Electronic Dream Plant

Electronic Dream Plant (EDP) was a small British synthesizer manufacturer, active during the late 1970s and early 1980s.

In later years products like the "WASP" became prized by collectors for their unique sound, and later synthesizer companies have successfully copied some of their design elements.

The pair wanted to design an inexpensive instrument that would trade off cosmetic appeal and user interface against cost and sound quality.

They realised that transistor-transistor logic (TTL) could provide a stable sound source, and managed to persuade Argent's Keyboards, a London music shop, to finance £10,000 for putting the synth into production.

For cost reasons, it did not have a mechanical keyboard; instead, it used flat conductive copper plates, hidden under a silk-screened vinyl sticker.

The unit suffered because each Wasp typically had a distinctive sound owing to the variable quality of components used to build it.

[6] This 'wooden' wasp used the same membrane keyboard as the standard version, but with a new black and gold colour scheme, and the loss of the internal batteries and speaker.

[6] This was expanded and redeveloped in the 2010s as the Bass Station 2, a widely available monosynth competing with instruments such as the Arturia MiniBrute and the Korg MS20 mini.

[8] Later Novation products like the PEAK continued to embrace the philosophy of the digital "Oxford Oscillator" pioneered by EDP.