Control map

Six knobs, five buttons, two footswitches and four rows of indicators. Select anything on the diagram to see everything it does — including the behaviors hidden behind a two- or three-second hold.

Drawn to match the hardware. Every control is where it actually sits on the chassis.

Knobs

Buttons

Footswitches

Indicators

Footswitch I

Review

Step on it for presets. Turn it to scroll captures — it's a rotary encoder.

What it does

Tap: Toggles between presets IA and IB.; Nano Cortex User Manual 2.2.0
Turn: Scrolls through Neural Captures. This is the primary way you audition sounds.; Nano Cortex User Manual 2.2.0 · Sound On Sound review
Hold: Enters Tempo Mode, then tap to set tempo. The LED blinks at the tempo, and goes blue when locked to incoming MIDI clock.; Nano Cortex User Manual 2.2.0 · NanOS 2.1.0 release notes
TapCapture Mode: A/Bs between your new capture (LED green) and the real device (LED off).; Creating Neural Captures on Nano Cortex
TurnCapture save: Selects the destination slot within the bank.; Creating Neural Captures on Nano Cortex

Worth knowing

Watch out

Both footswitches are rotary encoders you can also step on. Nothing else on the pedal works this way and it is invisible in every photograph of it — if you only ever step on them, you're missing how the device is meant to be driven.

Sound On Sound review · Nano Cortex User Manual 2.2.0

Presets fire on release rather than on press, so that press-and-hold can address tuner and tempo on the same two switches. It reads as lag, there's no setting to change it, and it hurts accuracy when starting a looper.

Forum: the “delayed” footswitch

The Nano Cortex has no display of any kind. Six knob rings and four rows of five indicators are the whole interface. Everything past a single macro per effect — choosing devices, deep parameters, renaming, settings, firmware — happens in the Cortex Cloud mobile app, and there is no desktop editor.

Review

Sound On Sound review · Nano Cortex FAQ · Cortex Control (Quad Cortex only)

Watch out

Neural DSP's manual describes three top-panel buttons but documents five — BANK, FX, EXIT, CAPTURE and SAVE. Every one of those five sets of behaviors is corroborated across their own documents, so all five are listed here. The physical button count is not something we could confirm.

Unverified

Nano Cortex User Manual 2.2.0

Combinations

The ones you'd never find by pressing things

Every one of these is documented, and every one is invisible unless you already know it exists.

EXIT + CAPTURE, hold 1 s: Bluetooth pairing mode. The GAIN ring sweeps clockwise and the Footswitch I LED blinks slowly.
Nano Cortex Quick Start Guide · Bluetooth pairing guide
EXIT, hold 3 s: Parameter Lock on or off — knobs and footswitches stop responding, for the stage.
Nano Cortex User Manual 2.2.0 · Nano Cortex FAQ
CAPTURE, hold 2 s: Capture Volume view: per-preset level on LEVEL, Input Gate on AMOUNT.
Nano Cortex User Manual 2.2.0
Footswitch II, hold 2 s: Tuner.
Nano Cortex User Manual 2.2.0
Footswitch I, hold: Tap tempo.
Nano Cortex User Manual 2.2.0 · NanOS 2.1.0 release notes

Cheat sheet

Everything, in one table

For when you know what you're looking for and just want to scan.

Control	Action	Mode	Result
GAIN	Turn	—	Sets how hard the signal drives the active Neural Capture. Turning it down genuinely cleans up most captures.
	Turn	Capture Mode	Becomes the Capture Input level control. The LED ring turns into the input meter: blue is too low, green is right, red or blinking is clipping.
	Watch the ring	—	The ring blinks three times when the instrument input clips.
BASS	Turn	—	Adjusts low frequencies on the active capture.
MID	Turn	—	Adjusts mid frequencies on the active capture.
TREBLE	Turn	—	Adjusts high frequencies on the active capture.
AMOUNT	Turn	—	Adjusts the intensity of the currently selected effect. Which parameter that maps to depends on the effect.
	Turn	Capture Volume view	Sets the Input Gate amount, 0–100%.
LEVEL	Turn	—	Sets master output volume for OUTPUT 1L and 2R.
	Watch the ring	—	The ring blinks three times when the outputs clip.
	Turn	Capture Volume view	Sets the per-preset capture volume, −24 dB to +12 dB, default 0.0 dB. This is the control you level-match presets with.
BANK	Tap	—	Cycles through the five capture banks. Combined with turning Footswitch I, this is how you actually choose a sound on this device.
FX	Tap	—	Steps through the five effect slots.
	Hold	—	Bypasses or engages the currently selected effect slot.
EXIT	Tap	—	Leaves the current mode and returns towards Performance Mode.
	Hold 3 s	—	Toggles Parameter Lock, which disables the knobs and footswitches so nothing changes by accident. The EXIT indicator lights while it's active.
CAPTURE	Tap	—	Enters or leaves Capture Mode. The ring stays lit while you're in it.
	Hold 2 s	—	Opens the volume and gate view: LEVEL becomes per-preset capture volume (−24 to +12 dB) and AMOUNT becomes the Input Gate.
	Hold 3 s	Capture Mode	Starts the capture. The ring fills progressively as it runs — that's your only progress indicator. Takes about five minutes.
SAVE	Tap	—	Starts a save. The destination indicators begin blinking so you can choose a slot.
	Hold to confirm	—	Commits the save. Neural Captures take a 3-second hold — that figure is consistent everywhere. For presets, Neural DSP's own documents disagree: the manual says 2 seconds, their presets guide says 3. Hold until the indicators stop blinking rather than counting.
	Watch the ring	—	Blinks slowly whenever there are unsaved changes.
Footswitch I	Tap	—	Toggles between presets IA and IB.
	Turn	—	Scrolls through Neural Captures. This is the primary way you audition sounds.
	Hold	—	Enters Tempo Mode, then tap to set tempo. The LED blinks at the tempo, and goes blue when locked to incoming MIDI clock.
	Tap	Capture Mode	A/Bs between your new capture (LED green) and the real device (LED off).
	Turn	Capture save	Selects the destination slot within the bank.
Footswitch II	Tap	—	Toggles between presets IIA and IIB.
	Turn	—	Scrolls through the five IR slots. Turn past the last one — no indicators lit — to bypass the cab sim entirely.
	Hold 2 s	—	Opens the tuner. It reads on the LED rings, ±50 cents: flat animates left, sharp animates right, and MID and TREBLE blink fast when you're in tune.
	Hold 1 s	Tuner	Mutes and unmutes the input.
	Tap	2-Preset Mode	Becomes a global bypass instead of a preset toggle.
BANK indicators	Read	—	Shows the active capture bank.
CAPTURE indicators	Read	—	Shows the selected capture. All five lit means you're in the User Library.
FX indicators	Read	—	Shows the selected effect slot and its bypass state.
IR indicators	Read	—	Shows the selected IR slot. Nothing lit means the IR Loader is bypassed.

How to read the labels

Official: From Neural DSP's manual, FAQ, guides or release notes.
Community: Reported by owners. Corroboration, not a primary spec.
Our reading: Our interpretation, not something Neural DSP states.
Unverified: We could not confirm this, or sources disagree.

Where to go next