'Are Friends Electric?' and 'Cars' will go down in the musical history books as classics of their genre but the writer of those hits, Gary Numan, has yet to match his early successes. Mark Jenkins met up with him during sessions for a forthcoming album at Rock City studios, Shepperton, only to discover that the Numan of today is finding it tough to get airplay for his recent work...

Sharpe & Numan

Gary Numan renews his working relationship with Bill Sharpe for another single project. Dan Goldstein drops in on them, and discovers the link could soon become permanent.

The meeting of two diverse talents and minds; Gary Numan and Bill Sharpe of Shakatak. We discover what they've been getting up to and where it will lead.

One of the most successful, certainly the most consistent, of Britain's electronic musicians, Gary Numan has succeeded in taking his eclectic and compelling music into the mass market. Gary talks of his songwriting and recording techniques, his past career, and what he plans for the future

An evening performance

The story of one man and his synthesizer

The Numan face of synthesis

The story of one man and his synthesizer

The Numan face of synthesis

UK Fresh '86

Simon Trask leaves all that MIDI jargon behind to check out Britain's first major live hip hop event. How are the DJs and the rappers making technology tick?

Volume isn't everything

Part 2, ARP to Buchla. Buchla? Yep, Buchla

News from the front

all the news you need to know

An evening performance

It should have been the prince of polysynths, but it flopped. Peter Forrest looks back at the disappointment that accompanied the Polymoog and offers the '90s perspective.

The big boys of the synchronising world have sat back and observed the appearance of budget systems from Fostex and SMPL over the past six months. Now Audio Kinetics dip their not in considerable toe in the water with the launch of their own low-cost chase synchroniser system, the Pacer. David Mellor checks it out.

Continuing our series for the complete newcomer to electronics in music, Steve Howell takes a look at the VCO, the synthesiser's heartbeat.

Secondhand Polysynth Guide

Whether you can't afford to indulge yourself in this month's Polysynth Checklist or simply prefer something that's now out of production, E&MM's guide to things secondhand could save you a lot of time and trouble.

Learn to read the future in these pages...

Computer synth rental

A survey of trendsetters

An in-depth dissection of electro-pop; how to create it, how to adapt it but not how to dance to it.

William Blake — computer musician.

Featuring William Blake

The Jenkins Method

Argue with six string instructor and cult rock hero Billy Jenkins on the best way of teaching yourself to play.