A miniature stylus-operated synthesizer that’s an exact replica of a machine built in 1967 seeks to inspire musicians in the same way that it did more than 40 years ago. Apparently, star performers such as Kraftwerk, David Bowie and Erasure used one of these things back in the day to put out cutting-edge electronic sounds. This little fella existed back in an era when computers took up entire rooms and pen computing was just a gnarly fantasy of a few nerds in some dungeon deep underground.

The little synth is operated by tapping the pen on the keys. A switch adds vibrato, and a tuning knob adds pitch bending effects. Three different retro organ sounds are available. Here’s some more features:

• Built in speaker with volume control
• Optional headphone jack
• Input for MP3 player mixes your music with the Stylophone and outputs everything through the built-in speaker
• Requires 3 AA batteries (not included)
• Dimensions: 16cm x 9.5cm x 3.5cm

The Stylophone Retro Pocket Synth is available on the Internet for about $20.