![]() Also, the reason why we did the plugins was because something like the Quad Cortex, it is a lot of development on a lot of verticals. “We started recruiting people in late 2017, early 2018, and in April 2018 we released the Darkglass Ultra plugin, and then in September the Nameless. We had to mitigate the risk and also keep Darkglass focused on what it does, so we decided to start Neural. And I knew that if it didn’t go well it could take Darkglass down with it. If I had known, I probably would have never jumped on it. I did not know how hard and expensive it would be to make the Quad Cortex. “Your drummer’s favourite cymbal brand could make a guitar and I don’t know if his loyalty to the brand could translate to you, and make you spend your money on it. If I had known, I probably would have never jumped on it And also, credibility doesn’t transfer well from instrument to instrument. One is that Darkglass’s ethos and reason for existing was a company of bass players for bass players, and if we started emphasising guitar products, I felt that we would only alienate our current loyal users. “There are two reasons why none of this was done under Darkglass. I think it was six months later, late 2017, we thought, ‘Let’s do plugins, and let’s do a modeller, and let’s do it under a different brand.’” And at the same time, I was thinking about the Quad Cortex, and what I wanted it to be and working with our industrial designer. I gave him information but he put all that together. Let’s pursue this.’ He went on and he recruited developers. I don’t know a lot of people who can justify a £400 distortion pedal but I know a lot of people who would gladly pay a 100 bucks for a plugin version of it.’ He used to work at the Darkglass factory, and he told me that we should do a Darkglass plugin, ‘Because it is the standard now for bass metal recordings. There would be no Quad Cortex if it wasn’t for the Fortin Nameless, the Archetype: Nolly and all these things He is in his early 30s.ĭoing the plugins was crucial. That side is where my co-founder Francisco comes in because he is an incredible producer and actually he is of the generation of guys who never really owned an amplifier until he was part owner of Neural. There would be no Quad Cortex if it wasn’t for the Fortin Nameless, the Archetype: Nolly and all these things. How important were the Archetype plugins in creating the brand and laying the groundwork for developing a hardware device? “Or with an amp model, once you had Universal Audio and Fractal doing very accurate models that I think are 95 per cent or higher close in terms of accuracy, there is no room for a 10x improvement on sound quality. Like, if you wanted to make a new type of synthesizer it would be really hard to come out with something that is a paradigm-shifting synthesizer. “All of us, all you guys, as musicians, kind of knew that, five years ago, there wasn’t much room to significantly improve the sound itself. Our goal was to do as well or if possible slightly better than the best there was in terms of sound, but do 10x better on user experience Yeah, definitely, user experience is very important, and that actually was one of the key insights we had when we started Neural. ![]() I don’t feel worth of that comparison but I appreciate the sentiment. In that sense, it's kind of like you are the Steve Jobs of guitar gear, bundling functionality in with that consumer tech sensibility. ![]() This is as much a work of art as it is a unique instrument with an inspiring tone.One of the things that differentiates Neural is this sense of user experience. Every piece of metal, from the pickup surrounds, knobs, tailpiece-even the heel plate and control cavity cover-have been intricately engraved by O’Brien. ![]() The controls are two tone dials with on-off switches for each, plus a master volume-with a missing knob-on the upper body. Both the headstock and end of the fretboard are delicately carved into a crown-like pattern, perhaps drawing inspiration from mandolins and lutes of the previous century. The distinctive “suit of cards” inlays along the 32"-scale neck would become a signature of Ronnie Lane, but this is perhaps the earliest example of that motif on one of his instruments. The hollow chambers on either side of the neck block were stuffed with cotton to eliminate feedback below a laminate-wood carved top. This instrument has a chambered body with a neck-through design and features a 6-screw heel plate purely for cosmetics. Though all of Tony’s designs are one-of-a-kind, this stands out as a bass guitar truly unlike any other we’ve ever seen. The bass pictured here was one of his earliest custom designs for Ronnie Lane.
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