In our current digital age, there remains a large population of individuals that posses a specific nostalgia for the richer sound of analog music. They also have a certain love for the classic designs and the feel of vintage analog music making machines.

With this in mind, Korg has released three hand held analog devices: the monotron, the monotron duo, and the monotron delay. Korg initially released the monotron some time ago, but recently rounded out the trio with the duo and delay. Each of the hand held, battery powered synthesizers feature a ribbon keyboard, five knobs, and a single switch. Take a look at the videos below showing off the features of each of the synths.

Referenced from: I have Synth

Being a fan of electronic music, Ghostly International is a name that I am familiar with. One of the Ghostly founders Matthew Dear, as well as other Ghostly artists, are well known for their smooth beats and melodic melodies. Several years ago, Ghostly did a successful collaboration with Adult Swim by releasing the Ghostly Swim album.

In addition to producing polished sounds, Ghostly is dabbling in art and design with the Ghostly Store. This online design center features Dieter Rams style office accessories, audio equipment, and limited addition art prints.

The item in the store that stands out the most is the Inspiration Pad. This comes to us from Belgium Designer Marc Thomasset. The Inspiration pad re-imagines the age old sketch pad notebook by offering a variety of angles, curves, and perspective lines. I had a studio professor in design school that would start a product sketch by laying down a series of random lines and arcs. He would then begin to sculpt the form of a product out of the jumble.

The Inspiration Pad is an excellent tool for laying down the foundation of inspired sketches.

Take a look at the other well designed products and the limited art prints in the Ghostly Store.