Intellijel Designs Cascadia

Embark on illustrious sonic journeys with Cascadia, Intellijel’s first standalone, semi-modular synthesizer packed with analog and digital elements and highly configurable to your own needs. Intellijel’s track record stands for itself: powerful sound sources, flexible control voltage generators, versatile utilities, and robust build quality are all found here in Cascadia. A culmination of all their work up to this point in time, Cascadia manages to pack so much inside yet stands on its own as a definitive product in the Intellijel catalog.

Whether your first synth or one of many, Cascadia contains practically everything you need to create and process sounds from start to finish. Of course, not only oscillators and filters but thorough MIDI-CV conversion, full audio I/O including a headphones output, and even a dedicated effects loop for getting your favorite pedals in on the fun. There are very few things that Cascadia doesn’t have, yet its selection still feels curated and considerate of common patching needs.

As a semi-modular synthesizer, you don’t even need to pick up a single patch cable to create great sounds with Cascadia, but its 100+ patch points always give you the option. Internally normalized connections provide a great starting point for your sounds, and at any time you can grab a cable to customize a patch to your liking. Intellijel has even gone to great lengths to provide clear illustrations on the panel to remind you what signals are connected to which points.

Cascadia begins sounds with two analog oscillators, denoted VCO A and VCO B. The primary oscillator, VCO A, offers a variety of waveforms, over eight octaves of tuning range, and support for sophisticated modulation such as through-zero FM. VCO B, on the other hand, serves a more utility role with optional operation as an LFO instead of a sound generator. That said, it still offers impeccable tracking and performance and can serve as a vital player in any patch no matter its purpose.

Summed in a mixer along with a noise generator and two optional input sources, VCO A is then routed into Cascadia’s primary VCF. A glorious and multifunctional filter, this primary VCF always offers four-pole lowpass and highpass outputs, but you can also select one of eight different modes for the main output. These include various slopes of lowpass, bandpass, and highpass filters, as well as notch and phaser modes. Of course, there’s plenty of resonance for lush sweeps and pings.

Cascadia also features a Buchla-inspired wavefolder, meaning you can both remove and add harmonics to your signals. Add in the ring modulator and a secondary filter tied to its own VCA for lowpass gate sounds, and you’ll find more West Coast synthesis inside of Cascadia than you might have originally expected.

Cascadia’s main outputs are at the top, but that’s also where you’ll find the dedicated Effects Loop. Whether you’ve got a crusty old fuzz pedal, the latest digital delay powerhouse, or pristine rack effects processors, Cascadia can incorporate them into your patches. What’s more is the inclusion of an Expression Output, which contains a digitally-controlled potentiometer to recreate the way a pedal would respond to an actual expression pedal. Any signal from Cascadia may be patched into the Expression Source jack in the Utilities section to control your pedal: burst envelopes, envelope followers, random voltages, and more.

Intellijel’s digital CV generators are highly regarded in the Eurorack world, and Cascadia is no different. Envelope A offers extended ADSR envelopes, supplemented by a Hold stage for extending either the peak voltage or an incoming trigger source. Envelope B on the other hand provides envelopes, LFOs, burst generation, and even chaotic random voltages in the new Low Frequency Vacillation mode. This envelope is even more configurable with the Intellijel Config App, available for Windows and Mac computers, where you can customize the burst shapes and more.

Cascadia’s Utility functions are packed into the middle row, allowing you to create more complex and controlled versions of your signals. Triple LFOs with divided rate controls, buffered multiples, sample and hold, slew limiting and envelope following, plus an assortment of other features allow you to build power patches on your Cascadia.

Cascadia is not just a semi-modular synthesizer, but an entire canvas to build sounds and music upon. Rivaling even some full modular systems, there’s no shortage of sounds to be explored within Cascadia.

Cascadia Features

Premium desktop semi-modular synthesizer
Fully analog signal path
Digital envelope generators, MIDI-CV conversion, and alternative noise sources
Over 100 patch points
Two analog oscillators
VCO A supports thru-zero FM, hard/soft sync, eight octaves of tuning, variable pulse width
Sub-oscillators tied to VCO A
VCO B operates in audio or LFO frequency ranges with eight octaves of tuning
Independent pitch and sync inputs for VCO B
Multi-channel mixer pre-filter
Multi-mode VCF with dedicated lowpass and highpass outputs
Main VCF output modes: LP1, LP2, LP4, BP2, BP4, HP4, NT2, PHZ
Wavefolder, ring modulator, and VCA / LPF
Drive and soft-clipping on main output
External Effects Loop with Expression Output
ADSR envelope with assignable hold stage and variable timing
Envelope B with multiple functions: envelope, LFO, and Burst
Free-running, Synced, and Low Frequency Vacillation modes for Env B as an LFO
Triple LFO with X, Y, and Z outputs
Division rate switches on Y and Z LFOs
Utilities include Sample and Hold, Slew Limiting / Envelope Following, Summing, Attenuverting, Buffered Multiples, and more
Onboard MIDI-CV converter with assignable behaviors
Intellijel Config App available for Mac and Windows computers offers deeper customization
Balanced 1/4″ Audio I/O
Powder-coated enclosure
Includes oak wooden side panels, optional metal panels and rack ears available separately
Includes 14 patch cables, USB-A to C cable, and power supply