devices · Nano Cortex · reference · the Cortex Cloud app
the Cortex Cloud app
Neural DSP says the device operates fully standalone and that the app mainly handles capture downloads and firmware updates. For playing, that holds: you can play a gig without opening it. Everything else needs the phone: choosing which overdrive sits in Pre-FX 1, editing past a single macro, picking an IR microphone position, renaming a preset and changing any setting. Premier Guitar's reviewer found using it without the app almost unimaginable. Treat the app as half the instrument, and keep a tablet or spare phone in the gig bag.
How to get hereOpen Cortex Cloud and go to the device tab: the pedal-and-Bluetooth icon, third along the bottom bar.
1. take the update before anything else
The banner sits at the top of Devices. Get to NanOS 2.2.1 or later first. Several things in this guide don't exist on older firmware. Leave the phone unlocked, awake and next to the pedal until it finishes.
2. tap Add New to start pairing
Tap it, then on the pedal hold EXIT and CAPTURE together for one second. The Nano appears in the list: pick it. The combo isn't printed anywhere on the pedal.
3. check which device is selected
Downloads go to whichever device is selected here. If you tap download and nothing lands on the pedal, the app was almost always pointed at another device.
4. back up now, while it's still factory
Save a cloud backup before you add a single capture. It takes one tap, and it is the only way back if all 25 slots later fill with captures you don't want.
How to get hereThe search tab: the magnifying glass in the bottom bar. Make sure your Nano Cortex is the selected device first.
1. start with Neural DSP's own profile
Search their profile before the open cloud. The quality floor is far higher, and a new owner can't yet tell a good capture from a badly made one.
2. sort by popularity, then filter
Filter by instrument and gain range. Popularity is a crude signal, but it is the only one you have until your ears know this pedal.
3. check the description for one thing
Does it include a cab? A capture taken from a mic'd cabinet already contains a speaker. One taken through a load box does not. Get this wrong and it sounds boxed-in or fizzy.
4. audition before you spend a slot
One tap plays it through the pedal without downloading. You only have 25 footswitch-reachable slots, so spend them on purpose.
5. download opens the destination picker
Tapping this is what opens the bank-and-slot picker on the next screen. Don't lock the phone, background the app or turn off Bluetooth until it completes.
How to get hereOpen your preset list, then tap the button to the right of any preset.
1. the button to the right of any preset
This opens the contextual menu, and it is the only route to everything below. Nothing on the pedal itself will rename or reassign a preset.
2. tap Rename Preset first
Four foot-presets called “Preset 2” are no use on a dark stage. Name them for the song or the sound while you remember what you built.
3. tap Assign to Footswitch
This puts a preset under your foot. Only four are reachable that way at once, so choose them carefully.
4. tap Delete Preset with care
It is in the same menu. Take a cloud backup before you use it.
The ecosystem
Three pieces, not one
Website, app and pedal each do different jobs. Custom IR uploads are browser-only, and a lot works with no phone at all.
Cortex Cloud app
iOS and Android, phones and tablets
Connects: Bluetooth only
The actual editor for the Nano Cortex. Everything deeper than one macro per effect happens here.
Using the Cortex Cloud app with Nano Cortex · Nano Cortex FAQCortex Cloud website
cloud.neuraldsp.com in a browser
Connects: Your account, not the pedal
Browse and collect captures and presets, and manage your profile. It is the only place to upload your own IR files.
Cortex Cloud · Nano Cortex FAQ · Nano Cortex User Manual 2.2.0The pedal itself
Six knobs, five buttons, two encoders
Connects: Nothing required
It plays fully standalone. Switch presets, scroll captures and cabs, capture an amp start to finish, tune and tap tempo.
Nano Cortex FAQ · Nano Cortex User Manual 2.2.0What needs what
what needs the phone
Task by task: the pedal, the app or the website.
| Task | Where | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Play, and switch the four footswitch presets | On the pedalMobile app | — |
| Scroll captures and cabs | On the pedalMobile app | Turn Footswitch I or II |
| Adjust GAIN, BASS, MID, TREBLE, AMOUNT, LEVEL | On the pedalMobile app | — |
| Bypass an effect slot | On the pedalMobile app | Hold FX on the pedal |
| Per-preset capture volume and Input Gate | On the pedalMobile app | Hold CAPTURE for 2 s |
| Capture an amp or pedal, start to finish | On the pedalMobile app | The app adds a guided flow with wiring diagrams |
| Tuner and tap tempo | On the pedal | — |
| Choose WHICH effect loads into a slot | Mobile app | Impossible on the pedal |
| Edit an effect's individual parameters | Mobile app | The pedal gives you one AMOUNT macro |
| IR microphone, position, phase, high-pass and low-pass | Mobile app | — |
| Rename, delete, duplicate or reorder presets | Mobile app | — |
| Download captures, presets and IRs to the pedal | Mobile app | — |
| Device settings menu | Mobile app | — |
| Firmware updates | Mobile app | Over Bluetooth, not USB |
| Cloud backups | Mobile app | Up to five |
| Browse and collect community content | Mobile appWebsite | — |
| Upload your own IR files | Website | Website only, not the app |
| Upload and share your own captures | Mobile appWebsite | — |
Account
Before you can do anything
- 01
Create a free Neural DSP account and register your Nano Cortex.
Both are required to use Cortex Cloud. There is no subscription—cloud access, community captures and uploads are all free.
Nano Cortex FAQ · Using the Cortex Cloud app with Nano Cortex - 02
Install Cortex Cloud from the App Store or Google Play.
Phones and tablets both work. A cheap tablet on the music stand is a common setup, because the app is the only editor there is.
Using the Cortex Cloud app with Nano Cortex · Forum: desktop editor feature request - 03
Update the app before you update firmware.
Update the pedal without moving the app to 2.8 or later and the new features don't show.
Updating your Nano Cortex
Pairing
Connecting the pedal
- 01
Open the app, go to Devices, and choose Add New.
Nano Cortex Quick Start Guide · Bluetooth pairing guide - 02
On the pedal, hold EXIT and CAPTURE together for one second.
The GAIN ring lights clockwise and the Footswitch I LED blinks slowly: that is pairing mode.
Nano Cortex Quick Start Guide · Bluetooth pairing guide - 03
Select the pedal in the app.
On Android, grant the app Location permission. Bluetooth Low Energy scanning requires it, and without it the pedal won't appear.
Bluetooth pairing guide · Forum: pairing problems
Finding captures
tens of thousands of captures, of very mixed quality
Reviewers criticized this directly: inconsistent naming, minimal descriptions, no meaningful quality tagging. Filtering isn't optional, and the order you do things in matters.
- 01
Start with the 25 captures already on the pedal.
They're curated, consistent in level and shipped 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 presets - 02
Then browse Neural DSP's own Cortex Cloud profile first.
Over 1,393 Quad Cortex factory captures were made available to Nano owners in November 2025, and 669 Neural Capture V2 captures across 41 device types were published the same month. That is a large first-party library before any community upload.
Nano Cortex firmware updates · NanOS 2.2.0 release notes - 03
Sort by popularity, and filter by instrument and gain range.
Cortex Cloud's search was rebuilt in March 2026. It is faster and ranks title and tag matches higher. There are tens of thousands of captures, so filter.
Cortex Cloud search and performance update - 04
Read the description for whether a cabinet is included.
Check this before downloading. The answer decides whether you run the IR Loader on or off. Uploaders don't always say, so use the on/off test below.
Forum: amp + cab captures · MusicRadar review - 05
Expect quality to vary, and audition before you commit a slot.
Reviewers named the problems: capture quality varies, naming is inconsistent, descriptions are minimal, and there's no useful quality tagging. NanOS 2.2.0 added one-tap capture auditioning in the app.
MusicRadar review · NanOS 2.2.0 release notes
To judge a downloaded capture: if it sounds bad with the IR Loader off, it probably has no cabinet in it. If it sounds bad with the IR Loader on, it probably already includes one. Flip the IR and listen again before you write it off.
Amalgamaudio, Tone Junkie and Sweetwater Studios come up again and again as reliable capture creators. Use them as a starting point, not a ranking.
Installing
Getting a capture onto the pedal
- 01
Pair the pedal, then download from within the app.
Captures transfer over Bluetooth. You need internet at download time, but not afterwards—once a capture is on the pedal it plays with no phone and no signal.
Using the Cortex Cloud app with Nano Cortex · Nano Cortex FAQ - 02
Choose a destination slot, or send it to the User Library.
The pedal holds five capture banks of five, plus a User Library. The library position is where all five capture indicators light at once. Save there when you don't want to occupy a bank slot you're using.
Nano Cortex User Manual 2.2.0 · Creating Neural Captures on Nano Cortex - 03
Level-match it before you trust it.
Cloud captures are gain-staged by whoever uploaded them. Hold CAPTURE for two seconds and set per-preset capture volume, −24 to +12 dB, against a factory preset as your reference.
Nano Cortex User Manual 2.2.0 · Forum: volume levels not saving between presets - 04
Don't lock the phone or background the app mid-transfer.
Bluetooth transfers are the least reliable step. A disconnect mid-operation usually needs a power cycle.
Forum: Bluetooth disconnection during recording · Updating your Nano Cortex
Neural Capture V2 is a higher-resolution capture format. Since NanOS 2.2.0 the Nano Cortex can PLAY V2 captures, but it cannot CREATE them. V2 creation is Quad Cortex only, with Nano support described as under development. So you can download and use the 669 V2 captures on Cortex Cloud, but anything you capture yourself is V1. Captures made on either device are otherwise fully interchangeable and officially the same quality.
Presets
Everything about presets except playing them
The pedal switches presets. The app is where they get organized.
Rename, delete, or assign a preset to a footswitch.
Tap the button to the right of any preset to open its contextual menu. Rename, delete and footswitch assignment all live there. All three are app-only: the pedal has no screen, so a name exists only in the app's list.
Nano Cortex User Manual 2.2.0 · Creating and managing presets · Using the Cortex Cloud app with Nano CortexReorder by dragging.
Added in NanOS 2.2.0. MIDI CC and Program Change assignments stay put when you reorder, because the PC number belongs to the slot, not the preset in it. Plan your MIDI mapping around slots.
NanOS 2.2.0 release notes · Nano Cortex User Manual 2.2.0Assign which four presets sit under the footswitches.
IA, IB, IIA and IIB are the only foot-reachable slots. Everything else lives under All Presets and needs MIDI to reach.
Nano Cortex User Manual 2.2.0 · Forum: just 4 presets on a live show?Duplicate and delete.
Duplication exists: NanOS 2.1.0 shipped a fix for same-name duplication. The exact tap-by-tap flow isn't documented anywhere we could verify.
NanOS 2.1.0 release notes · Creating and managing presetsSet the Preset Operation Mode.
4-Preset Mode is the factory default: IA/IB on Footswitch I and IIA/IIB on Footswitch II. Switching to 2-Preset Mode turns Footswitch II into a global bypass instead.
Nano Cortex User Manual 2.2.0 · Creating and managing presets
Editing
The half of the instrument that only exists here
Load a device into each of the five effect slots.
The pedal can only select a slot and turn AMOUNT. Which of the 50+ devices sits in Pre-FX 1, Pre-FX 2 and the three post slots is decided in the app. The slot rules are strict: modulation only in Post-FX 1, delay only in Post-FX 2, reverb only in Post-FX 3.
Nano Cortex device list · NanOS 2.0.0 release notes · Nano Cortex FAQEdit each device's full parameter set.
AMOUNT on the pedal is a single macro. Everything else is in the app: times, feedback, ratios, thresholds and mixes.
Nano Cortex User Manual 2.2.0 · Nano Cortex FAQSet the IR microphone, position, phase, high-pass and low-pass.
Ten factory cabinets across five microphones and six positions. Microphone and position selection only applies to factory IRs. Your own uploads get level, phase invert, high-pass and low-pass. Most of your tone-shaping range lives here, more than in the three tone knobs.
Nano Cortex User Manual 2.2.0 · Nano Cortex FAQAssign expression pedal targets and outgoing MIDI.
Expression can drive GAIN, BASS, MID, TREBLE, AMOUNT, LEVEL, or bypass the capture, IR or any slot. Each preset can also send up to 12 MIDI messages when it loads, and each footswitch can send 12 of its own.
Using MIDI on Nano Cortex · Nano Cortex User Manual 2.2.0
Custom IR uploads happen in a browser on the Cortex Cloud website, not on the pedal or in the app. There's room for 256 of your own IRs. Neural DSP doesn't publish a maximum file length or required sample rate.
NanOS 2.2.0 added up to five cloud backups covering presets, captures, IRs and settings. Take one before a gig and before any firmware update. Downloading a cloud backup OVERWRITES everything on the modeler. It is a restore, not a merge.
Settings
What's in the settings menu
All app-only, and two of them are common causes of “my pedal is broken”.
- Preset Operation Mode
Four presets under the footswitches, or two plus a global bypass.
- Nano Cortex User Manual 2.2.0
- Knob Operation Mode
Immediate by default. Set to latching, a knob does nothing until it passes through the stored value, so the knobs seem broken.
- Nano Cortex User Manual 2.2.0
- IR bypass
Globally, or per output since NanOS 2.1.0. One jack can then feed a real cab while the other feeds a cab-simmed signal to front of house.
- NanOS 2.0.0 release notes · NanOS 2.1.0 release notes
- EXP/MIDI port mode
Expression pedal or MIDI input. Set it to MIDI before you plug in a MIDI controller, or nothing happens.
- Using MIDI on Nano Cortex · Nano Cortex User Manual 2.2.0
- Expression calibration
Required on first use. Rock heel to toe and save.
- Nano Cortex User Manual 2.2.0
- USB Playback Volume
Level of computer audio arriving over USB. Defaults to −6.0 dB.
- NanOS 2.1.0 release notes
- Mute Input / Mute Outputs
For reamping. Stops direct monitoring and signal doubling.
- NanOS 2.1.0 release notes · Reamping on Nano Cortex
- LED brightness
Turn it up. The indicators are hard to read in daylight, not on dark stages.
- Nano Cortex User Manual 2.2.0 · Guitar.com review
limits
limits of the app itself
There is no desktop editor. Cortex Control is Quad Cortex only, and Neural DSP's FAQ answers “desktop controller” with “none available”. An unofficial community-built desktop app exists but is not supported.
Bluetooth can drop mid-transfer and mid-recording, and usually needs a power cycle after. Keep the phone out of the critical path on stage.
Offline mode arrived in NanOS 2.2.0. Before that, with no signal at the venue you couldn't change device settings at soundcheck. Sync everything you need while you have a connection.
Android is supported for the app, but not for USB audio. Owners report crackling, and support said they don't support Android phones as audio interfaces because there are too many of them.
Quad Cortex presets will never load on the Nano. The fixed signal chain can't represent Quad Cortex routing. Captures transfer freely, but presets do not.
Neural DSP has officially ruled out running their plugins on this device. The difference between Neural Capture and plugin amp modeling, combined with the fixed chain, prevents it.
- measured
- Read off the hardware by us, not taken from a document.
- official
- From the manufacturer's manual, FAQ, guides or release notes.
- retail spec
- From an authorized dealer's published specification.
- review
- Observed and published by a professional reviewer.
- community
- Reported by owners and used to corroborate, not as a primary spec.
- our reading
- Our interpretation, not something the manufacturer states.
- unverified
- We could not confirm this, or sources disagree.