Where sources disagree

Published rather than quietly resolved, because a guide that silently picks a side is indistinguishable from one that guessed.

What should input gain actually be set to?

resolved

Leave it at 0 dB.

The community wiki's gain staging page, on the grounds that the unit is designed to take a hard-strummed humbucker there without clipping.

Set it just below clipping.

Widespread forum advice, and the wiki's own input-level page, which describes playing harder than usual and watching the meter “tickle the red”.

What we publish

These are not rival positions — they are a default and a check. 0 dB is the design target and is correct for most guitars. “Tickle the red” is how you verify that holds for yours, and the adjustment you make if it doesn't. We publish them as one procedure in that order rather than as two opinions, which is how they have been presented everywhere else and why the question keeps recurring.

Quad Cortex Wiki: Gain Staging · Quad Cortex Wiki: Setting the Input Level

Why does the unit refuse blocks when the CPU meter is a third full?

open

The preset is too complex; simplify it.

The intuitive reading of the CPU meter, and most first answers on forums.

The limit is per path, not global — move the block, don't delete it.

Forum owners comparing notes on Neural's own board, who report one reverb per row pair with spring reverbs excepted.

What we publish

We publish the per-path explanation because it is the only account that fits refusals at low CPU, and because owners report it consistently. But it is community-sourced: Neural's manual documents the DSP behaviour of bypassed blocks and the automatic disabling of Global EQ, and does not state the per-path reverb rule. It is marked as community throughout rather than presented as a published specification.

Forum: the limit of gears · Quad Cortex User Manual 4.0.0

How many footswitches does the Quad Cortex have?

resolved

Eight.

Almost every casual description, counting only the lettered A–H switches.

Eleven.

Neural's own product copy — “11 stainless steel stomp and rotary actuators” — and the unit itself.

What we publish

Eleven. A–H, plus BANK UP, BANK DOWN and TEMPO. The confusion is a layout artefact: BANK DOWN and TEMPO sit at the right-hand end of the two main rows, and BANK UP is raised up beside the screen on its own, where it reads as trim in a product photograph. We counted them on the unit.

Gridleak: read off the unit · Quad Cortex product page

How to read the labels

Measured: Read off the hardware by us, not taken from a document.
Official: From the manufacturer'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.

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