Making captures

The Quad Cortex makes captures; the Nano Cortex only loads them. One distinction governs the whole process, and it is buried where nobody finds it.

Read this first

INST LEVEL and IN LEVEL do completely different jobs

INST LEVEL

Sets what leaves CAPTURE OUT and hits the amp or pedal. It controls how hard that device is driven — so it changes the tone you are capturing, but it is not the capture's level.

IN LEVEL

The return signal from the device being captured. This is the level that matters to the capture itself.

Watch out

If your capture sounds right but sits at the wrong volume, you set IN LEVEL wrong. If it sits at the right volume but the drive response is wrong, you set INST LEVEL wrong while dialling the amp.

Quad Cortex Wiki: Capture Techniques

Procedures

Pedals and amps are not the same job

Capturing a pedal

An overdrive, fuzz, boost or preamp pedal.

1Set the pedal's gain, tone and volume the way you actually want them, in a realistic signal chain — not in isolation.
2Only then move the pedal into the capture loop.
3Run the capture.
4Do not use Auto-set. It produces inconsistent gain and volume on pedals.

IN INSTR LEVEL: 0 dB
Monitoring only — it does not affect the capture.
IN LEVEL: 0 dB
With both at 0 dB, the capture block's gain and volume match the original pedal in the chain. That is the whole point.

Quad Cortex Wiki: Capture Techniques

Capturing an amp

An amp, its cab and a mic, captured as one.

1Put the amp, cab and mic in the capture loop.
2Monitor the amp and cab through the Quad Cortex while you set mic position, and get the tone right before you capture anything.
3Set the levels as below — this is where amp captures differ from pedal captures.
4Run the capture, then document the signal chain in the capture's description. Placement changes how a capture behaves and future-you will not remember.

IN INST LEVEL: 0 dB
So the amp sees real guitar level and distorts the way it would in the room.
IN LEVEL — clean amps: ≈ −12 dB
Leaves the headroom a clean amp's peaks need.
IN LEVEL — distorted amps: ≈ −6 dB
Distorted amps are already compressed and need less room.

Quad Cortex Wiki: Capture Techniques

Capture clean amps at about −12 dB and distorted amps at about −6 dB.

Captures made this way sit at levels comparable to the Quad Cortex's own amp models, and comparable to each other. Skip it and every capture you make needs its own level trim before it is usable in a preset.

Quad Cortex Wiki: Capture Techniques

Documented mistakes

Using Auto-set for pedal captures: Inconsistent gain and volume between captures of the same pedal.
Quad Cortex Wiki: Capture Techniques
Leaving both levels at 0 dB when capturing an amp: No headroom. Use −12 dB for clean and −6 dB for distorted instead.
Quad Cortex Wiki: Capture Techniques
Adjusting instrument level while dialling in the amp: You change how hard the amp is driven, so you capture a different drive response from the one you were listening to.
Quad Cortex Wiki: Capture Techniques
Ignoring mic sensitivity and room volume: A hot mic on a loud cab needs a different input level from a quiet one. There is no single correct number that survives changing either.
Quad Cortex Wiki: Capture Techniques

Where to go next