Beyond the British Music Fair

A briefer bulletin — most of the new gear's is the British Music Fair report.

Is E&MM biased towards Yamaha? Is Jean-Michel Jarre more brilliant than David Sylvian? Is our letters page becoming a haven for sensation-seekers who should know better?

Sleuth journalist Tim Goodyer tracks down video nasties Kevin Godley and Lol Creme in a disreputable part of town. Raymond Chandler would turn in his grave.

A special, report on budget digital reverb, with the spotlight focussed firmly on two groundbreaking new machines, the Yamaha REV7 and Roland SRV2000. Paul White and Simon Trask take up the story.

Lager bottle in hand, the Editor guides you through the gallery of new music technology on demonstration at last month's newly-public British Music Fair. Plus lots of photographs so that those who missed it can find out what the gear looks like.

Strip a digital drum machine down to its bare essentials, and you have Yamaha's bargain-basement percussion offering. The price is low but there are a few sacrifices, as Simon Trask discovers.

What happens when you give a drum machine the sound-sampling capabilities of an Emulator keyboard? Little short of a miracle, according to reporters Paul Wiffen and Annabel Scott.

Contrary to popular belief Canadian electro-poppers Trans X have a bizarre and fascinating history that takes in cosmic electronic music. Annabel Scott reports.

The story behind E&MM's most striking front cover for years. Dan Goldstein talks to Les Arnett, graphic artist extraordinaire, on the creation of a music/cornputer/video masterpiece.

Record releases from Propaganda, Kate Bush, Man Jumping and others vie with another load of readers' demos for the attention of E&MM's music critics.

Systems composer Philip Glass is still high technology's best-known 'serious music' champion. But how good have the performances of his latest opera, 'Akhnaten' really been? Annabel Stott again.

John Chowning, inventor of FM synthesis and the man indirectly responsible for Yamaha's DX synths, receives an interrogation from Simon Trask. In the event, our man scarcely gels a word in edgeways.

The buyer's guide that bares all. Most of the dedicated sequencers, software packages and computer music systems currently available in the UK, detailed, listed and criticised by E&MM's reviewing team.

Tim Goodyer goes in search of visual appeal and finds a mean-looker in the form of Korg'sfirst-ever digital sequencer. And with a built-in disk drive and big storage capacity, beauty is more than skin deep.

Just because an electronic drum kit is (very) cheap, doesn't mean to say it isn't worth hearing. So says Paul White, who's played with the best of them.

Another sequencer first, this time for Casio, seeking to extend their grip over the budget end of the pro synth market. Simon Trask reckons the foray has been worthwhile.

Nigel Lord reports on a plain but ingenious percussion-to-MIDI box that could revolutionise the way drums see their instruments - and the way synth voices are triggered. Packaging can be deceptive.

David Ellis begins a two-part excursion into the E&MM archives to discover a myriad of bizarre musical instruments that somehow never quite made the big time. How many of them can you remember?