Neural DSP Nano Cortex

The Nano Cortex is a great option for bass players who value simplicity and portability. Ideal for those constantly on the road, it makes logistics much easier and delivers practical functionality without requiring complex setups during a show. It is especially suitable for musicians who prefer to prepare their tone in advance and keep it consistent throughout the performance, without making major adjustments in real time.

However, connectivity is an area that could be improved. Bluetooth is not always stable: sometimes pairing happens quickly, but other times it can turn into a real headache. On top of that, the dependency on an internet connection for the app limits the experience, since offline mode does not provide access to its features.

Overall, the Nano Cortex does a solid job of offering practicality and efficiency for bass players who need portability and a simplified workflow, but it still needs improvements in connectivity to become a truly complete solution.

The Nano Cortex just joined my live rig, and honestly, I couldn’t be happier with this little beast.

It kicked my Randall Satan 120W to the curb (my back says thank you!). Capturing my rig was a breeze, and on top of that, it packs plenty of built-in options plus tons more from the Neural community.

It’s really easy to use, solid as a rock, and most importantly, it sounds phenomenal.

For my lean, no-nonsense live setup (zero shoegazing here), the Nano Cortex delivers everything I need without the fluff.

Small. Versatile. Reliable.

Definitely recommended.

The unit fits my needs exactly. I am a simple tube amp user - rarely go over 3 presets: clean, rhythm, lead that are dialed in and stay intact forever. I do not use many effects with my amps, go straight guitar-amp-cab. Sometimes throw in an old TC Booser+ and a delay. I used to carry around a Kemper rack in a box that had my amps profiled, and was looking to get a smaller hi-end unit that could replace it. My frustration is over. To be honest, I was looking at the Kemper player as well (since I mostly profile/capture my own tube amps), but I have chosen the Nanocortex because for its superior pitch shifter and ability to profile my amps with a booster engaged spot on. It is known that the Kemper struggles with profiling amps with multiple gain stages, also, with an overdrive added (I know there are many in Kemper, but they don't come close to the one I have). Often, for me, after refining the end result is not consistent, multiple attempts all sounded differently. The Nanocortex did it for me perfectly from the first try. I was able to reproduce the same capture sound over again. The cloud "thing" of Neural that is available from mobile devices is inferior to Kemper's own rig manager, in my opinion. There is definitely a room for improvement. It is quite annoying to upload IRs via the cloud and use on smaller mobile devices. Pity it doesn't have a desktop app. The pitch shifter works better than Kemper's version and has better latency than a standalone Digitech Drop pedal (that still has better note tracking).