Cherry Audio Yellowjacket
An Entirely New Breed Yellowjacket synthesizer is a stunning value-packed tribute to the venerable Wasp synthesizer, released by the British synth company EDP in 1978. Cherry Audio has reproduced the singular buzzy tone and drone of this legendary monophonic, digital/analog hybrid, from its quirky oscillators to its distinctive filter. Further influenced by the pioneering spirit of its inventors, we've added several innovative features to Yellowjacket, reenvisioning what could have been. These include elements of other EDP instruments, unison and 16-voice polyphony, emulation of the Wasp's integrated speaker, an expanded multimode filter, and a new-to-Cherry advanced arpeggiator with probability and humanise controls. We've replicated the look of the notorious touch-capacitive yellow and black keyboard of the original, enhanced it with diatonic scales and transpose, and extended it with customizable pressure control with support for expressive channel and polyphonic aftertouch. Perhaps the most exciting feature of Yellowjacket is directly inspired by EDP's innovative pre-MIDI system that allowed multiple synths to be chained together: multi-voice modes that add adjustable "mini synths" that can provide subtle or extreme variation in tone, single-fingered chords and arpeggiated patterns, lush stereo effects, and more. In short, there has never been a Cherry Audio plugin quite like Yellowjacket, and we know that today's musicians and producers will get a real buzz from it. Yellowjacket includes over 270 spectacular presets Producers will find immediate inspiration in Yellowjacket's extensive preset library, created by a talented sound design team led by veteran sound designer James Terris. And don't miss the Hive Mind for Yellowjacket Preset Pack (sold separately), featuring an additional 100 additional presets by James Dyson. James Terris James is Director of Sound Design, responsible for preset programming and curation at Cherry Audio. He is a long-established sound designer and musician based in the San Francisco Bay Area who has worked with Dave Smith Instruments/Sequential, Pioneer DJ, Apple, and Han Zimmer’s Remote Control. James Dyson James is a freelance sound designer and musician based in the UK. He creates third-party preset packs as JD Soundsets. He draws inspiration and influence from Tangerine Dream, 80s film scores, and others and has been a long-time sound designer for Cherry Audio, Modal, and IK Multimedia. Drew Schlesinger Drew Schlesinger began developing third-party sounds for Casio CZ synths in 1986, leading to a career designing presets for over 200 products from 30 companies including Roland, Korg, Kurzweil, Alesis, E-mu, Ensoniq, TC, Lexicon, Eventide, and others. After a 20-year hiatus in the corporate world, he has recently returned to music and sound design. In 1978, British studio engineer Chris Huggett collaborated with synthesist Adrian Wagner to create the Wasp synthesizer for Electronic Dream Plant. With a focus on affordability, the Wasp was priced at £200 and featured a distinctive black-and-yellow plastic design. It included a touch-sensitive keyboard, a built-in speaker, and an innovative digital/analog hybrid synthesis system, making electronic music more accessible to a wider audience. Despite the commercial challenges that EDP eventually faced, the impact of the Wasp synthesizer is undeniable. It became an influential instrument for many UK musicians, including Nick Rhodes of Duran Duran, Dave Greenfield of The Stranglers, Thomas Dolby, Dave Stewart of Eurythmics, and Chris Carter of Throbbing Gristle, among others. In 1979, the musical duo of Thomas Leer and Robert Rental released an influential early synthpop album titled The Bridge, which exclusively used the Wasp and showcased its range. Chris Huggett is remembered as Britain's greatest synthesizer designer. He continued to innovate by creating the more affordable single-oscillator Gnat synthesizer for EDP and later developed groundbreaking instruments such as the OSCar and Novation BassStation. Although Chris Huggett passed away in 2020, his contributions continue to inspire the next generation of musicians and engineers. Cherry Audio dedicates the Yellowjacket synthesizer to his memory. Cherry Audio and Tim Shoebridge have again teamed up to produce an extensive introductory video for Yellowjacket. This deep dive highlights the history behind the instrument as well as its standout features, including the extraordinary filter, the new arpeggiator, and the innovative multi-voice modes. “Yellowjacket has all the fun of its inspirational predecessor and a huge list of improvements and modifications, all good. This gritty stinger is an absolute steal at $49, especially since the 1978 Wasp would set you back £199 (£1400/$1850 today). Classic.” Howard Goodall EMMY, BRIT and BAFTA award-winning composer of choral music, stage musicals, film and TV scoresRowan Atkinson, Red Dwarf, Blackadder, Mr. Bean, The Thin Blue Line, The Vicar of Dibley, The Catherine Tate Show, and more “Yellowjacket is really good. The FX section really adds to the vibe and makes it more than just an emulation.” Steve Levine GRAMMY, Musicweek, and Brit award-winning record producer, songwriter, and engineerCulture Club, The Beach Boys, Millie Jackson, Deniece Williams, China Crisis, Motörhead, Ziggy Marley, Gary Moore “Do not underestimate the power and versatility of the Yellowjacket! There are many gems hidden under that skin! It can "hover like a butterfly and sting like a bee." Truly exceptional!” Jezz Woodroffe Film composer/KeyboardistBlack Sabbath, Robert Plant “Yellowjacket is raw. Yellowjacket is dirty! Yellowjacket stings for sure. As usual, a wonderful selection of usable and great sounding presets. The arp and effects page offers so much more in the realms of possibilities and sonic pleasure. A truly wonderful product!” Phil Bennett KeyboardistStarship “I wasn't expecting it to sound so lush. This will definitely be getting some use on future Tycho Brahe songs.” Ken Evans Electronic musician, ProducerTycho Brahe, Peter Hook & The Light, Tycho Sound Design Yellowjacket Features: All aspects of the 1978 EDP Wasp monophonic synthesizer have been precisely modeled in exacting detail, and enhanced with several imaginative new features Over 270 professionally-designed presets in a dozen categories: sizzling Leads, sublime Arps, atmospheric Pads, single-fingered Chords, stunning Strings, deep Basses, and more Monophonic, unison, polyphonic (4, 8, or 16 voices), and cycle voice modes with glide Innovative Multi voice modes for unison, poly, and cycle that add per-note variation by adding three additional "mini synth" panels, each with their own pitch, pan, filter frequency, VCA Envelope Attack, and VCA Envelope Release settings. Quick-access Multi voice panel presets such as Hard Panned, Slightly Detuned, Well Worn, and more to simulate subtle or extreme variations between multiple chained synths Dual panel views with a main Edit view for synthesis controls, and an Arp/FX panel with extended features Two distinct oscillators with ramp, pulse, square wave, and an enhanced modulated pulse-wave based on the EDP Gnat Oscillator sync Mixer for both oscillators and a white noise signal generator Syncable control oscillator (LFO) with free and retrigger modes, and sine, ramp, sawtooth, square, noise, or random waveforms for pitch, filter, and amp modulation Vintage-correct two-pole 12dB state-variable filter based upon the CD4069 logic chip of the original, with lowpass, bandpass, or highpass, with an extra notch mode, and the "Q" resonance setting Two envelope generators: a VCA Envelope for volume control with a repeat function, and a Control Envelope that modulates filter cutoff frequency with positive and negative modulation, as well as looping and adjustable attack settings Output control with meter and settings for volume, panning, master tune, and limiter Support for velocity, channel aftertouch, and polyphonic aftertouch with compatible USB/MIDI controllers Keyboard pressure control with six modulation routings: volume, pitch, filter cutoff, mod wheel, reverb decay/mix, and an assignable control that allows a user to select any one of 29 preset synth and effects parameters Enhanced capacitive-style keyboard with root and diatonic scales controls, and a transpose control that quantizes notes from the USB/MIDI controller Multi-touch enabled (Windows only) - capacitive-style keyboard and pressure meters on the keys respond to multi-touch vertical motion on compatible touchscreen monitors and gesture-capable tablet devices such as Surface Pro. UI can be Maximized to make Yellowjacket fullscreen User-selectable pitch bend depth from 0-12 semitones All new and dynamic arpeggiator with Chance (step probability) and Humanise to add degrees of randomness to arpeggiated patterns. Combine with the Cycle modes and Scales to create varied patterns, even with the touch of a single key, and create transposable four-note step sequences through Multi voice panels Speaker effect (mono) with Hiss and Hum controls that simulates the original instrument's onboard speaker for a lo-fi tone Five more studio-quality integrated effects: new Octafuzz multimode overdrive/distortion effect, 4/6/8/10-stage Phaser, Flanger/Chorus, three syncable Echo delays, and five Reverb types. Global FX Out panel with On/Off, Level, and Stereo Expand Standalone virtual instrument and plug-in versions included Super accurate DAW sync User-adjustable oversampling control Complete MIDI control and DAW automation for all controls, with easy-to-use MIDI learn and mapping (Preset and Global) Cherry Audio's popular Focus zoom-in feature, as well as standard UI zoom and resize via drag Complete documentation available directly online from the instrument or in downloadable PDF format Specifications Yellowjacket synthesizer is available in AU, VST, VST3, AAX, and standalone formats. macOS Requirements: macOS Requirements: macOS 10.13 or above. 64-bit required. Intel or Apple Silicon processor. 3.4 GHz Quad-Core or Apple Silicon CPU with 8GB of RAM is recommended. Hard disk space: 96 MB. Windows Requirements: Windows 7 or above (including Windows 11), 64-bit required. 3.4 GHz Quad-Core computer with 8GB of RAM recommended. Hard disk space: 96 MB. NOTE: Internet connection required for product activation Wasp® is a registered trademark of Music Tribe Global Brands Ltd.. There is no association, affiliation or endorsement of Cherry Audio or its products by Music Tribe. References here to the 1978 Wasp synthesizer by Electronic Dream Plant are included as historical reference. Registration InformationPurchase Code: https://store.cherryaudio.com/redeem
