More news, views and scintillating grapevine gossip!

A colourful bonanza of newly released and forthcoming new products.

In 1984, The Blue Nile released an album widely hailed as the finest debut LP of recent years. After five years of silence, they've produced another masterpiece in Hats. Paul Ireson talks to the men behind two of the decade's finest records.

Ian Boddy is one of this country's foremost independent 'electronic music' composers. David Hughes talks to him about the recording of his new CD 'Odyssey'.

The PPG Wave was one of the most powerful synths of the early Eighties, but it died a death along with so many other dinosaurs. Now its particular method of wavetable synthesis lives again in an entirely new rack expander, which combines the best of the Wave's original audio architecture with full MIDI control. Paul Ireson learns how to cook better sounds, faster.

On the face of it, this low-cost sound module looks like it could be a useful addition to the MIDI synthesist's armoury. Tony Crowle checks its suitability.

Most small mixers simply don't have enough inputs for even a modest home recording setup. One that certainly does is the new 20:2 Tascam MM1, complete with MIDI mute automation. Tony Hastings checks it out.

What makes one recording engineer better than another, and how can you improve your recording engineering skills? In this introduction to a new series on recording techniques, David Mellor outlines an engineer's role in the studio, and explains why a good engineer is so important.

Following the release of their acclaimed 'budget' LXP1 reverb, Lexicon have extended their presence in the affordable digital effects market with the LXP5 multi-effects unit. Dave Lockwood feels the quality.

Korg's follow-up to the successful M1 takes them further upmarket. David Mellor looks at an instrument for those willing to pay a little extra for the professional touch.

What do you get if you cross an Emax with a Proteus? An Emaximus perhaps, or maybe even a Protemax? Kendall Wrightson test drives Emu's new 16-bit sampler to find out.

In the fourth part of this series, David Mellor looks at the Fostex 4030/4035 synchroniser system, and how it is set up and operated.

Sansui mark their debut into the home recording market with the impressive WSX1. Incorporating the first ever 6-track cassette recorder, it also combines a 2-track master recorder, an 8-channel mixer, and built-in digital effects in a convenient package. Will it appeal? Dave Lockwood finds out.

PART 3: In this final part, Jim Grant builds upon the basic DSP operations of arithmetic and delay, covered in the previous articles, and concentrates on some modern day applications.

PART 9: Martin Russ continues his mammoth in-depth analysis of MIDI's SysEx codes with an explanation of 'checksums'.

Tired of spending a fortune on RAM cartridges for all your different synths, drum machines etc? Here's your chance to win the very latest direct-to-disk MIDI data recorder from Alesis.

Recognising a hit when they make one, Kawai have added independent drum voices and a digital effects section to the popular K1 and called the result the K1 II. Kendall Wrightson plays spot the difference.

More hints and tips from the world of music software.

Despite the variety of MIDI guitar systems around, nobody has got it right yet. Dove Lockwood offers his views on where manufacturers are going wrong.