Obituary
It is with great sadness that we report that Chris Huggett, Britains greatest synth designer of the EDP Wasp and Gnat, OSCar, Novation BassStation and SuperNova, has lost a two-year battle with cancer and passed away on 22 October 2020 in Headington, the suburb of Oxford he had made his home for 40 years.
Chris originally hailed from the North East but moved to Oxford originally to work as a service engineer for Ferrographs 3M multitrack tape machines and it was in this capacity that he made a service call to Red Gables in Stonesfield, Oxford in 1977 to provide a regular maintenance check on the multitrack in electronic composer Adrian Wagners Electronic Dream Plant studio.
Adrian had been recording synth-based albums there for several years for the Charisma label but had been toying with the idea of producing a low-cost synth to make synthesis more widely available.
Adrian mentioned this to Chris, who had been looking to move from service to design, and very quickly Chris understood that the new MOS-FET technologies he had been reading up on could be used to realise Adrians dream of an everyman synth. Chris worked evenings and weekends to design what became known as the Wasp while Adrian set up a limited company called Electronic Dream Plant (of which Chris was also a director) to manufacture and market the black and yellow plastic-cased synth, which also housed a built-in speaker in case an impoverished owner didnt have an amp or headphones to listen to it with.
EDP Wasp synthesizer.The Wasp was one of the very first synths (along with early PPG designs by Wolfgang Palm) to have digital oscillators for absolute tuning stability but most owners refer to it as an analogue synth because of the warmth and power of its filters. Rod Argents Keyboards, the leading UK retailer of synths at the time, took it on straight away and had immediate success, expanding their operation into distribution and sold thousands in the first couple of years. Keyboard players like Dave Greenfield of The Stranglers used its capacitance-sensitive keyboard (with no moving parts) to play very fast arpeggios that impressed the ear far more than the case impressed the eye. Dave Stewart of The Eurythmics even micd up the speaker for transistor radio bandwidth sounds.
Unfortunately, Adrians desire to hit the £199 price point meant that there was not enough profit in each unit sold and reliability issues dampened Argents enthusiasm. By 1980, the company was in financial difficulties despite the healthy sales and had to be wound up leaving Adrian and Chris with huge debts. Chris declined to be a director of Electronic Dream Plant (Oxford) Ltd but licensed them to manufacture his new design, the even more economically priced Gnat, a single oscillator version of the Wasp with an innovative preset Pulse Width Modulation waveform (called Enhance) to make it sound fat and beefy in the bass end. They also continued manufacture of the Wasp and the Spider 256-step digital sequencer (designed by Stephen Evans of Oxford University).
When Oxford languages graduate (and SOS contributor) Paul Wiffen was hired to launch the Gnat at the February 1981 Frankfurt Musikmesse (Adrian saw international distribution as the way forward), he soon realised that the instruments had not been designed by anyone currently working for the company and asked Adrians wife Kathy who had done the designs. She told him that Chris was now working as a washing machine tester in nearby Banbury and agreed to introduce him to Paul at a Wasp & Gnat demo he was doing at the legendary Oxford Union debating society.
OSCar Chris and Paul hit it off immediately and began to trade ideas for a more professional implementation of Chris trademark innovations. As the fortunes of the second company began to fail (there was still insufficient profit in each unit sold), they resolved to set up a new company to manufacture and distribute a £599 price point synth with a real keyboard, a built-in sequencer/arpeggiator, additive synthesis of custom waveforms and the ability to split the two oscillators for duophonic performance.
Chris parents put up the money to start the company and the name Oxford Synthesiser Company was adopted to boost the credibility and profile. During the design phase, they referred to it as the OSC model A but this soon became OSCar.
OSCar synthesizer - designed by Chris Huggett.
By the end of 1981, the second EDP company was in receivership leaving Paul unpaid but he found work with Elka voicing and demoing the Synthex until the OSCar was ready to launch at the 1983 Frankfurt show, where it picked up French distribution and PPG agreed to distribute it in Germany. Paul would hitchhike from London to Chris flat in Headington to voice the workbench prototype. By the time it shipped in April, Paul was working part-time at Argents in London, who then agreed to give Chris designs another try.
The OSCar quickly found its way into the hands of Ultravox, who bought three (preset one had been modelled on Billy Curries ARP Odyssey through a distortion pedal lead sound using the overdriven filter feature), and Geoff Downes bought one in time for the third Asia album.
Chris during his time at Novation.Photo: courtesy of NovationLoves Great Adventure (featuring that lead sound and a digital waveform sequence between verse and chorus) charted and Ultravox used the OSCar on several Top Of The Pops appearances replacing both Odyssey and Minimoog; the word spread like wildfire that there was a new British synth in town and sales rocketed. Geoff Downes used it in an Asia video and live concert on MTV and PPGs US distributor Europa Technologies ordered 200.
Stevie Wonder used the synth on his hit single Skeletons, Jean-Michel Jarre got Dominique Perrier to play some virtuoso OSCar solos on Revolutions, S-Express used it on Top Of The Pops performing
Europe Stories
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
01/05/2026
January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...
01/04/2026
January 4 2026, 18:00 (PST) DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION
Douyin Users Can Now Create And Share Videos With Stun...
08/01/2026
It will be murder on the dancefloor when Dancing with the Stars returns this S...
07/01/2026
Spotify is launching a week-long celebration spotlighting creators at the center...
07/01/2026
We know people use Spotify not just to listen, but to share the songs, podcasts, and audiobooks they love with their friends and family. When we launched Messag...
07/01/2026
This week, all eyes are on the podcast industry as the Golden Globes recognizes ...
07/01/2026
Podcasts are stepping onto a new stage this week as the Golden Globes recognize the medium for the first time. To mark this milestone moment, we're hosting ...
06/01/2026
Spotify is launching a week-long celebration spotlighting creators at the center...
06/01/2026
Lorde. A$AP Rocky. JENNIE. Baby Keem. KATSEYE. That's just a taste of who...
06/01/2026
Channel 4 and UKTV are giving viewers even more reasons to stream, with UKTV's U service set to feature thousands of hours of free, unmissable and bingeable...
06/01/2026
Tuesday 6 January 2026
An update on our Sky Mobile prices
Devesh Raj, Chief Operating Officer, Sky
Today, we've announced some changes to the prices of ...
06/01/2026
Comscore Launches Daily Program-Level Reporting with Deduplicated Insights on Sh...
06/01/2026
Comscore Completes Recapitalization Transaction with Preferred Stockholders Foll...
05/01/2026
Bad Bunny's DeB TiRAR M S FOToS defined the sound of 2025 for listeners eve...
05/01/2026
As the clock struck midnight and 2026 was born, so was an exciting range of new ...
05/01/2026
These Sacred Vows starring Tom Vaughan-Lawlor, Justine Mitchell and Jason O'...
05/01/2026
DANDANCING WITH THE STARS RETURNS TO SHAKE UP SUNDAY NIGHTS
Reigning Rose of Tr...
02/01/2026
Any Given Day: Cork University Hospital premieres Wednesday 7 January on RT One and RT Player at 9:35pm
RT will debut a powerful new six-part documentary se...
02/01/2026
Friday 2 January 2026
All episodes of Heated Rivalry will be landing on Sky and...
02/01/2026
Sequins, chat shows, live sporting action, ground-breaking docuseries and brand-new Irish drama to kick off 2026
New Year, New Content Coming Soon across RT
...
01/01/2026
We had been using the club's previous console for the last ten years, so we researched manufacturer information very carefully, says venue audio manager Mr...
30/12/2025
Your live countdown to 2026 with Inhaler, David Gray, Lyra, Garron Noone, Sharon...
29/12/2025
From crisper Lossless audio and immersive music videos in beta to new Audiobooks+ plans, custom transitions between tracks, and in-app Messages, we keep levelin...
24/12/2025
RT has unveiled an exclusive first look at the new Dancing with the Stars promo...
23/12/2025
The year is winding down, the weather outside is frightful, and it's the perfect time to escape into a story that warms the heart. For listeners looking for...
23/12/2025
23 Dec 2025
VEON's Beeline Kazakhstan and Rakuten Symphony Collaborate to A...
22/12/2025
For a decade, popular German podcast Fest & Flauschig has hosted an annual Chris...
22/12/2025
Monday 22 December 2025
Sky extends PGA TOUR partnership until 2029, as Sky Spo...
22/12/2025
Siobh n McSweeney, Rory McIlroy, Elon Musk, Catherine Connolly, Jim Gavin, Ivan Yates and Traitor Paudie Moloney lead new characters for Callan Kicks the Year 2...
22/12/2025
Winner announced in the picturesque surroundings of Wicklow's Avondale Tower and Treetop Walk
Andrew Trimble wins the show in his first series as coach
Th...
22/12/2025
The 2025 winners have been announced today, Sunday 21 December, for Ireland's largest choral competition Choirs for Christmas hosted by RT lyric fm.
Ove...
21/12/2025
John Shortt named Young Sportsperson of the Year Kerry are the Team of the Year
...
19/12/2025
With Playout Release 2025.4, ToolsOnAir continues to push professional playout w...
19/12/2025
19 Dec 2025
VEON's Mobilink Microfinance Bank Launches Islamic Banking Oper...
19/12/2025
The six-part drama, set in a close-knit Welsh town fractured by an unspeakable c...
19/12/2025
Rohde & Schwarz drives the future of mobility at CES 2026 At the 2026 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Rohde & Schwarz will present a powerful lineup o...
19/12/2025
RT is proud to return to the RDS to support the 2026 Stripe Young Scientist & T...
18/12/2025
Canada's largest indoor arena has transformed its live production capabilities with a full ST 2110 infrastructure and Calrec's compact Argo S console. S...
18/12/2025
Long-term agreement includes the SES SCORE platform and hybrid distribution worldwide to deliver more than 5,000 hours of golf tournaments annually featuring th...
18/12/2025
18 Dec 2025
VEON Upgraded to Nasdaq Global Select Market, Enhancing Investor Visibility Dubai, December 18, 2025 - VEON Ltd. (Nasdaq: VEON), a global digital o...
18/12/2025
Thursday 18 December 2025
Sky Sports remains the exclusive home of the Masters ...
18/12/2025
Using the additive process of 3D printing, layer after layer gets printed until an object is as close to the final shape needed as possible. Historically, machi...
18/12/2025
In 2025, RT proudly supported 185 arts and cultural events across the island of Ireland, reflecting significant growth since the scheme was re-launched in 2014...
18/12/2025
RT Sports Awards 2025 live on RT One and RT Player at 8:05pm on Saturday 20 December
On Saturday 20 December live on RT One and RT Player at the earlier t...
18/12/2025
RT lyric fm presents a very special Winter Solstice edition of Ambient Orbit, l...
18/12/2025
At 7.45pm on 1st January 1926, the precursor to RT , then 2RN, delivered the fledgling new Irish state's first public radio transmission. From those first c...
18/12/2025
December 18 2025, 05:30 (PST) The Movie Experience SLO Becomes First U.S. Exhib...
Obituary 
