Cardinal is a virtual modular synthesizer plugin, available as CLAP, LV2, VST2 and VST3 audio plugin.
It is based on VCV Rack but with a focus on being a fully self-contained plugin version. Cardinal contains Rack, some 3rd-party modules and a few internal utilities all in a single binary.
This is free and open source software.
Key Features
- DPF-based plugin wrapper around VCV Rack.
- Provides 3 plugin variants – “main”, Synth and FX.
- Main – this variant provides 8 audio inputs and outputs and 10 CV inputs and outputs.
- Synth – provides 2 audio outputs but no audio inputs or CV ports.
- FX – provides 2 audio inputs and outputs, but no CV ports.
- Large range of third-party modules. Cardinal also provides its own modules for DAW/Host automation, time position, audio to CV pitch conversion and internal plugin hosting.
- Cross-platform support – runs under Linux, FreeBSD, macOS and Windows.
Website: github.com/DISTRHO/Cardinal
Support:
Developer: Filipe Coelho and contributors
License: GNU General Public License v3.0

Cardinal is written in C++. Learn C++ with our recommended free books and free tutorials.
Related Software
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|---|---|
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| Six Sines | Compact software synthesizer built around audio-rate inter-modulation |
Read our verdict in the software roundup.
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