Cheetah Marketing
Encyclopedia
Cheetah Marketing was a United Kingdom
-based company that produced electronic music-related hardware products and software for home computer systems during the 1980s. They later changed their name to Cheetah International Ltd.
Based in Cardiff, Cheetah was run by two brothers, Howard and Michael Jacobson, but owned by Cannon Street Investments. The company was closed in 1993 when the UK recession badly hit the share price of its owners. After this Chris Wright
and Nick Owen bought the music products division and formed Soundscape Digital Technology
Ltd. The joysticks and other computer peripheral products division went to another company in the Cannon Street group.
and Sinclair ZX Spectrum computers and later branched out into music peripherals and stand-alone musical equipment for price conscious home users.
Among their offerings were the SpecDrum
(a sample-based drum machine
), a sound sampler
, a MIDI interface and a range of music keyboards.
Joysticks and peripherals included the Cheetah 125, Cheetah 125 Plus, Mach 1, and an infrared joypad.
Cheetah's range of music products expanded quickly during the 1980s when they began to work with external designers. Among these were Chris Wright
, who later founded Soundscape Digital Technology
, Ian Jannaway, who later founded Novation Digital Music Systems
and Mike Lynch
, who later founded Autonomy Corporation
.
Cheetah also distributed the Gamate
handheld console in the UK.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
-based company that produced electronic music-related hardware products and software for home computer systems during the 1980s. They later changed their name to Cheetah International Ltd.
Based in Cardiff, Cheetah was run by two brothers, Howard and Michael Jacobson, but owned by Cannon Street Investments. The company was closed in 1993 when the UK recession badly hit the share price of its owners. After this Chris Wright
Chris Wright
-Sports:* Chris Wright , plays for Essex County Cricket Club* Chris Wright , a guard at Georgetown University* Chris Wright , a forward at the University of Dayton...
and Nick Owen bought the music products division and formed Soundscape Digital Technology
Soundscape Digital Technology
Soundscape Digital Technology pioneered Windows based multi-channel studio recording, editing and mastering from the early 1990’s, becoming one of the most widely respected Digital Audio Workstations.- Soundscape SSHDR1 :...
Ltd. The joysticks and other computer peripheral products division went to another company in the Cannon Street group.
Products
The company originally produced joysticks for the Commodore 64Commodore 64
The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...
and Sinclair ZX Spectrum computers and later branched out into music peripherals and stand-alone musical equipment for price conscious home users.
Among their offerings were the SpecDrum
SpecDrum
SpecDrum was an inexpensive drum machine, which, unlike most standalone drum machines, was a peripheral for the popular Sinclair ZX Spectrum home computer. It was released by Cheetah Marketing in 1986...
(a sample-based drum machine
Drum machine
A drum machine is an electronic musical instrument designed to imitate the sound of drums or other percussion instruments. They are used in a variety of musical genres, not just purely electronic music...
), a sound sampler
Cheetah Sound Sampler
The Cheetah Marketing Sound Sampler was an Analogue to Digital converter system that attached to the system bus connection of the Sinclair ZX Spectrum home computer....
, a MIDI interface and a range of music keyboards.
Joysticks and peripherals included the Cheetah 125, Cheetah 125 Plus, Mach 1, and an infrared joypad.
Cheetah's range of music products expanded quickly during the 1980s when they began to work with external designers. Among these were Chris Wright
Chris Wright
-Sports:* Chris Wright , plays for Essex County Cricket Club* Chris Wright , a guard at Georgetown University* Chris Wright , a forward at the University of Dayton...
, who later founded Soundscape Digital Technology
Soundscape Digital Technology
Soundscape Digital Technology pioneered Windows based multi-channel studio recording, editing and mastering from the early 1990’s, becoming one of the most widely respected Digital Audio Workstations.- Soundscape SSHDR1 :...
, Ian Jannaway, who later founded Novation Digital Music Systems
Novation Digital Music Systems
Novation Digital Music Systems Ltd. is a UK musical equipment manufacturer. Founded in 1992 as Novation Electronic Music Systems, the company specialises in MIDI controllers and analog modeling synthesizers, which they have manufactured in China....
and Mike Lynch
Michael Lynch
Michael or Mike Lynch may refer to:* Michael Francis Lynch, Australian arts administrator* Michael Lynch * Michael Lynch * Michael Lynch...
, who later founded Autonomy Corporation
Autonomy Corporation
Autonomy is a multinational enterprise software company with joint headquarters in Cambridge, United Kingdom, and San Francisco, USA and a subsidiary of Hewlett-Packard. The company uses a combination of technologies born out of research at the University of Cambridge...
.
Cheetah also distributed the Gamate
Gamate
The Gamate, known as 超級小子 in Taiwan and 超级神童 in China, is a handheld game console manufactured by Bit Corporation in the early 1990s, and released in Australia, parts of Europe and Asia, Argentina, the USA, and possibly other regions.It never sold in numbers comparable to the...
handheld console in the UK.
Music Products
- Cheetah MQ8 - Performance Sequencer.
- Cheetah MD8 - 8 bit MIDI drum machine.
- Cheetah MD16 - 16 bit MIDI drum machine (also with the rack mount variants MD16R, MD16RP) - designed by Chris WrightChris Wright-Sports:* Chris Wright , plays for Essex County Cricket Club* Chris Wright , a guard at Georgetown University* Chris Wright , a forward at the University of Dayton...
and Nick Robbins. - Cheetah MK5/7VA - 5 or 7 octave MIDI Keyboard Controllers. Designed by Speedwell Software
- Cheetah Master Series 5/7/7P - MIDI Keyboard Controller, 5 or 7 octaves with Piano weighted keyboard action - designed by Chris Wright and Nick Robbins.
- Cheetah Master Series 7000/8000 - MIDI Keyboard Controllers with advanced features, 5 or 7 octaves and Piano weghted keyboard action (shown at the NAMM show in 1993 but due to Cheetah's demise was never manufactured - 6 prototypes are known to exist) - designed by Chris Wright and Nick Robbins.
- Cheetah MS800 - Wavetable synthesizer - designed by Lynett Systems (Mike LynchMichael LynchMichael or Mike Lynch may refer to:* Michael Francis Lynch, Australian arts administrator* Michael Lynch * Michael Lynch * Michael Lynch...
). - Cheetah SX16 - 16 bit sampler - designed by Lynett Systems (Mike Lynch).
- Cheetah MS6 - 6 voice polyhonic analogue synthesizer - designed by Ian Jannaway
Links
- http://www.cheetahmarketing.com - The current UK limited company with the registered trademark of Cheetah Marketing.