Stylophone
The Stylophone (or Stylophon ) is a miniature keyboard, which was founded in 1967 by Brian Jarvis invented and manufactured by the company Dubreq. In the 1970s, it was marketed with the help of the Australian musician and entertainer Rolf Harris with great success. It was touted as a home organ which was playing without any trouble and exercise in the situation. Input in musician circles found the Stylophone hardly. Over the decades, yet few artists have the Stylophone used in their productions. It is worth mentioning, inter alia, David Bowie's Space Oddity, Welle: Erdball Super 8, power plant computer world, as well as individual tracks from Orbital, Pulp and even today by Minki Warhol in the band Cat, occasionally with The Boss Hoss (Free Love on a Free Love Free Way ). The country band Texas Lightning used a Stylophone. A total of about 3 million Stylophones were sold. In Germany entertainer Bill Ramsey made advertising for the instrument.
Designs and operation
A total of four different models were produced:
Stylophone the metal has a small keypad, which is operated with an attached stylus. It has a simple oscillator, so is monophonic. Each key is connected via a respectively different resistances to the oscillator. Through contact with the stylus, a circuit is closed, whereby a sound is made. Through this type of operation, the Stylophone is particularly suitable for flowing glissandos.
The three standard types of Stylophones have only two tones ( standard and vibrato ) and no way to change the volume (apart from the ability to put your hand over the speaker, ab). The much larger successor model 350 S, however, offered a wider variety of tone colors and the ability to change by a second stylus the tone during the game. The timbres and effects of the 350 S include the following:
- Wah Wah
- Vibrato
- Delay
- Woodwind ( 4 settings )
- Brass (2 settings )
- Strings ( 2 settings )
- Tuning
- Volume
- Photo Control ( light sensitive)