Akai MIDI Effects

Three 19" rack-mounted modules that act as a delay, a dynamics controller, and an arpeggiator respectively. Simon Trask gives them the critical treatment.

Korg DW8000 Polysynth

Korg's flagship poly gets a touch-sensitive keyboard, a built-in DDL, and a lot more besides. Simon Trask concludes it’s what the DW6000 should have been all along.

UMI 2B Software

The 1B version was good, but Simon Trask has spent a month with its successor, and reckons it deserves its reputation as the most professional sequencing package designed round a home computer.

Paradise Studios

Synth players in search of Heaven need look no further than West London, where a recording studio puts the emphasis firmly on hi-tech musical equipment, but doesn't charge people the Earth to use it. Simon Trusk pays Paradise a visit.

E&MM’s usual helping of LP and single reviews, readers’ tape exposes and live reports, brought to you by Tim Goodyer and Simon Trask.

RAP Software

An ingenious Spectrum/Commodore program that lets you combine whole hordes of MIDI drum machines into compatible systems. Simon Trask gives it the thumbs-up.

CTS Studio 4

Simon Trask spends a day in the shadow of Wembley Stadium, visiting a new dedicated keyboard studio successfully functioning within the confines of an established studio complex.

Yamaha CX5M Software

Three packages for the CX5M — eight-track real-time sequencer, DX21 voice editor and RX editor — are put through their paces by E&MM’s review team.

Tim Goodyer, Dan Goldstein and Simon Trask compare notes on current musical goings-on. LP and single releases, readers’ demos, live gigs and videos get what’s coming to them.

Simon Trask takes a look into the land of windows, icons, pull-down menus and trash cans, and reports that behind the jargon lies the computer world’s most accessible graphics system.

Chris Jenkins and Simon Trask examine the musical implications of Commodore’s 16-bit monster computer. Will it be simply a haven for the gamesters and the accountants, or will it find a place on the shelves of music shops?

Roland Alpha Juno 1

Roland’s latest analogue poly offers no earth-shattering innovations, but is still a welcome addition to the synth market’s ever-expanding lower end. Or so says Simon Trask, anyway.

Oberheim Matrix 6

A six-voice version Matrix 12 for £1700? Yes, it’s true. Oberheim’s polysynth for the masses gets a rapturous welcome from a penniless Simon Trask.

Yamaha's RX21 Drum Machine offers a lot of sound for very little outlay.

Big brother to the Alpha Juno 1 comes equipped with a velocity-sensitive, five-octave keyboard, as Simon Trask discovers.

Dynacord MCC1 Interface

The world has been waiting for an interface box that solves all its MIDI routing problems at a single stroke. Simon Trask reckons the wait is now over.

Steinberg Pro 16 Sequencer

It’s been a while coming, but now the Commodore 64 has a software package to rival the BBC’s UMI. Simon Trask checks out an incredible MIDI sequencer, and lists what it can do.

Yamaha DX100 Polysynth

The latest addition to the DX family is the cheapest yet at just £349. Simon Trask slings it round his neck and takes it for a test drive: will it bring FM to the masses?

Steinberg Scorewriter

Simon Trask looks at how the Germans get computers to print out staves, notes and time signatures, and is suitably impressed.

CZ Editing Software

It's taken two British companies - XRI and Joreth - to produce the first computer-based editing packages for the Casio CZ range. Simon Trask finds out if they make programming life easier.

The quiet man of systems music tells Simon Trask why his work is so often misunderstood - and why tomorrow's 'serious music' won't be possible without computers.

The Nippon Gakki people have updated their budget QX7 MIDI Recorder by giving it a few extra facilities - and slashing its selling price in half. Simon Trask investigates.

Simon Trask takes the bull by the horns and previews the latest 16-bit, £60,000 version of the Fairlight CMI. Millionaires have never had it so good, and there's more to come from Australia...

Microvox Sampling System

Simon Trask delves deeper into what could be the most sophisticated computer-based sound sampler. It's British, and it costs less than any dedicated machine.

Simon Trask takes a look at the Mirage's rack-mounting counterpart, and finds it even better value than the keyboard version.