This is the eleventh in a regular feature in which we will highlight some of the excellent news, articles, tutorials and competitions we have on our sister site Synth Expert. This week we feature a competition to win the amazing Arturia Drumbrute, the first in a series of tutorials on MIDI, news of a major update to Korg's Gadget software and another in the Synderella Stories series, this time highlighting the Yamaha Motif ES.

Win an Arturia DrumBrute Analog Drum Machine!

We've teamed up with Arturia to give away a DrumBrute fully analog drum machine to one lucky winner. The DrumBrute features 17 analog drum sounds and the unique Steiner-Parker synth filter, MIDI as well as massive CV/gate connectivity, and dynamic "X0X" style sequencing. It normally carries a U.S. street price of $499, too, which means this ain't no baby prize!

Read the rest of the story on Synth Expert.

Tutorial - What Is MIDI? Part 1: What It Isn't

What is MIDI? That's how we're kicking off a beginning tutorial series on Synth Expert? Not how to create a feedback loop in your modular synth that causes your studio to time travel? Or at least, sound like the TARDIS? Not how to program sequences from Stranger Things?

Head over to Synth Expert to find out more.

Stephen's Synths - Yamaha Motif ES

This one is an oldie but goodie, introduced in 2003: the Yamaha Motif ES. It was only the second generation of Motif, following the "Classic" of 2001.

Read the rest of the story on Synth Expert.

Major Korg Gadget Update Adds Three New Devices, NKS Support

Korg has announced a major update to their highly popular Gadget music creation environment.

This latest update adds three new "gadgets:" two more synths and a loudness maximizer.

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.