Bad Dog Designs OSPRAY-8 – Contemporary Vintage Analogue Drum Synth
4,0 / 5,0 | 
Taking circuit designs that were over 40 years old, Bad Dog Designs has recreated and refined three drum synth designs to create OSPRAY-8, a “vintage” 21st-century drum synthesizer.
OSPRAY-8
OSPRAY-8 has had an interesting path to existence, and it makes this unique drum synth’s story that much more interesting. It all starts with a series of analogue drum synth circuit designs from Electronics and Music Maker Magazine in April of 1981.
Way before the internet was a thing, we consumed our music technology news on paper. Magazines were our bibles, and within the covers of magazines like E&MM, One Two Testing and Sound On Sound, we discovered how synths worked, heard from people that used them and pawed over adverts of shops selling them.
From Magazine to Reality
Given the nature of E&MM, that last M being key, it would publish simple circuit designs and bills of materials for the more adventurous of us to pop down to Tandy, pick up some solder and components and knock up rudimentary instruments that cost way less than those in the adverts.
One such series of designs started with the Syntom drum synth that, the magazine claimed, could be built for no more than £15! I never made one, but Warren Cann of Ultravox did, but more importantly to this tale, the designs lingered in the mind of Paul Parry of Bad Dog Designs.
Bad Dog Designs has, up until fairly recently, focused mainly on building Nixie clocks. A Nixie clock is a clock that uses Nixie valves to display the digits. Sadly, due to a number of global events in the last 5 years, the price and availability of Nixie valves have become so detrimental to the production of these units, Paul has had to think of new ways to utilise his skills.
Harbouring somewhat of a closet musician, Paul decided to make something musical and using the later Syntom II design, along with the Synclap and Synbal, OSPRAY-8 sprang into life! He set about refining and adapting the designs to work with modern components and decided to combine eight ‘modules’ into a single unit. And thus, OSPRAY-8 was born.
What is OSPRAY-8?
OSPRAY-8 combines four drum modules, three cymbal modules and one clap module into a custom, hand-built case with a stereo output and MIDI capability. Each module also has its own trigger button, plus a mono output and trigger input, meaning this can easily be integrated into a Eurorack system.
The drum modules of OSPRAY-8 feature tone and noise pitch controls with a mix control to blend them. They also feature decay and bend to further shape the sound. The cymbal modules are somewhat more complex, with pitch, decay and sweep controls as well as a multimode filter and a mix control.
The clap module has a single-mode filter and the ability to choose from 1, 2 or 4 claps. It also has a spread control to allow the user to determine how ‘wide’ those claps are. Every module has its own volume and pan control.
How Does OSPRAY-8 Sound?
OSPRAY-8 has a classic, early analogue drum synth sound that can easily sound like an early Simmons kit, or a CR78. The kick can be made to sound very 808 in tone, and the clap is just glorious. It can be thick and complex or short and snappy.
The cymbal modules can be coaxed from being hi-hats to all sorts of weirdness that goes way beyond the conventional analogue drum synth. The beauty of OSPRAY-8 is the degree of control you have. Check out the video I made below… (The unit used in the video is a prototype with a basic MDF housing)
In Conclusion
So, full disclosure… Paul approached me to advise him on this project, pro bono, and on how he could bring it to market. Expect an OSPRAY-8 Kickstarter soon, but if you simply can’t wait, you can buy one now, but be warned, Bad Dog Designs is a one-man band and every unit it hand-built from scratch, from the circuits to the engraved front panel to the gorgeous oak case.
I also advised Paul that he could easily sell each module design as a Eurorack module, and this is definitely something he is exploring! I absolutely love this thing, and I’m sure many of you will too.
More Information
- OSPRAY-8 Website
This might also interest you
