devices · Nano Cortex · learn · 02 of 10 · 8 min
your first 15 minutes
the one thing
Get a real sound before you change anything. Then learn two things: how to scroll captures, and how to unlock the panel.
power it properly, first time
Most problems that look like faults on this pedal are power. Get it right first.
- DC jack: 9–12 V, 600 mA minimum, center-negative, 2.1/5.5 mm. A Quad Cortex supply works.
- Or USB-C at 5 V and 1.5 A minimum, from a fully USB-C-compliant source.
- USB-A carries data but will not power it.
- A USB-C cable is in the box. The DC supply usually isn’t.
If anything else is plugged into the pedal, use the DC jack. USB-C power with unbalanced cables to other gear is the documented number-one cause of hum on this device. Undersized supplies (anything at 500 mA) cause intermittent glitches that look like a hardware fault.
Nano Cortex power sources · Forum: power supply for the Nano Cortexmake a sound
Plug your guitar into INPUT and headphones into HP OUTPUT. HP OUTPUT is a 3.5 mm mini-jack, so bring an adapter. Set headphone level with the HP OUT knob on the rear. It is independent of the LEVEL knob on top.
It powers on into Performance Mode. Before you touch a single knob, play all four factory presets: Footswitch I toggles between IA and IB, Footswitch II toggles IIA and IIB. Those four are the only presets reachable by foot.
scroll captures with the footswitches
Both footswitches are rotary encoders. They turn as well as press.
Turn Footswitch I to scroll through Neural Captures. Turn Footswitch II to scroll through cabinets. Press BANK to move between the five capture banks. Turn to pick, press BANK to change bank: that is how you choose a sound on this pedal. Spend 10 minutes doing it.
Start with the 25 captures already on the pedal before downloading from the cloud. They are curated, consistent in level and set with parameters at noon. Download 200 cloud captures on day one and half your library will be unusable.
MusicRadar review · Forum: volume levels not saving between presetscontrol map
Drawn to match the hardware: every control is where it sits on the chassis.
Footswitch I
Step on it for presets. Turn it to scroll captures: it is a rotary encoder.
- Tap
Toggles between presets IA and IB.
Nano Cortex User Manual 2.2.0- Turn
Scrolls through Neural Captures. This is the primary way you audition sounds.
Nano Cortex User Manual 2.2.0 · Sound On Sound review- Hold
Enters Tempo Mode, then tap to set tempo. The LED blinks at the tempo, and goes blue when locked to incoming MIDI clock.
Nano Cortex User Manual 2.2.0 · NanOS 2.1.0 release notes- TapCapture Mode
A/Bs between your new capture (LED green) and the real device (LED off).
Creating Neural Captures on Nano Cortex- TurnCapture save
Selects the destination slot within the bank.
Creating Neural Captures on Nano Cortex
Both footswitches are rotary encoders you can also step on. Turn them to scroll captures and cabs. That is how the pedal is meant to be played.
Presets fire on release, not on press, so press-and-hold can reach the tuner and tempo on the same two switches. It feels like lag. No setting changes it, and it hurts accuracy when starting a looper.
when your knobs do nothing
Two settings make the panel feel broken.
Parameter Lock disables the knobs and footswitches so nothing changes by accident on stage. Hold EXIT for three seconds to toggle it. Neural DSP cover it in their FAQ.
Knob Operation Mode can be set to Latching, where a knob does nothing until it passes through its stored value. Sweep it through its full range and it’ll pick up.
find the tuner
Hold Footswitch II for two seconds. With no screen, the tuner reads on the LED rings. Flat animates leftward and sharp animates rightward. MID and TREBLE blink fast when you’re in tune. Hold Footswitch II for another second to mute the input.
what to do next
The next lesson is the app. With no screen, almost everything else lives there: choosing which effects load, editing them, finding captures and renaming presets.