New products — New people

Analogue tape, digital tape or hard disk? All have strengths and weaknesses, some of which are more obvious than others; this comprehensive overview unscrews the inscrutable.

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Akai AX 80/1212 Mixer/Recorder

Akai leap bravely into the hard world of Pro music gear, with a poly, the AX 80, and a unique 12-channel mixer/recorder.

Amek Einstein

He came, he saw, he sent in his copy. His name was Jim Betteridge

MIDI Remote Controller

Lexicon's MRC unit is much more than a fancy remote controller for their PCM70 and LXP1 signal processors - it also provides analogue-like controls for easy editing of DX synth parameters and manipulation of virtually any MIDI controller data. Martin Russ checks out the power behind the buttons.

Who wants a programmable modular mixer and three-band sweep EQ system that offers full MIDI control of channel routing/muting and all fits neatly into a 19-inch rack? "I do!" shouts Paul Gilby. Read why...

A survey of electronic treatments

Soundcraft Spirit Auto Mixing Console

Soundcraft's Spirit Auto heralds the age of affordable, automated multitrack consoles for home and private studio use.

Cassette Multitracker

If you're looking for a cost-effective way to add multitrack tape recording to your sequencing setup, it couldn't come much more cheaply than with Fostex' X18. Simon Trask goes back to basics with this new cassette multitrack.

MIDIGrid & MIDIDraw

Can't play an instrument but would love to create music? Your wish is granted! With the right software, the humble Atari ST computer can be turned into a very different MIDI instrument indeed. Martin Russ looks at two unusual graphical music programs with contrasting approaches: MIDIDraw and MIDIGrid.

Programmable Polysynth with Sequencer

The Californians introduce a followup to the inventive but mixed-bag SixTrak. Simon Trask checks it out.

Is Hybrid Arts SMPTETrack for the Atari ST keeping pace with the front runners? David Mellor upgrades his sequencer package to version II software and hardware.

Just as MIDI itself has gone far beyond what its developers imagined, so MIDI Time Code has the potential to take MIDI technology into areas quite removed from the synthesis and sequencing worlds in which it has become so familiar. MTC user Paul D. Lehrman explains how.

Thoughts on MIDI's Next Decade

Richard Buskin looks back at the illustrious past of the world's most famous studio and discovers why Abbey Road has remained a front-runner for so long.