Vintage Synthesis, To The Fourth Power

The Cherry Audio Quadra is a super-accurate and immensely improved emulation of the ARP Quadra synthesizer, originally released in 1978 - a rare and coveted “unicorn” instrument in the synthesizer world, reproduced for the first time as a virtual instrument. 

Quadra-matic

Cherry Audio's Quadra introduces improvements throughout every section, bringing out the full potential of the original ARP design. Each instrument section can now be layered anywhere across the keyboard, and we've increased transposition ranges for most sections. 

The paraphonic Poly Synthesizer section has been beefed up with an additional octave, optional oscillator drift, velocity control, new modulation capabilities (including pulse-width modulation), and additional waveforms. The Lead Synthesizer section has been enhanced with a more powerful arpeggiator, additional waveforms, adjustable note priority, and numerous other small improvements. We've turned the Quadra's rudimentary LFO into a full-featured, multi-waveform, tempo-syncable LFO. We've added a deeply flexible bender section that allows pitch bend wheel data to independently bend pitches and modulate filter cutoff for each instrument section.

The pristine original ARP Quadra used to model Cherry Audio's Quadra.
The pristine original ARP Quadra used to model Cherry Audio's Quadra.

Highly Effective

We modeled the ARP Quadra's 14-stage phaser, and added additional effects - chorus/flanger, echo, and reverb - that can also be turned on and off independently for each instrument section. Imagine strings bathed in reverb, a poly synth slowly phasing and flanging, and a lead synth with a slapback delay, all layered together to create a beautiful swirling pad. The sound design possibilities are endless!

Four Sides Live

Quadra includes a multiple out version for maximum flexibility. The standard "Quadra" instance mixes the four sections to a summed output. "Quadra Multi Out" includes five sets of outputs: a standard stereo mix, plus dry independent outputs for each section, as found on the original hardware.

Quadra includes over 450 presets from a diverse, all-star team of sound designers:

Led by veteran sound designer James Terris, we enlisted the help of Julie Kathryn, Huston Singletary, Katharine Fountain, Dave Polich, and Brendan Dreaper to create over 450 stunning Quadra presets. Each sound designer brings their own style and character to the process, and the results are awe-inspiring.

James Terris

James Terris

James is Director of Sound Design, responsible for preset programming and curation at Cherry Audio. He is a long-established sound designer and musician based in the San Francisco Bay Area who has worked with Dave Smith Instruments/Sequential, Pioneer DJ, Apple, and Han Zimmer’s Remote Control.

Julie Kathryn

Julie Kathryn

Julie Kathryn (I AM SNOW ANGEL) is a recording artist, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and sound designer. She has developed a signature dreampop aesthetic as I AM SNOW ANGEL. She regularly designs MIDI presets for Ableton Live and has created audio sound packs for Splice and BandLab.

Huston Singletary

Huston Singletary

Veteran sound designer, producer, film composer, and podcaster. Huston has contributed sounds to an endless array of popular products by Toontrack, Izotope, Synthogy, Kilohearts, Roland, Alesis, Spectrasonics, and Sequential.

Katharine Fountain

Katharine Fountain

Katharine Fountain aka FOUNTAINS is an artist, producer, and sound designer based in Nova Scotia, Canada. Katharine graduated from Berklee College of Music in 2019. In addition to freelance sound design work, Katharine also releases music under her self-produced solo electronic pop project, FOUNTAINS.

Dave Polich

Dave Polich

Sound designer, music producer, and songwriter. Dave has crafted sounds for major artists including Michael Jackson, Fleetwood Mac, The Cure, Bonnie Raitt, and Fleetwood Mac. He has created thousands of factory presets for synthesizer giants including Yamaha, Korg, Roland, and Dave Smith Instruments.

Brendan Dreaper

Brendan Dreaper

Brendon Dreaper is an audio engineer, musician, and sound designer. He creates music with Bay Area artist Sharp Press and works with a number of bands on producing their live performances.

The Sounds of Quadra

Title of Song

Quadra Features: 

  • Over 450 presets, programmed by industry veterans

  • All four sections superbly recreated

  • Poly Synthesizer includes Drift control for increased analog realism

  • Independent key range assignment for all four instrument sections

  • Precisely replicated phase shifter with multiple mod sources

  • Tempo-syncable LFO

  • Multi-out instance allows separate processing of each instrument section

  • Improved arpeggiator section w/tempo sync

  • Accurately emulated "Touch Sensor" aftertouch section

  • Highly optimized coding for high performance with ultra-low CPU load

  • User-adjustable oversampling control

  • Advanced one-click UI magnification

  • Full MIDI control and DAW automation for all controls

Quadra is available in AU, VST, VST3, AAX, and standalone formats.

A free 30-day demo of Quadra is available. This demo will play white noise periodically, but is otherwise unlimited.

macOS Requirements: 10.13 or above. macOS 13 Ventura supported. 64-bit required. Native Apple M1 or greater processor support, including Ultra. 3.4 GHz Quad-Core or M1 CPU with 8GB of RAM recommended.

Windows Requirements: Windows 7 or above (including Windows 11), 64-bit required. Quad-core computer with 8GB of RAM recommended.

NOTE: Internet connection required for product activation.