A rare Daft Punk skateboard made by the duo’s long-time creative director is listed for sale at $15,000A super-rare Daft Punk-branded skateboard is listed for sale on Ebay, which was created by the duo’s long-time creative director Cédric Hervet.
The skateboard is listed for a rather hefty price tag, just shy of $15,000, and is one of only 25 of this kind that were produced – it’s the 11th one out of the run, to be exact. It’s in mint condition and is still in its original box.

READ MORE: “Daft Punk were deadpan people trying to be techno… It was too gimmicky”: Why John Lydon turned down a collab with the robots

The seller originally purchased the board in LA at a Maxfield pop up store. It was created in 2017 for the limited release, and as reported by EDM.com, came out of Hervet Manufacturier: the design studio co-founded by Hervet after his work with Daft Punk.
Hervet was involved in vital art direction for the pair, including the album artwork for their iconic Random Access Memories album. He also co-wrote and co-produced Interstella 5555, the accompanying film to their Discovery record, and also co-wrote and edited Daft Punk’s 2006 Electroma film.

In other Daft Punk news, former Kraftwerk percussionist Wolfgang Flür was sadly tricked into working with an impersonator pretending to be Daft Punk’s Thomas Bangalter on his Times album, which was released in March this year.
Flür was a member of Kraftwerk from 1973-1987, and has been releasing solo music since 2015. He had previously teased a collaboration with Bangalter in the years prior to its release, but after it officially landed, reports claimed that the collaboration was not with the real Bangalter, and that Flür had been tricked.
Things continue to remain quiet in the official Daft Punk camp. Ever since their retirement in 2021, the world has continued to hope that the two will team up once again; in 2024, former collaborator and session drummer Quinn claimed the duo are sitting on an unreleased album. He told student-run media organisation alt.news 26:46 that the pair began working on what would have been their fifth album in 2018.
You can view the full listing for the Daft Punk skateboard via Ebay.
The post A rare Daft Punk skateboard made by the duo’s long-time creative director is listed for sale at $15,000 appeared first on MusicTech.

Sonora Cinematic launch Softstruck Said to be one of Sonora Cinematic's most unconventional offerings to date, Softstruck takes the concept behind the ‘felt piano’ sound and applies it to the guitar. 

Liquidize is a FREE fluid-like vocoder effect for macOS and Windows
Developer Bespoke Samples has released Liquidize, a free effect plugin designed to add a watery, fluid-like character to your sounds. Liquidize blends a self-modulating vocoder, reverb, and phaser into a streamlined interface that excels at transforming ordinary audio into lush, liquid textures. At its core, the plugin uses a vocoder with modulating characteristics that respond [...]
View post: Liquidize is a FREE fluid-like vocoder effect for macOS and Windows

1 Billion Streams of Children’s Music Completely DIYThis week, Ari is joined by Dave and JJ Heller to discuss their journey of building a completely independent music business for a niche audience of moms.

PRS Guitars Announces Four Fresh Colors for the SE Silver SkyPRS Guitars released the SE Silver Sky Rosewood in four new colors on Tuesday, "created in collaboration with Grammy award-winning PRS Signature Artist, John Mayer. The fresh finishes, offered for the first time on any PRS model, are Derby Red, Trad Blue, Laurel Green, and Dandy Lion (a brilliant and eye-catching yellow)."“The new Silver Sky SE lineup features four new colors inspired by traditional American fashion. These are time-tested hues that have been popular through decades, and I’m excited to share them with the world as the latest SE colorways,” said John Mayer. "The SE Silver Sky is a familiar iteration of the original Silver Sky model that was first introduced with John Mayer in 2018," a statement reads. "The SE starts with a poplar body, bolt-on maple neck, and rosewood fretboard with PRS trademark bird inlays. The 22-fret, 25.5” scale length neck features the original 635JM carve and an 8.5” fretboard radius. It is anchored by three single-coil 635JM “S” pickups, a two-point steel tremolo, synthetic bone nut, and vintage-style tuners.""The SE Silver Sky Maple colorway is also being updated to include two new finishes previously offered on the rosewood-equipped model. The SE Silver Sky Maple's new color palette is Moon White, Stone Blue, Summit Purple, and Nylon Blue.""PRS Guitars continues its schedule of launching new products each month in 2025. Stay tuned to see new gear and 40th Anniversary limited-edition guitars throughout the year. For all of the latest news, click www.prsguitars.com/40 and follow @prsguitars on Instagram, Tik Tok, Facebook, X, and YouTube."

The post PRS Guitars Announces Four Fresh Colors for the SE Silver Sky first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

Michigan pension fund deepens Bitcoin exposure with $11M stake in ARK ETFThe State of Michigan Retirement System has nearly tripled its Bitcoin ETF holdings, signaling rising institutional confidence in digital assets.

Exclusive: Kobalt’s AI deal with Suno rival ElevenLabs guarantees publishing ‘parity’ with recorded musicMBW has confirmed details of this potentially precedent-setting deal, which could reshape the music industry's approach to generative AI licensing.
Source

Clay confirms it closed $100M round at $3.1B valuationThe AI sales automation startup raised fresh funds, led by CapitalG, just months after its last round.

SRM Sounds release SLEEP Piano SRM Sounds have announced the launch of their latest sample library, which captures the sound of the very piano used to compose Max Richter’s seminal work. 

Flex PCB Underlies the Watch of the FutureIf you were at OpenSauce, you may have seen new Youtuber [Sahko] waltzing about with a retrofuturistic peice of jewelery that revealed itself as a very cool watch. If you weren’t, he’s his very first video on YouTube detailing the design and construction of this piece.  We’ve embedded it below, and it’s worth a watch. (Pun intended, as always.)
The build was inspired by the delightful amber LED dot-matrix display modules that circle the band of the watch. They go by HCMS2901, but [Sahko] recommends using the HCMS3901 as it’s both more 3.3V-tolerant and easier to find now. A challenge in mounting so many displays was the voltage on the supply rail dropping below the logic level; presumably the newer version does not have this problem to the same degree. Either way we love the look of these little displays and are pondering projects of our own that might include them.
He’s got quite a few wrapped around his wrist, so at full brightness, all these displays draw one amp. That explains why like the LED watches of the 1970s, the default state of the displays is “OFF”. Even with a LiPo pouch salvaged from a disposable vape, the runtime would only be half an hour at full brightness without that periodicity. Luckily [Sahko] included buttons on the band of the watch to activate it and control the brightness so it isn’t always blasting at full. There are also different modes available, including a really cool waterfall effect you can see in the video.
The band is an interesting choice, too: it’s just a flex PCB. There’s nothing backing it, aside from its own stiffeners, which makes us very curious how well this watch would hold up to daily use. There’s no clasp in the traditional sense, either: the band is closed by a 4-pin connector that doubles as both charge and the USB programmer for the stm32u08 microcontroller that runs the displays. Conveniently for a watch, this version of the stm32 has an RTC, so it keeps time as well. We dig the minimalism of this design; it’s a great contrast to the maximalism of wrapping your wrist in displays.
We’ve seen very similar displays on an edge-viewed watch, but a tiny amber LED matrix never gets old. If you wrapping your wrist in all those tiny LEDs is too impractically power-hungry, try using Nixie tubes.
We’re always watching for projects– wrist mounted clocks or otherwise– so if you’ve got the time, please drop us a tip.

Part of Dr. Dre’s SSL 4000 G+ mixing console sells for a record-breaking $165,000 at auctionPart of an SSL 4000 G+ mixing console owned by producer Dr. Dre has sold at auction for $165,000, breaking a record for the most expensive hip-hop instrument or studio item sold at auction.
The auction was hosted by The Realest, an ​​authentication and marketplace platform, which describes the console as “one of the most important production tools in modern hip-hop history” that helped engineer “the signature Dre sound”.

READ MORE: The 1982 Commodore 64 is back – and it’s just as you remember it

The 16-channel section of the console now belongs to collector Ryan Zurrer, who will be putting it on display at the Hip Hop Museum in New York when it opens in 2026. Zurrer took to social platform X after the auction to share his gratitude, and called the channel strip an “iconic part of hip-hop history”.

Still the same OG, but low key.
Grateful to pick up the signature instrument that Dre took the time to perfect the beat…brought the oldies, taught you to smoke trees…still DRE.This iconic part of hip hop history will be available to the public @thhmuseum because it ain’t no… pic.twitter.com/PrLjbOvTNL
— Ryan Zurrer (@kukulabanze) July 25, 2025

The console was originally installed at Record One Studio in LA, and was used to produce Dre’s The Chronic album (1992), Snoop Dogg’s Doggystyle (1993), and other records under Dr. Dre’s Aftermath label, which he founded in 1996.
The Realest states that “virtually every major artist who entered the studio between the early ’90s and mid-2000s passed through this board”. It was received by The Realest directly from legendary producer Che Pope, the former GM of Aftermath Entertainment and longtime Dre collaborator.
The console shows no damage, but its working condition is undetermined and it has not been tested since removal from the studio. The sale of it included a power supply unit and rack cabinet.
According to Variety, the sale broke the previous record held by RZA’s E-mu SP-1200 drum machine, which was used on Wu-Tang Clan’s 1993 debut album, Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), and sold for $69,000 in 2023.
Of course, many producers out there could only dream of paying out such a vast amount of money on a historic piece of gear, but fear not – Solid State Logic has just released a channel strip plugin version of the classic SL 4000 G console, named SSL 4K G. The brand describes it as “the definitive” emulation of the original channel strip, and it has been created by its original designers.
To find out more about the SSL 4K G plugin, head over to Solid State Logic. You can also find out more about The Hip Hop Museum. 
The post Part of Dr. Dre’s SSL 4000 G+ mixing console sells for a record-breaking $165,000 at auction appeared first on MusicTech.

New Amazon Music Insights can turn Fans into MarketersAmazon Music is turning a fan's listener history into something they can brag about, and that's good news for artists. By making them easy to share, Amazon Music Insights can turn fans into marketers.
The post New Amazon Music Insights can turn Fans into Marketers appeared first on Hypebot.

Metal and Hard Rock ticket sales are exploding says Live NationMetal and Hard Rock ticket sales grew significantly over the last year, according to Live Nation. Hard rock concerts are up 15% in 2025.
The post Metal and Hard Rock ticket sales are exploding says Live Nation appeared first on Hypebot.

Free Immersive Audio Webinar featuring Alan Parsons  In conjunction with Sound On Sound, Alan Parsons’ ASSR continues its recent tradition of delivering free webinars with another unmissable event.

Gospel Producers Loop TrackLoop Track is a free drum loop plugin featuring over 400 hard hitting drum samples: 24-bit, 48k .wav files. Over 400+ Samples. 15 Included Drum Banks. 7 Different Multi-FX Processors (Verb, Degrade, Saturation, EQ, H/L Pass Filters & Pitch). Streamlined 1-Page GUI. Includes 100s free MIDI Files. Read More