The Dubreq Stylophone was a miniature electronic musical instrument invented in 1967 by Brian Jarvis . It consisted of a metal keyboard that was played by touching it with a stylus - each note being connected to a cheap voltage-controlled oscillator via a different-value resistor - thus closing a circuit and creating a sound, which has been variously described as "buzzy", "rough", "irritating", and "truly awful". Nonetheless, some three million Stylophones were sold, mostly as children's toys. Rolf Harris appeared for several years as the Stylophone's advertising spokesman in the United Kingdom.

The Stylophone appears on a few commercial recordings, most notably David Bowie's "Space Oddity" (though perhaps just for one or two notes.)

Quotation

• "It sounded truly awful! A horrible, buzzy pulse wave through a small cheap speaker that sounded like a very butch wasp on steroids!"
• "Perhaps the worst synthesizer ever conceived!"

External links

• Dübreq Ltd -- manufacturer
• Hollow Sun -- Description (quote above) and samples