Dubreq Stylophone

The Stylophone is a miniature analog electronic keyboard musical instrument played with a stylus. Invented in 1967 by Brian Jarvis, it entered production in 1968, manufactured by Dubreq.

Some three million Stylophones were sold, mostly as children's toys, but were occasionally used by professional musicians such as Rolf Harris, John Lennon, Kraftwerk and David Bowie.

Original models

It consists of a metal keyboard made of printed circuit board and played by touching it with a stylus. Each note on the keyboard is connected to a voltage-controlled oscillator via a different-value resistor, and touching the stylus to the keyboard thus closes a circuit. The only other controls were a power switch and a vibrato control on the front panel beside the keyboard, and a tuning potentiometer on the rear.

The Stylophone was available in three variants: standard, bass, and treble, the standard one being by far the most common. There was also a larger version called the 350S with more notes on the keyboard, various voices, a novel 'wah-wah' effect that was controlled by moving one's hand over a photo-sensor, and two styli.

In the mid-1970s a new model appeared which featured pseudo-wood on the speaker panel and a volume control. This was shortly before the Stylophone ceased production altogether in 1975.

The entertainer Rolf Harris appeared for several years as the Stylophone's advertising spokesman in the United Kingdom, and appeared on many "play-along" records sold by the manufacturer.

2007 revival

In October 2007, 28 years after the Stylophone went out of production, toy company Re:creation, in conjunction with Dubreq Ltd (re-formed in 2003 by Ben Jarvis, the son of the original inventor), re-launched the Stylophone, having it manufactured in China. The new model, officially called the S1, is a digital copy that closely resembles the 1960s original but has a volume control and features an audio throughput function, as well as sporting two new sounds.

Stylophone S2

In December 2012, Dubreq released the Series 2 Stylophone, a British-made, true analogue synthesizer.

Stylophone Beat Box

This model strays from the normal box-shaped stylophone. It is a mainly round case that has a circular keypad containing 13 contact areas. It offers 3 different sound banks and a tempo control. It also features a basic record/loop function.

Stylophone Gen X-1

In January 2017, Dubreq released details of the Stylophone Gen X-1 portable analogue synthesizer. It was designed and manufactured by Dubreq and retails at £59.99 or €69.99.

Stylophone GEN R-8

In 2019 Dubreq announced the Gen R-8, a limited edition, full-analogue, metal-cased stylophone. This version has features seen on more expensive analogue synthesizers and is considerably larger than the standard model. An initial batch of 500 has been released.

Stylophone Analog Sound S1

In 2020, Dubreq released a replacement for the 2007 S1. The new model is visually similar to its predecessor, but has less rounded corners and no auxiliary input. Internally, the digital sampled sounds have been replaced by an analogue oscillator based around a 555 timer IC, and the tone selector offers three octave ranges. The sound is much more similar to the 1970s versions.

Bowie Limited Edition

In 2021 Dubreq launched a limited edition version of the Analog S1 as a tribute to the late David Bowie. This model has an all-white finish, has an official Bowie logo moulded into the chromed grille, and comes with a colour-printed booklet including photos, interviews and tablature for a selection of Bowie's songs.

In popular culture

* One of the earliest uses of the Stylophone in pop music was in the Small Faces song "Donkey Rides, A Penny, A Glass", which was released as the B-side of their single "The Universal" in June 1968.
* John Lennon played a Stylophone during a rehearsal of the George Harrison song "Old Brown Shoe" on 28 January 1969.
*David Bowie is credited with playing the Stylophone on his 1969 debut hit song "Space Oddity" and also for his 2002 album ''Heathen'' track titled "Slip Away," as well as on the song "Heathen (The Rays)". In September 2021, Dubreq announced a limited edition of Stylophone dedicated to Bowie.
*Kraftwerk's 1981 song "Pocket Calculator" uses the Stylophone. It is one of the main instruments on this track and a 'Stylophone solo' ends the song.
* The 1999 track "Style" (and its several other versions) by Orbital takes its name from Stylophone, which is used extensively on the track.
*BBC film critic Mark Kermode played a Stylophone on the 8 January 2010 installment of his and Simon Mayo's film review programme. Kermode described recently learning how to play the instrument.
* On the 5 March 2010 edition of his ''Kermode Uncut'' vodcast, Mark Kermode played a rendition of Richard Strauss' Sunrise on the Stylophone in homage to Duncan Jones' film ''Moon''.
*Richard Barone uses the Stylophone on numerous recordings, including "Glow" and '"Girl" on his 2010 album ''Glow''. On the latter song it is played by his producer Tony Visconti.
* The Stylophone is used as a main instrument by Russian rock group .
* British band Pulp use the Stylophone prominently in their song "Styloroc (Nites of Suburbia)", which appears on their 1992 ''Babies'' single and 1993 compilation album ''Intro – The Gift Recordings''.
* The 2017 film ''Baby Driver'' features the Stylophone.

References

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Electronic musical instruments
Keyboard instruments
Toy instruments and noisemakers