Chris Huggett has left the world one final synth.
The pioneering engineer and designer, who created a string of celebrated electronic instruments in the '70s, '80s and beyond, worked with PWM on a new synth called the Mantis, before passing away in 2020.
The Mantis is now in full production and expected to hit stores in the summer. It's a duophonic synth with digital oscillators and an analogue signal path—with two filters, one for each voice. It also has a drift function that makes the pitch of the oscillators weave in and out of tune subtly, to mimic the sound of old, analogue instruments.
The new synth comes with a 37-note, semi-weighted keyboard with aftertouch and velocity. Its filters can be overdriven to create additional harmonics and distortion, and it has a built-in digital effects section with reverb and chorus, plus an arpeggiator.
According to PWM, the synth was conceived by Huggett as an update of his most famous instrument, the Wasp, which came out in 1978. The year before, Huggett had set up a company called Electronic Dream Plant, which built a range of small, cheap, yellow-and-black synths and sequencers, including the Wasp, the Gnat, the Spider and the Caterpillar. These instruments were successful at the time but known to be unreliable, and EDP went out of business in 1981.
Huggett went on to work with Italian synth company Elka on the Synthex before forming the Oxford Synthesiser Company in 1982. OSC only made one instrument, called the OSCar, which was one of the first digitally programmable synthesisers. Huggett later worked for Akai and Novation, and remained highly involved with the electronic music community. A portion of the profits from the new PWM synth will go to Huggett's family.
Watch a video about the Mantis and Chris Huggett.
The PWM Mantis will ship this summer, priced $1,499, £1,349 or €1,599.