1984
Unknown
WRITE-A-SONG PIANO
Write-a-song, sing-a-long and hide-a-secret (behind the flower) - perfect for children at any age.

SOUND: 5 DESIGN: 5 COOLNESS: 4
1983
MBO
WRISTWATCH ORGAN
What can I say? It exists!!!

SOUND: 2 DESIGN: 10 COOLNESS: 10
1978
Unknown
WOC 100
Yet another DUBREQ Stylophone clone, but made of super-cheap plastic and an incredibly poor sound. Whooooooo....

SOUND: 1 DESIGN: 10 COOLNESS: 10
1984
Nasta
VOICE TRANSFORMER
A simple Tremolo-effect creates a so-called robot voice. Has a nice shape with a red LED light that flashes when you speak or sing.

SOUND: 10 DESIGN: 10 COOLNESS: 10
1972
Tomy
VOICE CORDER
BEST MUSICAL TOY OF THE WORLD!!! Play & record your own dub-plates with this little beautiful machine. Yes, believe it or not - this machine can really cut records!!! I cannot believe myself.

More ...

SOUND: 10 DESIGN: 10 COOLNESS: 10
1982
Casio
VL-80
Hey, does anybody in the world know about this little freaky machine? This is the one and only calculator with a “Vibrato” switch. And look at the keyboardlike keys. With a shift key you can play the “halfnotes”. Has a built in sequencer - so this is maybe the smallest programmable keyboard of the world. Special Thanks to Alfakom from Denmark!

SOUND: 9 DESIGN: 10 COOLNESS: 10
1982
Casio
VL-5
The biggest keyboard in the VL series with 4 note polyphony and some special features. There is a barcode reader enclosed but it only read prepared CASIO-barcodes - so you cannot turn the barcodes from your cornflakes or toiletpaper into weird music. Pretty sad!

SOUND: 7 DESIGN: 10 COOLNESS: 7
1981
Casio
VL-10
Aaaaaah, the VL-10. This is what made CASIO the best company in the 80ies world. smooth design and State-of-the-Art technology. Has only 3 very similar sounds (one sound with different envelopes) but a 100-step sequencer and the classical VL-1 rhythms (but they sound very thin). It also features 2 loudspeakers at front and back - one for the melody, one for the rhythm. Nothing but great. One of my favourites. And incredible rare, I can tell you... it took me 3 years to find one boxed!

SOUND: 10 DESIGN: 10 COOLNESS: 10
1980
Casio
VL-1
Holy Miniorgan. This is maybe the most popular toy keyboard ever! Unbelievable design and sound. How many people really understood the so-called ADSR function? There also exists an incredibly rare red version, released in France by LIWACO.

SOUND: 10 DESIGN: 10 COOLNESS: 10
1982
GCE
VECTREX MELODY MASTER
Not really a Miniorgan, but a fantastic programmable musical system. The Vectrex is one of the most famous retrogame machines nowadays. With a special software called Melody Master and a Light Pen you can create your own Drum & Music Sequences on screen. It looks like a Fairlight but sounds like a C-64. Anyway, it is fun to see the musical notes jumping and running on the sreen.

SOUND: 10 DESIGN: 10 COOLNESS: 10
1980
Suzuki
TRONICHORD
It is one of my masterpieces. Hours & hours pass by when you play this little machine. It simply produces harmony in any way... perfect for a futurist of the past like me. Thousands thanks to Morgan Fisher from Tokyo!

SOUND: 10 DESIGN: 10 COOLNESS: 10
1979
Bambino
TRIMTONE EV-5TS
Incredibly great design by incredibly great manufacturer BAMBINO - they also made some cool electronic games. Solid Plastic, very good keys and a deep warm sound, produced by an unbelievably big loudspeaker. This series was also released in a different colour as Symphonic Organ by EMIX/TOMY.

SOUND: 10 DESIGN: 10 COOLNESS: 10
1977
Formula
TOUCH ORGAN
Selfmade organ with Theremin-like effects. With dry hands you create weird microtonal tunes, but with wet hands you get the full sounds. So "play" with your hands...

SOUND: 10 DESIGN: 10 COOLNESS: 10
1971
General Electric
TOTE-A-TUNE
Such a marvellous colour and shape. And 4 very analogish and nice sounds. A real sweetheart! Also released in brown color by GTE Orgatron I.

SOUND: 10 DESIGN: 10 COOLNESS: 10
1980
Concept 2000
THE COUNT'S MUSIC MACHINE
Ha, this organ has nice details and is truely made for very young children. I think you cannot play anythning but scary tunes with it!

SOUND: 5 DESIGN: 10 COOLNESS: 10
1982
Mattel
SYNSONICS DRUMS STEREO PRO
Has four lo-fi drum sounds that can be combined in many different pattern or played with drumsticks. This is the version with built-in loudspeakers so they called this Stereo-Pro!

SOUND: 10 DESIGN: 10 COOLNESS: 10
1984
Takara
SWEET MELODY
Cartridge based Organ with some cool Casio-like rhyhtms and a nice piano sound. This was also released from Yamaha as TYU-40. Thanks to Hiromichi.

SOUND: 7 DESIGN: 8 COOLNESS: 10
1980
Unknown
SUPER CHARLIE
A nice Stylophone sequel with Soft-Touch keyboard, a range of 4 octaves and 6 colour variations!

SOUND: 7 DESIGN: 10 COOLNESS: 10
1968
Dubreq
STYLOPHONE
What shall I say about a Stylophone? First Rolf Harris Edition. Nice box and enclosed vinyl with crazy Rolf Harris lyrics.

SOUND: 10 DESIGN: 10 COOLNESS: 10
1978
Dubreq
STYLOPHONE
Here is the German edition, promoted by Bill Ramsey (the german Rolf Harris? But Bill is not german... strange world). Sounds very flat because of the few "digital" parts inside. The early Stylophones sound much much better.

SOUND: 5 DESIGN: 10 COOLNESS: 10
1980
Mattel
STAR MAKER GUITAR
Boys and girls... be prepared for the f**king greatest toy guitar on earth. Mattel created a masterpiece but unfortunately it is ultra rare. It creates the most brutal feedback noise you can imagine – without using any additional gear. Just take it in your hands and break biggest walls with the sound of this unearthy plastic. Many thanks to Jacques DuLong - inventor of the Bee Gees Rhythm Machine - for information and inspiration!

SOUND: 10 DESIGN: 10 COOLNESS: 10
1985
Texas Instruments
SPEAK & MUSIC
A true classic toy keyboard. Makes some great noises and has some cool learning tools. But the "voice" feature is dull.

SOUND: 5 DESIGN: 7 COOLNESS: 7
1980
Fundimensions
SOUND GIZMO
Makes some nice noises but is very limited in its possibilities. The REMCO Sound FX Machine can do much better noises. Fortunately it looks very cool and has a lot of space-attitude.

SOUND: 6 DESIGN: 10 COOLNESS: 10
1980
Electroplay
SOUND FX PHASOR
It looks like a Phaser, but it is a Phasor - and a fully programmable Synthesizer. It offers 6 parameters - each with a value of 0-255. The manual don't tell you what these parameters exactly are, but you can make damn digital noises and sounds and play them on the keyboard which has 10 notes. In a way this is between CASIO VL-1 ADSR function and REMCO Sound FX Machine. A true Masterpiece of early Sound Toys.

SOUND: 10 DESIGN: 10 COOLNESS: 10
1978
Remco
SOUND FX MACHINE
Wow!!! Another toy that is definitively not a toy. This machine is made of cheap plastic and cardboard! It produces unbelievably noise sounds. You cannot play melodies, but you can create sounds varying from hysteric aliens, exploding space guns and flying trains. How many children in the world would have recognized all the possibilities... and how many parents would have stand the results?

SOUND: 10 DESIGN: 10 COOLNESS: 10