Katla
Parameters
A set of wildcard parameters designed to infuse the synthesizer with unpredictable, organic behavior, adding life and movement to your sound.
Voice Rotating
Polyphonic Synthesizer
Crafted for Musicians,
Inspired by Nature
Katla is a Voice Rotating Polyphonic Synthesizer inspired by it's namesake – Iceland's largest subglacial volcano. We set out to build an instrument worthy of that legacy, something powerful and expressive.
Katla excels at generating rich, evolving, multi-layered textures, where each note stirs, swells, and erupts in its own distinct way. Its design embodies a balance between randomness and control, inviting experimentation and rewarding curiosity.
Katla
Voice Rotation
At the core of Katla is a multimodal voice-allocation engine that routes notes across five discrete voices, each with individually adjustable parameters.
Multiple
Distortion Engines
A volcanic synth must roar, so we equipped Katla with four independent distortion destinations, the most unruly of which is a stereo CMOS drive.
Forged from
Icelandic Lava
Katla is framed by side panels and knobs crafted from authentic Icelandic lava, giving each instrument a tangible connection to the volcanic forces that inspired it.
Sound Examples
Features
Five Independent Voices
5 voice polyphony, with individual filters, amplifiers, LFO's and envelopes for each voice.
Sub per-voice
Each voice is paired with its own dedicated sub-oscillator with global controls for waveform and octave.
True Stereo
Notes can be spread across the stereo field, shaped by dedicated left and right distortion channels, and immersed in a spacious stereo reverb.
Clock Sync
Katla can be synced to the BPM of your DAW or any external clocking device, allowing its modulation to lock tightly with your music. Envelope and LFO timings can be quantized to musical intervals.
Keyboard Tracking
Keyboard Tracking adapts envelopes, LFO timing, and filter cutoff to the pitch of each note, making every key respond with its own unique character and movement.
Looping Envelopes
Katla's looping envelopes blur the line between envelopes and LFOs, allowing you to craft rhythmic, evolving patterns or tempo-synced modulation.
LFO per-voice
LFO's offer unique combinations of their minimum and maximum outputs which are used to modulate the stereo effects. These operations allow for interaction between LFOs, resulting in unique, non-repetitive modulations that feel alive and organic.
80's Digital Plate Reverb
Lush stereo digital reverb inspired by classic 1980s hardware, designed to add depth and ambiance to your sound.
Four Distortion Destinations
Katla's Four Distortion Destinations let you shape tone at multiple stages, each adding unique color and texture.
Row Presets
Preset buttons are divided into three rows, with each row controlling presets for specific sections, such as oscillators or LFOs. This structure allows quick, targeted adjustments without overwriting your entire sound.
MPE compatible
Katla is fully MPE-enabled, with per-note response to pressure, pitch, timbre, and aftertouch.
External Inputs
Katla features five external inputs, each routed to its corresponding voice. You can feed audio from any source, sequence between the inputs, and process the signals through Katla's analog signal path, adding warmth, distortion, filtering, and character to your external sounds.
Unison Grace Period
When in unison mode, all voices are allocated to a note. That means when releasing a chord one of the notes will linger slightly longer the rest, and all the voices will be assigned to that note, resulting in a monophonic release phase. When Unison Grace Period is enabled, a slight timing offset is introduced, allowing Katla to let all notes fade out smoothly and naturally.
Hand-Assembled, Limited Batch
Each Katla is meticulously hand-assembled, making every unit not just a synthesizer, but a rare, finely crafted piece of musical artistry.
"Katla has this unpredictable quality that turns even simple ideas into evolving sonic worlds."
Max Cooper, Electronic Producer
Four Distortions,
All at Once
Phase Distortion
Phase distortion reshapes a waveform's phase angle to create rich harmonics. In Katla, it adds evolving tonal variations, producing textures from subtle to aggressive.
Wavefolder
Wavefolders are a cornerstone of West Coast synthesis. When a pure waveform, like a sine, is fed into a wavefolder, it generates rich harmonics by inverting the wave's direction and creating complex timbres.
Stereo CMOS Distortion
Katla features a stereo analog drive that ranges from subtle coloration to wild, aggressive distortion.
Signal Overdrive
Global Level knobs add subtle analog warmth and harmonic richness when turned beyond their midpoint, gently saturating the signal.
Analog Signal Path
Katla blends digital oscillators with an analog signal path—filter, wavefolder, distortion and amplifiers—delivering precise tone generation infused with the warmth, grit, and dynamic character of true analog processing.
Katla's modulation engine runs on a high-performance ARM processor, combining speed, efficiency, and stability to drive the oscillators, modulation and reverb with responsive, reliable control.
Alive, imperfect, and utterly distinct
Katla Parameters
Móða
A way to add tuning instability. It simulates an old synthesizer drifting out tune, giving a vintage character.
Kvika
Slow pitch fluctuations, reminiscent of the wow factor on analog tape devices.
Skjálfti
Fast pitch modulation per voice, evoking the flutter characteristics of tape.
Glóð
Occasional pitch modulation events applied independently to each voice, reminiscent of momentarily slowing a tape by pressing on the reel.
Aska
Modulation events applied to the amplification and frequency spectrum of each voice independently.
Skriða
Randomises the attack, decay and release times of each voice.
Rökkur
Spreads notes across the stereo field
Rústir
Rústir is Katla's wavefolder, which generates harmonics by folding the signal back on itself.
Testimonials
Atli Örvarsson, Composer
(Silo, Defending Jacob)
"With Katla, I feel a deep connection to sound. Its polyphonic expression and unpredictable timbres turn every sequence into a living composition, full of subtle motion and emotional depth"
Walter Mair, Composer
(Liaison, COD: MWIII, F1: Drive to Survive)
"Katla transforms my ideas instantly. Each voice reacts independently, creating textures that evolve organically. It's not just a synthesizer—it's an instrument that listens and responds to every nuance I play."
Herdís Stefánsdóttir, Composer
(Knock at the Cabin, Trap, Verbúðin)
"The expressiveness of Katla is extraordinary. Its dynamic modulation breathe life into every note, giving me sounds that are both complex and intimately playable."
Atli Örvarsson,
Composer
(Silo, Defending Jacob)
"With Katla, I feel a deep connection to sound. Its polyphonic expression and unpredictable timbres turn every sequence into a living composition, full of subtle motion and emotional depth"
Walter Mair,
Composer
(Liaison, COD: MWIII, F1: Drive to Survive)
"Katla transforms my ideas instantly. Each voice reacts independently, creating textures that evolve organically. It's not just a synthesizer—it's an instrument that listens and responds to every nuance I play."
Herdís Stefánsdóttir,
Composer
(Knock at the Cabin, Trap, Verbúðin)
"The expressiveness of Katla is extraordinary. Its dynamic modulation breathe life into every note, giving me sounds that are both complex and intimately playable."
€4.990
Technical Specifications
Physical
- Dimensions 466 × 137 × 134 mm
- Box Dimensions 583 × 301 × 167 mm
- Weight 3.6 kg
- Construction Hand-assembled
- Mic-stand Thread 3/8"-16 UNC
- Side Panels & Knobs Icelandic Basalt Columns
- Origin Made in Iceland
Audio
- Polyphony 5 voices
- Oscillators Digital
- Signal Path Analog
- Sub-oscillators 5 (one per voice)
- LFOs 5 (one per voice)
- Envelopes 2x5 (loop and key track)
Connections
- Audio Output Stereo (L/R) + Headphone
- External Inputs 5 (one per voice)
- DIN MIDI In / Out / Thru
- USB USB-C (MIDI & Genki Link)
- Clock Sync External / DAW
- Power USB-C
- Power Adapter 15W multi-plug (EU, USA, AU, UK)
Features
- Voice Modes Round-Robin / Unison
- Distortion Stages 4
- Reverb 32-bit Custom Digital Plate
- MPE Support Full (Coming Soon)
- Keyboard Tracking Yes
- Processor ARM Rockchip RK3588
