Finding OSCar
The OSCar synthesiser, designed by Chris Huggett in 1982, was launched in time to make an important contribution to the major wave of synthpop. But, as a hybrid monosynth, it also arrived just as Roland and Yamaha were releasing affordable polyphonic digital synths running on custom chips. Consequently, it sold modestly. But its architecture and versatility afforded it a unique palette of sounds that has seldom been imitated. Today, OSCar is a classic instrument. About five hundred or so are still around, preserved in working order. They change hands for about five times their inflation-corrected original retail price.
This talk is about working with a company that acquired the rights to the OSCar design and trademark after Chris's death. Little of the original design work remains apart from what is already online: a pencil schematic that doesn't reflect the final production PCBs; firmware on an 8 kilobyte EPROM; photocopies of the original user manual. What we do have is Chris's own OSCar synth, good modern software disassembly tools, official permission to continue his legacy, and a genuine terror of messing up.
In this talk, I will attempt to bring together four strands. First, the question of authenticity and how one faithfully continues a legacy that somewhat ended forty years ago. Second, the correct approach to take when presuming to succeed a well-loved and unique musical instrument. Third, the way that we use new tools to shed light on old hardware and firmware. Finally, a consideration of the clever tricks that Chris Huggett employed to create, at the scale of a small business, a synthesiser of enduring quality and versatility from a Z80A processor, a single 8-bit DAC, and a handful of voltage-controlled amplifiers.
Ben Supper
Prioprietor
Supperware Ltd
Ben engineers synthesisers, loudspeakers, MIDI controllers, and other products for various companies, and sells spatial audio hardware via his own company, Supperware.
He likes solving problems that combine elements of acoustic design, hardware, firmware, DSP, and application development. The first half of his career was spent mostly at Focusrite and ROLI, running the latter's R&D team and realising that he prefers the lab to the boardroom, but doesn't get to choose.
Ben's been involved with ADC since it started in 2015. He's spoken about MIDI, spatial audio, the craft of making hardware, and on weathering a demanding and satisfying trade, the practitioners of which are often invisible.