Stylophone Gen X-1 Portable Analogue Synthesizer Keyboard

Suono da tempo e da tempo volevo questo piccolo gioiello. Lo Stylophoone è davvero un oggetto cult per tutti gli appassionati di musica elettronica analogica. La penna permette di suonare sulla barra, è un esperienza molto creativa che richiede impegno ma appena si capisce come funziona lo strumento diventa qualcosa di davvero divertente. Ho fatto anche dei live set collegandolo alla mia scheda audio e poi al mixer, bellissimo ve lo consiglio, ottimo anche come regalo.

This is a really cool, stylish, hip looking, almost pocket sized synth. It’s great at making some cool tones, sweeps, analog-y noises, and especially wind-ish boops and beeps (although good luck getting a bleep out of it without a second LFO YMMV).

What I find undesirable is that the tuning, although stable once adjusted, seems intent on providing either too many or too few notes for the interval. I can get the keys to provide almost a perfect octave, perfect fifth or fourth by utilizing the tuning dial on the back or manually adjust the pitch. I can easily get them to provide a full 12 notes per octave, plus the extra octave note, for 13 distinct notes total, or 11 notes per octave, the 11th note being a perfect octave, for 11 distinct notes, but not at the correct intonation in between where it should be for traditional Western music.

That aside, it does sound pretty cool, and with laborious repetitive sampling, it is actually musically useful in some cool, creative ways. It has a gliss factor that lets you get away with this and a (I think) capacitive strip that you can use to slide notes into place. I would use it for performing live under the known constraints, that being difficulty in getting accurate tuning.

It is however, impossible to tune to match another instrument. It’s still a good absolute beginner place to start with synthesizers, or music in general, that can (and has) in the right hands, yielded professional quality results.

So it’s more than a toy.

Minus points: I thought it was broken for days because I didn’t realize you had to use the stylus to touch the conductive keys. Also the stylus snap-in enclosure seems like it is in danger of putting too much pressure on the wire and could cause repetitive snap-in injury to the control wire.

Plus points: Sounds pretty cool, delay is useful for beats and even when accidentally left in the on position, the battery life doesn’t seem to suffer too much.

Mixed bag: You have to use a screwdriver or similar to change the batteries. So although they will stay in, you better keep a spare tool in your case to change the batteries. Also, one of the battery springs on mine is funky and you have to press it in just so to get all the batteries lined up. Maybe the reason for the screw on the compartment? Still, it’s a design flaw, so it’s a 4/5 stars for me.

It’s also a great gift for someone interested in music, professional or otherwise.

Great portable synth for the price lots of fun and gives you the ability to be creative wherever

I love Stylophones — the original analog versions from decades ago and the recent digital remakes. They are silly toys and legitimate musical instruments at the same time. They can be played by a 6-year-old child or a pop music icon like David Bowie. They are kind of nerdy, goofy, imprecise and awkward. And they always put a smile on my face when I play them.

The new Stylophone Gen X-1 is all I love about Stylophones and more. Depending on how I set the controls and play it, the Gen X-1 can sound rich and interesting or klunky and grating. I plan to incorporate it into my little home recording studio, but I also enjoy it as an entertaining, portable diversion for musical noodling.

Unlike the original Stylophone, which is a basic a transistor organ, the Gen X-1 is a basic monophonic, analog synthesizer. The iconic Stylophone keyboard and stylus control an oscillator that is shaped by a low pass filter and envelope generator. A low frequency oscillator, two sub-oscillators, a pulse width modulator and an analog delay circuit further color the sound. The resulting audio output — best heard through headphones or an external amplifier because the built-in speaker isn’t very loud — can range from bizarre sci-fi trills, sirens and blips to rich lead and bass synth tones that remind me of some of the timbres of “real” synths from the likes of Moog, Korg, or Oberheim.

The Gen X-1 is charmingly imperfect. Playing with a stylus on its metal keys is a bit of a challenge. (By the way, right out of the box, the keyboard and stylus will crackle and sputter a bit. This seems to be a normal thing with all Stylophones that are either new or have gone unplayed for a long time. Simply rubbing the keys and the tip of the stylus with your fingers or a cleaning cloth will help remove some invisible residue that builds up and interferes with the electrical contact. Playing with firm stylus pressure helps, too.) One of the quirks of the Gen X-1 is that if the stylus comes to rest in a narrow groove between keys, the resulting sound is going to be about an octave higher. If you watch what you are doing and bring the stylus to a stop in the center of a key, this effect can be avoided. It doesn’t seem to be an issue when playing a glissando, quickly passing over the grooves from one key to the next. I am sure many players will find a way to use this pitch jump in intentional and interesting ways.

The Gen X-1 supplements the traditional stylus-activated keyboard with a ribbon controller. The ribbon responds to pressure from a fingertip or either end of the stylus. The ribbon isn’t limited to the traditional frequency intervals of a keyboard. Its effect is more like a fretless string, a theremin, or a trombone. I find the ribbon most playable by holding the instrument facing away from me, with my finger on the ribbon as if it were a string on a cello or an upright bass. Anyone who has played an Otamatone or a Korg Monotron will get the hang of it right away. Incidentally, the Gen X-1 ribbon is much longer than the one on the Monotron. I think that makes it easier to play.

The analog delay, in small amounts, can serve as a pseudo envelope release. (The envelope generator has attack and decay settings, but not sustain or release.) With moderate settings, it adds a fun, scifi or ’60s surf guitar quality to the synth tone. At more extreme settings, the analog delay produce a feedback loop that would be right at home in a noise musician’s arsenal. It could also be quite useful for generating noise effects to be recorded and used in a digital sampler.

The low pass filter has a resonance control that will self-oscillate at extreme settings. An aux input allows the filter to affect another instrument or sound source.

The tuning knob on the underside of the instrument can be used to change the effective range of pitches that can be played on the two-octave keyboard. The total pitch range is about the same as a piano. The tuning knob can also be used to transpose keys up or down a few steps, or fine tune the keyboard to match other instruments in a band. (It is not limited to A=440.)

A hidden control can be used to fine-tune the instrument if the oscillator drifts too far out of tune between keyboard intervals as the instrument ages. This is an advanced feature that you shouldn’t have to mess with under typical circumstances for quite a long time, if ever. This setting is factory-tuned and should be okay right out of the box. It is good to have, though, and is one of the things that makes the Gen X-1 more than a mere toy.

If you already know how to use an analog synthesizer, the Gen X-1 will be immediately familiar. If you are new to synthesizers, it will be a fun learning tool. Turn some knobs and see what happens! Read the owner’s manual and find out why. The Gen X-1 will make an ideal gift to introduce a child (or an adult) to electronic music making. For an experienced electronic musician, the Gen X-1 makes an engaging, portable tool for composing, passing the time, or maybe even for recording or stage performance.

The Gen X-1 certainly will invite comparisons to the Korg Monotron series. I have owned all three Monotrons. I can honestly say that I find the Gen X-1 much more fun and useful and I consider it a better value. If you must choose, go with the Gen X-1.

The Stylophone Gen X-1 provides a lot of features and capabilities for such a reasonable price. As a creative toy for sparking a child’s talent and imagination, or as an analog synthesizer for a grown-up musician, it is definitely worthy of your consideration.

Me gustó mucho, sin duda lo recomiendo.