The OSCar was a
synthesizer
A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis ...
manufactured by the
Oxford Synthesiser Company from 1983 to 1985. It was ahead of its time in several ways and its later versions were among the few mono-synths of its time to have
MIDI
MIDI (; Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a technical standard that describes a communications protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, computers, an ...
.
Around 2000 were made.
[
]
History
When synthesizer manufacturer
Electronic Dream Plant Electronic Dream Plant (EDP) was a small British synthesizer manufacturer, active during the late 1970s and early 1980s. At the time their products were not particularly successful commercially. In later years products like the "WASP" became prized ...
folded in 1982,
Chris Huggett
Chris Huggett (1949 - 22 October 2020) was a British engineer and designer who co-founded Electronic Dream Plant (EDP), founded Oxford Synthesiser Company and who was also a design consultant for Novation Digital Music Systems, Paul Whittington ...
went on to form the
Oxford Synthesiser Company.
[ The OSCar synthesizer was launched in 1983. Chris Huggett designed the electronics while independent product designer Anthony Harrison-Griffin was responsible for the unique look and build of the OSCar.
]
Design and features
Harrison-Griffin's use of distinctive black rubberized components to protect the controls and main casing became one of the instrument's most distinctive visual features. He even built a dummy 3-pin mains socket into the ends to safely store the plug.
While the basic structure of the OSCar is the common subtractive synthesis
Subtractive synthesis is a method of sound synthesis in which partials of an audio signal (often one rich in harmonics) are attenuated by a filter to alter the timbre of the sound. While subtractive synthesis can be applied to any source audio ...
model, it has many unusual features and design quirks. The main difference from other synthesizers of the time was its digital oscillators and control system. The oscillators have an array of standard wave shapes including triangle
A triangle is a polygon with three edges and three vertices. It is one of the basic shapes in geometry. A triangle with vertices ''A'', ''B'', and ''C'' is denoted \triangle ABC.
In Euclidean geometry, any three points, when non- colli ...
, sawtooth, square
In Euclidean geometry, a square is a regular quadrilateral, which means that it has four equal sides and four equal angles (90-degree angles, π/2 radian angles, or right angles). It can also be defined as a rectangle with two equal-length a ...
and a variable pulse-width modulation
Pulse-width modulation (PWM), or pulse-duration modulation (PDM), is a method of reducing the average power delivered by an electrical signal, by effectively chopping it up into discrete parts. The average value of voltage (and current) fed ...
, but the digital system also provides additive synthesis
Additive synthesis is a sound synthesis technique that creates timbre by adding sine waves together.
The timbre of musical instruments can be considered in the light of Fourier theory to consist of multiple harmonic or inharmonic '' partials'' ...
. New waveforms can be created by changing the amplitudes of up to 24 harmonic
A harmonic is a wave with a frequency that is a positive integer multiple of the '' fundamental frequency'', the frequency of the original periodic signal, such as a sinusoidal wave. The original signal is also called the ''1st harmonic'', ...
s, widening the available sound palette in comparison with purely analogue synths. The two oscillators can either be played together monophonically, or the OSCar can be set in a duophonic mode where they keyboard controls one oscillator and the sequencer the other.[
The filter consists of two 12 dB/Oct ]analog filter
Analogue filters are a basic building block of signal processing much used in electronics. Amongst their many applications are the separation of an audio signal before application to bass, mid-range, and tweeter loudspeakers; the combining and ...
s that can be combined into either a 24 dB low pass, a 24 dB high pass or a 12 dB bandpass filter. A similar design had been known from other analog synths of the era, such as the Roland Jupiter-6
The Roland Jupiter-6 (JP-6) is a discontinued synthesizer, manufactured and introduced by the Roland Corporation in January 1983.
Background
Although introduced as a less expensive ($2,500-$3,000 market price) alternative to the Roland Jupiter- ...
, but the OSCar has its own unique twist on it, by having a "Separation" control that allowed separate cutoff frequencies for the filters. The resulting two resonance peaks can give a unique "vocal" character.[
The OSCar has an elementary sequencer. In duophonic mode it allows the user to play a monophonic lead whilst a sequence plays simultaneously. Many sequencers at the time could only play notes of a fixed length but on the OSCar it was possible to lengthen individual notes or insert rests.][
]
Users
Although only 2000 OSCars were made they found their way into many professional hands. Ultravox
Ultravox (earlier styled as Ultravox!) were a British new wave band, formed in London in April 1974 as Tiger Lily. Between 1980 and 1986, they scored seven Top Ten albums and seventeen Top 40 singles in the UK, the most successful of which was ...
used one for the solo on "Love's Great Adventure
"Love's Great Adventure" is a single released by Ultravox on 12 October 1984. Having enjoyed massive radio airplay that autumn, the single became Ultravox's thirteenth Top 30 single in Britain, and was their last major hit in the UK, peaking at ...
", and it is used for the bass on Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris ( Judkins; May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, who is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include rhythm and blues, pop, sou ...
's "Skeletons
A skeleton is the structural frame that supports the body of an animal. There are several types of skeletons, including the exoskeleton, which is the stable outer shell of an organism, the endoskeleton, which forms the support structure inside ...
", Jean-Michel Jarre
Jean-Michel André Jarre (; born 24 August 1948) is a French composer, performer and record producer. He is a pioneer in the electronic, ambient and new-age genres, and is known for organising outdoor spectacles featuring his music, accompani ...
's ''Revolutions
In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...
'' Overture, and "Do They Know It's Christmas?
"Do They Know It's Christmas?" is a charity song written in 1984 by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise money for the 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia. It was first recorded by Band Aid, a supergroup assembled by Geldof and Ure consisting of popu ...
".
It can be seen in the video for S'Express
S'Express (pronounced ''ess-express''; sometimes spelled S'Xpress or S-Express) were a British dance music act from the late 1980s, who had one of the earliest commercial successes in the acid house genre.
"Theme from S'Express", which containe ...
' " Mantra for a State of Mind".
Emulation
Th
GForce impOSCar
is a software emulation of the OSC OSCar.
See also
* Electronic Dream Plant Electronic Dream Plant (EDP) was a small British synthesizer manufacturer, active during the late 1970s and early 1980s. At the time their products were not particularly successful commercially. In later years products like the "WASP" became prized ...
* AKAI professional
* Novation Digital Music Systems
References
Further reading
* Mark Vail, ''Vintage Synthesizers: Groundbreaking Instruments and Pioneering Designers of Electronic Music Synthesizers'', pub Backbeat Books (2000),
External links
The OSCar pages
- website dedicated to the OSCar
Vintage Synth Explorer
- listing for OScar
{{DEFAULTSORT:Osc Oscar
Synthesizers
Analog/digital hybrid synthesizers
Monophonic synthesizers