The Jasper: An EDP Wasp Clone.

  • Dual digital oscillators with analog filters
  • First hybrid of its kind
  • +/- 9 and +5vVDC operation
  • Midi Adapter add on, with CV and Gate inputs.
  • Auxiliary trigger controller

 

In 1978 Electronic Dream Plant built one of the worlds first digital/Analog (hybrid) synthesizers. From Wikipedia: “The Wasp was undoubtedly EDP’s most famous product, distinctive for its black/yellow colour scheme and brittle construction. It was notorious for its lack of a mechanical keyboard; instead, it used flat conductive copper plates, hidden under a silk-screened vinyl sticker. This was claimed by some to be unreliable, unintuitive, and devoid of much of the expression present with a real keyboard. Despite these flaws, the Wasp was in fact fairly advanced technologically. It was one of the first commercially available synthesisers to adopt digital technology, which at the time was just beginning to become a standard. It also utilised a proprietary system for connecting several Wasp synthesisers together, predating the invention and standardisation of MIDI by several years. The digital interface should not, however, be confused with MIDI, even though similar DIN plugs are utilised (7-pin DIN instead of the 5-pin DIN which MIDI standardized to). Architecturally, the wasp is a dual digital oscillator synth, with dual envelopes and a single, switchable (low/band/highpass) CMOS-based filter”.

The Wasp was only available for about 3 years, and most of them have died long ago. Fixing them is actually fairly straightforward if you ever find one, and if you want to buy a used one, they are currently fetching $1500 or more on eBay. Collectors want these!

Alternatively, you can build your own. JasonL on the muffwiggler forum, took the service manual and an old EDP Wasp circuit board and painstakingly recreated it. So, to save time and energy, message JasonL on the forum and pick up a printed circuit board. The you will need a service manual which can be downloaded from the web, also ask on the forum for a bill of materials (BOM) or look at the schematic and make your own parts list. Most of the parts are still available. The most expensive part is going to be the switches, don’t be cheap with these either! Finally, there is a Jasper Wasp build thread on the forum, and Jason has provided a pretty straightforward set of assembly instructions. I do not recommend this as a first or second foray into DIY electronics. It is not a kit really, it is an unpopulated circuit board, and you are going to need to know your way around a schematic and an oscilloscope to calibrate it and debug any issues. I had a LM13700 integrated circuit that was faulty and took me several hours stepping through the service manual until I finally came up with the fault. Then once you have built it, you need to build a case for it. You actually don’t have to case it, but it will certainly protect it a bit.

How does it sound? Since it is 99.5% identical it sounds pretty much like a Wasp does. Here is a video: Jasper Wasp. Here is a composition called ‘Steam 2’ which is just the Jasper Wasp running amok.

Here are the build images: