortex Cloud.
- Tremolo added to Post-FX 1.
- Analog outputs auto-sum to mono when only one output is connected.
- Cortex Cloud offline mode for device settings.
- Up to five cloud backups of presets, captures and IRs.
- Drag-and-drop preset reordering, with MIDI CC assignments staying put — the Program Change number follows the slot, not the preset.
- Fixes for capture-switch pops, preset loading, IR scrolling and expression/MIDI handling.
Made older advice wrongNanOS 2.2.0 release notes- Claims that the Nano cannot use V2 captures at all.
- Claims that you must be online to change device settings.
Content update
20 November 2025Content1,393 Quad Cortex factory captures made available to Nano owners.
- Content rather than firmware: the Quad Cortex factory capture collection became downloadable on the Nano Cortex.
Made older advice wrongNano Cortex firmware updates- Claims that the Nano can't play Quad Cortex factory captures. Wrong since this date.
2.1.0
24 July 2025MajorMIDI CC control, tap tempo, and per-output IR bypass.
- Incoming MIDI CC for slot bypass, expression position, tap tempo and tuner.
- Tap tempo — hold Footswitch I, tap the app's pad, enter a BPM, or lock to MIDI clock.
- IR Loader bypass per output, so one jack can feed a real cab while the other feeds a cab-simmed signal to front of house.
- MIDI Thru: messages arriving on the TRS input are forwarded to the USB MIDI output.
- USB Playback Volume, plus Mute Input and Mute Outputs for reamping workflows.
- Delay and reverb trails now continue when a block is bypassed.
- Stability fixes, including crashes while downloading captures.
Made older advice wrongNanOS 2.1.0 release notes- Tutorials saying there's no MIDI CC control and no tap tempo. Both exist.
- Tutorials saying delay and reverb trails cut off abruptly on bypass. That's now configurable.
2.0.0
23 April 2025MajorThe big one. 47 new devices turned the five slots from hard-wired into loadable.
- A fixed Input Gate added ahead of Pre-FX 1, separate from the loadable gate devices.
- 47 new effects and utilities: 3 EQs, 3 utilities, 8 compressors, 4 wahs, 2 filters, 9 guitar overdrives, 2 bass overdrives, 6 modulations, 5 delays and 5 reverbs.
- Transpose restricted to Pre-FX 1, and a Pitch Fine parameter added.
- Global IR bypass setting.
- Introduced an audio gap of roughly 60 ms when changing presets — the cost of the flexible chain.
Made older advice wrongNanOS 2.0.0 release notes · Sound On Sound, NanOS 2.0 & 2.1- Every tutorial recorded before this date describes a pedal with no device choice at all. That's the single biggest source of stale advice about this device.
- Claims that preset switching is gapless. It was true at launch and has not been true since.
1.1.0
Late 2024MinorCapture Library workflow.
- Capture Library handling changed. The full changelog isn't published.
1.0
18 September 2024LaunchLaunch — with a completely hard-wired signal chain.
- Signal chain fixed to exactly: Adaptive Gate → Transpose → Neural Capture → IR Loader → Chorus (DC-2W) → Analog Delay → Mind Hall Reverb.
- No choice of device in any slot whatsoever.
- Preset switching was gapless at this point.
Over Bluetooth, not USB
- 01
Updates go over Bluetooth through the Cortex Cloud mobile app — not over USB.
Updating your Nano Cortex - 02
Update the Cortex Cloud app first. Owners who updated firmware without updating the app to 2.8 or later couldn't see the new features.
Updating your Nano Cortex - 03
Pair the unit, then open Devices in the app and tap the update banner at the top.
Updating your Nano Cortex - 04
Don't lock your phone, disable Bluetooth, or background the app while it runs. Keep the phone online and the pedal close by. It takes a few minutes.
Updating your Nano Cortex
- Official
- From Neural DSP's manual, FAQ, guides or release notes.
- Community
- Reported by owners. Corroboration, not a primary spec.
- Our reading
- Our interpretation, not something Neural DSP states.
- Unverified
- We could not confirm this, or sources disagree.