Neural DSP Quad Cortex

[mikah912]

Being that I do a job very similar to Dan's, I'm fairly certain he had a gag order from his bosses at Neural DSP preventing him from speaking at the time he was silently lurking here.

That's not to say comms have been great, because sometimes they haven't been even decent. But Dan's just the messenger. He isn't making unilateral decisions on what is and isn't conveyed. This is just a fairly young company making young company mistakes on how to manage expectations and communication for a highly anticipated product.

 

[Racehorse]

As a software developer I can tell that "on schedule" is a thing that can get easily derailed as unforeseen challenges come up. Whether it's something that was not accounted for in specification or design, an obscure but critical bug or an issue with a 3rd party. Estimating how long something takes to build is difficult and despite being in this business for over 10 years professionally I still have a hard time giving anything but too optimistic deadlines.

Most dev houses are Agile these days. Should have a DSU every day to communicate current status and impediments. I would be flabbergasted if NDSP were doing some antiquated waterfall SDLC. Their ever-changing, vague list of what will be included at launch, indicates they are probably doing an iterative approach. There should be nothing dev-wise at this stage that is unforseen or unable to be communicated.

 

[LaXu]

Most dev houses are Agile these days. Should have a DSU every day to communicate current status and impediments. I would be flabbergasted if NDSP were doing some antiquated waterfall SDLC. Their ever-changing, vague list of what will be included at launch, indicates they are probably doing an iterative approach. There should be nothing dev-wise at this stage that is unforseen or unable to be communicated.

That doesn't mean you won't run into situations like "We encountered problem X not in scope of this sprint but it should be fixed ASAP. -Well how long does it take to fix? -Could be a day, could be a week". Delaying product launches usually only happens when the deadlines are closer and the team realize that hitting those goals is not 100% guaranteed to happen or there needs to be more polishing to get there. Happens all the time whether it's applications, hardware, video games. I would expect pretty much all of those to use some form of agile development at this point.

It's not like the enduser has any visibility to the day to day so any delays will be communicated at the point where they are entirely sure that announcing a delay is necessary.

 

[WingZero]

That doesn't mean you won't run into situations like "We encountered problem X not in scope of this sprint but it should be fixed ASAP. -Well how long does it take to fix? -Could be a day, could be a week". Delaying product launches usually only happens when the deadlines are closer and the team realize that hitting those goals is not 100% guaranteed to happen or there needs to be more polishing to get there. Happens all the time whether it's applications, hardware, video games. I would expect pretty much all of those to use some form of agile development at this point.

It's not like the enduser has any visibility to the day to day so any delays will be communicated at the point where they are entirely sure that announcing a delay is necessary.

Are you saying that EA Games are launching games with issues with a fix on day 1 and a second fix on day 7?
Who would do such a crazy thing!

 

[LaXu]

Are you saying that EA Games are launching games with issues with a fix on day 1 and a second fix on day 7?
Who would do such a crazy thing!

How about launching a completely broken game that refuses to even launch for many almost a week after it's release? Because that was Rockstar Games' Red Dead Redemption 2 PC version when it was released, a year after its console version.

That sort of crap is a lot easier to do with pure software compared to hardware that people would expect to actually work right from the start without updating anything. If QC would have released in the state it was at last NAMM, it would most likely be a failed product when at that time it clearly had issues with touch input, bugs in UI, barely any stuff implemented etc. People would have rightly said to not buy it.

So it's no wonder they take their sweet time to get it right from the start. You only get to make a first impression once. People are only willing to put up with major issues when you have a proven track record of having a good product.

 

[Astounding]

I’m sorry, but you can’t convince me that any amount of workload prevented Dan from answering a simple questions about the power supply for like a month. He was already here browsing the forum; it wouldn’t have taken any more time out of his very busy schedule to say “yeah it’s x by y.”

Look, I get what you’re saying. I think everyone gets it. I still feel the communication with the community (who again, helped crowdfund the thing with their preorder deposits) is lackluster.

I still have a QC in preorder. I still want it to be successful. That doesn’t mean I have to jump through hoops to praise Neural’s every update or rationalize every disappointment along the way.

Neural will answer any question you have (if they have the answer) via email support. I'm not sure why so many people are demanding they respond here.

 

[JoeInOttawa]

Most dev houses are Agile these days. Should have a DSU every day to communicate current status...

Agile is the enemy of anyone subject to SEC regulation, because Agile wants to be completely transparent, but that can run you afoul of the SEC's rules about disclosure and failure to execute.

Plus. "Agile" is from the Latin for "Love to help you but not in the current sprint, which just started, so we'll try to get it in the backlog in two weeks and then reassess and prioritize and it'll miss the next three sprints because it's not as important to use vs. the time required to do it so it will eventually drop off the backlog into the parking lot and we'll never actually do it -- have you considered hiring a developer to do that for you?"

At least, it is, according to two different emails I've received from scrum masters in the last three years.

 

[WingZero]

How about launching a completely broken game that refuses to even launch for many almost a week after it's release? Because that was Rockstar Games' Red Dead Redemption 2 PC version when it was released, a year after its console version.

That sort of crap is a lot easier to do with pure software compared to hardware that people would expect to actually work right from the start without updating anything. If QC would have released in the state it was at last NAMM, it would most likely be a failed product when at that time it clearly had issues with touch input, bugs in UI, barely any stuff implemented etc. People would have rightly said to not buy it.

So it's no wonder they take their sweet time to get it right from the start. You only get to make a first impression once. People are only willing to put up with major issues when you have a proven track record of having a good product.

don't get me wrong, I totally agree with you, I would NEVER cite EA Games for a good example...
Even when the product is good (for instance a game) I always feel there is something or it was rushed when I get a fix on day one.

I work for a software company with a pretty stable product, we have a long run andVERY good support and still we do have hotfixes that come by after major releases: it happens to everyone.


When it happens to us, we ain't too proud (just saying it happens quite often to EA)
But as you mention when there is hardware implied, you wouldn't want to brick it, or go into a nightmare of logistic to bring them back for repair.

 

[phillyred79]

I'm sure NDSP doesn't want to release an imperfect product out into the wild for the naysayers to pick apart, but it would be cool if they offered the Tier 1/2 buyers the option to buy what they have right now in beta form to quench our thirst and it could also "help" them with opinions, bugs, suggestions.. I'm sure all it would take though is a few poorly done videos or reviews and people might cancel their pre-orders or lose interest all together if the QC didn't come off as the 2nd coming of Christ.

 

[Mrkiammi]

I'm sure NDSP doesn't want to release an imperfect product out into the wild for the naysayers to pick apart, but it would be cool if they offered the Tier 1/2 buyers the option to buy what they have right now in beta form to quench our thirst and it could also "help" them with opinions, bugs, suggestions.. I'm sure all it would take though is a few poorly done videos or reviews and people might cancel their pre-orders or lose interest all together if the QC didn't come off as the 2nd coming of Christ.

This^

 

[Karl Houseknecht]

it would be cool if they offered the Tier 1/2 buyers the option to buy what they have right now in beta form to quench our thirst and it could also "help" them with opinions, bugs, suggestions.. I'm sure all it would take though is a few poorly done videos or reviews and people might cancel their pre-orders or lose interest all together if the QC didn't come off as the 2nd coming of Christ.

Yep. If they've learned from other launches, they'll release it only when it's good and ready.

It would take some kind of amazing leap in quality to come off as the second coming. Worse, if what is released is only almost as good as the competition, it's going to be perceived as a failure, especially with the months of hype that surrounded it. I hope they do well.

I don't have a dog in this fight because I'm not interested in buying one, but I am interested to see how the competition reacts to it. Particularly Kemper.

 

[Fireproof]

Just wait until they start shipping to T1 pre-order customers with a note that the first units will be without a headphone out jack.

 

[TheTrueZoltan!]

Just wait until they start shipping to T1 pre-order customers with a note that the first units will be without a headphone out jack.

 

[LolainNB]

Wondering if the QC will fit in my iBackPack, when it gets here

 

[TonePilot]

Wondering if the QC will fit in my iBackPack, when it gets here

Your challenge will be finding the QC after you've stuck in there.

 

[phillyred79]

Wondering if the QC will fit in my iBackPack, when it gets here

Easily. I have a similar type of backpack and my FM3 fits in just fine with 16” MBP and Sony WH-1000XM4 headphones and Captor X with all the cables I need.

 

[Exiled_On_Main_St]

I'm sure NDSP doesn't want to release an imperfect product out into the wild for the naysayers to pick apart, but it would be cool if they offered the Tier 1/2 buyers the option to buy what they have right now in beta form to quench our thirst and it could also "help" them with opinions, bugs, suggestions.. I'm sure all it would take though is a few poorly done videos or reviews and people might cancel their pre-orders or lose interest all together if the QC didn't come off as the 2nd coming of Christ.

What if there are hardware problems? People just have to suck it up and wait. It’s pointless moaning. It’s ready when it’s ready.

 

[phillyred79]

What if there are hardware problems? People just have to suck it up and wait. It’s pointless moaning. It’s ready when it’s ready.

Oh man, if there are hardware problems that would be truly devastating to people's hopes and dreams here.. That would easily be a mid Q1 launch 2021 at this point... All of these poor units...

 

[Exiled_On_Main_St]

Oh man, if there are hardware problems that would be truly devastating to people's hopes and dreams here.. That would easily be a mid Q1 launch 2021 at this point... All of these poor units... View attachment 325979

I sent back four of those ****** Kemper Stages for various reasons. I hope it’s not the case with this. I am looking to get one at some point.

 

[MJ Slaughter]

The wait could always be much worse than waiting for a guitar toy.