This is the seventh 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 a discussion piece on the relative merits of the East/West coast approaches to synthesis, an experimental composition from synthesis/composer Experimental Synth, a roundup of gear news from the week and a free VI in the form of Vintage Simply String 2.

Musicianship and Modular

Stephen discusses whether the popularity and accessibility of modular synths, and the West coast approach to synthesis and music is good for music or for synthesis? How much should synth enthusiasts, particularly modular synth enthusiasts, consider a baseline knowledge of music theory -- melody, harmony, orchestration, arrangement -- important? 

Stephen describes himself as an East Coast kind of guy, an '80s kid raised on Thomas Dolby, Human League, and Depeche Mode, and as such someone who values musical knowledge and the ability to play. Counter that with Mark Mothersbaugh of DEVO, who pointed to his Memorymoog and said, "It's really sort of a glorified organ," flagging a West Coast leaning.

Artist - Experimental Synth and the Krell Patch

Continuing the discussion of the relative merits of the East coast/West coast schools of synthesis Stephen highlights the merits of the West coast approach with a video of a piece by Chris Stack, AKA Experimental Synth created using just a MakeNoise 0-Coast synthesizer and plug-ins from studio effects staple Eventide. There is certainly something to be said for squeezing all you can out of a small palette of tools. Reducing "option anxiety" about which plug-in or synth to use focuses your creativity on actually making the music.

The Week in Gear - October 2017 Week 2

Each week we round up the hottest new product releases of the previous seven days, including our Find of the Week, which gets the nod for outstanding bang-for-buck and/or technological achievement -- or just something we've been waiting for and are glad someone finally made.

Read the rest of the story on Synth Expert.

Friday Free Plug-In -- Vintage Simply String 2

This Friday's featured free instrument plug-in is Vintage Simply String 2 from RDG Audio. As you can see from the screenshot above of the user interface, this is a very simple plug-in dedicated to classic analog string machine sounds, but heavily inspired by such sounds generated with Moog synthesizers. There are two main vintage synth-string sounds.

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.