The Stylophone is a miniature analog

electronic keyboard An electronic keyboard, portable keyboard, or digital keyboard is an electronic musical instrument, an electronic derivative of keyboard instruments. Electronic keyboards include synthesizers, digital pianos, stage pianos, electronic organs ...

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 Rolf Harris (born 30 March 1930) is an Australian entertainer whose career has encompassed work as a musician, singer-songwriter, composer, comedian, actor, painter and television personality. He often used unusual instruments in his performan ...

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...

, Kraftwerk and

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

Original models

It consists of a metal

keyboard Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

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 A microwave (12–18GHz) voltage-controlled oscillator A voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) is an electronic oscillator whose oscillation frequency is controlled by a voltage input. The applied input voltage determines the instantaneous oscillat ...

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 Beatbox Front face

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 The 555 timer IC is an integrated circuit (chip) used in a variety of timer, delay, pulse generation, and Electronic oscillator, oscillator applications. Derivatives provide two (#556 dual timer, 556) or four (#558 quad timer, 558) timing circui ...

, 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

. 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 Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms ''popular music'' and ''pop music'' are often used interchangeably, although the former descri ...

was in the

Small Faces Small Faces were an English rock band from London, founded in 1965. The group originally consisted of Steve Marriott, Ronnie Lane, Kenney Jones and Jimmy Winston, with Ian McLagan replacing Winston as the band's keyboardist in 1966. The ...

song "Donkey Rides, A Penny, A Glass", which was released as the B-side of their single "

The Universal "The Universal" is a song by English alternative rock band Blur and is featured on their fourth studio album, '' The Great Escape'' (1995). It was released on 13 November 1995 as the second single from that album, charting at number five on t ...

" in June 1968. *

played a Stylophone during a rehearsal of the George Harrison song "

Old Brown Shoe "Old Brown Shoe" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles. Written by George Harrison, the group's lead guitarist, it was released on a non-album single in May 1969, as the B-side to "The Ballad of John and Yoko". The song was subseque ...

" on 28 January 1969. *

is credited with playing the Stylophone on his 1969 debut hit song "

Space Oddity "Space Oddity" is a song by English singer-songwriter David Bowie. It was first released on 11 July 1969 by Philips Records as a 7-inch single, then as the opening track of his second studio album ''David Bowie''. After the commercial f ...

" 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. *

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