{{Short description|British engineer and inventor (1949–2020)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}} {{Infobox engineer |name = Chris Huggett |birth_date = 1949 |death_date = 22 October 2020 (age 71) |occupation = Engineer, designer }}

'''Chris Huggett''' (1949<ref name="SOS">{{cite web |last1=Wiffen |first1=Paul |title=RIP Chris Huggett: Great British Synth Designer |url=https://www.soundonsound.com/news/rip-chris-huggett-great-british-synth-designer |website=www.soundonsound.com |publisher=Sound on Sound |access-date=11 January 2021 |date=28 October 2020}}</ref> - 22 October 2020) was a British engineer and designer who co-founded Electronic Dream Plant (EDP), founded Oxford Synthesiser Company and who was also a design consultant for Novation Digital Music Systems, Paul Whittington Group Ltd, and other manufacturers of audio technology.

== Electronic Dream Plant == [[Image:Electronic Dream Plant Wasp Synthesizer.jpg|thumb|160px|EDP WASP]] {{main|Electronic Dream Plant}}

In 1977, Huggett had been working for Ferrograph, for 3M in their digital multi-track division, and as a freelance studio maintenance engineer. He met up with synthesist Adrian Wagner (a descendant of the German composer Richard Wagner), who had ideas for an inexpensive synthesiser.<ref name="Mark Vail 1993, p. 54">{{harvnb|Vail|1993|p=54}} &nbsp; (see also {{harvnb|Vail|2000|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=tNci9y0jlRgC&dq=Chris%20Huggett&pg=PA63 63]}})</ref> Electronic Dream Plant (commonly abbreviated to EDP), a British synthesiser manufacturing firm in Oxfordshire was formed.<ref name="colbeck1996p19">{{harvnb|Colbeck|1996|p=19}}</ref>

Huggett designed EDP's most successful product, the Wasp,<ref name="SynthGems">{{cite book|last=Metlay|first=Mike|title=Synth Gems|publisher=Bjooks ApS|location=Denmark|date=2021|isbn=978-87-999995-4-5|page=213}}</ref> a synthesiser with a hybrid digital VCO / analog VCF design. Employing a unique contact keyboard (with no moving parts), the Wasp was priced at £199 (about {{Inflation|UK|199|1978|r=-1}} GBP today), which was less than half the price of any comparable synth at the time.<ref name="Mark Vail 1993, p. 54"/>

Huggett later designed the Spider sequencer and the Gnat synthesiser<ref name=SOS_Feb1995> {{cite journal | author = Chris Carter | title = EDP Wasp | url = http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/1995_articles/feb95/edpwasp.html | journal = Sound on Sound | issue = February 1995 }} </ref> before EDP's demise in the end of 1981<ref name=vail2000p64>{{harvnb|Vail|2000|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=tNci9y0jlRgC&dq=Chris%20Huggett&pg=PA64 64]}}: "''[...] neither company lasted very long. By the end of 1981, production of Wasps, Spiders, Gnats, and Caterpillars had stopped.''"</ref> or 1982.

== Oxford Synthesiser Company == [[Image:OSC OSCar.jpg|thumb|160px|OSC OSCar]] {{main|OSC OSCar}}

After EDP, Huggett went on to form Oxford Synthesiser Company (OSC) with financing and management from his parents.<ref name=vail1993p56>{{harvnb|Vail|1993|p=56}} &nbsp; (see also {{harvnb|Vail|2000|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=tNci9y0jlRgC&dq=Chris%20Huggett&pg=PA64 64]}}: "''In 1983, Huggett reemerged with the OSCar, produced by the Oxford Synthesiser Company, which was financed and run by Huggett's parents.''")</ref> He designed the OSC OSCar with Paul Wiffen and Anthony Harris-Griffin.<ref name=colbeck1996p92>{{harvnb|Colbeck|1996|p=92}}</ref><ref name=SynthGems/> The OSCar was intended to be an affordable yet sophisticated performance synthesiser with state-of-the-art sounds. The OSCar was a more substantial synthesiser than the Wasp, with two digital oscillators and a full-size three-octave keyboard. The OSCar was also one of the first digitally programmable synthesisers, and included both an arpeggiator and a step sequencer.<ref> {{cite web | author = Mark Cottle | title = Introduction | url = http://www.airburst.co.uk/oscar/intro.htm | work = The OSCar Homepage (airburst.co.uk) }}</ref>

== Akai == [[Image:Akai S1000.jpg|thumb|160px|Akai S1000]] {{main|Akai|Akai S1000}}

Huggett later moved on to Akai, where he wrote the operating system for the Akai S1000 sampler alongside David Cockerell, who designed the hardware. Huggett remained at Akai for successive models of Akai's rackmount sampler line, including the S3200, whose operating system he completed in 1993.<ref name=vail1993p57>{{harvnb|Vail|1993|p=57}} &nbsp; (see also {{harvnb|Vail|2000|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=tNci9y0jlRgC&dq=Chris%20Huggett&pg=PA64 64]}}: "''After working as a freelance programmer for Akai for over a decade, during which he created operating systems for their samplers, Chris Huggett is now on the design staff for Novation.''") </ref>

== Novation Digital Music Systems == {{multiple image |align=right |direction=vertical |width=160 |image1=Novation SuperNova II (rear).jpg|caption1=Supernova II (rear) |image2=Novation Nova.jpg |caption2=Nova |image3=Novation X-Station 49.jpg |caption3=X-Station 49 |image4=Remote 25.jpg |caption4=Remote 25 |image5=Novation Remote 25SL.jpg |caption5=Remote 25 SL }} {{main|Novation Digital Music Systems}}

While working for Akai, Huggett provided advice and support to Novation's founders, working on the development of the BassStation, which used similar Oscillators and filters as the Wasp. He later joined Novation full time to design the Novation Supernova.<ref name=SOS_Sep1999> {{cite journal | author = Paul Wiffen | title = Oxford Synthesizer Company Oscar | url = http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/sep99/articles/oscar.htm | journal = Sound on Sound | issue = September 1999 }} </ref> Huggett's involvement with Novation had continued through many of their hardware synths and MIDI controllers ever since, including the Nova family of synths, the Bass Station II, the Peak and Summit synths, and the ReMOTE & ReMOTE SL series of controllers.<ref name=Chris_Huggett_and_the_History_of_Novation> {{cite web|date=2007-08-07 |title=Chris Huggett and the history of Novation |url=http://img3.musiciansfriend.com/dbase/pdf/spec/701053.pdf |work=Press Release |publisher=Novation |location=High Wycombe, UK |quote=''If you look back at the Novation range of synthes, controllers and modules, there is one man who has been involved almost from the start. That man is Chris Huggett and he has been a major design influence in the Supernova 1&2, Nova, A- and K-Station, KS range, ReMOTE 25/25 Audio, X-Station, and the latest ReMOTE SL controller range with its revolutionary Automap mode ... But Chris' career didn't start with Novation - far from it! ...'' |url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718064120/http://img3.musiciansfriend.com/dbase/pdf/spec/701053.pdf |archivedate=July 18, 2011 }} </ref><ref name=SynthGems/>

==Death== Huggett passed away on 22 October 2020,<ref>{{cite news |title=R.I.P Chris Huggett, The Maker Of The EDP WASP & Other Iconic Hybrid Synthesisers |url=https://www.synthanatomy.com/2020/10/rip-chris-huggett-the-maker-of-the-edp-wasp-other-iconic-hybrid-synthesizers.html |accessdate=25 October 2020 |work=Synth Anatomy |date=25 October 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Chris Huggett † Synthesizer Entwickler ist gestorben (Novation, Akai, EDP, OSC) |url=https://www.sequencer.de/blog/chris-huggett-†-synthesizer-konstrukteur-ist-gestorben-novation-akai-edp-osc/43831 |accessdate=25 October 2020 |work=sequencer.de |date=25 October 2020 |language=de-DE}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=British Synth Designer Chris Huggett Has Died |url=https://www.synthtopia.com/content/2020/10/25/british-synth-designer-chris-huggett-has-died/ |accessdate=27 October 2020 |work=Synthtopia |date=26 October 2020}}</ref> of cancer.<ref>{{cite tweet |user=WeAreNovation |number=1321059121228107776 |date=27 October 2020 |title=We are deeply saddened by the death of long-time Novation collaborator Chris Huggett.}}</ref>

==See also== * Electronic Dream Plant * AKAI Professional * Novation Digital Music Systems

== References == <!--- See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Footnotes on how to create references using <ref></ref> tags which will then appear here automatically -->

;Bibliography *{{cite book |ref={{sfnref|Vail|1993}} | author1 = Paul Wiffen | author2 = Mark Vail | title = Vintage Synthesisers | date = 1993 | publisher = <!-- GPI Books Division -->, Miller Freeman, 1993 <!-- publication-date = 1993 --> | isbn = 978-0-87930-275-7 }} *{{cite book |ref = {{sfnref|Vail|2000}} |author = Mark Vail |title = Vintage Synthesisers |year = 2000 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=tNci9y0jlRgC |publisher = Backbeat Books, 2000 <!-- publication-date = 2000 --> |isbn = 978-0-87930-603-8 }}{{Dead link|date=June 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} *{{cite book |ref={{sfnref|Colbeck|1996}} | author = Julian Colbeck | title = Keyfax Omnibus Edition | publisher = MixBooks, 1996 | isbn = 978-0-918371-08-9 <!-- publication-date = 1996 --> }}

;Citations {{Reflist}}

==External links== {{Commons category|Chris Huggett}} * {{cite web | title = Electronic Musical Instrument 1870 - 1980 | url = http://www.keyboardmuseum.com/pre60/older.html | publisher = Keyboard Museum | archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20101124181349/http://keyboardmuseum.com/pre60/older.html | archivedate = 2010-11-24 }} * [https://resource.novationmusic.com/novation-heritage Biography on Novation's website]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Huggett, Chris}} Category:2020 deaths Category:Inventors of musical instruments Category:Place of birth missing Category:Place of death missing Category:British electronics engineers Category:Deaths from cancer in the United Kingdom Category:20th-century British engineers Category:1949 births