In the early issues, E&MM produced a range of audio cassettes that you could buy via mail order, featuring demos and other items.
We're archiving them here - if you can help with any we are missing, either by supplying the cassettes, or sending us audio files, please let us know!
"Electronics & Music Maker is the first monthly publication to produce its own cassettes that will provide a unique aural complement to the magazine. Produced in our own recording studio, these C60 cassettes will allow you to hear the sound of instruments and electro-musical effects in our features and reviews."
- Cassette #1 - Digitised and online - donated by Pete Shales.
- Cassette #2 - Digitised and online - donated by Pete Shales.
- Cassette #3 - Digitised and online - donated by Pete Shales.
- Cassette #4 - Digitised and online - donated by Pete Shales.
- Cassette #5 - Digitised and online - donated by Pete Shales.
- Cassette #6 - Digitised and online - donated by Christian Farrow.
- Cassette #7 - Needed
- Cassette #8 - Needed
- Cassette Sampler #1 - Needed
Demo Cassette No. 1 (March/April issues) contains:
1. Matinee Organ 2. Yamaha SK20 Synthesiser 3 Guide to Electronic Music Techniques. 4. Sharp MZ-80K music/sound effects. 5. Warren Cann plays Syntom Drum Synthesiser project. 6. Paia 8700 Computer music. 7. Frankfurt Music Fair.
- We now have Cassette #1 - thanks to Pete Shales.
- Digitised and online - E&MM Mar/Apr '81
Demo Cassette No. 2 (May/June issues) contains:
1. Tim Souster 2. Adrian Wagner plays Wasp & Spider. 3. Lowrey MX-1 Organ. 4. Apple Music System 5. E&MM Word Synthesiser 6. Fairlight Computer Musical Instrument. 7. Sharp Composer program 8. Yamaha PS20 keyboard 9. Vero musical projects. 10. David Vorhaus LP "White Noise" excerpt.
- We now have Cassette #2 - thanks to Pete Shales.
- Digitised and online - E&MM May/Jun '81
Demo Cassette No. 3 (July/August issues) contains:
1. PPG Wave 2 Synthesiser. 2. Syn-Wave project. 3. Wersi Pianostar played by Hady Wolff . 4 Alphadac 16 music. 5. Atari 400/800 music. 6. Duncan Mackay. 7. Hexadrum project 8. MTU music. 9. Casio VL-Tone. 10 Irmin Schmidt’s Toy Planet LP extracts.
- We now have Cassette #3 - thanks to Pete Shales.
- Digitised and online - E&MM Jul/Aug '81
Demo Cassette No. 4 (September/October/November issues) contains:
1. The Linn LM-1 Drum Computer in action. 2. Fascinating sounds from E&MM Harmony Generator project. 3. Music at City University: Kevin Jones plays ALF. Alejandro Vinao's award winning pieces using music concrete techniques. 4. The versatile MT-30 keyboard from Casio. 5. We visit Roland to hear the Jupiter 8 Synthesiser, TR808 Drum machine, MC-4 Microcomposer and GR-300 Guitar Synthesiser. 6. Home Electro-Musician Steve Howell plays one of his compositions. 7. Excerpts from Georg Deuter’s LP ’Ecstasy’.
- We now have Cassette #4 - thanks to Pete Shales.
- Digitised and online - E&MM Sep/Oct/Nov '81
Demo Cassette No. 5 (Dec./Jan. issues) contains:
1. Teisco SX-400 Synth. 2. Poly ZX81 music. 3. Study Music 1: Synth backing for you to play solo of Dec. '1984' Rick Wakeman music. 4. Casiotone 701. 5. Yamaha CS70M. 6. Roland CR8000. 7. E&MM Synclock project. 8. Study Music 2: 'Exit' music from Jan. issue minusthemeforyoutosolo with. 9. Alpha Syntauri Computer pieces. 10. Elka X-50 Organ. 11. Soundchaser. 12. Ian Boddy music. 13. Richard Mitchell's electronic music for film.
- We now have Cassette #5 - thanks to Pete Shales.
- Digitised and online - E&MM Dec/Jan '82
Demo Cassette No. 6 (February/March 1982 issues) contains:
1. Yamaha GS1 played by Dave Bristow. 2. Korg Trident Polysynth. 3. Roland Drumatix sounds. 4. Study Music 3: Ike Isaacs performs his 'After Hours' music in Feb. issue. 5. Firstman Sequencer. 6. Wersi Comet played by Mark Shakespeare. 7. Sequential Circuits Pro-One Synth. 8. Study Music 4: Kraftwerk's 'Computer World' sample backing music to play solo with. 9. Home Electro-Musicians: Johnny Demestos, Gerry Taylor. 10. Digital Delay Line Effects Project. 11. Percussion Sound Generator Project. 12. E&MM Spectrum Synth sounds.
- We now have Cassette #6 - thanks to Christian Farrow.
- Digitised and online - E&MM Feb/Mar '82
Needed - Demo Cassette No. 7 (April to September 1982 issues) contains:
1. Roland Juno 6.2. Cardiff University computer music. 3. The Omnichord. 4. E&MM Soft Distortion Pedal project. 5. Warren Cann's Drum Column examples in Parts 1 & 2. 6. Casiotone 1000P. 7. Emu Emulator. 8. Delta Lab DL-5 Harmonicomputer. 9. CS-01 Breath Control Synth. 10. E&MM Panolo project. 11. The Synergy.
Needed - Demo Cassette No. 8 (October to December 1982 issues) contains:
1 Rhodes Chroma Polyphonic Synth. 2 Mini Synth Supplement: Yamaha PC100. Casio MT-70, JVC KB500, Hohner P100. Technics SX-K200. 3. Eko Ritmo. 4. Zon X81 program sounds. 5. The Kit. 6. Elka Synthex Polysynth. 7. Crumar Stratus. 8. Warren Cann's Drum Column Parts 3 & 4. 9. E&MM Transpozer Project.
Needed - E&MM Cassette Sampler No 1
Cassette Sampler No. 1 features extracts from some of the best tapes submitted to Cassette Review. Included are Third Quadrant, Torch Song, Paul Donaldson, The Pals, E-E, The Toy Shop, Neil Heaton, Glen Ford, Fear Itself, Prefabrica, Eddie Dorey, Roger Green, Steve Godsall, Passing Strangers and Jordan Heal. Full details of cassettes available from these artists are included.
Ben @ mu:zines
E&MMDan Goldstein
That was what I told my parents after I’d spent three days at the offices of Electronics & Music Maker in Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex, in the spring of 1983. I went there as a sub-editing temp, having been a regular reader of the magazine since its launch. I’d left school the previous summer, intending to go to University to read Geography, and had spent a few months as an editorial assistant on a hi-fi magazine at Link House in Croydon.
Compared with Link House, the E&MM offices were a war zone. The building was decrepit. The two guys I was working with, Technical Editor Ken McAlpine and Music Editor Mark Jenkins, had to write everything by hand because there were no typewriters, let alone a computer. The magazine wasn’t delivering the increase in electronic components sales that its owners, Maplin, had envisaged, and while they were trying to sell the title (Link House, ironically, being one of the interested parties), they had cut every last penny out of producing it. The magazine seemed to be going nowhere, and I was heading out the door.
Four months later I returned from an archetypal gap-year summer of Inter-Railing around Europe to the news that somebody called Terry Day had left me a phone message. I phoned him back. He explained that he and his business partner, Dennis Hill, had bought E&MM from Maplin and moved the offices to Cambridge, where their intention was to use the magazine as the foundation for a whole new publishing company. They’d already launched one new title, Home Studio Recording, and were looking at another called Computer Musician.
There was only one problem. They had no staff. Ken and Mark had both quit, while E&MM founder Mike Beecher wasn’t in the office every day. I took a train up to Cambridge from my parents’ house in North London. The offices were bright, modern and spacious. Terry and Dennis were charming, as was their ad sales guy Tony Halliday and the skeleton editorial team of Ian Gilby, Paul Wiffen and Trish McGrath. Terry offered me £100 a week in cash to help get the magazine to the printers.
I never went to University. Why read Geography when you can surround yourself with the latest in music technology, and get paid for writing about it? I wasn’t talented enough to be a rock star, a hit record producer or a professional DJ. But I could do this.
In less than a year I was Editor of E&MM at the age of 21. I’d learnt just enough about magazine editing, design and production to keep the title competitive against Northern & Shell’s Electronic Soundmaker, but the driving force behind our success was the enthusiasm we all had for the subject. We all loved exploring new ways to make music, interviewing the musicians who inspired us (my first was John Foxx, E&MM November ’83) and, in turn, inspiring our readership to innovate and experiment themselves.
We worked long into the night. We agonised over fonts, feature lengths and house styles. We commissioned iconic photographs of our idols (thank you, Matthew Vosburgh!). We welcomed Tim Goodyer and the late, great Simon Trask into our ranks. We changed the name to Music Technology. And we never regretted a thing.
Dan Goldstein
Former Editor, E&MM / Music Technology / Home & Studio Recording
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Scanned by: Stewart Lawler
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This issue has been processed and is live.
Scanned by: Stewart Lawler
This issue has been processed and is live.
This issue has been processed and is live.
Donated & scanned by: Stewart Lawler
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This issue has been processed and is live.
This issue has been processed and is live.
Donated & scanned by: Stewart Lawler
This issue has been processed and is live.
This issue has been processed and is live.
Donated & scanned by: Stewart Lawler
This issue has been processed and is live.
This issue has been processed and is live.
This issue has been processed and is live.
This issue has been processed and is live.
This issue has been processed and is live.
This issue has been processed and is live.
This issue has been processed and is live.
This issue has been processed and is live.
This issue has been processed and is live.
Donated & scanned by: Stewart Lawler
This issue has been processed and is live.
This issue has been processed and is live.
This issue has been processed and is live.
Scanned by: Stewart Lawler
This issue has been processed and is live.
Donated & scanned by: Stewart Lawler
This issue has been processed and is live.
Scanned by: Stewart Lawler
This issue has been processed and is live.
Donated & scanned by: Stewart Lawler
This issue has been processed and is live.
This issue has been processed and is live.
Scanned by: Stewart Lawler
This issue has been processed and is live.
This issue has been processed and is live.
Scanned by: Stewart Lawler
This issue has been processed and is live.
Scanned by: Stewart Lawler
This issue has been processed and is live.
Scanned by: Stewart Lawler
This issue has been processed and is live.
This issue has been processed and is live.
Scanned by: Stewart Lawler
This issue has been processed and is live.
Scanned by: Stewart Lawler
This issue has been processed and is live.
Scanned by: Stewart Lawler
This issue has been processed and is live.
Scanned by: Stewart Lawler
This issue has been processed and is live.
Scanned by: Stewart Lawler
This issue has been processed and is live.
Donated & scanned by: Stewart Lawler
This issue has been processed and is live.
Scanned by: Stewart Lawler
This issue has been processed and is live.
Scanned by: Stewart Lawler
This issue has been processed and is live.
Scanned by: Stewart Lawler
This issue has been processed and is live.
Donated & scanned by: Stewart Lawler
This issue has been processed and is live.
Donated & scanned by: Stewart Lawler
Originally published by Maplin Publishing (yes, for Maplin Electronics Ltd), featuring music-themed electronic hobby projects (presumably intended to sell more electronics!), then renamed Glidecastle Ltd (but operating from the same address), finally Terry Day and Dennis Hill decided to form Music Maker Publications to handle Home Studio Recording and also took over E&MM from the September 1984 issue, now with Dan Goldstein in the Editor's chair.
Over the first few years E&MM dropped the circuit diagrams and became more focused on the music and technology of the time - and then changing its name to Music Technology to continue down that path.
Becomes: | Music Technology (MT) |
Editors: | Mike Beecher, |
Founders: | Terry Day, |
Publisher: | Maplin Publications, |
Published: | 68 issues |
First issue: | Mar 1981 |
Last issue: | Oct 1986 |
Changes: | Logo change, Dec 1981. |
Copyright: | Music Maker Publications (UK), Future Publishing. |
mu:zines is the result of thousands of hours of effort, and will require many thousands more going forward to reach our goals of getting all this content online.
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New issues that have been donated or scanned for us this month.
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