The Hugget Legacy: From The Wasp to The Bass Station and Beyond

Musician and documentarian Alex Ball has released another fantastic deep dive into synthesizer history with his video, 'MonoCulture: The Story of the Bass Station.' The film expertly charts the journey of the iconic monosynth that found its way onto countless records.

But as the video shows, to understand the Bass Station, you first have to understand the career of the legendary designer behind it. Inspired by Alex Ball's excellent documentary, let's explore the incredible legacy of Chris Hugget.

MonoCulture: The Story of the Bass Station

The Early Experiments: Wasp & OSCar

Oxford Synthesizer Company OSCar

Let's rewind to the late 1970s. Engineer Chris Hugget and musician Adrian Wagner founded Electronic Dream Plant (EDP) with one goal: build a powerful but affordable synthesizer. The result was the 1978 EDP Wasp.

To keep costs down, Hugget cleverly fit all the electronics onto a single circuit board. It used digitally controlled oscillators (DCOs) —some of the earliest of their kind—and a famously aggressive multi-mode filter. Housed in a lightweight plastic body with a unique capacitive touch keyboard, it was quirky and powerful. For just £199, the Wasp gave artists like Duran Duran, The Cure, and Orbital their first taste of synthesis.

After EDP closed, Hugget founded the Oxford Synthesiser Company (OSC) and in 1983 created the OSCar. This was a monumental leap. It was duophonic, had patch memory, and featured a sophisticated oscillator section capable of additive synthesis. Its most brilliant feature, though, was Hugget's filter. It was a pair of 12dB filters that could be split with a 'separation' control, creating complex, independent resonant peaks. The OSCar found its way into the setups of Ultravox, Stevie Wonder, and Trent Reznor. But like the Wasp, it was a cult hit, not a massive commercial success. After OSC, Hugget would go on to co-design the legendary Akai S1000 sampler.

{PRODUCT-HEADER-STANDALONE-32013-waspdeluxe}

{PRODUCT-HEADER-STANDALONE-31188-yellowjacket}

{PRODUCT-HEADER-STANDALONE-28711-imposcar3}

Novation and the Birth of a Classic

Meanwhile, Ian Jannaway and Mark Thompson had founded Novation in 1992. Their first product, the MM10 controller, was a hit. For their next project, they wanted to build a standalone instrument.

The timing was perfect. In the early 90s, acid house and techno were bringing analog sounds back to the forefront. The Roland TB-303 was the sound of the moment, but it was expensive, had no MIDI, and was notoriously difficult to program. Novation saw an opening: build a modern, affordable monosynth that could do the 303 sound and much more. For the critical analog circuitry, Ian Jannaway made the fateful call to Chris Hugget.

The resulting Novation Bass Station (1993) was the right product at the right time. It used DCOs and a version of Hugget's classic Wasp filter. It had two oscillators, full MIDI control (including parameter automation), and aftertouch. It was an immediate success, used by The Prodigy, Nine Inch Nails, Radiohead, and William Orbit.

{PRODUCT-HEADER-STANDALONE-30328-novationbassstationbygfor}

Evolution and The Bass Station II

Novation Bass Station II Swifty Edition

Fast forward to the 2010s, and analog was back on the rise once again. For the Bass Station's 20th anniversary, Novation decided it was time to release a successor. Chris Hugget was, of course, part of the design team.

The Bass Station II, launched in 2013, wasn't just a reissue; it was an improvement in every way. It features two DCOs, a sub-oscillator, and two distinct analog filter types: a "Classic" multi-mode filter based on the Wasp and a new 4-pole "Acid" filter. Add in an arpeggiator/sequencer and built-in distortion, and you have an incredibly versatile and raucous instrument. It remains in production today, a rare achievement in music technology.

The story got even better when Richard D. James, aka Aphex Twin, contacted Novation about some ideas. This collaboration led to the AFX Mode firmware update. Rolled out for free to all Bass Station II users, it added powerful features like fixed-duration envelopes and, most notably, "overlays," allowing a different sound to be programmed on every single key.

{PRODUCT-HEADER-STANDALONE-22891-bassstationii}

The Legacy Continues in the Peak & Summit

Before his passing in 2020, Chris Hugget's design DNA made its way into Novation's modern flagship synths, the Peak (2017) and Summit (2019). These hybrid instruments feature powerful digital "Oxford Oscillators" running on FPGA chips, which feed into true analog filters and amplifiers. The Summit even includes a dual filter with a separation control—a direct homage to his legendary OSCar design from the 80s.

From the quirky Wasp to the iconic Bass Station and the powerful Summit, the thread of Chris Hugget's genius runs through four decades of synth history. His collaboration with a young Novation in the early '90s was a pivotal moment, proving that passionate engineering, not a huge budget, is what it takes to create a truly classic synthesizer.

{PRODUCT-HEADER-STANDALONE-31724-summit}

{PRODUCT-HEADER-STANDALONE-31725-peak}

*This article is based on information presented in Alex Ball's documentary "MonoCulture: The Story of the Bass Station" and other publicly available sources. Read More