Dubreq Stylophone Theremin – the Synth and Software Preview

Waving our hands at an affordable and universally available version of the 1968 Stylophone

The Stylophone was born in 1968, and it threw a unique bridge between domestic and professional players. Even at the time it was considered a mini-synthesizer, and it made only one sound – a monophonic buzzy square wave with or without vibrato. It was played with a metal-tipped stylus that made contact with metal key pads.

Gliding across the available notes made a dramatic upward sweep for David Bowie on “Space Oddity,” but it was also possible to tap out simple melodies. A whole market arose built on demo records, music books, and alternative version instruments including a Bass Stylophone, a dual-voice model with two styli and optical wah-wah, and a mini keychain-sized version.

Over the years, Dubreq, the Stylophone’s UK-based manufacturers, has offered a matching analog drum machine called The Beat; GenX-1, an expanded instrument with an analog filter and delay; and a very limited run upmarket synth, the S-1, which is now hard to find.

But the company’s latest product, the Stylophone Theremin, promises to be both affordable and universally available.

Thoroughly Theremin

We don’t need to recap the history of the Theremin (but we will anyway).

Invented by Leon Termen, the instrument produced an electronic sound with pitch controlled by the distance of the player’s hand from a vertical aerial. Another aerial usually controlled volume, and the instrument (and its variations) contributed spooky, gliding sounds to the sci-fi films of the 1950s such as “The Day The Earth Stood Still.”

Clara Rockmore became an inspired player, and Bob Moog an enthusiastic builder of Theremins. Various types of upmarket Moog Theremin as well as very simple entry level models still exist.

Top marks to Dubreq then for introducing several elements to the Stylophone Theremin design that are quite unexpected. Okay, so the company knew how to make an analog sound circuit, but the options offered for controlling this are surprisingly novel.

The Theremin’s steadfastly 1950s industrial design comes courtesy of Axel Hartmann, who styled the Waldorf and many other electronic instruments. Its sloped panel gives space for a speaker and controls on the front, the aerial on top, and a slider controller at the front. A switch determines whether the aerial or the slider is the current controller. Surprisingly there’s no attempt to offer an volume aerial, so I would try putting the instrument through a standard foot pedal volume controller.

There’s a speaker on the front, and a 1/4″ line and mini headphones outputs with a volume/on-off rotary on the side. Here you’d also expect to find a 9V power input, but there isn’t one – the Theremin takes only six AA batteries, but I can see that being modified.

On the lower control panel is a slider marked Out, with keyboard notes and provided with an octave up switch and a momentary button, so you can tap out notes.

Switched-on Stylo

The Theremin needs a little setting up, tweaking a sensitivity control until the pitch response is in a useful range, but once that’s done it’s pretty steady and not over-sensitive to room temperature or humidity. Then off you go, twirling the pitch up and down with your hand near the aerial. Watch videos of experienced Thereminists to see how individual finger movements can control actual notes and subtle vibrato.

Switch from a sine-like to a more cutting tone and tweak the pitch as you go with the main aerial pitch knob. Then you can switch from this controller to the slider controller, which has its own independent overall pitch setting, and you can play that as sweeps or whale noises or low bass groans.

These techniques are the end of the possibilities for most Theremins, but just the beginning for the Stylophone. There are two Modulation settings that create metallic ring modulator-like effects, and you can combine the influence of the aerial and the slider controller.

A Vibrato setting gives the obvious type of variation to the sound, and finally the analog delay line with rotaries controlling delay length, mix level, and feedback. The longest delay time is very generous, and you can easily walk away from the Theremin, leaving it echoing off into the distance.

Pic of the author Mark Jenkins on stage by Alan Smith. Thanks to the Capstone Theatre Liverpool

There’ll be time for more

I was given a great opportunity to test out the Theremin in the field during the “Moog at 60” concerts in Liverpool. As I was playing a set of Kraftwerk music, I added an arrangement of “Radioland/Antenna” with a Theremin lead over a strong analog bass.

I was able to start with a sine wave swoop, moving to a harder sound introducing vibrato and modulation, then switch to the slider controller for some deep whale-like sweeps that ended up echoing off into the distance.

Of course, I got nowhere near playing anything like a melody. That would require more careful setting up and more experience with the aerial controller. Players who are already using expensive Theremin designs may find they can’t get the same accuracy from the Stylophone – but they won’t get the same range of sounds from their existing instruments (unless perhaps they’re playing a Moog ThereMini, a programmable digital instrument with a wide range of synth effects built in).

On the whole, the Stylophone Theremin is great fun, and at the expected selling price (99GBP, maybe also 99USD or a little more) almost a compulsory purchase. I can see a lot of users taking a soldering iron to one in order to add 9V external power, and even more excitingly, to find an output voltage source so their Theremin can control a modular synth system – maybe even the stunning looking CPM DS-2 Drone Synth that Dubreq also has coming up soon. Now that would really be something…

Price: expected to be 99GPB, about $99

Click here for more info: www.stylophone.com