Your chance to find out what new goodies will be appearing in your local music store over the coming months.

Looking for a low-cost introduction to synthesis? With its simplified programming method and variant on the Phase Distortion sound, Casio's latest 8-voice, splittable, polysynth could well prove the ideal first choice. Mark Badger explores...

Jay Chapman continues his 'back to basics' description of MIDI with a light-hearted pot-pourri of handy hints and tips.

Another in our series that looks at hi-tech companies and design personnel working in the field of music and recording technology. This month Paul Gilby talks to Jim Cooper, President of J.L Cooper Electronics and the MIDI Manufacturers Association.

Not just a sampling drum machine, more a solid state tape recorder! As things start to heat up at the top end of the drum machine market, David Mellor gives E-mu's successor to their popular SP-12 a thorough pounding.

Last month, David Mellor explained how loudspeaker drive units work and how manufacturers sometimes try to pull the acoustic wadding over our ears. Part 2 tells the story of how the loudspeaker works as a system, the reason for crossovers, and gives a couple of hints on how to make BIY (bodge-it-yourself) cabinets.

The BBC Radiophonic Workshop's network of Macintosh computers handles everything from music programming to looking after the tape library. Richard Elen talks to Brian Hodgson, the head of the Workshop, about their musical Macintoshes.

S900 owner David Mellor receives a package in the post from Akai, which rekindles his enthusiasm in the sampler which was one of the first to combine a wealth of facilities with a reasonable price. Will the Version 2.0 software update bring the Akai into line with the latest samplers on the market or has it become old technology - just after its first birthday?

After months of waiting, speculation and peering at display models hidden behind bullet-proof perspex screens, R-DAT has finally appeared in Britain. Are we all ready for digital recording yet or should we stick to the tried and trusted Revox? David Mellor looks at the first product from Sony, the DTC-1000ES, and gives it a taste of professional abuse.

Passport were one of the first US companies to offer music software for any computer. Richard Elen wades through the extensive features offered by their first music software release for the Apple Macintosh - a MIDI control program called Master Tracks Pro.

Continuing our new series for DIY fans, Martin Russ shows how you can go about adding extra MIDI Ins, Outs and Thrus to a MIDI interface.

How often have you heard synthesized, sequenced music described as 'cold' and 'mechanical? All of us want to compose a tune with good 'feel', but few people know exactly what makes for a good 'feel'. Yet it's not a mystery - as this timely article by Michael Stewart, designer of the Kahler Human Clock, reveals.

Your chance to win this marvellous device for adding instant 'feel' back into your sequences and drum patterns.

Sound On Sound reader Kofi Busia recently released his own independent LP called 'Oh Africa', funded entirely by himself. To encourage others to follow his example, we asked Kofi to write about his experiences. In this the first of three parts, he presents a frank and revealing account of why the record came about, how he came to grips with using modern technology for African music, and why he chose the equipment he used.

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