More news, views, and titbits from the hi-tech recording arena.

Another colourful bonanza of hot new products served up to delight you

Tascam's latest machine has all the features we have come to expect of a professional DAT recorder. Dave Lockwood assesses its performance.

Part 3: Famed keyboardist Dave Stewart continues his monthly column designed to get you thinking more about your music.

Ensoniq's flagship workstation has recently received some very welcome updates — new piano samples, extra stereo outputs, multitrack sequence recording and step-time entry, and more. Paul Ireson satisfies his curiosity!

David Mellor reviews this affordable music printing program for IBM PC compatibles, which is capable of producing very high quality scores.

Have you ever wondered what it is like to be a professional MIDI programmer/musician? How do you get your sessions? What kind of gigs come up? What sort of problems arise? What sort of technical and musical knowledge do you need? Mike Collins spills the beans.

Despite the technological revolution that has changed the way almost everything else in music is produced, you still need a singer to record vocals — or do you? David Hughes looks at a sample CD that opens the door to a new way of laying down backing vocals.

Part 10: David Mellor looks at ways of getting the best of both worlds by combining a MIDI system with a multitrack tape recorder.

David Mellor looks at a 16-track machine which brings a new level of sophistication to the world of 'personal' multitrack.

Ian Gilby collates the more interesting responses to his editorial request for manufacturers and retailers to look towards the 'video manual' as a complement to printed equipment manuals.

Despite the cult following for Yellow Magic Orchestra, collaborations with David Byrne on the Oscar-winning soundtrack to 'The Last Emperor', and a long-standing musical friendship with David Sylvian, the multi-faceted talents of Ryuichi Sakamoto are still not widely appreciated. Mark J. Prendergast attempts to rectify the situation...

Part 2: Martin Russ continues his trek through the MIDI programming jungle with an investigation of running status.

Mark of the Unicorn's first piece of hardware is a combined 8x8 MIDI interface/network and smpte synchroniser for the Apple Macintosh. Kendall Wrightson investigates.

More hints and tips from the world of music software.

Martin Russ plays devils advocate and states why MIDI systems are not what school music departments need.