It really doesn't seem 12 months since I sat down to decide what to say about the forthcoming volume of Sound On Sound; time, however, like Bic Biros and socks, has a strange habit of just slipping away unnoticed. Moving into our seventh year, we are now the UK's longest-established hi-tech music recording magazine, and we've certainly seen quite a few competitors fall by the wayside in that time.

If you've read this issue already you'll probably have noticed the shorter reviews at the end of the magazine, which will be a regular feature from now on. Although we'll be carrying as many in-depth reviews as ever, we're devoting a few extra pages to ensuring that our coverage of the full range of new hi-tech and recording products remains as comprehensive as possible. One forthcoming change that won't be so immediately apparent is that we are changing distributors (the middle men between our printer and the newsagent where you bought this magazine). This will mean wider distribution of the magazine, to make it as easy as possible for you to buy SOS every month. The change of distribution will take place from the January issue, when we'll also be bringing you a new-look magazine which will take on board even more feedback from the reader survey. Unfortunately our subscription price will have to rise; the current rate actually saves you 25% on our cover price, but sadly newsagents' regulations require us to raise it, so subscribe now if you want to save a few quid.

It's always fun to speculate about what the future holds in terms of recording technology; the near future certainly promises some major developments in low-cost digital recording with US companies presently leading the way, which is interesting given that Japanese manufacturers made all the running in bringing us digital synthesizers and samplers. Alesis are on the verge of shipping their ADAT 8-track digital multitrack, and Digidesign have brought hard disk stereo and multitrack recording down in price to a point where some musicians can seriously consider whether a system is right for their personal studios. However, where Alesis and Digidesign lead, others will surely follow, and the affordable digital multitrack tape recorder market should be a good one to watch.

We may also see, as David Mellor suggests in his review of the Sony DPS-D7 this month, more products that concentrate on doing a single thing very well, rather than trying to do everything competently. To climb on one of my favourite hobby-horses, I really do tire of finding piano and drum sounds on almost every new keyboard. Once I've got a decent piano sound, I want new keyboards to do something different, I don't want a rack full of expanders that are all designed to the same set of "must have this sound, must have that..." criteria. Another example of how to do it right is provided by the Korg Wavestation, designed from the ground up as an out-and-out synthesizer, and in my books already a modern classic. So, here's to variety, and doing what we all do best for the next 12 months.