Time again to peer into the crystal ball to find out what new products will be appearing over the next few months.

Casio's first foray into the digital drum machine market, the RZ-1, offers all the usual rhythm features plus one extra - the facility to sample four of your own sounds. Mark Jenkins finds out if it matches his expectations.

Most people have heard of the Synclavier but little is known about the company that produces it: New England Digital. Paul Gilby met up with its Vice-President, Brad Naples, who supplied us with a fascinating insight into the philosophy behind the development of this highly advanced digital recording system they call 'the Synclavier'.

Having familiarised you hopefully with the jargon and workings of synchronisers through his 'Using Timecodes' series, Francis Rumsey now turns his critical eye to the most affordable synchroniser/controller set-up available: the Model 4030/4035 from Fostex.

Renowned best for his keyboard/synth excursions in the jazz-rock field, Dave and partner Barbara Gaskin achieved several chart hits with re-workings of classic pop songs like 'It's My Party' back in 1982. Together they are presently completing their first album for release on compact disc. David Etheridge took a look behind the scenes.

The man who took the credit for production on Pink Floyd's superlative 'Dark Side Of The Moon' album has since had ten years of album success with his own creation: The Alan Parsons Project. Richard Elen managed to track him down to London's Mayfair Studios, to discuss the appliance of music technology in his recordings.

With the increased use of direct-injected sound sources like drum machines on modern recordings, the role of the humble noise gate has gradually shifted from a purely corrective to a creative one. Sound engineer Dave Lockwood discovered even more creative applications when he tested this American four-channel expander/gate from US Audio.

Part 5 sees software specialist Jay Chapman exploring the innermost secrets of 'channel voice messages' and more in his continuing analysis of the MIDI protocol.

Are software-based visual editing displays for samplers a help or hindrance? And what's significant about 30dB? Consultant Martin Russ reveals all...

Part 4: Francis Rumsey ties up the loose ends of his series on the synchronisation of audio tracks to video, with a rundown of what to look for when buying a synchroniser system.

Mark Jenkins supercharges the studio with this latest hi-tech recording software for the inexpensive Commodore 64 micro.

Part 6: It's A Wrap! Composer/musician Robin Lumley packs away the manuscript paper, switches off the Steenbeck viewer and submits his final thoughts on writing music for films in this concluding episode of his series.

Janet Angus traces the career of this enterprising sound engineer which ranges from recording Mike Oldfield's 'Tubular Bells' and designing Virgin record stores, to his current pre-occupation with improving the quality of film soundtracks.

The MIDIVERB Competition result, more industry news and hot gossip!