your first capture

safety, before anything else

This is the one place on the Nano Cortex where a mistake destroys hardware instead of only sounding bad.

how the routing works

OUTPUT 2R is always the send and CAPTURE INPUT is always the return. You lose stereo while capturing because 2R is doing another job.

Press CAPTURE to enter Capture Mode. The ring stays lit while you’re in it.

• Drive or fuzz pedal: 2R into the pedal’s input, pedal’s output into CAPTURE INPUT, with instrument cables throughout.
• Combo amp or mic’d cabinet: 2R into the amp’s input, a dynamic microphone into CAPTURE INPUT. Dynamic only—there’s no phantom power.
• Amp head with a load box: 2R into the amp’s input, the amp’s speaker output into the load box, the load box’s balanced output into CAPTURE INPUT.
• Amp head via its DI: 2R into the amp’s input, the amp’s DI output into CAPTURE INPUT, cabinet still connected.
• Preamp only: 2R into the amp’s input, the amp’s FX Send into CAPTURE INPUT. Don’t also patch the FX Return—that’s a feedback loop.

setting the level

This is where captures succeed or fail. Turn the IR Loader off first, then:

1. Set the target device to exactly the settings you want captured. A capture is a snapshot—whatever the amp is doing now is what you get, forever.
2. Set GAIN to minimum before engaging BOOST. Neural DSP repeats this warning in three separate documents.
3. Play and watch the GAIN ring. Blue is too low: raise GAIN, or engage the +26 dB BOOST. Green is right, and red or blinking is clipping: lower the source, or disengage BOOST.
4. LEVEL and HP OUT only affect your monitoring. They do not affect capture level.
5. Use the GND switch if you get ground-loop hum from the amp.

running it

Hold CAPTURE for three seconds. The ring fills progressively as it runs—that’s your only progress indicator. It takes about five minutes, during which the pedal measures the target’s latency, plays test tones, records the response and trains a neural network on-device.

Don’t adjust anything while it runs: leave the microphone, the amp and every cable alone. Neural DSP warns about this explicitly. One nudge can cost you the five minutes.

Wear headphones if you’re capturing a mic’d combo. The calibration sweep is unpleasant to sit next to.

judging what you got

Judge the capture against the real thing before you keep it.

Tap Footswitch I to A/B between your new capture (LED green) and the real device (LED off). Listen for three things. Does the low end have the same weight? Does the top end have the same character, not only the same brightness? Does it respond the same way when you dig in?

Turn Footswitch II to audition through the IR slots. If you captured a mic’d cabinet, bypass the IR while auditioning—otherwise you’re listening to two speakers.

craft, not procedure

What separates a good capture from one that merely completed:

• Capture the head, not the head and cab, unless you want that microphone sound welded on for good. It is the biggest quality-of-life decision you’ll make.
• Neural DSP’s starting point for microphone placement: dynamic mic, 90° to the cone, aimed at the center, about an inch from the grille. Moving toward the outer edge reduces mids. Moving further back adds room and reduces bass focus. A 45° angle warms it and reduces highs.
• Capture with the amp’s bass and treble at noon, so the Nano’s tone controls have symmetric room to move afterwards.
• Passive DI boxes are preferred for lower noise. Owners report good results with a Thomann Millennium DI-E and a Neve RNDI, and mixed-to-poor results with a Behringer Ultra-G.
• Take several captures of each sound. Premier Guitar found the best approximation can take many tries, particularly with the amp-miking method.

saving it

Press SAVE—the destination indicators blink. Press BANK to cycle banks, turn Footswitch I to pick the slot, then hold SAVE for three seconds to confirm. Naming and metadata happen in the app.

The position where all five indicators light is the User Library. Save there if you don’t want to occupy a bank slot.