| Neural DSP Technologies | |
| Founders: | Douglas Castro, Francisco Cresp[1] |
| Location City: | Helsinki |
| Location Country: | Finland[2] |
| Industry: | Amplification |
| Products: | Digital amplifier modelers |
Neural DSP Technologies is a Finnish audio equipment manufacturer founded in 2017 by Douglas Castro and Francisco Cresp. Headquartered in Punavuori, Helsinki, the company is best known for its flagship guitar amp modeler, the Quad Cortex, and for its amp modeling audio plug-ins that create computer-based virtual amplifier and effects modelling suites.[3] The company is considered a leading developer of guitar signal processing technology.[4]
In 2016, Douglas Castro, the founder of bass guitar equipment company Darkglass, was approached by employee Francisco Cresp about creating an audio plug-in for the company. Castro was interested, and the pair—both Chilean immigrants in Helsinki[5] —decided to instead develop a range of plug-ins for both bass and guitar, in addition to a potential modeler, but under a new name to preserve Darkglass' bass-oriented brand identity.[6]
Neural DSP began recruiting designers in late 2017 and early 2018, and in that April released the "Darkglass Ultra" plug-in, followed in September by the "Fortin Nameless,"[6] which was the company's first major success.[2] The "Archetype" audio plug-in series was co-developed with high-profile players such as Tim Henson, Cory Wong, and Plini.[7] The public profile these plug-ins created for Neural DSP allowed the company to pursue the creation of its companion hardware device, the Quad Cortex. With companies like Fractal and Universal Audio having achieved great levels of accuracy in recreating amp tones, Neural emphasized significantly improving the user experience as the route to the Cortex's success.[6] Neural soon ran into the slow and expensive process of programming numerous DSPs at the same time, and to expedite the process they utilized AI machine learning, with the assistance of Aalto University's DSP program.[8]
Castro later described the Quad Cortex's development process as initially "a black hole of money";[7] production was then complicated by supply chain shortages resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, with the company at risk of closing, despite millions of dollars in investment. The Quad Cortex was a success upon its release, and in 2021 Neural's revenue was split equally between software and hardware.[7] Castro was subsequently named Finland's 2022 EY Entrepreneur Of The Year,[7] while the following year Castro and Cresp were recognized by Finnish President Sauli Niinistö for Neural DSP's success on the international market.[1]
Upon its release in 2020, Neural DSP claimed the Quad Cortex was the most powerful floor modeler on the market, with 2 GHz in digital signal processing power via four SHARC+ processors. The Cortex shipped with 50 available guitar and bass amp models, 70 effects, and a thousand impulse responses. It also had features competitors like the Fractal Axe-FX and the Line 6 Helix floor modelers did not, like a touch screen interface, Wifi connectivity, and footswitches that combine stomp functionality with rotary actuators.[3] The Cortex also has companion software that allows users to "capture," or digitally recreate, their own analog guitar gear and share it with other users via the Cortex Cloud.[9]
Neural DSP designs both amplifier series plug-ins and signature plug-ins for individual artists. Artists with signature plug-ins include Henson, Wong, Plini, Gojira, Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine,[10] and John Petrucci of Dream Theater.[11]