Cardinal vs Vital
Cardinal
cardinal.kx.studio
Vital
vital.audioSide by side
| Figure | Cardinal | Vital |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | $5/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | Yes | Yes |
| Web | Yes | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | — |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 2 | 5 |
| Spec score · Software Synthesizers | 9.0 (#2) | 8.6 (#6) |
| License | The Cardinal project is licensed under GPLv3 or later. | The public source repository is GPLv3; proprietary use requires a separate license, and source builds cannot use Vital trademarks or its web services. |
| Plugin formats | Official builds provide AudioUnit, CLAP, LV2, VST2 and VST3 formats. | The official factsheet lists VST, VST3, AU and LV2 formats. |
| Product | Cardinal is a free, open-source virtual modular synthesizer based on VCV Rack and packaged as a self-contained plugin and standalone app. | Vital is a spectral warping wavetable synthesizer. |
| Support | The maker asks users to report bugs on GitHub and lists the #cardinal IRC room on Libera.Chat for community discussion. | Subscribers receive prioritized support through private Discord channels or the forum. |
| What it does | Cardinal is a virtual modular synthesizer based on VCV Rack, delivered as plugins and a standalone application. | Vital is a spectral-warping wavetable synthesizer that changes waveform harmonics to create new timbres. |
Plans
Vital
- BasicFree
- Subscription$5 a month
- Subscription$5 a month
- Plus$25, paid once
- Pro$80, paid once
In their own words
Cardinal
Cardinal is a free, open-source modular synthesizer based on VCV Rack, available as a standalone app and as a plugin. It bundles 1,382 modules from 84 authors or brands, but does not load external modules or connect to the official Rack library or store; modules cannot be added to an existing build. Cardinal runs on Linux, macOS, Windows, and the web. Its plugin formats are AudioUnit, CLAP, LV2, VST2, and VST3, with Main, Synth, and FX variants that all support MIDI input and output. Main provides eight audio inputs and outputs and ten CV inputs and outputs, but is unavailable in AU and VST2 and is not yet available in CLAP. Mini has a smaller hand-picked module selection, two audio ports, and five CV ports, and is available only as LV2 or standalone. OSC remote control works in standalone use, not in the plugin. The project describes Cardinal as stable, while noting CLAP support is still in progress and VST3 hosting inside Carla or Ildaeil is experimental. It is licensed under GPLv3+.
Vital
Vital is a spectral warping wavetable synthesizer for Linux, macOS, and Windows. Its oscillators reshape wavetable harmonics through stretching, shifting, smearing, and skewing to create timbres. Users can make wavetables by converting samples with pitch-splice or vocode, editing tables, or generating them from text. Modulation includes drag-and-drop assignment, audio-rate modulation, stereo-splittable and keytracked LFOs, and custom envelope curves. Sound tools include two routable voice filters, eight routable effects, an oscilloscope, and a spectrum viewer. Vital supports MPE and microtonal tuning files, with VST, VST3, AU, and LV2 plugin formats listed. Requirements include 64-bit operation and OpenGL 3 or higher; the listed systems are Windows 10+, macOS 10.15+, and Ubuntu Linux 18.04+. The free Basic plan costs nothing and includes 75 presets, 25 wavetables, and full synth features. Plus costs $25, paid once and includes 250 presets and 70 wavetables. Text-to-wavetable requests are limited to five per day unless a plan unlocks unlimited requests.