This is the third 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 the latest competition to win a Novation Circuit Mono Station, two free Virtual Instrument plug-ins, as well as a selection of news and reviews on Synth Expert in the past week.

Competitions On Synth Expert

Win a Circuit Mono Station from Novation - Free To Enter

Synth Expert has teamed up with Novation to give one lucky winner a Circuit Mono Station sequenced analog synth. Though it's called the Mono Station, it's actually paraphonic, so you can get two voices out of its two independently controllable oscillators. Add to that three sequencer tracks, and copious CV/gate I/O as well as MIDI, and you have an aggressive and addictively fun "groove synth" that can fit into any musical setup.

Go to Synth Expert to enter this very special prize draw competition

Free Plug-ins On Synth Expert

Free plug-in Of Vintage KORG PS-3100 Polyphonic Synthesizer From Full Bucket Music

Full Bucket Music has announced a free plug-in version of the classic KORG PS-3100 Polyphonic Synthesizer.

The FB-3100 At A Glance

• Close emulation of behaviour and all controls of the original hardware
• Band-limited oscillators, classic two-pole lowpass filters
• Resonators section
• Two Modulation Generators, Sample & Hold
• Additional paraphonic Envelope Generator
• Semi-modular patch panel
• Micro-tuning option
• Additional tweaks
• MIDI Learn – all parameters can be controlled by MIDI CC
• Plug-in supports Windows and macOS (32 bit and 64 bit)

Read more and get the download link on Synth Expert.

Free Physical Modeling Synth - PA3 Derailer

From Physical Audio labs, Derailer is a modeling synth with two elements: a metal bar that you can strike or bow, and a "spring" that lets you join two or more bars together so that vibrations from striking one will affect the other, creating sympathetic resonance. We got clued into it off of Richard Devine's LinkedIn feed, so you know it's tweaky.

It's currently in beta and therefore free to download, the only catch being that you need to have a recent Mac with a "Sandy Lake" or later Intel processor. WIth up to 27 strike bars and five resonators, you can create a lot of truly haunting and interesting soundscapes.

For more details and to get the download link go to Synth Expert.

A Sample Of Other Stories On Synth Expert

Try The Official Roland D50 Plug-in For 30 Days For Free

You may have seen the article on Syth Expert with an exclusive video of the new Roland D-05 from Knobcon 2017, it seems there is a lot of love for the classic Roland D50 synth. You may not be aware but Roland is giving users the opportunity to try the official Roland D50 Plug-in for 30 days for free.

Find out more and how to access this 30 day trial on Synth Expert.

Audio Illusions with Yamaha Montage Spiralizer Effect

Yamaha's new Spiralizer effect in Montage version 1.6 nails the eternally-rising "Shepard's Tone" auditory illusion. Blake Angelos of Yamaha explains and plays the effect in the video below, showing engaging forms of harmonic motion that would at the very least be much more difficult to achieve by other means in a keyboard. 

Go to Synth Expert to learn more and watch the video from Blake Angelos

Native Instruments Updates Kontakt and Kontakt Player to v5.7

Native Instruments, makers of software and hardware instruments, has updated Kontakt to v5.7.

This update adds three new guitar amp models and two additional distortion effects. Kontakt 5.7 also adds enhancements for instrument builders – including two for UI-authoring – and fixes some bugs.

To learn more about this update read the full story on Synth Expert.

IK Multimedia Syntronik Free Review

Syntronik Free is a fully functional FREE version of Syntronik, the paid for flagship vintage synth VI from  IK Multimedia. The best way to think about Syntronik Free is a tasting menu of the full version, sporting 50 presets, 38 effects, parts, layers and arpeggiators that you can play and edit with sounds taken from the massive Syntronik library that can be used as a plug-in or standalone virtual instrument.

Read the rest of the review of the IK Multimedia Syntronik 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.