They don’t make ’em like they used to… except when they do. The 50th-anniversary edition of the Stylophone is a recreation of the original pocket synthesizer that stays true to the original with updated electronics. This miniature musical instrument features a numbered keyboard made of metal areas you touch with the tethered stylus to generate a tone. Where you touch on the keyboard affects the pitch, allowing you to create unique versions of classic songs or write your own synth masterpiece. You can further customize your synthesizer’s sound with an octave switcher, a vibrato switch, and a pitch-adjusting dial. Stylophone is a vintage toy synth that has been featured in works by classic artists such as Kraftwerk, David Bowie, and soon… yourself!

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Pocket-sized player

What exactly is the Stylophone? Part silly toy and part pocket synthesizer, this 20-note keyboard plays electrically-generated musical notes when you touch the stylus’s metal tip to the metallic keyboard.

The sonic range can be extended with a pitch-adjusting knob on the bottom, while the volume can be adjusted with a dial on the side. If you want to throw some warble on your tunes, just flip the vibrato switch!

Whether you make your own tones or add input through the line-in jack, your sonic creation will be played through the integrated speaker. That means this is a self-contained synthesizer ready for audio experimentation.

With a retro sound and look, it’s the ideal instrument for a beginner to start tinkering around on or for a collector to round out their synthesizer set.

Frequently Asked Questions

Question: Do you need anything else to make it work?

Answer: The Stylophone is battery-powered, but once you’re juiced up, the tethered stylus and internal speaker provide the self-contained tools you need to make music.

Question: Can I play chords with it?

Answer: Since the tone is generated when the stylus touches the key, you can only play one note at a time.