Something is coming from Neural DSP, and it's big enough to warrant a 24-minute comedy documentary episode. That actually tells us very little in terms of what the product is, but the teaser Instagram pic of the word 'soon' featuring the middle letters repurposed as partially lit LED meters certainly doesn't say 'guitar plugin' to us. Could this actually be Neural's second hardware release following the Quad Cortex?
The Instagram post and a Neural DSP mailing list e-mail recommended people visit the Finland-based company's YouTube channel, where they could find the 24-minute video posted below.
And to be honest, the video is somewhat frustrating. It's a comedy movie featuring British producer George Lever and Neural DSP artist, Vower guitarist Rabea Massaad being tasked with recording a song that demos a Neural product to a tight deadline.
Despite people being pushed to the video from a teaser that seems to be about a forthcoming release, we learn very little about any new product in 24 minutes. So it's a disappointment in that regard. Except for a couple of things…
There's a reference to a prototype of a product and it being a "change in form factor" and "the size difference is really obvious". Both suggest this is a physical product from Neural DSP.
Things get a bit confusing when it emerges the team making the demo song have been sent a Quad Cortex in error to track it, rather than whatever the new product is.
The prototype product has instead been kidnapped by an unnamed person who is in Los Angeles. And with that revelation the film ends.
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A lot of the YouTube comments aren't particularly kind as a result of Neural's approach in the video. Some even suggested the company "fire" its marketing team. Ouch.
Regardless, we still love Neural's approach when it comes to products and we're excited to find out more when they're willing to tell us anything solid.
I'm the Guitars Editor for MusicRadar, handling news, reviews, features, tuition, advice for the strings side of the site and everything in between. Before MusicRadar I worked on guitar magazines for 15 years, including Editor of Total Guitar in the UK. When I'm not rejigging pedalboards I'm usually thinking about rejigging pedalboards.
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