When Brian Jarvis invented the Stylophone in 1967, he created something that would become iconic enough to appear on David Bowie records and White Stripes tracks—a tiny synthesizer you could actually fit in your pocket and play with a stylus. The 2020 redesign brought it back to its analog roots after years of digital versions, and it's genuinely one of the most charming ways to make weird, wonderful sounds.
The S-1 uses a single analog oscillator based on a 555 timer chip to generate its voice, which gives it that reedy, vintage character that's distinctly different from modern synths. You play it by touching a metal foil keyboard with the included stylus, selecting notes across three octave ranges that you can shift up or down for a total 44-note span. A vibrato switch adds movement to the sound, and pulse width modulation lets you create subtle chorus-like effects. The whole thing measures just 6.3 by 3.8 inches and runs on three AA batteries, with a built-in speaker for immediate gratification and a 3.5mm headphone jack plus line output if you want to record or amplify it.
What's made the S-1 stick around is that it actually delivers on the promise of being playable and fun without requiring a learning curve. The stylus control feels intuitive in a way that keyboard synths don't, and the sound is genuinely usable—lo-fi enough to feel retro but clear enough to cut through a mix. People appreciate that it's affordable, genuinely portable, and doesn't pretend to be something it's not. It's become a go-to for people who want to add texture to recordings, sketch out ideas on the go, or just have something tactile and weird to play with.
