Using the timer 555 chip to make music is a popular hack among electronics enthusiasts, and a current example of this is an all-analog stylus synth created by electrical engineering student DarcyJ.
Heavily influenced by the vintage Stylophone, Darcy’s design includes a capacitor bank enabling multiple octaves and the use of a ladder of trim pots instead of fixed resistors to enable tuning.
The vibrato function from the original Stylophone is included in the design, albeit driven by an RC oscillator rather than a 555 timer.
Darcy’s design is suitable for beginners in analog electronics, with separate layouts for each circuit on the PCB, all parts being thru-hole, and a high-quality write-up featuring design revisions and mistakes.
All design files are available on GitHub under a CERN-OHL-S v2 license.
