In this age of conspicuous consumption, the objects of desire can often become more important than the ends for which they are intended. Are you more proud of your gear or your music?

"No news is good news", runs the old adage. Well, make up your own mind as Casio and Korg announce new gear at the BMF, Simmons go under, the Soundscape competition winner is announced, and MVs Editor hits the airwaves.

MT's letters page gets heavy, as readers vent their feelings on boring Germans, burning bridges and SAW points. Can you afford not to read it?

MIDI sequencing software doesn't come much cheaper than Dr T's MIDI Recording Studio. Ian Waugh compares the Atari and Amiga versions of the affordable face of sequencing.

Nigel Lord ruminates over the future of the drum machine as he checks out the budget version of Roland's flagship R8 Human Rhythm Composer. To be human or not to be human, that is the question.

Still crazy after all these years? Devo mainstay Mark Mothersbaugh speaks of TV music, obscure American synths and lunchboxes that go boom, tink, boom,tink...

If the prospect of throwing your computer into the back of a Ford Transit and hauling it on stage every night fills you with dread, the new MIDIMan from Musicsoft might well be the solution.

Vic Lennard considers the trials and triumphs of storing your synth patches as SysEx files within the sequences they're intended for, and concludes that MIDI really is your friend after all.

Simon Trask investigates the latest and cheapest in an increasingly long line of L/A synths from Roland. But if L/A is the way for you, are you better off with a D5 or a D10?

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Or is it possibly the most impressive piece of software around? Ian Waugh plugs into the Grid and emerges a wiser man.

With their debut album just released and a single high in the charts, these are busy times for the Beatmasters. Tim Goodyer braves a tube strike to find out what technology has done for them (and what they'd like to do to technology).

The cynics will say the W30 is nothing but a repackaging exercise on Roland's part, but Simon Trask looks a little deeper. Do a combined sampler and sequencer make the ideal workstation?

Ex-Police drummer and self-styled 'tech-head' Stewart Copeland discusses the merits of owning four Fairlight CMIs, why he's in a group called Animal Logic, and how to write an opera. Logical questions: Nicholas Rowland.

Now that multi-effects processors are all the rage, Korg go one better by producing a unit which allows you to add extra effects via ROM cards. Vic Lennard discovers the advantages of open-ended signal processing.

In the second part of MT's look at the powerful Synclavier system, Dan Rue and Scott Wilkinson embark on their very own fantastic journey into the heart of the beast to consider its sequencing and notation abilities.

Ian Waugh hits on an interesting idea from Yamaha: a sub-£100 set of drum-pads-in-a-box which can be used to play any MIDI instrument.

Confused about DAT? Vic Lennard guides you gently through the ins and outs, the pros and cons and the whys and wherefores of Digital Audio Tape.

Most pitch shifters wouldn't know their A minor from their E major, but DigiTech's IPS33 knows a thing or two about playing in key. Simon Trask finds himself in harmony with the Intelligent Pitch Shifter.

Desktop music publishing becomes a serious proposition with this sophisticated notation software for the Apple Mac. Dan Goldstein notates his way around the dots.

Initial impressions of the VFX have been glowing, to say the least, but will Ensoniq's latest synth break the Japanese stranglehold on the marketplace? Simon Trask investigates further.