77 thoughts on “Intellijel Cascadia Semi-modular Synthesizer Introduced At 2023 NAMM Show”

1. Does having “Two Precision Analog VCOs” mean that it can sound almost as good as a VST that had the same components would? I mean, you can never get enough precision in your VCOs to make them them sound completely digital!

   1. It means John Rossi is not the customer we are aiming at.

      1. So much power. Precision Powahh. “I’ll be your huckleberry”.

      2. Different people will always be critical of different things, there’s nothing you can do to stop it, all you can do is choose your response to it, and this kind of snide remark is never the right response. You’re better off just ignoring random internet criticisms.

         1. There’s an irony at play here if you look closely.

            1. There’s an irony at play here if you look closely.

               1. There’s an irony at play here if you look closely.

      3. I don’t mind his comments. Sure, he can be pedantic, but as a whole I find people getting excited for what’s not really all that new or interesting. So while I’m don’t tend to agree with his criticism all that often, I can at least welcome it in community that slobbers over things that only have the bare mininum to offer in terms of fresh synthesis. Simply put, I want something new… Not the constant rehash, so John’s snide remarks make me smile most of the time. In a roundabout way he writes about how I feel about this late stage sythesizer renaissance.

         Beats the ridiculous discussions about Behringer and Teenage Engineering, which I simply skip at this site. Because everyone turns into Johns, so to speak.

      4. You’re correct. I would never pay a couple grand for a glorified VST in a box!

         1. There is more in a synths beside osc’s, have you ever heard about hrbrid analog/digital synths?

            1. Like the glorified UDO Audio Super 6 hybrid then yes

            2. Yes. Since my 3rd Wave arrived last week, I now have three of them, with a Quantum 2 coming as soon as Sweetwater gets them in. I fail, however, to see what my knowledge about the existence of hybrid synths has to do with the discussion of this overpriced VST in a box. Sure it may be analog, but that doesn’t make it “not a VST in a box”. In case YOU haven’t heard, digital virtual analog synths that can not objectively discriminated from “true analog” synths have been around for some time now. Nowadays, people who believe they can tell a well done VA synth from a “real” one are only kidding themselves.

               1. It is is very clear isn’t it
                  First, you are old and feel lost in time, “analog” was so long ago and you can’t stand the new generation who praised it so much. you feeling unneeded and your opinion not useful so you spreading your grumpiness in last attempt to get attention.
                  Second, you ordered some products lately but since you feel insecure about your decisions and looking for other support you are here dismissing others creation to feel better about yourself.
                  I’m learning allot from you, mostly how not to be when you get older.
                  But i hope you may change your behaviour and understand your needs are transparent. I wish you good health, physically and mentally.

         2. While I do personally enjoy the sound and behavior of analog VCOs and fx etc to digital, I certainly would not argue that they are in any way “better” sounding or better in terms of making music.

            The thing I am always shocked to see ignored in these discussions of VSTs vs hardware is the user interface, VSTs have none. Or they have a mouse. Or maybe a midi controller with mappings which are not 1:1 of the VST. So forward this is so much less of an enjoyable experience to use. I can’t use a VST like an instrument. I’m insterested in instruments, not music production tools. This synth looks like a joy to interact with.

   2. you can have a precise pitch but still have rich harmonics analog is famous for

      1. Are you actually contending that you can’t get “rich harmonics” out of a digital VA synth? A digitally produced saw wave will have the exact same harmonic structure as the analog one it models. Saying stuff like that is just “stupid talk”.

         1. No, i didn’t say non of that,
            its clear that you try to find someone to argue with about the old boring subject of analog vs digital.

            1. “No, i didn’t say non of that” … if so, then what does this absurd comment mean? … “have rich harmonics analog is famous for” I’m not stoking the analog vs digital debate, because I don’t believe there is one. Digital VA has gotten good enough that even synthesists can’t tell the difference in unbiased A/B tests. So, independently of what people imagine they are hearing because of their biases, i think the debate has pretty much concluded.

               1. So according to your logic (that digital synth’s can sounds exactly like analog, no matter how imperfect it is) and excluding the tactile experience, any synthesizer in existence can be called “vst in a box”, precise or imprecise.

                  1. Essentially, yes. Precision or imprecision has nothing to do with it. Perception is what matters. If two things sound alike in an empirical test, then they do “sound the same”. Anything else is just a matter of imagination.

         2. No it won’t. It will either be band limited which means it won’t retain it’s harmonic content going to the higher register or it will alias (which imo is the better senario). And that without being modulated, once the oscillators get fm’ed, the analogue one here (thru-zero) will be a completely different beast. There are many angles to argue against here, the price, the lack of polyphony etc just choose one that is actually true.

            1. It’s amazing to me how some people’s imaginations lead them to make absurd statements such as that one. Think about what you just said… “it won’t retain it’s harmonic content going to the higher register or it will alias”. Neither will happen if the sampling rate is sufficiently high. Aliasing has been, pretty much absent from digital systems for quite a while now (25+ years?). As for harmonic content (which can be retained given higher sampling rates) it turns out, doesn’t really make a difference in reality, because nobody can hear it (or those mysteriously hypothesized effects of higher harmonics making a significant modulation difference on lower ones). That nonsense about “through zero oscillators” is also a load of shit! The beauty of digital is that it can be anything you want it to be, including indistinguishable from analog.

               1. No sorry you are wrong and you are probably judging by your own limitations. Ive been brought up with max and supercollider, i know my craft, i know digital, i know how to program all those “exotic synthesis types” which were documented in dsp books for decades and open for music programmers for years. I know what digital is good at, and in what it isn’t. Sorry but i prefer for those things to stick with the flexibility of a musical programming language. With the exception of reverberation and the occasional utility plugin for mixing purposes, Vst’s are useless to me. If you cannot hear the differences between analogue and digital, whether that is a filter, an oscillator, a tube saturation circuit, etc that is your problem claiming that the rest of us are imagining things is pretty weird stance. You whole approach feels to me like a random violin player saying to Kavakos his strativarious doesn’t sound different to other violins. P.s and after all that you are buying retro synths like 3dwave’s and waldorf’s??? Come on now!!

                  1. Bullshit! If people can’t tell the difference between the sound of two events, they are the same. Period! It doesn’t matter how they are produced. Working with Supercollider doesn’t make you a physicist nor a psychometrician. You have obviously deluded yourself into believing something that just isn’t true, and your ears, apparently, are corroborating your misunderstanding for you.

   3. Reading further down the list they also mention a presicion adder and no it does not work as well as an excel sheet. Coming back to the oscillators “presiciion” means they can stay in tune more than 70’s oscillators used to. It also means they are not of the crappy bandlimited sort that midleaged ears tend to think they sound great but i guess if you part of that age group you don’t care…

      1. “Coming back to the oscillators “presiciion” means they can stay in tune more than 70’s oscillators used to”… Yup, just like the ones in VSTs!

         1. The tone might be precise but the harmonics might subtly change in a musical way.
            Sound is more than just frequency.

            And to respond to your Digital vs Analog silliness (I’m a DSP Software Engineer.)

            Could a talented developer then emulate the analog IC? Sure. But first, a talented engineer must create that specific analog IC, (you know, in meat-space) before it can be virtualized, by the said talented software developer.

            Dave Rossum and Team created a complete novel IC, thats being used here, with some interesting features that don’t really exist in Analog ICs today.

            SSI2130 VCO:

            ? Highly Integrated Synth Voice Front-End
            ? Triangle, Saw, Pulse, and Open Collector Square Wave Outputs
            ? On-Chip Five-Channel Mixer with VCA’s ? Two Auxiliary Inputs
            ? Exceptional Temperature Stability
            ? Exponential and Linear Controls
            ? Integrated Sine Wave Shaper
            ? Optional Through-Zero FM and PM
            ? Few External Components
            ? Ultra-Compact 32-Lead 4×4 QFN Package

            https://www.soundsemiconductor.com/downloads/ssi2130datasheet.pdf

            All that in a single IC is going to give that IC a particular sound, and with enough time, fame, and money; some VST will emulate in the future.

            1. Well, I’m a Ph.D. neuroscientist, and don’t really give a shit about what DSP engineers have to say about things they have no knowledge of (i.e., how the brain processes information)!

         2. hey John… what is the point you’re trying to make here? That no synthesizers that aren’t VSTs should exist? very cool.

            1. No! My point is mostly theoretical (but corroborated by a substantial amount of empirical evidence) that it is possible to digitally model a waveform. Given sufficient dynamic range and frequency response, it can be done such that nobody would be able to audibly detect the difference. To suggest that I don’t see value in analog synthesizers is absurd. I would guess that I’ve probably had more experience with analog synths than you have given that I’ve been playing with them for over 50 years. I have nothing against analog synths. I just don’t see the value in this particular one. However, I went through my modular synthesis phase over 40 years ago, so I’m not as enamored it it as a lot of people here (and elsewhere) apparently are. Right now, it looks like a great way to spend a lot of money for not too much additional bennefit.

               1. “No! My point is mostly theoretical (but corroborated by a substantial amount of empirical evidence) that it is possible to digitally model a waveform. Given sufficient dynamic range and frequency response, it can be done such that nobody would be able to audibly detect the difference.”

                  Wake up and smell the NCO.
                  What’s theoretical or possible about it, they already exist.

                  1. Look up the definition of the words “corroborated’ and “empirical”. Your remark reeks of public education!

2. Behringer should clone it. The Price is what costs a Module from dumbijell? 800$ and i am in. Ohh sorry its the Name

3. Pretty existed about this one! Sort of a modern mashup of ARP 2600 and System 100. Judging from Mylarmelodies‘ video, it sounds really nice.

4. Trendy, these East/West blends.

5. looks and sounds sweet. intellijel makes great stuff.

6. the design is absolutely beautiful.

7. I predict this becomes a classic

   1. At $2150 I predict that almost nobody buys it. These people have got to be kidding. If April 1st wasn’t over a week ago I’d more likely believe that it was that day’s joke more than that the company was serious about this.

      1. Its impossible to tell but ask yourself why its so important for you to it to fail, do you consider your decision to buy certain instruments challenged by this?

         I am just pointing out the absurd in your multiple negative comments i don’t really care how you justified your negativity so don’t feel obligate to reply

         1. If the thing was selling for about $1000, I could see its value, especially in the day of the $5k Minimoog. However, Intellijel ain’t Moog (or ARP, or EMS, or even Buchla), and when the manufacturer describes the product as if it actually was a “VST in a box”, it just turns me off a little bit because I feel I’m being hyped..

            1. No, Its a fully analog signal path synth, They call it precision osc’s because it can stay in pitch. Nothing misleading about it.
               You clearly call it “vst in a box” because you want attention.

               1. Just for record this was never a “vst in a box”, this was a audio unit in a box

               2. Yes, it is misleading because it implies that perfectly tuned oscillators are somehow better. You can’t have it both ways (i.e., the quaintness of analog is due to the unpredictable nature of the responses of the oscillator to the control voltages … or … the problem with digital synthesizers is their precision and exactness makes them sterile and unrealistic). If there wasn’t some truth in the first point, why do all of the people making analog or hybrid polysynths have a “slop” function, nowadays? Again, because you apparently have some problem with English comprehension, my original point (the first post) was a sarcastic remark about precision oscillators, not because I don’t know what the word “precision” means, but because of the absurdity of the concept in terms of an analog synthesizer.

      2. “At $2150 I predict that almost nobody buys it”
         Well it’s very obvious you’re wrong. If you buy this in separate modules it would be more than 2150,- and if people buy that than it’s clearly not a far reach to conclude this will sell just fine.

         1. I guess you can’t ignore the fact that some (apparently many) people will pay a lot to mentally masturbate! At least people who watch porn and physically masturbate aren’t spending this kind of money and are probably getting a hell of a lot better bang (sic) for their bucks.

   2. It doesn’t do anything new. Or sound unique or exciting. No, it is not going to be remembered in a few years. People should stop drooling over the mediocrity that is so common with analogue synths. Only then will companies put some real thought into their designs; to make their products stand out.

      Go for a Taiga and use the 1500,- you saved for a compact modular to blow this one out of the water.

      1. The only mediocrity i see is in the entiltment of commenters who think they know better than others. Like you
         And me…

8. But can Behringer’s minions clone it by Christmas?

   1. I doubt that Uli would even waste his time thinking about cloning something that nobody actually wants or needs!

      1. i understand being old and alone feeling unneeded and and lost in time is hard but you can have more attention and meaning by maybe sharing from your technical experience or just trying to be nice instead of spreading your grumpiness.

         1. The fact that you age shame the guy says more about you than your pathetic attempt to sell this thing

            1. I am saying I understand him and it doesn’t have to be this way, he seem to be knowledgeable about some things so it will be much better to have is voice in a discussion instead in arguments for the sake of argument.
               We are all gonna be old very soon, we all be gone soon, I wouldn’t want to have grumpiness and negativity my legacy when i do.

            2. I don’t really mind “age shaming”. I understand that I’ve become quite the curmudgeon over the last half decade or so. Also, I freely “age shame” young people who think they know a lot but actually know shit. I was once fat. For the past 50 years, I am not. Once, somebody called me fat when I was a kid. That was the the best thing anybody ever said to me! Shaming is a GOOD thing. Wokeness is pathetic and doesn’t really solve anything. I’m older and I’m proud to be older. Gadi hasn’t insulted me by pointing out the obvious. Some day he will be old enough to understand.

               1. So I hope calling you grumpy bitter old man will have the same effect as who called you fat

                  1. I doubt it, because while I definitely am “grumpy”, I have never become bitter. People my age who aren’t grumpy have simply found better drugs than I have!

         2. As opposed to sharing one’s naivety and wokeness?

            1. Your bitterness from other aspect of life transparent, it blinds you from logic and being proficient in critical thinking.
               Thinking you are right without leaving room to be wrong is naivety and your illusion of possessing the knowledge above others makes you sound like the grumpy old man you are.
               Your points are moot anyway, shoving your assumptions down our throats without having experience with this specific device and testing it thoroughly is not knowledge and not helpful to anyone.
               I hope you enjoyed the attention you received hear, you clearly lucking it in your real life.

         3. Being old is one thing but alone now that’s the answer, when people enter my studio the first thing they say is “how can you afford all this” i reply – its simple No wife No kids 🙂

9. it looks fucking awesome… like, its super impressive just as a visual spectacle.. so thats pretty good already

10. Looks and sounds fantastic. a bit 2600 but also synton fenix to my eyes. very interesting and desiderable to me.

11. $2150 doesn’t seem extreme, since its not unlike a Buchla. People who play this kind of synth aren’t into the throwaway circus of GAS. They really live within the heart of the rig and use it to feed outboard pieces. Its a different angle from EDM or cover band work.

    A lot of us are in the mid-range, where you drop around $2K on a synth once in a while. This is like that. Its not a Colossus, but its also not just an SH-101. I’m not into modular and I still think this design is bad-ass. It has meaningful range.

    1. Agreed. This will exist in the same range of the Syntrx 2 and Pulsar 23. Since its semimodular/eurorack, that opens it up a bit to that audience. But that audience would know how far $2k will get you with individual modules and a 168hp case.
       If im being honest it’ll get you less, especially if you include the cost of a case. This thing is pretty stacked with necessary modules and tons of utilities + Midi/CV. BUT, its that “once in a while” price range that most of their customer base may or may not be interested in. I’ll probably get one, just not immediately so I can continue to feel like I dont have GAS anymore…cause if you wait a little, its not really GAS, its just GA.

    2. Agree, the price is rly on spot – trying to build something equal in eurorack for that price should be very hard. And then it is still not semimodular; playable without patching.

       Maybe your gateway drug into modular then 😉

    3. Yes, I agree with what you say. My point is that once you get past the analog snobbery, there is nothing that this box does that many VA synths can’t do (including wave folding) at a fraction of the cost.

       1. ….or free VSTs in DAWs – by your logic, they are digital – in perfect tune and there is no aliasing. Why would anyone buy anything else? Such silly thinking… Digital, analog, whatever…an instrument is about how things are implemented including design and application. This is exactly the reason that there are 1000’s of instruments created… all are both perfect and terrible at the same time…just depends on who you are asking and when…I would have thought someone like you would understand that concept….

          1. None of the things you apparently think I have meant by what I have written here are simply not true.

       2. analog sounds different Johnny boy , if you only mess with vst’s you have no frame of reference get some analog and put it through a good set of speakers with a sub you will get it. also have physical touch of something is much different than using a mouse its just not the same species.

          1. “analog sounds different Johnny boy”. Different than what? “Analog” is not “obe” thing, it is the mechanism through which the waveforms that drive the audio amplifiers are created. No two different manufacturer’s analog synths sound the same, and before “analog” was described in terms of the linear semiconductor chips that created the sounds or modulations, no two analog synths of any one brand or model sounded the same. If you noticed, most of my comments were about VSTs in a box, not, necessarily, VSTs running in a DAW. In fact, every hardware digital synthesizer can be looked at as a “VST in a box”, because that is, in actuality, what they are. Sure, they have specific user interfaces, and sometimes keyboards, but my all my points were directed art the sound, not the user interface. Also, they way you phrased the comment, it appears that you actually believe that identical sounds are somehow different depending on how they are produced.

12. Excellent design, but for a monosynth it’s just too expensive.

13. My first reaction was that $2150 seemed high (with the Taiga, et al. being cheaper) but it’s right in line with the Syntrx II, cheaper than a Buchla Easel. A Matriarch costs less, sure, but that’s missing some of the useful utilities and modular components this has got built in.

14. Brilliant and thought out Design!
    One of the synths that has more to offer than you could wish.
    It is a monosynth with east and west coast elements.
    It is also a modular system with a load of utilities.
    The way this synth integrates external effects is unique and genius too.
    It is definately a complete monosynth menu.

    I think semimodular rly is best of both worlds in the monosynth realm.
    Thinking of “Pittsburgh Taiga” wich is also a semimodular melting east and westcoast together; the moog mother32 eco system and the different 2600 reincarnations – the Cascadia might be my favourite.

    Cascadia is Amazing!

    (btw.: the biggest surprise at NAMM so far.)

15. as far a price i think the thing to think about here is how much it would cost to purchase each of the sections separately as an Itellijel modules, i think it might cost much more, and when you factor in the case as well. for people who are interested in patching but are kind of overwhelmed by needing to figure out which modules to buy this is a killer option. it’s an offer in a niche category.

    1. it would be difficult because, for example, quadrax is a quad function generator, this has only one. Anyone who’s built a eurorack knows it’s very easy to spend 5 grand on a eurorack, so I don’t think it’s overpriced. Intellijel is also one of the more expensive players in euro. I do wish they put metropolix in it, though.

16. *yawn* the color makes me sleepy.

17. Sounds incredible at mylarmelodies latest video

18. John, your great knowledge and experience, your refined taste, your discerning ear are obviously far beyond what the rest of us have. Your ability to write incisive, expertly reasoned, blistering rebuttals to any and all opposing views is impressive as well. Keep up the good work.