the ultimate in FM

Programmable Polyphonic FM Synthesizer

An overview of this flagship of the DX range of FM-based synthesisers

FM goes weeny

Yamaha have bowed to pressure and released an easier to programme DX with an abundance of features. Tony Wride gets to grips with Yamaha’s first ever multitimbral synth with a keyboard!

SynthCheck

Jim Betteridge gets broody over the baby of the DX range

Digital Programmable Algorithm Synthesiser

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?

Casio CZ101, Korg Poly 800, Roland SH101 and Yamaha DX100 synths feature in this month's edition of the readers' synth sound page. Keep 'em coming...

Yamaha's DX1, here at last

News on the forthcoming invasion of MSX home computers, the International MIDI Association, the Decillionix system and the Kurzweil digital keyboard.

lies, damned lies, and cartoons

Although still very young, keyboard player Guy Fletcher has a long list of album/single credits already under his belt for such artists as Bryan Ferry, Roxy Music, Tina Turner, Mick Jagger and Dire Straits. Paul Gilby finds out how Guy landed such plum roles and learns more about the way Dire Straits make use of music technology in their recording.

Vince Clarke reveals trade secrets.

Casio CZ101, Yamaha DX21 and Korg Poly 800 feature in the readers' synth sound page. Plus a review of Skyslip's latest DX7 ROM cartridges.

As Yamaha's 'X' range of hi-tech hardware continues to grow, Dan Goldstein and Trish McGrath present an exclusive appraisal of two of the range's most affordable additions, the TX7 FM Expander and QX7 MIDI Keyboard Recorder.

Another exclusive free-to-enter competition. Write a feature on your favourite E&MM-type subject, and you could become a regular freelance contributor - and win a brand new Yamaha DX100 polysynth as part of the deal.

Lillie Yard Studio

Where can you find a complete audio-video recording system, a Fairlight a separate programming suite and the biggest modular synth in the world? Matthew Vosburgh discovers heaven off the Earl's Court Road.

Pick a number, any number... With modern equipment sounding more and more like car number plates and less and less like instruments, it could be time to return to naming gear rather than numbering it.

UMI-2B

Sequencing interface for the BBC

Exclusive guide to recording electronic music

Blue Weaver, former Bee-Gee and session musician takes Janet Angus round his new studio.

Rack-Mount Sampler/Sequencer

A rack-mount version of the EPS was something Ensoniq swore they would never produce, but they have finally bowed to public pressure. Paul Wiffen looks at the extra memory, extra outputs and SCSI applications, and concludes it has been worth the wait.

A fly on the wall account of a mega-group amidst a mega-tour. Michael Smolen does the buzzing

Tucked away in one corner of the Frankfurt Music Fair was an astonishing sound-sampling device with origins in Eastern Europe. Paul White and Dan Goldstein have managed to get their hands on the first model to appear in the West.

Another MIDI expander with divided loyalties; John Renwick investigates the in-lounge and on-stage applications of Orla's answer to Roland's successful MT32.