EDP Wasp
The Wasp Synthesizer was first manufactured in 1978 by the English company EDP (Electronic Dream Plant). The EDP company practically consisted of only two people: Chris Huggett and Adrian Wagner. While Huggett was responsible for the design and the cost-effective implementation of the technology, Adrian Wagner mainly took care of the technical structure of the Wasp. To keep the price low and competitive, TTL components were used instead of microprocessors (the Wasp is a hybrid synthesizerwhich is mainly digital, only the filter is analog). Together, Chris Huggett and Adrian Wagner went to Rod Argent's Keyboards in London, a specialty store for keyboard instruments, and talked about the plan to build a small and inexpensive synthesizer. Argent's was apparently taken with the idea of the two, because Argent's provided Huggett and Wagner with a start-up capital of 10,000 pounds, in return the distribution rights of the Wasp were given to Rod Argent's.
history
The first specimens of the Wasp caused quite a stir among the public. Not only by the bizarre appearance of the Wasp, but also by the low price of 199.00 pounds (sales price in 1979 in Germany: 880, - DM), the composed entirely of black plastic housing, the two octaves comprehensive keyboard , the only a touch-sensitive membrane keyboard, a built-in loudspeaker and the option of running the Wasp on batteries, the device differed from the competition in terms of both appearance and sound.
In order to appeal to a wider audience, the Wasp was later also made a "Deluxe" model. The latter was built into a wooden case and, thanks to the use of a mechanical standard keyboard (range 3 octaves, CC), offered a much higher level of playing comfort. Some new functions have also been built in that were not available to the standard Wasp, such as: B. the mixer section of the filter, with which the volume of the oscillators could be mixed independently. The deluxe model could also be operated by batteries. However, the price of the "Wasp Deluxe" was much higher than the standard Wasp, so that the deluxe edition was not competitive. In addition, the wooden case and "official" keyboard did not leave much of the "toy charm" of the standard Wasp.
Quite a few musicians saw the Wasp as just a cheap toy with which it was better not to venture on stage. For others, however, it represented the first affordable synthesizer to join the increasingly popular New Wave movement. The advertising imagery, which is heavily based on superhero comics, may have had a certain share in the idiosyncratic aura of the Wasp.
According to Chris Huggett, around 4,000-5,000 Wasps are said to have been produced (only around 1500 from the Spider Sequencer).
Furnishing
The Wasp is played via a 2-octave, touch-sensitive membrane keyboard (the EMS-AKS synthesizer and the Electro Harmonix mini synthesizer also had membrane keyboards), which is kept in black and yellow colors.
Oscillator 1 has the waveforms sawtooth and pulse wave, whereby the pulse width can be adjusted manually. Both oscillator 1 and oscillator 2 offer the option of switching off the oscillators and thus disconnecting them from the keyboard. A five-step rotary control for selecting the foot positions (foot positions: 2 ', 4', 8 ', 16', 32 ') is also available separately for both and enables the foot positions to be controlled separately for each oscillator.
Oscillator 2 has the waveforms sawtooth and pulse wave (but in a fixed pulse width, manual adjustment is not possible). A rotary control titled Pitch enables fine tuning of oscillator 1.
The Wasp also has an LFO with the ability to control the frequency and the modulation depth. In addition, the LFO offers a rich selection of different waveforms such as sine, square, noise signal from the noise generator - its volume can be adjusted using a rotary control - and a random function that can be used to generate a random control voltage.
The Wasp's filter is designed as a 12 dB multimode filter. With a rotary control, the user has the option of choosing between the filter types low pass, high pass or band pass. The resonance and the cut-off frequency are set with the help of two rotary controls, but the Wasp's filter cannot be driven to self-oscillation because a lock has been built in. The intensity of the signals from the oscillators and the LFO to the filter can be regulated using the rotary control. The output signal of the filter can also be adjusted using the rotary control.
There are two envelopes for controlling the filter and the volume. The volume section has knobs for attack, decay and sustain. As a special feature, the sustain control offers the possibility of the repeat function, with which the volume curve is automatically triggered again and again.
The section for the filter is similar to that of the volume department: rotary controls for attack, decay and instead of the sustain / repeat function, a rotary control with the settings repeat and delay. The delay function enables a delayed start of the envelope of a maximum of 2 seconds.
As a playing aid, the Wasp only offers a rotary control with a bend function, with which the pitch can be moved up or down by half a tone. The Wasp also has a glide knob for creating a portamento.
The Wasp had a built-in speaker so you don't necessarily need an external amplifier to play. But the loudspeaker built into the hollow plastic housing sometimes resonated considerably. Many Wasp users appreciate these resonances and prefer to play the Wasp through the built-in loudspeaker, which they then pick up using a microphone.
All devices offer 7-pin DIN sockets for coupling with other EDP instruments. However, only EDP instruments can communicate via these sockets. Most other musical instrument manufacturers used standard phone jacks to connect devices together.
As further connections, the Wasp has mini-jack sockets for line-out (output signal), phones (headphones) and a socket for connecting the power supply unit to operate the Wasp with electricity. If there is no power socket nearby, the Wasp can also be operated with six 1.5-volt baby cells ("Type C").
EDP products
- WASP
- WASP Deluxe (Wasp with mechanical keyboard, wooden housing, oscillator mixer, input for external instruments and built-in loudspeaker. Battery operation possible)
- WASP Special (normal Wasp, but with wooden housing and membrane keyboard)
- SPIDER (digital sequencer)
- GNAT (stripped-down Wasp with only one oscillator, membrane keyboard, loudspeaker and plastic housing)
- GNAT Special (normal Gnat, but with wooden housing and membrane keyboard)
- CATERPILLAR (master keyboard, which was intended to control several Wasps, which could then be played polyphonically)