[begin_noisegeek_rant_here] There’s no doubt that the Dubreq’s classic Stylophone keyboard holds a special place in the ranks retro-cool musical instrumentats. Similar stylus interfaces have been employed for various synth-DIY endeavors, with ease of implementation being an obvious plus.(who needs switches? just touch GND to a PCB pad!) Unfortunately, the original infamously lo-fi plastic synth wasn’t much fun after the novelty wore off and it never sounded as cool as it looked :/

Well it seems someone over at Dubreq realized it’s more fun to tap beats, instead of notes. The new Stylophone Beatbox is just as much a toy as its predecessor, but seems a lot more fun to play. The digital sounds may be a bit cheesy, and would probably benefit from some exploratory bending/hacking. The divided contact surface does seem rather neat-o – looks like a great remake for controlling homebrew percussion circuits/microcontrollers/etc. Not bad for ~25 bucks - I’ll be hacking one up later this week and will report back my findings.

In the Maker Shed:

SX-150 Analog Synthesizer Kit