Those old enough to remember should have a feint idea of the 1970s Stylophone pocket synthesizer. Yes, it’s the same one used by numerous artists from Kraftwerk to David Bowie to contemporary ones like the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. Well, the thing is making a comeback in the form of the Stylophone Beatbox, a beats machine that lays down electronic sounds right from the palm of your hand.
What can you do with it other than look like a Star Trek nerd with a tricorder? Well, you can tap out sounds on the round surface with a stylus, build and record loops using the onboard samples, playback your creations (with a scratch and record mode) and play along with your favorite songs with an MP3 input. It’s not just a fancy toy either – the videos of folks playing it on YouTube look pretty crafty.
A complete portable beats machine, you can lay down tunes with nothing else but the 15.5 x 10 x 4 cm handheld and its 13 metal pads that trigger music samples every time you tap them. You’ll look like you’re crunching numbers on a large retail calculator while you’re at it, but screw the haters – the thing looks fun. It comes with previously-unheard samples that include percussions, steel drums and human beatbox stylings from UK Champion MC Zani.
The retail page is encouraging potential buyers to put on their Adidas tracksuits, sneakers and bling to look the part while taking the Stylophone Beatbox for a spin. Really? You want your customers to look like the Beastie Boys back when they were pasty teens and fighting for their right to party? Wait, now that I pictured it, that looks way better than the two guys below.
Check out the video to see it in action. Pretty cool.
[100 Milligrams via Gizmodo]