Monday, November 28, 2011

I'm not dead... here's some music!

Hey readers,
I know it's been a while.  I haven't even checked the stats page in some time, I'm sure alot of you guys stopped checking in daily after that fall off of posts... just letting you know, I am really busy with schoolwork right now, and in addition to that there isn't a ton of new synth news... mostly some companies sitting on their asses about new great products, and some actually putting some together... unfortunately, the synth world is a bit split nowadays.  Tons of money gets put into researching making the best workstations and digital synths.  Nothing's wrong with digital, but it needs to be balanced with analog-- a bit like pie and ice cream.  A warm part and a colder part.  It's silly, but it's the truth.  For every great Moog or DSI product, we also see a ton of whack digital crap.  Analog's a bit like vinyl-- it's coming back, but not many companies realize it, or if they do, they're trying to ignore it.  So don't give up on this site-- I haven't.  I've just been busy, and there hasn't been groundbreaking news to me, although there is a ton of new music swirling around... much of it I'm unaware of.

Keep in mind I always want to keep the posts on this site of a certain quality.  I don't want to bog you down with eBay listings (if you wanted eBay, you'd be there, not here).  I don't cover the page with silly YouTube videos of huge modular systems where one can't make sense of it.  I try to keep it pure here-- pure entertainment, little advertising (almost none at this point!), and nothing but good music.

Here's a few tracks to fill the void of absence...







Monday, November 14, 2011

Breaking: Daft Punk's website changes, speculation begins


Exciting news that Daft Punk's website has updated it's look-- which only means one thing-- a big announcement is around the corner!  Sure, it's complete speculation, but I wouldn't doubt that Thomas and Guy-Manuel are up to going to announce a new record soon.  We're coming up on about a year anniversary of the release of the Tron: Legacy Soundtrack, but it's been a full 6 years since Human After All came out.  The French duo HAD to have done more in that time-- there were reports a couple years ago that they were recording again, so it's unclear if it was the Tron soundtrack or a new record, but this site update is promising.  Expect some sort of announcement soon, and cross your fingers for a new record!

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Korg announce 2 new Monotrons


What a nice little treat for Friday!  Korg has announced two new additions to the analog "mono" family, the Monotron Duo and the Monotron Delay.  These are the siblings to the original Monotron, sharing the same MS-20 filter and oscillators, but each has replaced a function of the original.  The Delay features, obviously, a Delay, but omits the pitch knob and the resonance.  It now features a wide-range ribbon for sounds across multiple octaves.  This delay is really exciting because it can process external sounds-- that's the true value of this item.  The Duo features a ribbon that can lock to major, minor, or chromatic scaling, and features two oscillators that can be used to cross modulate one another.  It also omits the original Monotron's LFO.  Check out the videos above and below for some compact analog goodness.

Dear Korg, while you're at it making these great little analog treats, why not combine them to make a new analog classic?  You're halfway there.  Adding some envelopes, a keyboard, and a little bit more size to the unit for this low of a price would make it a musician's dream.  Everyone would want one.  Pretty please, Korg?


Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Chromeo treat the Electric Factory to Halloween Funk


Chromeo were in Philadelphia this Monday for Halloween.  While the Electric Factory is not my favorite of the Philly venues, I could tell something special was in the air when I arrived.  Perhaps it was the mutual high blood sugar shared by all the guests at the Factory.  Tons of kids were dressed in costumes, some of which were hilarious-- definitely a few unique choices thrown in, too.  I haven't even been a Chromeo fan for long, but I was really anticipating their show, and they sure as hell delivered.