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Average rating:
4.4 out of 5
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I've just found this site with all of these old comments about EDP Wasps. I dunno if anyone who posted before is still looking here, but I just wanted to let you all know that there was a brilliant solution to the problem with the touch-sensitive keyboard: EDP brought out the Caterpillar keyboard controller, which allowed you to connect up to 4 Wasps to the same 3 octave keyboard! It's a proper wood-cased keyboard, and allows you to play the connected Wasps in rotation or even in unison (so you could have 8 oscillators simultaneously!), as well as allowing polyphony as well! I bought my Wasp in 1980 from Jezz Woodroffe (keyboard player with Robert Plant when he was doing his solo stuff) who owned a music shop in Birmingham in England. When the shop went out of business, I was able to buy a Caterpillar controller for next to nothing. I still have both, and they still work fantastically well. When played through a decent system, the sounds are awesome. I really need to try and repair the badly fractured plastic case!
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I was the guitarist and singer with Fashion Music and we used a WASP 1979-80. Our first album Product Perfect on IRS Records has this synth on it. I remember it would sometimes fire random sequences on it's own that sometimes actually improved a song. A great little synth. Eeee, them were the days!
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Chris, I agree. I was unfair and unkind about this little synth. I've played it and tested it and have changed my opinion. The sounds are strong..very prophet like and it looks great. everyone comments on it when entering my workshop. The build is flimsy rather than poor. Certain Italian synths and moog polyphonics are just badly constructed. As a collectable and iconic artefact it is great. I quite like the static keyboard. It usually requires a new stcker and setting up and cleaning. Some of its features are great fun. Great envelopes. Good noise processing through the multi-mode filter. I love the battery power and totally insufficient speaker. The colour scheme makes it unique. Great fun and, and I hate saying this, when you sum it all up, it is probably going to be an expensive machine. It has charm in a way that the JX10 hasn't and that will always put it in demand.
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Mike, I think you're being a bit unfair. Yes, it's cheap and cheerful, then a lot of synths from that time were. It sounds fantastic and it's a bit of synth history. It is a great collectable and an investment. There are far fewer about nowadays. Collectors have put them into the same shrine they reserve for moogs and arps. The sounds are powerful. It's great to have a battery powered synth you can play anywhere. How many of those are there? I've read elsewhere about these synths and similar synths being sold as executive toys. I can imagine that. Record executives are the type of people to have gadgets lying about. Helps them to make bad decisions. Gives them some cred, as well. I've had a wasp for over 20 years. It has never let me down. I had a new keyboard sticker applied some while ago. I have an emotional attachment to it. I could sell on any other synth I have, but never this one. I'd pay £6-800 for a replacement any day. It's worth every penny.
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I've got one in for repair. It's a laugh. The build is about the same as a cheap solid state radio of the same period...even worse. The casing and keyboard are a disgrace if you view the synth in terms of recent prices. Bryn is astonished at one making £600. One went on ebay recently for £820!!!! It makes the tb303 positively good value..I really mean that. The sounds are quite good...about the same as the far superior built cs-01...when did you last see one of those for sale?? As something to own, no, you will be disappointed. There are much better sounding synths out there. The construction is just too poor to make the thing viable. Days of picking one up for £50 are gone. Buy a pro 1 or an sh101 which are miles better. I agree with Bryn, it is no Arp, yet they cost the same?? I must be missing something here?!"££$$ If you pay more than £100 for one. you're mad.
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