Synthesizer enthusiasts the world over mourn the loss of an innovator whose résumé spanned over four decades. Electronics engineer and Novation design consultant Chris Huggett has reportedly died following a battle with cancer.
Social media reports began to circulate about Huggett’s death on October 25th, and it was reported by outlets like Sequencer and Synthtopia. No official cause of death has been disclosed to the public at the time of writing.
Remembering Chris Huggett
Chris Huggett cut his teeth working on 3M‘s Ferrograph reel tape recorder in 1977. He and Adrian Wagner, a synthesist descended from German composer Richard Wagner, then founded Electronic Dream Plant (EDP) in Oxfordshire. Through EDP, Huggett would release the Wasp, perhaps his most famous piece of equipment.
Huggett later formed a company called Oxford Synthesiser Company (OSC), and with the help of Paul Wiffen and Anthony Harris-Griffin he designed another iconic synthesizer: the OSC OSCar. He later worked for Akai, where he wrote the operating systems for samplers from the Akai S1000 (released in 1988) to the Akai S3200 (released in 1993).
Novation employed Huggett full time to work on the Novation Supernova, which came out in 1998. According to a profile on the manufacturer’s website, he had a hand in every synth released by the company since, including the Nova, Bass Station, Peak and ReMOTE product lines.
Chris Hugget’s synthesizers have shaped the work of electronic musicians like Ultravox, Jean-Michel Jarre and Orbital as well as that of household names like Nine Inch Nails and Thom Yorke.
