Stylophone Theremin Now Available To Pre-order

Stylophone today introduced the Stylophone Theremin, a new add addition to their family of portable electronic instruments.

The Stylophone Theremin builds on the original Stylophone design, being battery powered featuring simple sound controls. It adds an antenna for pitch control, but unlike traditional theremins, uses a trigger with envelope for volume.

The instrument also features a slider for precise note control, delay and vibrato effects, octave control, and various tone options.

Features:

  • Antenna for creating movement based sound
  • Slider for more precise notes and moving melodies
  • Create drones or trigger notes
  • Wobbly vibrato circuit
  • Echoing delay
  • Portable AA battery design
  • Built in speaker
  • Headphone and audio output
  • Can be used with a mic stand

Pricing and Availability

The Stylophone Theremin is available now for pre-order, priced at about $110 USD.

31 thoughts on “Stylophone Theremin Now Available To Pre-order”

  2. looks and sounds nice, and makes an inventive evolution of the instrument. One thing i wonder about is could the effect of the slider and the antenna itself be smoothed out with a glide control, like say an overall delta/divider of the pitch change per second. Set to personal taste, a glide control could humanize the theremin idea even a bit more, while it could be set to zero for those who like a full glitchy direct control in the vintage sense. Oh, and is there any midi interaction, by a keyboard or TO a midi device like even a vocoder or guitar pedal? I will think about ordering one, cheers everybody.

    1. The Moog Theremini has a glide control knob. It slides freely when set to zero and locks into pitches when set to full. It sounds really nice around 12 o’clock.

      There are no midi theremins because midi uses notes. Picture the slide wheel on your synthesizer. It defaults to one full step. If you tried to make a midi theremin, it would slide only one full step by default. You could go into the settings and set the slide wheel to multiple octaves, but it would get complicated and menu-divey real fast, so no one bothers to make it (except the zeppelin labs one that quantizes to pitches).

      These complications could theoretically be bypassed by the midi 2.0 “handshake” between devices, but we’ve already been waiting several years for companies to implement midi 2.0 in devices, so don’t hold your breath.

      The prospect of a theremin midi controller is what excites me most about midi 2.0, so hopefully one day it will come out. But pretty sure it would only work on synths that also have midi 2.0 implemented.

      3. The Claravox has MIDI out and in. While I haven’t tried it, I have two Claravoxes so one could conceivable drive the other so you could have two timbres and octaves at the same time. I enjoyed playing the one so much I didn’t try.

        Rather than using MIDI with a theremin external pedals are easier and more practical such as EHX Mel 9, Boss SY-1 and others.

        Those pedals would make this 110 dollar instrument even more of a bargain.

        If you really want MIDI on this you can buy a pitch to MIDI converter. I hooked on up to the Claravox and drove the Korg ARP odyssey module with it. Just not that interesting.

        This is what I used:

        https://secondsound.com/product/unisyn/

        lots of work vs. the ease of a pedal.

      4. Zeppelin design labs has a midi theremin, I bought one to build a few years ago, the pitch side works great, the modulation side is a little more of a hassle to get functioning properly. I still pull it out from time to time for live improv and noise sets. But it runs off two pairs of optical sensors, you can set root note for key and set I think 8 scales. The pins on the lcd are a little finicky, that’s one of my only real issues with it so make sure you have them spread a little when installing so they will make contact with the standoffs. Runs off a 9v battery that I still haven’t had to change since install and output is a 5 pin midi

  3. Buyers remorse will settle in about six minutes after plug in. No shade on theremin as a concept/ instrument; practical application is extremely limited IMO.

    1. It is not about the size or how many knobs it has, but what you do with what you have…hit songs has been made on lesser featured instruments…

    2. That is true for most theremins. The traditional learning curve is too steep. Playing it the easy way is just not done.

      If you buy a theremin and work really hard at it, in about 2 years people will recognize the tune you are playing.

      Not unlike some more “real” instruments.

      I used to play the Etherwave while playing keyboard – I didn’t bother with the volume antenna. That was before I was a “precision thereminist” which erally means you don’t have to use vibrato since you can actually hit and hold a note steady.

      PLAY SEATED.

  4. Theremin…niche product…soundwise nothing to be exited about (compared with full synthesizers)…except when you’re a woman apparently because I almost always see woman playing the theremin.
    If you don’t like my opinion; can’t make it better because this is what I have observed.
    Anyways…gl with it if you’re about to purchase it.

    3. sexism = strange take away that clouds your observation of the product itself. hot take – gear ads will often have someone in it playing item = the humanoid is not generally the main point of the item being sold. your experience of anyone playing an instrument or not – really need not include ageism, political views, sexism, clothing person is wearing etc. also – note that you say “SEE women playing theremin” it’s HEAR playing theremin, if you focused more on what you heard, over your eyes, mayhaps your commentary would have more depth and weight?

  5. A “Theremin” without volume control is not a Theremin. The ridiculous fidget around in the video shows, that this is mostly a toy for effects. The delay may be the most interesting part – if it has an audio input….

  7. very happy with Stylophone putting out cheap and accessible devices like the Gen X-1… it’s basically a subtractive synth primer in a box

    people forget these things are boopy doopy zap zap machines more than pro instruments… have fun

  9. I just hope they include the amazing history of synthesizer type book they included with the Stylophone. I enjoyed that book way more than the stylophone. I wonder if they’ve updated it.

  10. If you can’t be creative w/limited devices & need to let people know that in a passive aggressive manner, its not a man vs woman issue or a limited device, but most likely a limitation on yourself whether genetic, learned or self-imposed.. if anyone doesn’t like my opinion, can’t make it better because its what i’ve observed in my 45 years of working with and around creative people and those who wish they were. Since most “practical” applications in creative tools in 100% in the ear/eye/hands/talent/interest/driven passions of the beholder.

  17. its at the right price point and coolness, now the new theremin style is D’Ya Like Scratchin'”
    if you look at another Theremin at this price point you will find nothing what Stylophone is doing. As far as CV I am sure someone will open it up and find the CV out points, for now you could use sorry to say but PERFECT PITCH PP1(audio to midi) or if you need to convert audio to cv try 4ms Percussion Interface + Expander. Once I get my hands on Stylophone Theremin, I will make some videos about what I wrote.

    D’Ya Like Scratchin’
    https://youtu.be/c_ulaHJ-Xk0?si=ka0iPAQcCYdD-rJa

    Theremin Dj Scratching System
    https://youtu.be/saFAKFAoh0k?si=T1d5LnaHho7sA2pd

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