This is the fourth 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 news of the Reason 10 announcement, 2 winners on Synth Expert, news of 3 other announcements from Softube, Neyrinck and Spitfire Audio and finish with some tutorials on the Novation Circuit groovebox.

What's New in Propellerhead Reason 10

With any major left-of-the-decimal update, not to mention to nice round number like 10, you’d expect the news to be big. Reason 10 is here, and you’d be correct. Over the past few years, it has gone from its own self-contained music production system that the Propellerhead folks were eager to remind you "is not a DAW" to something that performs all the functions of a DAW, such as multi-track audio recording and (as of the recent 9.5 update) VST plug-in support. However, what's kept its loyalists, well, loyal is that it has retained its streamlined approach as its appearance of a virtual studio rack. Plus, they didn't name it Reason X and tell us to pronounce it "ten." 

The version 10 update has mainly to do with virtual instruments.

Go to Synth Expert to read the rest of the news about the Reason 10 release.

Winners On Synth Expert

UVI Vintage Matrix-6 Giveaway WINNER - Stefano Galante

Stefano Galante of Quebec, Canada is our first-place winner in UVI’s giveaway of a vintage Oberheim Matrix-6 hardware synth. To recap, this was one of the synths used in the making of UVI's complete Vintage Vault 2 soft synth anthology.

Read more on Synth Expert.

UVI Vintage Vault 2 Winner - Amanda Koenig

Congratulations to Amanda Koenig, the winner of our giveaway of UVI's amazing library of soft synths, Vintage Vault 2. It's a comprehensive anthology of well-known vintage synthesizers as well as some more obscure and rare ones,

Read more on Synth Expert.

A Sample Of Other Stories On Synth Expert

Softube Release Buchla 259e Twisted Waveform Generator For Modular

Our friends at Softube have just released a new module for their virtual Modular synth instrument: The Buchla 259e Twisted Waveform Generator. The original hardware version was digital in nature, and could produce wave-shaping, aliasing noise, and sideband frequencies. It is also capable of CV modulation of pitch, amplitude, and timbre, hard and soft sync, and pitch tracking. But it’s not your father’s creamy analog oscillator. It's not meant to be, and neither is Softube's typically accurate software rendering.

Read the rest of the story on Synth Expert.

Neyrinck Announce BeatsBot - Great Beats When The Inspiration Hits

Neyrinck, developers of plug-ins and DAW controller software, have announced BeatsBot, designed in much the same way as the early drum machines offering built-in beats that can be used right away or edited and then arranged into a song from the patterns.

Whilst monster drum VIs with gigabytes of content and an endless array of parameters have their place, they can often be overkill during the jamming and writing process, so something like BeatsBot might be right up your street.

Read the rest of the story on Synth Expert.

Novation Circuit 1.6 Update Addresses Many User Requests

Novation today announced a firmware update for their Circuit groovebox. Many of these were culled from their interactions on the Circuit Owners Group. They shared some video with us (below), and here is a quick summary.

• Panning of its drums, synths, and other sounds has been one of the single most-requested updates so far. It has now arrived.
• Drum Micro Steps refers to rhythmic subdivisions. It lets users quickly add complex stutter effects and fills to their productions.
• Light Dimming (self-explanatory) makes Circuit fit in better in darker rooms.

Watch these tutorials and read the full story on Synth Expert.

Spitfire Audio Releases Hans Zimmer Percussion Library

Spitfire Audio has just announced a new entry in the Hans Zimmer group of libraries, which have the official blessing of the prolific Hollywood film composer. Running within Native Instruments Kontakt, Hans Zimmer Percussion covers a globe-spanning palette of drums and percussion categories, including Taiko, Bombo, Surdo, Gong Drums, Dhol, Tombek, Boobam, Bass Drums, Tamtam, "Metal" (comprising Plattis, Anvils, and Crushers), Timpani, and more.

Recorded at London's AIR studios, 96 different rare mics were used to capture the virtual mic positions available (close, room, surround, and mix), into Neve preamps and a Neve 88R console.

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.