OSCar? EDP Wasp? Octave CAT? #47

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opened 2026-10-12 22:30:12 +00:00 by bcox · 0 comments

bcox commented

2026-10-12 22:30:12 +00:00

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OSCar? EDP Wasp? Octave CAT?

Filled in on 2026-10-12 at Ben's asking, who filed it with the line above and no more. Everything below is from recollection, with no manual read; issue #20's list was wrong in several places for the same reason, so read the manuals first and correct this. The recommendation is Claude's and is Ben's to accept or not.

Three unrelated instruments by three makers. All pass the rule of 2026-10-12 (#26). Recommendation: the OSCar and the Wasp are each a new instrument; the CAT is a new instrument too if it is wanted at all, and is the one to leave out. None is a setting of anything here. If any is taken up, it wants a ticket of its own and this one closed.

OSCar: a new instrument

Oxford Synthesiser Company OSCar (1983). One voice, or two played duophonically; 37 keys.
Oscillators. Two, made by its processor: a triangle, a sawtooth, a square, pulses with modulated width, and waveforms the player builds by setting the level of each of 24 harmonics.
Filter. Analogue: two 12 dB filters in a row, as a low-pass, a band-pass or a high-pass of 24 dB, with a separation control that moves the two cutoffs apart, for two peaks. An overdrive.
Also. Two envelopes, made by the processor, with repeat; an LFO; glide in several ways; an arpeggiator and a sequencer; 36 memories; MIDI on later ones.
Here already: two engine/state_variable_filter.h in a row is what mini-JP's filter.two_stage is, and separation is the two given different cutoffs; engine/duophonic.h; engine/portamento.h.
Wanted: an oscillator that reads a single-cycle table made from harmonics, band-limited by leaving out the harmonics that would fold. The DW-8000's wave_rom.h and oscillator.h do the reading; a second instrument wanting it is the reason to move that into engine/.
Provenance. A waveform made from harmonics the player sets is ours to compute. The factory's own harmonic waveforms and sounds are data in a ROM and are not shipped (rules 3 and 4). Its program is not used.
Its sequencer goes to #56.

EDP Wasp: a new instrument, a small one

Electronic Dream Plant Wasp (1978), with the Wasp Deluxe (real keys, a level for each oscillator, an external input) and the Gnat (one oscillator) as settings. One voice, a touch keyboard of two octaves, a speaker.
Oscillators. Two, digital, from logic chips: a sawtooth and a pulse, with a width control. Noise.
Filter. A two-pole multimode, low-pass, band-pass and high-pass, built of CMOS logic inverters used as amplifiers, which is its sound: it distorts in its own way as it is driven.
Also. Two envelopes with repeat; an LFO in several shapes, a random one among them; a glide. A link socket, by which the Spider sequencer and other Wasps were joined.
Here already: engine/state_variable_filter.h, which the SH-5 and the SEM family use; engine/analog_oscillator.h; engine/sample_hold.h. It would cost about what the SH-101 does.
The catch: built clean it is an SH-101 with a state-variable filter. What a Wasp is known for is that filter's distortion, which waits on measurement (#4), as the MS-20's does. It has no processor and no ROM, so its schematic is the whole of it and may be used (rule 3).
More than one voice, as the SH-101 was given, is what its link socket was for.

Octave CAT: the one to leave out, or a new instrument

Octave CAT (1976) and CAT SRM (1978), with the Kitten (1977), which has one VCO. Two VCOs, duophonic, 37 keys.
VCOs. Each gives several waveforms at once, each with a slider of its own in the mixer, a sub-octave among them. Each VCO can modulate the other and the filter at audio rate; sync.
Filter. A four-pole low-pass, discrete on the first and a chip (recalled as the SSM 2040) on the SRM.
Also. An ADSR and an AR, an LFO, a sample and hold, noise, a glide.
It is very near the Odyssey, which is why ARP took Octave to court. Everything it would be built from is the Odyssey's: engine/duophonic.h, engine/duophonic_glide.h, engine/wave_vco.h, engine/keyed_lfo.h, engine/sample_hold.h and the shared filter.
Not settings of mini-Ody, though: another mixer, sub-octaves, cross modulation both ways, and another maker. So it would be an instrument of its own that sounds, built clean, much as mini-Ody does. That is the reason to declare it out, unless the owner wants it for itself.
The Voyetra Eight (#46) is the same firm's, later, and nothing like it.

> OSCar? EDP Wasp? Octave CAT? Filled in on 2026-10-12 at Ben's asking, who filed it with the line above and no more. **Everything below is from recollection, with no manual read**; issue #20's list was wrong in several places for the same reason, so read the manuals first and correct this. The recommendation is Claude's and is Ben's to accept or not. Three unrelated instruments by three makers. All pass the rule of 2026-10-12 (#26). **Recommendation: the OSCar and the Wasp are each a new instrument; the CAT is a new instrument too if it is wanted at all, and is the one to leave out.** None is a setting of anything here. If any is taken up, it wants a ticket of its own and this one closed. ## OSCar: a new instrument - **Oxford Synthesiser Company OSCar** (1983). One voice, or two played duophonically; 37 keys. - **Oscillators.** Two, made by its processor: a triangle, a sawtooth, a square, pulses with modulated width, and **waveforms the player builds by setting the level of each of 24 harmonics**. - **Filter.** Analogue: two 12 dB filters in a row, as a low-pass, a band-pass or a high-pass of 24 dB, with a **separation** control that moves the two cutoffs apart, for two peaks. An overdrive. - **Also.** Two envelopes, made by the processor, with repeat; an LFO; glide in several ways; an arpeggiator and a sequencer; 36 memories; MIDI on later ones. - **Here already:** two `engine/state_variable_filter.h` in a row is what mini-JP's `filter.two_stage` is, and separation is the two given different cutoffs; `engine/duophonic.h`; `engine/portamento.h`. - **Wanted:** an oscillator that reads a single-cycle table made from harmonics, band-limited by leaving out the harmonics that would fold. The DW-8000's `wave_rom.h` and `oscillator.h` do the reading; a second instrument wanting it is the reason to move that into `engine/`. - **Provenance.** A waveform made from harmonics the player sets is ours to compute. The factory's own harmonic waveforms and sounds are data in a ROM and are not shipped (rules 3 and 4). Its program is not used. - Its sequencer goes to #56. ## EDP Wasp: a new instrument, a small one - **Electronic Dream Plant Wasp** (1978), with the **Wasp Deluxe** (real keys, a level for each oscillator, an external input) and the **Gnat** (one oscillator) as settings. One voice, a touch keyboard of two octaves, a speaker. - **Oscillators.** Two, digital, from logic chips: a sawtooth and a pulse, with a width control. Noise. - **Filter.** A two-pole multimode, low-pass, band-pass and high-pass, **built of CMOS logic inverters used as amplifiers**, which is its sound: it distorts in its own way as it is driven. - **Also.** Two envelopes with repeat; an LFO in several shapes, a random one among them; a glide. A link socket, by which the Spider sequencer and other Wasps were joined. - **Here already:** `engine/state_variable_filter.h`, which the SH-5 and the SEM family use; `engine/analog_oscillator.h`; `engine/sample_hold.h`. It would cost about what the SH-101 does. - **The catch:** built clean it is an SH-101 with a state-variable filter. What a Wasp is known for is that filter's distortion, which waits on measurement (#4), as the MS-20's does. It has no processor and no ROM, so its schematic is the whole of it and may be used (rule 3). - More than one voice, as the SH-101 was given, is what its link socket was for. ## Octave CAT: the one to leave out, or a new instrument - **Octave CAT** (1976) and **CAT SRM** (1978), with the **Kitten** (1977), which has one VCO. Two VCOs, duophonic, 37 keys. - **VCOs.** Each gives several waveforms at once, each with a slider of its own in the mixer, a sub-octave among them. Each VCO can modulate the other and the filter at audio rate; sync. - **Filter.** A four-pole low-pass, discrete on the first and a chip (recalled as the SSM 2040) on the SRM. - **Also.** An ADSR and an AR, an LFO, a sample and hold, noise, a glide. - **It is very near the Odyssey**, which is why ARP took Octave to court. Everything it would be built from is the Odyssey's: `engine/duophonic.h`, `engine/duophonic_glide.h`, `engine/wave_vco.h`, `engine/keyed_lfo.h`, `engine/sample_hold.h` and the shared filter. - **Not settings of mini-Ody**, though: another mixer, sub-octaves, cross modulation both ways, and another maker. So it would be an instrument of its own that sounds, built clean, much as mini-Ody does. **That is the reason to declare it out**, unless the owner wants it for itself. - The Voyetra Eight (#46) is the same firm's, later, and nothing like it.

bcox referenced this issue

2026-10-13 00:49:49 +00:00

Octave Plateau Voyetra Eight #46

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