Really sad to hear the news today of the death of Chris Huggett last week. Co-founder of Electronic Dream Plant (EDP) and founder of Oxford Synthesiser Company (OSC), he went on to work for Akai and Novation on truly groundbreaking instruments.

Products from EDP included the Wasp, which used digital oscillators and analog filters and envelopes. This theme continued when he set up OSC on what still is one of my favourite synths of all time, the OSCar. I was lucky enough to buy one of the last ones ever made, back in the mid-eighties. But when my Polytechnic grant ran out a couple of years later I had to sell it. Fortunately, I replaced it a few years ago with another late model. Not only a great sounding synth, but an incredible design. I absolutely love it, and still dream of the polyphonic version!

Chris then went to work for Akai, taking his knowledge of digital oscillators to the development of their samplers. He went on to work for Novation, notably on their BassStation and Supernova synths.

Chris Huggett is not the most widely known name in synthesiser history, but the products he helped development surely are. A great legacy.

ian c.