The analogue synth is alive and well and living in Patchwork. The Minimoog, ARP Odyssey and Korg Mono/Poly make a welcome return to our monthly selection of readers' patches.

Bob Dormon finds the Royal Academy moving with the times

through the year darkly with One Two

Six stars outline their home demo set-ups

sketching song ideas at home. how certain successful stars record their demos - John Entwistle, Nik Kershaw, Annabel Lamb, Adrian Belew, Blancmange

RETROSPECT: elvis costello

an appreciation of one of the decade’s great songwriting talents; could you match them?

forming your first band and don't know what to do? Read on...

Yet another selection of recently announced new products to whet your appetite!

Analysis, comment, discussion... hey, Rock'n' Roll

Who is Uli Jon Roth? How can you learn to read bass music? What does Chas de Whalley look like?

...or, Andy Duncan's search for the self raising drum kit.

Or, when does a drum kit stand on its own 12 feet?

PA DECODER D50 ROM Vol III

If you're looking to expand your sampler's vocabulary of drum sounds or your D50 library, Patchworks' Drumtrax sample tape and PA Decoder's D50 Rom Volume III should be worth checking out - start here.

Where would Madonna, Giorgio Moroder or Stock, Aitken and Waterman be without sequenced bass lines? Rudi Cazeaux provides some guidelines and practical examples to help you create better bass lines.

Gossip, chit-chat, bitching and backchat from the 'Biz. It's all here

How songwriting collaboration can equal more than 1+1.

All the latest info on tomorrow's gear, and more free details if you need them.

for the BBC Micro

The first commercially-developed MIDI software for the BBC Micro is now being manufactured by Electromusic Research. David Ellis analyses its potential.

The World's Best Songwriters

four stars choose their favourite songsters - Fish, Vince Clarke, Edwyn Collins, Chris Difford

here is the news, with instruments and equipment

On a Moroccan roll

Fly-on-the-wall vision of an ethnic recording expedition

would we lie to you

Nominated by Adrian Belew, Bill Nelson, Roddy Frame, Ted Nugent, Robert Smith, Dierdre Cartwright