The Stylophone is surely one of the most beloved budget electronic instruments in history.
This stylus-operated, handheld analogue synth has captured the imaginations of artists from David Bowie to Kraftwerk and stuffed the Christmas stockings of musically inclined children across the globe since its invention in 1967.
Following its modern relaunch in 2007, the Stylophone has undergone several transformations, through the S2, Gen X-1 and Gen R-8 versions, along with limited edition variants like the Bowie Stylophone. The instrument's manufacturer, Dubreq, has also expanded its product line into drum machines, theremins, and even a drone synth.
Earlier this year at NAMM, Dubreq teased the next generation of the Stylophone. Gen X-2, which has been officially released this week, completes the transformation of the Stylophone from musical toy into a fully-fledged mini-synth, with many of the features you'd expect from instruments two or three times this price – and most importantly, you can now control it without the stylus.
The Gen X-2 now supports CV/gate via five mini-jacks on the instrument's rear panel. This means you're able to integrate the Stylophone with the rest of your set-up, whether that's a Eurorack rig or a DAW, or control it via an external keyboard or sequencer, if the stylus isn't for you. (Let's be honest, it's never been the easiest way to bust out a synth solo.)
Gen X-2 also upgrades the Stylophone's expression strip, a touch-sensitive ribbon controller above the keyboard that was previously used to bend pitch and add vibrato. It can still do both of those, but now offers multi-functional control over the LFO and filter, so you're able to achieve a wah effect. Also new in Gen X-2 is an octave switch for adjusting pitch range, and an additional octave on the instrument's sub-oscillator.
Aside from these upgrades, Gen X-2 features the same sound engine as its predecessor, its single analogue oscillator running through a resonant low-pass filter and shaped by an AD envelope that can be used to control both the pitch and filter cutoff.
There's a rudimentary LFO onboard with square and triangle waves – this can be assigned to both pitch and PWM frequency – alongside a delay effect with controls for mix, delay time and feedback amount.
As for connectivity, alongside the CV/Gate jacks you've got a headphone output and a line input for running external audio through Stylophone's filter and delay. The instrument is powered by 4 AA batteries.
Priced at £69.95/€79.95/$99.00, the Stylophone was already a steal, but with these new features it just became even better value for money.
Head over to Dubreq's website to find out more or check out an Anderton's demo below.
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