Hybrid analogue/digital synthesiser voice

Cerberus is a complete hybrid analogue/digital synthesiser voice in 16HP — built for people who want the electricity and movement of a real analogue oscillator, without giving up the precision, memory and scale of a modern digital instrument.

At its heart is a genuine analogue through-zero VCO built around the SSI2130. It is not a model, not a wavetable pretending to be voltage-controlled, and not a sample behind a panel. It is a real analogue core: alive, immediate, physical, and fully patchable.

But Cerberus does not leave that analogue core to drift alone.

A high-speed digital control system works with the oscillator, keeping the instrument musically centred. The analogue core can be quickly auto-calibrated whenever required, with no trim pots and no case-opening ritual. Pitch tracking and oscillator biasing are handled inside the instrument, so the analogue voice stays accurate, stable and ready to play.

Around that core sit two assignable digital engines. Each engine can independently run as a six-operator FM voice, a wavetable/chord engine, or a tuned noise source. Run two different FM patches at different intervals. Stack two wavetable chord engines with separate voicings. Pair a chord progression with a tuned noise layer. Or combine FM, wavetable and analogue tone into one locked, playable voice.

The digital engines are tied to the analogue pitch and musical structure, so they do not feel like separate sound sources bolted on afterwards. They behave like extensions of the same instrument.

Start with an analogue lead. Add an FM engine an octave below. Place a wavetable chord a fifth above. Strum a progression from a single pitch input. Blend in tuned noise for air, bite or instability. Cerberus keeps the whole patch moving together: in tune, in key and in time.

Cerberus is also mixed as a complete voice. The two assignable digital engines are routed internally to an onboard mixer, with adjustable levels for balancing FM, wavetable, chord or noise layers. Two analogue insert inputs let you bring waveforms from the analogue core into the same mix path, so the raw VCO can sit alongside the digital engines without needing an external mixer.

The digital engines can also be sent from their own dedicated stereo output jacks, with full pan control for each engine. Use Cerberus as a complete mixed hybrid voice, send the digital section out in stereo, or separate the analogue and digital layers for external processing.

The intent is simple: analogue gives you tone, touch and movement; digital gives you range, polyphony, recall and control. Cerberus brings them together without making you choose.

It can be a bass voice, a lead, a dual-FM stack, a chord machine, a tuned noise generator, a full melodic voice or the centre of an entire patch. It is designed to let ideas become finished sounds quickly — not by hiding depth, but by keeping the important things connected.

A built-in scale quantiser can pull the analogue oscillator into precise musical territory when you want it, while still letting it behave like a raw voltage-controlled oscillator when you do not. Every patch can be saved and recalled. The analogue core remains fully available to the rest of your rack, with dedicated waveform outputs, sync, FM and PWM inputs.

Cerberus is for building sounds that feel alive, stay playable, and can be recalled when inspiration comes back.

https://hampshireelectronics.co.uk/products/cerberus-full-hybrid-analogue-digital-voice