Neural DSP
Neural DSP builds guitar and bass amp simulations powered by Neural Capture, a neural-network technology that learns and replays real amplifiers, cabinets and overdrive pedals. Sold as desktop plugins and dedicated hardware modelers, on a one-time purchase basis.
What is Neural DSP?
Neural DSP Technologies Oy is a Finnish company, registered in Helsinki since August 2017, that designs guitar and bass tone software and the hardware that runs it. Its catalogue splits in two. On one side sit 23 desktop plugins, delivered as 64-bit VST2, VST3, AU, AAX and standalone builds for Windows and Mac, including native Apple Silicon. Many are signature products built with artists such as John Mayer, Gojira, Plini, Tim Henson, Misha Mansoor and Cory Wong; others are licensed recreations of amplifiers from Soldano, Mesa Boogie, Tone King, Fortin, Morgan and Darkglass. On the other side sit three floor units: Quad Cortex, Quad Cortex mini and the compact Nano Cortex.
The artificial-intelligence component is Neural Capture, which the company describes on its Quad Cortex page as a biomimetic AI technology built on a neural-network algorithm said to perceive sound the way human hearing does. It lets the device learn a specific physical amplifier, cabinet or drive pedal and reproduce that exact unit at its current settings. Version 1 runs entirely on the device, offline, with no computer, internet connection or app required, and takes roughly five minutes. Version 2 routes the process through Cortex Cloud with a higher-resolution algorithm that captures touch-sensitive behaviour such as volume-knob cleanup, amp sag and bloom, and fast transients. Machine learning is not limited to capturing: the company states that the amp models inside its plugins are themselves created by collecting data from an amplifier at different control positions and using machine learning to recreate its behaviour across the full range of controls.
Around this sits an ecosystem. Cortex Cloud is a shared library where users publish and download Captures, backed by a mobile application for iOS and Android and a web interface. Cortex Control is a desktop editor for Quad Cortex. Everything is sold outright rather than by subscription: plugins run from EUR 54 to EUR 199, hardware from EUR 549 to EUR 1,749, and every plugin can be tried free for 14 days before purchase.
What it does
- Capture a real amplifier, cabinet or overdrive pedal as a digital replica in about five minutes
- Play and record guitar or bass without an amp, in a DAW or as a standalone application
- Download thousands of free Neural Captures shared by the Cortex Cloud community
- Build complete signal chains from 90+ amps, 100+ effects and 1000+ impulse responses
- Store up to 256 Neural Captures and 256 custom impulse responses on the hardware
- Use the hardware as a 24-bit/48 kHz USB audio interface
- Load Neural DSP plugins onto Quad Cortex and Quad Cortex mini through Plugin Compatibility
When to use Neural DSP / When not to
A quick filter to help you decide if Neural DSP is the right fit.
When to use Neural DSP
- Guitarists and bassists who want to replace a physical amp rig with a digital one
- Home-studio producers recording direct through a 24-bit/48 kHz USB audio interface
- Touring musicians who need a full rig that fits in a gig bag and runs off a USB battery
- Players who own rare or vintage gear and want to digitise those exact units themselves
- Beginners looking for usable tones out of the box without buying amps and pedals
When not to use Neural DSP
- Anyone looking for a subscription or a permanent free tier, as everything is paid up front
- Developers needing an API, since no public API documentation exists anywhere on the site
- Musicians wanting AI that composes or generates music rather than modelling real hardware
- Users unwilling to create an iLok account, which is mandatory to activate any plugin
- Nano Cortex buyers expecting an effects loop, plugin loading or Quad Cortex preset support
How to use Neural DSP
A typical end-to-end flow, from setup to results.
- Create a Neural DSP account on the website
- For plugins, download the free 14-day trial of the title you want to evaluate
- Install iLok License Manager and create the iLok account required for activation
- Connect your guitar or bass to the computer through an audio interface
- Launch the plugin standalone, or load it inside a supported DAW to record
- For hardware, plug the instrument in, pick a Capture or preset and start playing
- Connect the outputs to studio monitors, an FRFR cabinet or the front-of-house desk
- To make your own Capture, feed the amp or pedal into the Capture input, press Capture and wait about five minutes
- Pair the unit with the Cortex Cloud app to download Captures and manage presets
- Keep the device current by installing firmware updates through the app or Cortex Control
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Captures are created entirely on the device, with no computer or internet connection
- Thousands of community Captures are available at no extra cost through Cortex Cloud
- One-time purchase with no recurring subscription of any kind
- Every plugin can be tested for 14 days before paying
- Users keep ownership and intellectual property rights over their Captures, presets and impulse responses
- Repeated press awards between 2021 and 2026 for amp modellers and multi-effects pedals
- Captures transfer freely between Nano Cortex and Quad Cortex
Cons
- High entry cost paid entirely up front, from EUR 54 for a plugin to EUR 1,749 for Quad Cortex
- The terms of service call the operator Neural DSP Technologies LLC throughout, contradicting the Oy named everywhere else
- The privacy policy still contains template passages describing a completely different product
- No compliance page, no published certification and no named list of subprocessors
- No stated retention period beyond the 30-day erasure that follows account deletion
- An iLok account is mandatory before any plugin will run
- EU customers are asked to waive their 14-day right of withdrawal
Pricing & Plans
There is no permanent free plan and no subscription: every product is a one-time purchase. The cheapest paid entry point is a plugin at EUR 54.00, and the range runs to EUR 199.00 for the most expensive titles. Hardware is priced at EUR 549.00 for Nano Cortex, EUR 1,299.00 for Quad Cortex mini and EUR 1,749.00 for Quad Cortex. VAT is included for customers in the European Union and the United Kingdom, while taxes are calculated at checkout for United States and international customers. Every plugin may be trialled free for 14 days, and Cortex Cloud carries no additional charge. The structured price fields of this record are deliberately left empty: a one-time purchase has no counterpart in the available billing units, and publishing a monthly figure would misstate the cost.
- one-time purchase per title
- EUR 54.00 to EUR 199.00
- 14-day free trial
- artist signature plugin series
- licensed amplifier recreations
- hardware
- EUR 549.00
- hardware
- EUR 1
- 299.00
- hardware
- EUR 1
- 749.00
- shared Capture library
- no additional charge
- desktop editor for Quad Cortex
- free download
Data, GDPR & hosting
A consolidated view of how Neural DSP handles your data.
GDPR overview
The acronym GDPR appears nowhere on the site, so there is no formal claim of compliance. The substance is nevertheless present: Neural DSP Technologies Oy declares itself a data controller under EU data protection legislation and sets out the rights of access, withdrawal of consent, rectification, erasure, objection, restriction and portability one by one. Requests go to privacy@neuraldsp.com by e-mail or post, with name, address, telephone number and a copy of an identity document, and users are told they may complain to their local supervisory authority. Transfers outside the EEA are covered by Standard Contractual Clauses. No Article 27 representative is named, which is expected for a company established in Finland.
Who owns the data?
Under the Cortex Cloud terms, users keep ownership and all intellectual property rights in the content they create, explicitly including Impulse Responses, Neural Captures and Presets. Neural DSP receives only a limited licence to access this Private Data, for technical updates and service improvement, and may not modify or transfer it without a separate agreement. Content published as Public Data is different: other users receive a perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free, irrevocable and non-exclusive licence, with sublicensing rights, to reuse and adapt it. Product Feedback is the exception that runs the other way, becoming Neural DSP's property outright, with no compensation.
Reuse rights
Reuse rights depend entirely on how the content was published. Anything a user shares as Public Data may be reproduced, displayed, modified, distributed and turned into derivative works by any other user without asking permission and without payment, and third parties downloading it may use it in recording, live performance, practice, education or personal enjoyment. Commercial use, however, must be agreed separately. Private Data stays closed: Neural DSP holds only an access licence for technical updates and service improvement, and cannot transfer it. Nothing in the published documents allows customer content to be used to train models, but nothing addresses the question either.
Data retention & training
Hosting summary
No reliable hosting location is published. The privacy policy does contain a sentence placing data within the EU/EEA, but it refers to a service platform for investors and founders, which is unedited template text bearing no relation to Neural DSP's products, and it has therefore not been treated as a hosting declaration. What the policy does state is that service providers in several geographical locations are used, Google Analytics among them, and that personal data may consequently be transferred to or accessed from jurisdictions outside the European Economic Area, protected by Standard Contractual Clauses or similar arrangements. Separately, the terms of service confirm that the online store runs on Shopify, which covers the shop rather than the Cortex Cloud platform. The website itself resolves to an Amazon CloudFront edge node in Paris, but that is content delivery and says nothing about where user data lives.
Things to keep in mind
Risks and trade-offs to weigh before adopting Neural DSP.
- The terms of service name Neural DSP Technologies LLC as the operator throughout, while the first sentence, the privacy policy and every trademark notice name Neural DSP Technologies Oy; no LLC entity could be found in any register
- The privacy policy contains unedited template text about an investor and founder platform and about matching candidates with employers, so its EU/EEA storage sentence cannot be read as a hosting commitment for this product
- Nothing is published about where user data is actually hosted, and no subprocessor is named
- Publishing a Capture as Public Data grants every other user a perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free licence to reuse and modify it, which cannot be taken back
- Any feedback or suggestion sent to the company becomes its exclusive property worldwide, with no compensation
- EU customers are asked to waive the statutory 14-day right of withdrawal when accepting the terms
- Relying on captured tones can quietly narrow a player's ear and technique, and the cost of the ecosystem encourages buying more Captures rather than learning the gear
Setup & Integrations
Technical difficulty
Moderate for the plugins, low for the hardware. Plugins require a Neural DSP account, an iLok account, iLok License Manager and an audio interface before any sound is produced, though fifteen Getting Started guides walk through each step. The hardware is plug-and-play, with a touchscreen interface the company describes as beginner-friendly. Creating your own Capture is the one demanding task: a drive pedal needs only instrument cables, a combo amp needs a microphone, a condenser microphone needs an external preamp because the Capture input supplies no phantom power, and an amp head without a speaker needs a reactive load box.
Deployment
Apps stores
Integrations
Supported languages
Behind Neural DSP
Social
Resources
All the official URLs gathered for verification and reference.
Frequently asked questions
Is Neural DSP genuinely an AI tool?
What exactly is a Neural Capture?
How does a Neural Capture differ from an amp model?
Do I need a computer or an internet connection to capture?
What does it cost, and is there a subscription?
Can I try the plugins before buying?
Who owns the Captures and presets I create?
Is my data used to train AI models, and can I opt out?
Is there an API for developers?
Is there a mobile application?
Should you pick Neural DSP?
Neural DSP occupies an unusual position in an AI directory. Its artificial-intelligence claim is real and openly documented: Neural Capture is a neural-network system that learns a physical amplifier and replays it, and the company confirms that machine learning also underpins the amp models inside its plugins. But this is AI put to work inside a musical instrument, not a generative or conversational assistant, and much of what surrounds it remains conventional signal processing.
As a vendor the company is solid and verifiable. Neural DSP Technologies Oy has been on the Finnish trade register since 31 August 2017, its VAT number validates against the EU VIES service, and the address it publishes matches the register exactly. Products are covered by press awards running from 2021 to 2026, the pricing is unambiguous, and the absence of any subscription is a genuine advantage: you buy once and own it.
The weak point is paperwork rather than product. The terms of service are an unedited Shopify template that names a Neural DSP Technologies LLC which appears in no register, while the privacy policy still carries passages describing a platform for investors and founders and a service matching candidates with employers - neither of which has anything to do with guitar amplifiers. Nothing is published about where data is hosted, no subprocessors are named, no certification is claimed, and the question of whether customer content trains any model is simply never raised.
For a guitarist or producer, that documentation gap is unlikely to be decisive. For anyone assessing the vendor on governance grounds, it is the first thing to ask about.
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