Behringer WASP DELUXE Legendary Analog Synthesizer with Dual OSCs, Multi-Mode VCF, 16-Voice Poly Chain and Eurorack Forma

The Wasp is one of the cheaper Behringer synths, in part because it’s using digital technology. Like almost all the others – with the exception of the Neutron – it’s a clone of a long-forgotten (for most musicians) attempt at making a cheap ‘analogue’ synthesizer that could do more than the typical basic synths of the time for less money. Sound familiar?

The original design dates from the early ’80s, around 1981, when British electronics inventors were really playing with new shapes and ideas. The Electronic Dream Plant (EDP) Wasp was like the SInclair ZX80 of synths; a flat membrane keyboard, a cheap vacuum-formed case, and power for under 200 (in 1980s money) beyond any previous synth. It had connectivity for chaining, a built in speaker – think ‘MicroFreak’s cranky great uncle’ and you’re there.

The Wasp’s sound can harsh, bright, powerful – it cuts through mixes and is precise, capable of distortion and yet not without warmth, in part due to the highly flexible multimode analogue filter that can shape and slice sound with a variety of approaches when most rivals only offered one.

The original was immensely fragile though, and few survive. These days a good original one will cost seven or eight times the price of the Behringer.

The Behringer Wasp:

It’s an accurate clone – and this isn’t a surprise because the Wasp has been cloned many times, but never for such a low price before. Sound-wise you’ll find it amazingly accessible and easy to program; it can distort and sound harsh and metallic quite easily. Shove it through some effects and you’ll get a lot of mid-80s basses, solo leads and industrial-style percussion.

There’s no patch storage or sequencer, but you do get MIDI – you don’t get CV because the Wasp isn’t analogue. There is, however, an external audio in so you can use the Wasp’s analogue filter, which can be pushed to the harsh, screaming industrial anger side or warm gloopy Moog-like sounds. You can also tap the two oscillator outputs individually.

You want something different to all those warm analogue clones anyway, right?

For beginners:

What sets the Wasp apart is the filter, which can do low-pass (like a 303, cutting off the high frequencies), band-pass, notch or high-pass. This means you can do the classis ‘head going underwater/covering your ears’ cutoff sweep, the ‘slicing the bass out’ sounds like overhead headphones, and also enhance or suppress a narrow band of frequencies with a very excitable resonance around that band if you want.

These effects can be applied to other small instruments, as an effect on a mixer, or to music/samples via the audio in.

The actual voice of the Wasp is also pretty good – two stable oscillators that don’t need a warm up time or overly faffing to adjust the tune of. Simple waveforms and mixing can be augmented with noise and pitch modulation as well as the filter and amp envelopes. It’ll do fat basses but can also indulge in a bit of retrogaming chiptune silliness too.

Wasp is very easy to get to know. It’s not full of complex routings, but has some neat features such as filter envelope repeat that can make weird and wonderful or gated dance sounds with ease. MIDI control is available through old-school DIN or USB, and it doesn’t need much setup – start with the basic patch, and play. You can set MIDI channel in the software, or use little dip switches – great if you’re polychaining or using these in a touring rig where the security of hardware MIDI channels ensures easy setup.

You’ll need a controller – just a basic Arturia KeyStep or Behringer’s compact MIDI keyboard will do as there’s not much need for anything more than note input; the original Wasp only had touch pads, and they also add sequencer features.

For pros:

For the price you’re not going to get anything like this as a set of modules – the multimode filter is worth it alone. There’s no external triggering though unless via MIDI, so you’re going to have to get creative to integrate the envelopes in your sounds. The oscillators are stable with good waveshapes that ultimately formed the basis of many Novation synths (the designer of the Wasp went on to design the Nova/BassStation and the architecture of the Peak/Summit). Early examples of the Wasp had multi trigger bugs, so buying new is worthwhile over grabbing a used one.

At this price you can get four and polychain them for a very impressive, versatile four-voice, eight DCO polysynth.

For use in a rack the USB and MIDI ports are on the front, as is a 3.5mm jack audio output, the oscillator outputs and the audio in; there’s also a 1/4″ output. On my Wasp background noise is present when the gain’s up on the mixer but few patches need that kind of staging, it’s quite loud and easy to sculpt sounds.

Rackmount ears are not expensive, and you can get creative for an angled mount – check the pics.

Personally, I always wanted an original EDP Wasp and thought I’d break it, and they’re very expensive. The Behringer’s not just ‘an acceptable substitute’, it’s an excellent instrument in its own right.