Status board

What's built. What's next.

What's running, what's in progress, what's planned, and what's on the table.

Built means it runs in the current development build.

Updated every devlog · ~monthly
9Built
1In progress
12Planned
9Considering
Built
Runs today, on my bench.
In progress
Actively being built now.
Planned
Committed, not started.
Considering
An idea. No commitment.
Built · on my bench

What's running.

Real-time circuit engine

Play a real circuit, live — the actual electronics, not a sampled snapshot.

Tube preamp + interactive tone stack

Every pot and switch in the preamp is live and in true signal order.

Schematic editor

Draw a circuit and hear it while you edit — no compile step, no waiting.

Full amp, including the power section

Sag, power-stage response, the whole feel — not just the preamp.

Power section as an editable block

The power stage sits on the canvas as a block you can open, not a fixed box.

Cabinet IR loading (dual-slot)

Load your own impulse responses, two slots at once.

Cabinet IR library

A managed library of your impulse responses, with quick switching between them.

Design lineage

Every design remembers what it was forked from, so a rabbit hole stays traceable.

NAM capture export

Bounce any design to a NAM profile — your capture, your file, no lock-in.

In progress · planned

What I'm building toward.

Platform builds

One launch set

macOS, Windows and Linux ship as one coherent launch — co-equal platforms, not tiers.

macOSWorking now
WindowsPlanned
LinuxPlanned

Freeze and thaw

Bake a circuit into a fast capture so it runs in real time — and thaw it back to the living circuit anytime.

Planned

Audition: A/B by ear

Compare versions of a design, level-matched — blind if you want, with ratings and notes. Your ears decide.

Planned

Load NAM captures

Player and Designer open any NAM capture — bring your whole library, organize it, A/B it. Cathode-made captures can carry their source circuit, openable as a schematic.

Planned

Design against a looping DI

Load a clean guitar take, loop a phrase, and hear each edit on it — no guitar plugged in.

Planned

Schematic image / PDF import

Drop in a schematic and get a reviewable, vision-assisted draft to edit.

Planned

Plugin formats at parity

VST3 and AU, feature-for-feature with the standalone app.

Planned

Open circuit format + validator

An open, documented format for circuits, with a validator and SDK anyone can build on.

Planned

Offline activation, three machines

Fair activation, no games. Three machines, no typed keys, deactivate them yourself.

Planned

Payment plan that ends in ownership

Pay in installments if you want to. Every payment path ends in ownership.

Planned

Accessibility & full keyboard control

Complete keyboard operation and screen-reader support throughout.

Planned

Freeze with the knobs still live

A deeper freeze that keeps every knob working as a trained dimension. This is a big one.

Planned

One-click publish to the capture commons

Send a NAM export straight to the free community library.

Planned
Considering

Ideas I'm kicking around.

Things I'm thinking about. Nothing planned yet.

Module / block chaining

Chain circuit blocks into larger rigs — pedal into pre into power.

Designable power-amp families

Design the power section itself, topology and parts, instead of picking one.

Free standalone IR loader

A free cabinet-IR utility on its own, separate from the amp.

WASM (in-browser)

Run Cathode in a browser tab — nothing to install.

Mobile

A touch build for phones and tablets.

Embedded / hardware players

Cathode designs running on dedicated hardware.

Circuit + pack marketplace

Designers sell packs; players get real-knob amps.

Backing-track play-along + DI capture

A backing track plays dry while your guitar runs through the circuit — and you can record your own DI right there.

Opt-in hiss and hum

A modeled circuit runs dead silent by nature. If you want the hiss and hum of the real thing, flip it on — noise as a choice, not a flaw.

Kept current

The board moves when the work does.

I update it about once a month, alongside the devlog.