Cartridge is an authentic 2A03 chiptune synth. The real 8-bit voice, plus a polyphonic modern engine, a per-channel step sequencer, and 95 presets. Built to live in your DAW, not fight it.
Every clip below is a factory preset, straight out of the box, no post-processing.
A faithful 2A03: two pulse channels, triangle, noise, and DPCM sample playback, plus the optional VRC6 expansion for two more pulses and a sawtooth. Bandlimited so it stays clean at any pitch, with the nonlinear DAC curve that gives the chip its bite. This is the real 8-bit voice, not a sample of it.
When you want to step outside the hardware, flip to a full polyphonic synth built from the same waveforms: dual oscillators, ADSR, unison with detune, portamento, and per-voice MPE pitch bend. Chiptune timbre with modern playability: pads, leads and stacks the original chip could never hold.
A tracker-style step sequencer on every channel: 16 steps across volume, pitch and duty lanes. Hold one note and Cartridge plays the whole riff: basslines, arps, wobbles, the works. Draw straight into the grid, lock it to your host tempo, and it's captured in your project.
Drop in a .vgm or .vgz file and Cartridge pulls each instrument out as a preset, with volume, pitch and duty envelopes intact. The exact voices from decades of chiptune, ready to play.
A built-in chain of BitCrush, filter (LP/BP/HP), chorus, tempo-synced delay and reverb, always visible and one knob away. Dirty it up or polish it without leaving the plugin.
Four MIDI modes: Split for one channel per voice, Auto for round-robin polyphony, Mono, and Layer for thick stacks where every channel fires on each key.
Four temperaments, an NTSC/PAL region switch that shifts the timing like the real consoles, per-channel transpose, and master fine-tune. Authentic down to the clock.
Arcade leads, sub bass, a sampled drum kit, step-sequenced grooves, lush modern pads. 95 patches to start from, and full save/share for your own.
Try the full demo free. One purchase unlocks it. No iLok, no subscription, no account. Activate once online and it's tied to your machine (you get three); from then on it runs fully offline. Covers macOS, Windows and Linux. It's yours.
The real thing. Cartridge synthesises the 2A03's voices in real time, bandlimited so they stay clean at any pitch, with the nonlinear DAC curve that gives the chip its bite. Nothing is sampled off a console, which is why a lead keeps its character up in the high octaves, where sample-based chip instruments start to alias and fall apart.
Both, depending on the engine. The Classic engine is the hardware: five independent channels, plus three more with the VRC6 expansion, each one monophonic like the real chip, so you voice a part per channel the way the originals did. Flip to the Modern engine and it's a full polyphonic synth, up to 16 voices, for chords and stacks the chip could never hold.
The Classic engine gives you the full 2A03: two pulse channels, a triangle, a noise channel, and a DPCM sample channel. The optional VRC6 expansion adds two more pulses and a sawtooth on top, eight voices in all. Every channel has its own volume, pan, duty, and step sequence.
No. Start from a preset, play your keyboard, and you're making 8-bit music. Hover any control for a plain-English description, and the built-in Help screen explains the chip, the jargon, and the shortcuts. Go as deep as you want, or don't.
Yes. Drop in a .vgm or .vgz file and Cartridge pulls each instrument out as a preset, with its volume, pitch and duty envelopes intact. It's the fast way to lift the exact voices from decades of chiptune and play them from your keyboard, or drop them straight into the step sequencer.
Yes. Every channel has its own tracker-style sequencer: 16 steps across volume, pitch and duty lanes, synced to your host tempo and loopable. Hold a single note and Cartridge plays the whole line, basslines and arps and wobbles included. The sequence rides with the preset and saves into your project.
Four ways, switchable. Split puts one channel on each MIDI channel, so you can sequence the parts independently. Auto spreads notes across the enabled channels round-robin for instant polyphony. Mono stacks everything on one voice, and Layer fires every channel on each key for thick unisons. The Modern engine also reads per-note MPE pitch bend.
Yes. Cartridge ships with 95 factory presets to start from, and you can save, name and share your own as small files, embedded step sequences included. Send a patch to someone and it loads back exactly as you made it.
macOS 11 or later (Apple Silicon or Intel, universal binary), Windows 10 or later (64-bit), or Linux (x86-64). It runs at your project's sample rate in any modern DAW, or as a standalone app on its own. Load it as VST3, AU (macOS), or CLAP.
Anything that hosts VST3, AU, or CLAP: Logic, Ableton Live, Reaper, Bitwig, FL Studio, Cubase, and the rest. AU is there specifically for Logic and GarageBand. There's also a standalone build for when you just want to play without opening a DAW.
On macOS there's an installer: open it, tick the formats you want, done. It's signed and notarised by Apple, so no security warnings, and it leaves an uninstaller behind that removes everything in one click while keeping your presets. Windows and Linux are a zip you drop into the usual plugin folders. The setup guide walks through all three.
Try the full instrument free, then one purchase unlocks it, yours to keep. Anything you make with Cartridge is yours to release, sell, and licence however you like, with no royalties and nothing to attribute. Activation is one-time and binds your key to that machine, up to three at once, and you can free a seat yourself from the licence badge. After that it never phones home: no iLok, no subscription, no account. Full terms in the licence agreement.
Yes. One purchase covers all three platforms: VST3, CLAP and standalone on Windows and Linux (AU is macOS-only). The macOS build is signed and notarised. The Windows build is currently unsigned, so SmartScreen may warn you once on the first run; click through and you're set. All 1.x updates are included, and if it turns out not to be for you, email within 14 days for a refund.
Cartridge is nearly here. Leave your email and you'll be first to know the moment it drops.
One launch email, then done, unless you opt in to more. Free demo and one-time purchase at launch, no subscription.
A one-time purchase, not a subscription. Anything you make with Cartridge is yours to release, sell, and licence however you like, with no royalties and no attribution.
No iLok and no always-online check. Activate once, then the licence validates offline from then on, across three machines at a time. Moving to a new computer takes one click on the old one to free the seat.
All 1.x updates are included. Not for you? Email inside 14 days and we'll refund it. Full terms in the licence agreement.