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Stylophone
Buzz in ... the original 60s Stylophone. Photograph: Alex Ashbourne/Public Domain
Buzz in ... the original 60s Stylophone. Photograph: Alex Ashbourne/Public Domain

Hey, what's that sound: Stylophone

This article is more than 14 years old
This child's toy was created in the late 60s and later deployed to dazzling effect by Kraftwerk, David Bowie and, er, Rolf Harris

What is it? The sound of parents' nightmares in the 70s. The original Dubreq Stylophone – a kind of stylus-operated pocket synthesiser, marketed mostly at kids – was in production from 1967 to 1980 and its migraine-inducing tones invoke a Rubik's Cube-esque nostalgia for that era.

Who uses it? A lot of people – but only ever on one record each. Pulp, David Bowie, Manic Street Preachers, Belle and Sebastian, Los Campesinos!, Orbital, Kraftwerk, Hexstatic and Little Boots, for instance. The Raconteurs also have their own Stylophone merchandise. Rolf Harris was hired to be the official spokesman for the instrument, and the Dubreq Stylophone is colloquially known as the "Rolf Harris Stylophone".

How does it work? With the original Stylophone, touching the stylus to the metal plate of the keys would close a circuit with a voltage-controlled oscillator, creating the distinctive, primitive buzzing tone. In the new Stylophones (the instrument was relaunched in 2007), the oscillators have been replaced by a 555 chip. Purists complain that it's not the same.

Where does it come from? A little chap from Leeds called Brett Domino has become a YouTube sensation with his covers of pop songs on the Stylophone, but, er, maybe don't trust his official explanation of the instrument's functions and history. The truth is that the Stylophone was invented in 1967 by Dubreq's Brian Jarvis, after his granddaughter asked if he could repair her toy piano and he thought a bit too hard about what you could do with it.

Why is it classic? Since Pulp accessorised it with their charity-shop shirts in the early 90s, the Stylophone has acquired a kind of trashy, kitsch appeal. More than that, though, people just like the fact that it sounds like an angry metallic bee trying to make a melody by smashing its head against a window. It's a hard device to make sound good, so kudos to those who pull it off.

What's the best ever Stylophone song? Styloroc (Nites of Suburbia) by Pulp. Because it's cool. Although Space Oddity by David Bowie is the most famous Stylophone song ever (Bowie himself hated the thing, the Stylophone belonged to his friend Marc Bolan).

Five facts and things!

OK. Stylophones sound a bit crap. But! Whack them through a load of guitar distortion and a Kaoss Pad and they sound malevolent, predatory and elemental. Just like this little thing I recorded.

Modern Stylophones boast an MP3 facility that lets you route your iPod through the device so you can play along with songs.

There is a hack to use your Stylophone as a MIDI controller, but if you don't have one you could always build your own Stylophone-type device, through which you can clumsily control more technologically-advanced equipment.

Previous variations on the Stylophone include the mighty 350S model, which included more keyboard notes, two styli, wah-wah and a photo-sensor. Brian Jarvis's original prototype of the device was also recently unearthed.

The promotional single released by Rolf Harris does further explores the appeal of the Stylophone, but did you know that a pre-Nixon David Frost was the first choice for Dubreq spokesman?

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