GEAR REVIEW
NEURAL DSP NANOCORTEX | Doug Doppler
• 2GHz SHARC Processing Power
• 4 Instant Access Presets with Spillover
• 7 ‘ Set Order ’ Effects Blocks
• 64 Preset Slots
• 256 Neural Capture Slots
• 256 IR Slots
• Dual ¼ ” Outputs
KEY FEATURES
• 1 / 4 ” Expression / MIDI Jack
• 1 / 8 ” Headphone Jack with Volume Control
The NanoCortex is the hardware follow-up to Neural DSP ’ s wildly successful Quad Cortex . At roughly one quarter the size , this little gem delivers a ton of great tone and features . Given the price point , inspiring sounds , and ease of use , the NanoCortex exceeded my expectations and then some . In this review I ’ ll be covering the key features and functions as well as some workarounds for the criticisms I ’ ve heard most .
TONE FOR DAYS
Before my review unit arrived , I watched the awesome one-hour deep dive by John Connearn on Neural ’ s YouTube channel . Upon hearing him demo preset # 2 , I knew I was going to bond with this unit . Noting that I own Quad Cortex serial number 0017 , I ’ ve got a fair number of hours playing Neural gear . To me , Nano is every bit as satisfying as my QC if not more so given how easy it is to operate .
KNOBS AND NO TOUCH SCREEN The Gain , Bass , Mid , Treble , Amount , and Level knobs allow you to easily tweak your settings on the fly without menu diving . Some folks have complained that the NanoCortex doesn ’ t have a touch screen . Its super easy to synch up to the Cortex Cloud app , so if you need a touch screen for deeper editing , there is probably one in your pocket right now . The Cortex Cloud is your gateway to a ton of great captures , IRs , and presets from the Neural community .
PRESETS The dual footswitches allow you choose between four onboard presets . If that ’ s not enough for you , you can utilize the 1 / 4 ” MIDI / Expression jack to connect something like the Morningstar Engineering MC6 Pro for random access to the 256 preset slots .
AMPS + CABS The onboard captures and IRs are awesome and easy to access thanks to a great workflow directly from the face of the unit . To the left of the Bass control there is a small push button that toggles between five banks of ‘ amps ’ ranging from clean to dirty . Like the QC , the footswitches on the Nano also serve as encoders . You can select five different captures from each of the banks by turning the left footswitch encoder . Small LED style lights make it easy to see which bank and block you ’ re on , all without having to menu dive or use the app . There is also a sixth ‘ unlit ’ position
66 October 2024 Subscribe for Free ...