Chatting to people after Mike Beecher's lectures at the Roland Road Show, it seems likely that many E&MM readers find choosing the right micro a pretty bewildering business. The trouble with most reviews of new micros is that they're only indirectly concerned with the sound capabilities of whatever's under the spotlight. So, this month, Computer Musician is starting the WHICH MICRO? guide to 13 popular or up-and-coming micros, specifically angled to the musical side of these machines. But as it's a pain to wait until the end of the series to find out the 'Best Buys', we've jumped the gun by revealing the results of the survey right at the outset, in the shape of WHICH MICRO? AT A GLANCE. And whilst we can't guarantee that every bit of available software has been taken into consideration, or that every nook and cranny of every machine has been assessed, we hope that the end result is fairly objective and helps to guide readers in the right direction.

On the subject of being guided in the right direction, this month's Computer Musician has a questionnaire that's aimed at finding out what you'd like to see included in the supplement. We apologise if this smacks of Big Brother nosing around, but the aim is perfectly innocent, namely to give you what you want. Well, in reason - we can't promise to go and interview a Siberian monk who's taught a herd of cattle to moo the harmonic series (uddertive synthesis, perhaps?), nor have we got a project up our sleeves that goes quite as far as putting a Fairlight on a chip. But we do promise to keep you informed, amused, and, quite possibly, amazed from time to time. So, make sure you fill in that questionnaire!

One of the problems facing publishers of software is that it's difficult to cover all micros equally. There are probably countless games programs written for the Apple II which could be adapted to run on the Spectrum, or vice versa, but converting between Z-80 and 6502 machine code is tedious at the best of times. However, a longterm objective of Computer Musicians is to develop a set of cheap software for projects like the OMDAC and MIDI board, not to mention hardware we've got in the pipeline, which means that program conversion will be essential if we're to reach a reasonable cross-section of the micro population to be found in musicians' places of work and play.

So, what we're contemplating is the setting-up of a Software Panel to do this sort of reconfiguration. Also, we'd like to use the same bunch of programmers to work on totally original ideas and various projects. At the end of the questionnaire, you'll find space to put your name and address if you feel (seriously, mind you!) that this is up your street. Needless to say, remuneration and/or royalty deals are on the cards.

One thing that Computer Musician is going to be accused of sooner or later is bias towards particular micros. The truth of the matter is that with an estimated 200 different micros streaming off production lines across the world, we have to call a halt somewhere. But you can take solace from our avowed intention to devote a fair proportion of page space to any micro that makes sense from a musical stand-point, whether it be by virtue of commercial products for it or inherent qualities of the machine. Mind you, if you feel that your micro has been unfairly excluded from these pages, or that it has sonic virtues of earth-shattering importance, then do write in to us with your alternative points of view. In fact, why not write up a short article and a program or two to illustrate your point?

We're also on the look-out for people to review CAI software, games, and so on, for the range of micros included in the WHICH MICRO? guide. So, if that appeals to you, please tell us. And if you're getting fed up with all these exhortations to write in to Computer Musician, you've always got the option of, er, writing in and telling us!