This is the first 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.

Great Prizes To Win On Synth Expert

First off, we have two great prize opportunities on Synth Expert...

Win a Vintage Oberheim Matrix-6 Synthesizer from UVI

In celebration of their release of Vintage Vault 2, a software library of classic and obscure synths, sampleware crafters UVI want to give one lucky winner an Oberheim Matrix-6. No, not a plug-in emulation. The actual hardware, so make room on a tier of your keyboard stand! This is, in fact, the Matrix-6 they recorded for the associated sounds in Vintage Vault 2.

If you would like to win this prize pop over to the Synth Expert Win page and sign up.

Win a Circuit Mono Station from Novation

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.

If you would like to win this prize pop over to the Synth Expert Win page and sign up.

Dave Smith Talks About And Plays the Prophet REV2 As Well As Giving A Tour Of This Synths

There's not a lot one can say about Dave Smith that hasn't already been said, but by way of introduction for a synth designer who needs none, just two of his accomplishments are inventing the first polyphonic synth with memory locations (the Prophet-5), and being the main brain behind MIDI.

Synth Expert Editor, Stephen Fortner recently paid a visit to Dave Smith Instruments in San Francisco to check out his latest analog synthesizer, the Prophet REV2 intended to replace the Prophet '08.

In this first of three videos, Dave explains the features of the REV2. For those who might say, "More playing, less talking," that happens in the second video, when Stephen has a play on the Prophet REV2 with helpful comments in the background from its creator Dave Smith.

In the last of the 3 videos, Dave Smith gives a tour of his entire product line, which is all playable and on display at his demo room in the North Beach neighbourhood of San Francisco, before showing the vintage synth collection in his personal office.

Jim Aikin on Modular Synth Patching

Electronic composer and music tech journalist Jim Aikin is an icon in the synth community. In this 3 part video series, he gives an overview of the modular synth he's been building and demonstrates a four-part multitimbral patch.

In second part Jim goes into deeper detail about the four-part, multi-timbral, multi-time-signature patch he created on his ever-growing Eurorack modular system. We look at many of the individual modules used and trace the signal paths of what's modulating what.

Finally, in part 3, Jim gives the final details of his crazy four-part modular synth patch, plus some interesting facts about his hardware setup.

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.