New Daft Punk Album- "Random Access Memories" appears on iTunes store for release on May 21st, 2013

The new Daft Punk album is officially called "Random Access Memories" and will be released on May 21st, 2013, according to iTunes.  No track titles yet, but the name is an obvious play on the band's digital style- "Random Access Memories" is a slight change from "Random Access Memory," or RAM as we all call it.

Super excited for this!

UPDATE: You can hear a snippet of a new track and preorder the album here.

More news as it develops.

Native Instruments Monark Demonstration from Dubspot Video

If you've been curious about Native Instrument's new softsynth Monark, here's a full 15 minute video on it.  If you recall, a few weeks ago they were acting as if this synth was revolutionary... but it turns out, it's a Minimoog recreation, so you won't find any crazy unheard of features.  That said, it's a pretty good emulation.  I'm sure if you're a big NI user, you'll eat this up, but I have the feeling most other people who are interested in the Minimoog have already picked up a different emulation.

New Korg Interview with original MS-20 Engineers hints at more analog to come

If you're one of the many who were hoping that the MS-20 Mini wouldn't be the last of the new analogs from Korg, you'll find an exciting quote from a PDF interview with two of the engineers of the original and new MS-20 on Korg's site:

"Do you have any plans for reviving other MS series models in the future, such as the SQ-10 or the MS-50?
'We want to give people who have never actually touched an analog synthesizer the chance of experiencing how much fun it can be. Just how necessary such a device would be in the present day is something that we'll decide after seeing the response from MS-20 mini users.'"

While that quote certainly doesn't guarantee anything, I think it's worth it to say that the past few years have shown a trend within Korg, and that's that they give consumers what they want, if it sells.  What started as a fun little toy on the Monotron led to the more capable Monotribe, and the overwhelming demand for bigger, better, and more feature-fledged has led us to the MS-20 Mini.  The MS-20 is in high demand with all the buzz of the recent videos and reviews, so there should be a ton of sales of the new synth worldwide.  But what could come after the MS-20?  I've already outlined some ideas in this article.

Other topics discussed in the article include challenges in the MS-20's design, why the Mini lacks full MIDI implementation, and if schematics will be released.  The interview is pretty short, so why not read the whole thing over on Korg's website?

Shook - "Tonight"

Here's some new funk by way of Shook, one of guests last year.  "Tonight" features his trademark funky styles, with some smooth piano and robotic vocals.  The strings are a great touch too.  Always good to hear a non-remix from Shook too, as impressive as his remix catalog.  Hopefully we'll be seeing a full EP or even album sometime sooner than later.