This is the sixth in a regular feature in which we will highlight some of the excellent news, articles, tutorials and competitions we have on our new sister site Synth Expert. This week we feature Part 2 of Stephen's recent visit to Iceland with a slideshow of vintage synths, Stephen also invites readers into his studio to tour his personal collections of synths. Continuing the vintage theme, in the first part of a series we look back to the Korg Poly 800, an 80s polysynth which broke new ground in terms of its affordability, and from cool vintage analogue we venture into possibly the uncoolest of keyboard categories by asking whether people who ignore arranger keyboards are missing out? 

Synthy Iceland Part 2

You may remember this story from last week about visiting synth repairer and modifier Arnar Adalsteinsson at his fantastic shop, Lalaland in Reykjavik. Arnar gave us a nice video tour, but really wasn't set up to plug all the synths in and do audio demos. So I thought I'd do the next best thing: Set up a slide show with a bit of description of each, and where possible, link to an audio or video demo found online. Clicking on the center of each image will link through to the demo - and remember to "open in new tab" (or new window) to keep your place here in the home story.

Go to Synth Expert to see the synths.

Stephens Synths

I thought it would be fun to kick it off with an overview of my home studio, as I've gotten a lot of requests for that via email and social media. As a kid I also envied musicians and producers who had their studios described in music instrument and recording magazines, and wasted more than a little notebook space and study hall time writing fictional paragraphs as though I were the interviewee. When publisher Russ Hughes said, "Why don't you do a weekly blog about stuff in your home studio," a light bulb went on and I thought, "Oh, right, I'm an adult and I can do a real one now."

Synderella Stories - Korg Poly-800

Welcome to Synderella Stories, a new blog about synthesizers that were (A) not very popular when they were new, and/or (B) not especially in demand on the used market today. However, (C) they were and are much more powerful, useful, or interesting than they got credit for.

First up is the first actual synth I ever owned, the Korg Poly-800 I purchased during the summer of 1984. As I recall I was able to get it for around $700 out the door.

Read the rest of the story on Synth Expert.

Why Arranger Keyboards Matter

Arranger keyboards are characterised by their automatic accompaniment styles, which are essentially multi-part MIDI riffs that follow your chord changes, adding not just a drum beat but several virtual musicians worth of backing band as well.

Arrangers are also some of the most maligned and least understood keyboards among many pros. We ask wheter that is fair?

Read the rest of the story on Synth Expert.

More About Synth Expert

Our new Synth Expert website is where you will find news, reviews, and how-tos about all things synthesizer. the editor is Stephen Fortner who is a lifelong keyboard player and synth enthusiast and got his start in music technology journalism when Keyboard magazine published a writing sample he had sent them in the late 1990s. He became the technical editor at the beginning of 2006 and the magazine's editor in chief in 2009 through to 2015. Stephen , what are your aims for Synth Expert?

SF: It's my intention that Synth Expert becomes a "big tent." Analog and digital. Hardware and software. Mono and poly. Keyboard synths and modular gear and the musicians who prefer one or the other. 

That's not to say we want to be, or can be, all things to all people. DJ technology and culture, for example, will not be a main focus, digital pianos meant for the living room? Well, once in a while, maybe a few of the more synthy ones. 

We will maintain a permanent and ever-growing list of free synth plug-ins from third parties. Like the other sites in the Production Expert family, Synth Expert also has Facebook and Twitter feeds to help you keep up to date. Thanks for joining me on this journey, and I hope we have a lot of fun together.