Hybrid Synth Project
Caladan
Hardware voices, software engines, and an expandable architecture — now approaching production.
Overview
8 Synths
Multiple engines
1 Box
Caladan is an 8-part multi-timbral hybrid synthesizer designed to bring multiple types of synthesis together in one instrument. Each Part can run its own synth engine, whether that’s a dedicated hardware voice card or a software-based engine, allowing analog, digital, and hybrid approaches to coexist within the same machine.
The project traces some of its early thinking back to ideas explored during the Parva era, but Caladan quickly evolved into its own platform with its own hardware, architecture, and direction. Rather than revisiting an older instrument, it became an opportunity to build a more open-ended synthesizer built around expansion, flexibility, and multiple engine types.
At the top level, Caladan works like eight self-contained synth channels feeding a built-in digital mixer. Each Part can have up to four insert FX plugins, with LV2 and VST3 support, plus two aux sends for shared effects. Everything can be controlled directly from the front panel, or expanded with a keyboard, mouse, and monitor for broader control via a full HD display output.
Video Updates
Watch the project
come together.
Engines
Our current
software/hardware
engine lineup.
Analogue Hardware
DCO3
A 3-oscillator analogue single-voice card with analogue filters and VCAs. Complete in both hardware and firmware, with physical cards already manufactured and on hand.
FM Hybrid Hardware
OPL3
A 6-voice, 4-op FM/subtractive hybrid card with analogue filters based on the Elka Synthex. The hardware is finalised, parts have been purchased, and the design is ready for manufacture. A limited run of pre-orders will open soon, since original OPL3 chips are increasingly hard to find. It also handles VGM game music synth patch extraction.
Wavetable Hardware
Quadrowave
A 4-voice digital wavetable card with analogue SSI2144 filters, containing 256 waveforms (yes, all the classics are in there) with morphing. Hardware is complete and ready for manufacture, with firmware development nearing completion.
Virtual Analogue
Callisto
A virtual analogue engine offering 16 voices per instance, 2 oscillators per voice, and 12/24 dB resonant low-pass, high-pass, and band-pass filters. Caladan's software recreation of a late-90s blue trance synthesizer, compatible with original patch banks and SysEx data.
Multisampled Software
Multisampled Instrument Playback
A multisampled playback engine using SoundFont (.sf2) and SFZ files, with up to 32-note polyphony per instance. Complete and running.
Software
A synth platform,
not just a chassis.
Plugin hosting is complete, so software instruments and effects can run alongside the hardware voice cards on equal terms. HDMI output drives a Full HD GUI for deeper editing with a keyboard and mouse, and each engine can present its own panel and controls rather than sharing a generic parameter view.
Because it isn’t tied to one synthesis method, Caladan can host original hardware voices, sample-based engines like SoundFont playback, and software instruments like Callisto under a single routing architecture — with per-Part performance features (arpeggiator, step sequencer, trance gate) available to whichever engine you load into each slot.
Platform Highlights
- Per Part: arpeggiator, step sequencer, trance gate
- Up to 4 insert FX per Part (LV2 / VST3) plus 2 aux sends
- Plugin hosting with LV2 and VST3 support
- HDMI output for Full HD GUI control with keyboard and mouse
- MIDI over class-compliant USB, standard MIDI DIN, and 4 channels of CV/gate I/O
- USB host for drives and peripherals
- Hybrid routing between hardware voice cards and software engines
Pre-orders
Summer 2026.
Pre-ordering will re-open once the final, production-ready revision has been built and fully tested.
Follow the project
Join the discussion.
Caladan is still actively evolving. Follow development, discuss the architecture, share ideas, and keep up with progress on the forum.