THE IN-DEPTH NEURAL CAPTURE GUIDE

In this article, I will provide a detailed explanation of how to use Neural DSP's Quad Cortex as an amp emulator to achieve the following goals:

• Reproduce the sound of real equipment (amp, cabinet, microphone).

• Maximize flexibility in sound shaping.

Neural Capture is the key

If you want to create a sound that sounds like the actual equipment you have, using the amp models and IRs within Quad Cortex is not the correct choice.

Regarding the amp, although it is based on the actual circuitry and developed by Neural DSP engineers using their ears and musicalities, it will never sound exactly the same as a specific physical amp. Also, it won't behave the same  way as the actual amp when you tweak the knobs. Therefore, creating the sound with the physical amp and creating Neural Capture will result in a more faithful representation of the actual amp sound.

As for the cabinet, using IRs always leads to lower reproducibility because IRs can't capture the non-linear characteristics that all the loudspeakers have. But Neural Capture is really good at replicating those non-linear behavior.

Before creating a Neural Capture

To create a completely faithful Neural Capture, there are a few things you should check first. Ensure that the following are at the same levels.