The art of writing music for popular television in the last few years may have been single-handedly redefined by Jan Hammer. His upbeat, rocky soundtracks to the hit TV series 'Miami Vice' (along with a few of the chart hits used in the show) have now produced two albums of instrumental music. Ed Jones finds out how they were done.

Over the last few years musicians have consistently been more excited over the latest MIDI hardware developments than they have over MIDI software. Whilst other micros have come and gone, the Atari ST and Macintosh micros have quietly become the established computers for making music with MIDI. Ed Jones reveals why with a look at Steinberg's Pro-24 (V2.1) and Mark Of The Unicorn's Performer (V2.2) programs.

Fostex’s SMPTE reading/writing, MIDI syncing, auto-locating, remote transport control unit recently underwent a serious internal re-examination. Ed Jones assesses the newly implemented features and describes their practical application.

Simmons SDX Drum Sampler

Lurking inside this angular-looking monster is a versatile computer system that will turn what is ostensibly an electronic drum kit (albeit a state-of-the-art 16-bit sampling one) into a formidable MIDI workstation. Ed Jones test drives Simmons' powerful, new SDX system.

DAT is beginning to take a firm hold in the studio market despite all the controversy. Ed Jones reflects on Digital Audio Tape and roadtests Sony's new TCD-D10 portable recorder.

Intelligent Music's M Software

Here's a program that will banish your lack of inspiration forever! Version 2.0 of Intelligent Music's 'M' (for Macintosh and Atari computers) is considerably more than an isochronic pulse sequencer. Ed Jones puts on his thinking cap and delves deeper...

The Recording of a Film Soundtrack Music

Ed Jones sits in on a major film music session in Abbey Road Studios, London, and reports on how the London Symphony Orchestra and a host of extra musicians recorded the music soundtrack to George Lucas' forthcoming prequel to 'Star Wars' - 'Willow'.