Got to give it to Intellijel this does look good and really well thought out - nothing interesting to say other than adding to the chorus of impressed initial reactions.
The AC side will filter out any DC offset in the modulator (and probably low-frequency content); the DC side will not. You may or may not want such filtering, depending on the qualities of your modulation signal. Joranalogue Generate 3 has a similar switch.
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I wonder who the target audience is for this. I ask because if it’s for people who are already into Eurorack, then they know that they can create something similar for around that price and customize it to their liking. If it’s for people who haven’t used Eurorack, then it’s likely too expensive as a gateway drug, unlike the 0-Coast, Minibrute 2s, etc. But then again maybe it’s not too pricey for them. What do I know?
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I haven’t tried it either, but I’ve read the whole Taiga thread on ModWiggler and watched all the linked demos (I think). I don’t have a summary at hand, but, yes, the envelope; some knobs have a less-than-desirable response curve; many units seem to arrive configured strangely; there is weirdness when switching back and forth between MIDI and CV. There might be others I can’t remember right now. Nothing fatal, I think, but enough that I’d feel guilty if I recommended it to a relative beginner and they struggled.
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As mylarmelodies demonstrates in the linked demo above, it’s roughly the size of an Intellijel 4u 62hp palette case. I don’t think you can pack this much in 1u and 3u modules into that case. But I don’t know 1u, so I could be wrong. That’s a challenge for you!
I ran that thought experiment and decided I love my Syntrx too much to part with it. But I now want a Cascadia to go next to it.
FX s/r is how I use my Syntrx out and in no.1.
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Before buying a 2nd hand SV-1 I read what I could and Pittsburgh admitted that some early units had some bad calibration, faults. To their credit they did fix them free of charge, but still a hassle sending it to them. The later units - rock solid.
IMO with 2150 dolares/euros you could get a Taiga and a quite a few swanky modules that’d give you way more functionality and sonic diversity.
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4u 62hp? Damn that’s impressive. I had one of those cases and felt like I could barely fit anything in there. So it makes more sense now: a lot of modular in a small footprint.
Edit: but then again the Cascadia has no clocks, sequencers, etc. So it still needs external modules or hardware to get it going, no?
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Yeah this looks like a lot more functionality for that kind of space. I think it’s because Intellijel broke out of the typical 3u and 1u constraints for this design — it allowed them to use the space very efficiently and incorporate things like sliders in places where that normally wouldn’t make as much sense in 3u. Plus you’ve got all of those normalled connections taking up 0u. It’s an impressive box.
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I feel like I am in the target audience. I don’t think that semi-modular has to exist as a gateway to Eurorack, and I also don’t think it always has to be inexpensive (though I would certainly prefer it haha). Price-wise, it is around the same price as the Korg Arp 2600M. Add a Keystep or other midi controller and compare the Cascadia to the Grandmother or Matriarch. And it still is almost $1000 less than the Buchla Easel Command. I think compared to these other boards I mentioned, they packed a lot of interesting features in there, but I get that it isn’t for everybody.
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I feel like there is the sort of on paper effect also… like Tiaga does suffer from a lot of the common semi modular things with like its envelops and lfo being a bit less patching wise than you would expect in full modular. Like overall everything in cascadia seems to feel like full featured modules.
I have a Matriarch too, but still feel Cascadia offers a lot of different features and workflow. The basic osc and filter tone differ a lot, too.
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Agreed. I was trying to place the sound when I was listening to the demo’s. I think that it has a sound of its own, which is great. It is also why I love a closed system like this, we get to see Intellijel’s vision for an entire synth come to life.
There are more expensive discrete synths out on the market that people buy, so I don’t really see price as an issue.
As a person who is still in the process of selling off his Euro, Cascadia appeals to me for several reasons:
- It is one thing to buy and eventually sell, instead of dozens of things
- There is a coherent logic to the design and layout, not my own guess as to what would make sense
- I’ve admired Intellijel modules for a long time, but they were pricy. This really does seem like a bargain to me.
- As you can see above, I’ve got a Syntrx and a MB2s and enjoy working with semi-modulars. I wouldn’t mind having one of these and one of the 2600s in my studio too.
- Easy to store and transport
- As a former long-time Seattle resident, I love casual unserious references to the “Cascadia” movement. I wouldn’t support an actual secession movement, but the idea of a chill parallel world in the PNW is a pleasant one.
Agree - although I wouldn’t rule out some Euro in the future, I think I’d enjoy Buchla or Serge more. But I’m saving for other expensive fun toys so modular systems are out for now.
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There’s nothing wrong with Eurorack. I did that for years, and still have a few modules. Some great ideas exist only in Eurorack. I just grew to enjoy semi-modular and closed systems more and sold most of it off years ago.
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I get that, but with 1300 or so to spare, so many options to overcome that… and shape and utilise the under-speced modules on the Taiga.
There was a point when I was ready to get a SV-1b to start my journey into modular. But they were hard to find, and hints were dropped of new products, so I waited. And they went out of stock, and I got distracted by Frap Tools. So I get what you are saying. Taiga could well be a good intro, and I’m not saying Cascadia is an alternative; they’re in different leagues. I just have reservations about the PM-Cre8 collaboration, I guess. I’m still waiting to see what the VRL2 might be like.
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I think it’s for people like me who don’t like dealing with modules, appreciate semi-modulars, but still want more out of it. That is, the lazy people who like patching.
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Damn. Just damn.
Frap Tools - what a wonderful distraction. I’d love a Fumana - a fixed filterbank is a eurorack luxury I sometimes think about. I guess it depends what you’ve got and whether a Voltage Lab would replicate too much of that, whereas a couple of utilities would provide the functionality to get you into that territory.
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