September 2021

Category

Digital Fabrication, Prototype

Authors

Piyush Churad, Chinmay Modi

Role activity

Concept & Ideation, Product Design

Stylophone is a miniature electronic musical instrument producing a distinctive buzzing & grunge sound when a stylus is drawn along the screen of the mobile device’s ‘Stylo 101’ application. The design is inspired by Dubreq’s Stylophone Gen X-1 model. It is a portable instrument which offers three modes of playing & several audio effects mapped on the push button & sliders respectively.

- Iteration 1

- Iteration 2

- Iteration 3

- Iteration 4

- Final Iteration

Prototype

/Interface & Interaction Modality

The stylophone is made up of three significant parts: the upper case (3D printed + laser cut), lower base with a pocket for mobile device (CNC milled) & a mobile device (i-phone X model). The upper case comprises the control mechanism for the device. The sliders guide the audio effects & mixer section. A push button to toggle between three synth modes which are: saw lead, square lead & tri lead.

The stylus is attached to the stylophone which can be used to draw on the mobile screen’s device. All the mechanism, the sliders, push button and the stylus are 3D printed by a conductive PLA.

/User Experience

The stylophone is made to be a portable and a handy device. It also has a 3.5mm out channel where the user can plug into the headphones and play with it for a personal experience. The tones of the stylophone makes one reminiscent of the 1970s-80s polyphonic synthesizer era.

/Research & Development Context

With too many applications in the field of sound & music it gives an opportunity to have physical manifestations of several such applications which makes the user feel more real & connected with.