Roland GR1 Guitar Synthesizer

What the world needs is a guitar synth that sounds good and behaves predictably. Does Roland's latest model pass the test?

Bridging The Gap

Whilst Roland and Yamaha take LA and FM synthesis into the home, Technics make it even harder to differentiate between a home keyboard and a synthesizer with the release of the AX7. Paul Ireson checks it out.

Turning a collection of samples into a usable keyboard patch is one of the most important aspects of sampling. Tom McLaughlin puts samples on the map.

A Software Sequencing Tutorial

Continuing from last month's step-by-step guide to sequencer recording, we look at the more advanced features and facilities of a typical sequencing system.

Peter Maydew

Tuning Up — A Review of VCO Calibration Methods

A thorough study of the 'do's' and 'don'ts'.

The second and final part of this series on computer composition examines the differences between human composers and their electronic counterparts. Ian Waugh keeps the score.

Second part in our 'what do they do?' series. This month, what you do with the job.

As a humble home studio hopeful who has never pointed a mic in earnest at anything outdoors before, James Walters goes in search of the basic equipment.

If you thought vocoders were just an obsolete way of making a singer into a Dalek, you've been missing out. Tom McLaughlin explains music technology's most overlooked innovation.

Neatly sidestepping the monotonous beats and cliched melodies that typify too many dance acts, this Swiss-American collaboration are making refreshing music. Simon Trask and Heinrich Zwahlen share a technical obsession.

What you may have 'missed' at the Los Angeles AES and the London Hands On Shows.

Los Angeles and London were the recent locations for two very different audio get-togethers. Paul Gilby reports on the proceedings and products shown at both the AES and Hands-On shows.

The CDP is a non profit-making co-operative formed by a group of professional composers and researchers at York University, whose intention was to create an affordable personal workstation — a ‘desktop IRCAM’ - on which to run powerful synthesis and signal processing programs. Richard Dobson reveals the power of this Atari ST-based system.

In depth question and answer session on the musician's worst nightmare.

Watch Your Gear

How to look after instruments and gear on the move.

For Recording Engineering

Educated sound engineer David Mellor assesses the value of training for a career in recording.

The concluding episode, and Paul White explains how the processing secrets already revealed can be applied to make a complete mix. No more staring at the faders in despair...

What goes on behind the apparently calm world of soundtrack-writing, by Steve Howell, who's been through it all himself.

A Bad Job

This month we take a look at salvage techniques. What to do when you have to re-mix someone else's less than ideal master tape.

(But Were Too Afraid To Ask!)

PART 4: Martin Russ provides some solid examples of how to utilise the hidden power of MIDI’s SysEx commands to reprogramme synths on-the-fly and to store snapshots of all your synth and effects patches on disk.

In the fourth part of the series, Ben Duncan deals with interference and possible remedies for it.

Not so much a budget console as a professional mixing desk at a surprisingly low price.

The benefits of additive synthesis software as a means of imitating natural sounds, creating new ones and tidying up your sample loops. Tom McLaughlin adds it all up.