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gridleak
Quad Cortex · Learn · 73 min total

Unbox to first gig, in order

Ten lessons. Read them in sequence the first time — gain staging comes early on purpose, because levels you never set will get blamed on the amp models.

  1. 01

    What you actually bought

    Thirty-two slots, two parallel paths, and a touchscreen that is the entire interface. What that buys you and what it costs.

    6 min
  2. 02

    Your first fifteen minutes

    Power, cable, input level, a sound. The shortest path from box to playing, with the two things that stop people at the first hurdle.

    7 min
  3. 03

    Gain staging, properly

    The most-asked and worst-answered question about this unit. Five stages in order, and why the two pieces of advice that appear to contradict each other do not.

    9 min
  4. 04

    The Grid

    Four rows, two paths, thirty-two slots. How routing actually works, and the one build worth learning first.

    8 min
  5. 05

    The DSP budget

    Why the unit refuses a second reverb while the CPU meter shows a third, and why deleting things does not help.

    7 min
  6. 06

    Modes, scenes and setlists

    A preset is a rig, a scene is a snapshot of it, and a mode decides which your feet are switching between. Get this right and the gaps disappear.

    8 min
  7. 07

    Playing through a real amp

    Which output, which jack on the amp, and the one switch that saves you editing every preset by hand.

    6 min
  8. 08

    Your first capture

    The two level controls that do completely different jobs, and the numbers that make your captures sit alongside Neural's own models.

    9 min
  9. 09

    Cortex Control and backups

    The free desktop editor, what it does that the unit cannot, and the only sane disaster plan for three thousand presets.

    6 min
  10. 10

    Playing live

    Gig View, the expression trap that bites mid-set, Wi-Fi that works in a venue, and a checklist for the door.

    7 min