New British Synth Manufacturer

A British company called Microskill, who until recently were involved in the design of special purpose computers and high resolution D/A converters, have put their know-how into the development of a new digital, programmable, polyphonic synthesizer using additive synthesis. They call their synthesiser the AS-32 and it consists of a unit with a five octave velocity sensing keyboard with pressure pad switching of patch selection and programming, etc.

The AS-32 is especially interesting because it is a very powerful synthesizer which offers two banks of 64 harmonics for each note as the basis of its voicing system. Furthermore, Microskill's AS-32 has three resolutions of synthesis, the highest of which enables you to have a different program for every group of three notes over the keyboard, enabling very detailed and accurate scaling of a program!

The launch of the AS-32 is scheduled for this year's BMF Trade Show at the end of July, by which time Microskill hope to have finalised all the minor details such as its price, which looks to be around £4000-£5000.

Microskill can be contacted for further information on (Contact Details).

DBX Open New Gate

Top manufacturer of studio quality compressor limiters, DBX, have a new model to add to their very popular range of studio effects. Called the DBX 166 compressor/limiter/gate, this is a 1U 19" rackmounting unit which comes into the semi-pro price bracket at a retail price of £570. At this price, the DBX 166 should replace the typical sight of many different boxes for Noise Gating, Compressing and Limiting.

Its front panel features for both channels consist of a threshold knob and release rate switch for the gate, threshold, ratio and eight step LED indicator for the compressor, a peakstop level knob for the Limiter and for both channels there is bypass switching, sidechain monitoring, output level knob and a switch for ganging the two channels together.

The DBX 166 will be available from retail outlets such as the Turnkey shop, and for further information you can contact Scenic Sounds on (Contact Details).

The Batley Cube

A quick update on the mini-monitor round-up we carried earlier this year; Fane, one of the world's most experienced speaker manufacturers, have branched out into the nearfield monitoring business with their CM5; it's got a five inch full-range driver which will handle 70 watts enclosed in a distinctive grey cabinet. Not a million miles from the tried and tested Auratone design, but their pedigree alone makes Fane's efforts worth a look. Contact Fane on (Contact Details).

Check This

Natty new guitar straps from American company Silver Eagle — these come in a Checkerboard pattern, are available in black and white, red and white, or blue and white, and are made out of nylon which can take up to 100 lbs weight and can't stretch. Useful for those concrete Strat copies. Contact UK distributors Rosetti (Contact Details) or Dixies Music (Contact Details).

Sampling Men's Club

Akai have started a society for owners of their gear, such as the sampler, the 1212 multitrack machine and the AX80 synth; called the Akai Active Audio Club, it's modelled something along the lines of the Yamaha DX Owners' Club and will allow people to swap programmes, samples or tips on Akai use. Membership is free for Akai owners, but if you want more information now contact the club at Akai (UK) Limited, (Contact Details).

Cymbal twist of Fate

Sabian have introduced two new ranges; the B20 and B8. The B20s are medium-priced Italian cymbals claiming to give a richer, fuller sound than you'd expect from such a reasonably priced cymbal. The B8 are budget — but again Sabian say they've managed to transcend the price barriers to give good value and good sound. Check them out, or at least find out where by contacting Sabian agents Sonor Percussion on (Contact Details).

Boxing Clever

Metering's taken a turn for the cubic with the announcement of an innovative multi-purpose audio meter by Tapetalk, known as The Box. This gadget consists of a diamond-shaped LED display which registers different parameters in real time in different areas of the display. You can keep a check on balance, width, position, mono-compatibility and many other variables instantly on the very pretty diamond grid and you can adjust sensitivity, response curve and half or full wave operation. There's certainly nothing else like it, so to discover the secret of the magic Box contact Tapetalk on (Contact Details).

B16 Interface Module From Raindirk

The popularity of Fostex's superb B16 16-track recorder has hardly ceased since it was launched almost a couple of years ago. Although initially designed as a 16-track recorder for the budget/semi-pro market, the B16's excellent quality has resulted in its use in many professional studios worldwide. The only hitch in this situation has been that fully professional equipment runs with in/out levels of +4dB, and the B16 runs at -10dB.

British mixing desk manufacturers Raindirk Audio have now produced an interface module which will 'up' the Fostex's -10dB operating level to the higher level of +4dB in a single 2U 19" rackmounting unit. In keeping with the design of the B16, all connections are phono and the interface unit is now on sale for £350 excluding VAT. For an extra £25.00, it can have a power supply built in; otherwise the power supply can come from a mixing desk's own power supply rail.

For further information, Raindirk Audio can be contacted on (Contact Details).

EARS At An Angle

Talk of the new products this month is undoubtedly the new Simmons' kit, the SDS 9, that looks set to establish a new standard in the burgeoning world of electronic percussion. We at IM have heard the new kit, and so can you by getting hold of this month's Electronic Soundmaker & Computer Music which features a full demo of the '9's potential.

Plus our brokers at Soundmaker spotlight Oberheim's £5000 synth the Matrix-12 and Casio's CZ900. Give it a listen — it may help you decide how far your budget will stretch. Plus ES&CM links up with the UMI-2B interface for the BBC micro, raved about by Vince Clarke and Blancmange. Also there's computer software from Activision and special features on making the most of AMPLE, fast becoming the definitive computer music language.

Overall ES&CM gives you a different angle on music and musicianship today.

Guild Complex

The first organisation for top record producers held its first meeting the other day, and the natter about faders and foldback, Eq and AMS, was absolutely deafening.

The APRS Producers Guild at present is open by invitation only, and the first seven to be asked to join were Tony Swain and Steve Jolley, Mike Vernon, Robin Millar, Alan Parsons, Gus Dudgeon and Rupert Hine. Also present in his official APRS capacity was Phil Wainman, and APRS men Simon White and Bob Hine (Marquee Studio and BASF respectively) chaired. More invites to join this super exclusive club have already gone out, so the next meeting will be an even bigger opportunity for people to try and worm trade secrets out of one another.

Electronica Inna UK Stylee

The Octagon Centre, Sheffield University, is the venue for this year's UK Electronica festival, and it's on Saturday August 24th (Bank Holiday Weekend). It'll be a treat for all the hard-line microchip freaks, with daytime concerts plus videos, exhibitions, demos and record stalls and more concerts at night. Performers include Ian Boddy, Wavestar, the Land of YRX, Mark Jenkins, Altres, Mike Brooks and Ashok Prema, with others yet to be announced. More details from organisers Inkeys at (Contact Details).

Animals and Amps

London Zoo was the venue, HHB were the hosts, and the occasion... no, not the birth of a baby panda but the launch of a brand spanking new Amcron power amp. The Micro-Tech series of amps looks well set to take the world of top pro audio by storm, with their amazingly high specifications and equally amazingly small size. The first one is the Micro-Tech 1000, and it puts out around 1,000 watts of power from a mere 3½" of rack space and contains a whole heap of protection devices, although it may not need them as it'll operate safely into a one ohm impedance and has reversible forced-air cooling. The price? Less than the mythical one pound per watt at £950 plus VAT.

TAC Attack

Scorpions have been sighted in Salford — well, TAC's mixing desk manufacturing plant there has been producing them by the bucketload so it's not entirely surprising. It's their new range of desks, which comes in two chassis sizes — the smallest accommodating a 16-8-2 and the larger 24-16-2 or 32-8-2. The variability is explained by the fact that it's a modular design, so you can have almost any configuration that your little heart desires. For more info get in touch with TAC on (Contact Details).

More MIDI Boxes

The MIDI control and interface units that popped up at the Frankfurt fair under the Boss name will arrive in Britain any moment under the Roland banner. They consist of a MIDI to CV interface (the MPU 101), a MIDI channel filter and converter for transmitting information along different channels to the input (MPU 103), and input and output selectors (MPU 104 and 105) — basically sophisticated junction boxes. All of these will fit into a rack adaptor to slot into the standard 19" format.

UMI, MIDI and Vincie

The BBC-based sequencer/composing MIDI package, the UMI-2B, seems to be catching on in a big way with the pro contingent; Blancmange, Alan Parsons and Chris Hughes (Tears for Fears' man behind the desk) are just a few users and some of the main fans of the system are Vince Clarke and his partner and Assemblyman Eric Radcliffe, who use it for controlling keyboards in the writing stage, then transferring that data to bigger and flasher ones when they record.

Looks like a worthwhile thing to check out if you're in the market for a sequencer — it's distributed through the London Rock Shops (Contact Details).

PA to the Power of X

Carlsbro's range just keeps on expanding, this time into the PA amplifier end of the market. In response to the muffled cries of the pub, club and hotel contingent they've produced two no frills, simple-to-operate mixer/amps which are versatile enough to run 100 volt line outputs as well as accept inputs from mikes, instruments and tape recorders. The Cobra X-90 and Marlin X-150 give out the number of watts you would expect from their names and retail for £160.43 and £199.64 respectively.

And they haven't stayed still in the speaker field either — the new Taurus range has just been introduced which runs from the ST8150 at the top end, a full-range four way cabinet retailing at £383.24 and promising 'unbeatable clarity and projection' to the ST2120, a compact cabinet housing one 12" speaker and a radial horn. The whole range is worth a closer look, if you're in the PA market, so contact Carlsbro on (Contact Details).