Brian McNamara’s StyloBuzz is a DIY synth kit that provides you with the components and instructions that you need to build a small handheld styus synth.
The StyloBuzz synth is played with a stylus attached to a wire. When the wire touches one of the keyboard pads on the PCB a note is played.
Main Controls:
- Stylus. When the stylus touches the pad on the PCB a note is played. One octave of notes can be played.
- Pitch bend: The pitch bend is a rotary control that shifts the frequency of the sound.
- Mode: The StyloBuzz has 6 different modes. Square wave, saw slow, saw med, saw fast, triangle, and crazy tune.
The output is via a 3.5mm stereo socket which can be plugged into earphones, a computer sound card, mixer or amplifier.
The StyloBuzz kit is $49 via the rarebeasts Etsy shop.
Here’s a demo of the StyloBuzz in action:
The kit includes:
- StyloBuzz custom Circuit board
- Programmed micro controller
- Electronic components( resistors, capacitors, voltage regulator, 9v battery clip, switch, potentiometers, 3.5mm socket and LEDs
- Enclosure
- detailed instructions
Interesting little kit. Not the greatest sound, but it might be word getting, as it seems to operate on resistors to pitch down the sound, which means it’ll be quite hackable, and quite educational.