Don't take offence, but I haven't 'played' with another musician for... well, I forget precisely how long ago it was. In the early days of MIDI, I used to think not having to 'suffer' other musicians was a good thing, and I welcomed the gauntlet of freedom that the Musical Instrument Digital Interface threw at my feet. Nowadays I'm not so sure.

I don't think it should have been the Musician's Union that got upset when synthesizers and MIDI were first introduced - the organisers of the local church youth club seem to have come off worst. Instead of regularly booking the local church hall to rehearse in, the parallel growth in home recording and widening use of MIDI equipment has had the unfortunate side-effect of encouraging more musicians to work on their own, instead of as a group, at home.

When I were a young lad (cue 'Hovis' theme tune), the band I was in could never get into the local church hall - there were far too many bands on the waiting list, such was the scarcity of rehearsal venues - so we rehearsed on Sunday afternoons in a garage (well, it was a car showroom actually, owned by the keyboard player's Dad). Although rehearsals were always frustrating occasions, the interplay between band members was fun. You don't get quite the same buzz from sitting at home playing with your sequencer. (Maybe somebody should design a desk accessory that pops onto the screen at inappropriate moments and tells naff jokes whilst your sequencer is running? Or a sequencer that deliberately randomises the pitch of bass lines to simulate the bassist playing out of tune?) The tide is turning against the solo musician, however. As MIDI Files on sequencers become standard; more musicians discover the untapped power of MIDI's System Exclusive 'language' (hope you're enjoying our series, by the way); low-cost MIDI mergers and multiple MIDI In ports start appearing on more and more equipment; and wider use of electronic mail systems; we should start experiencing a resurgence in musical collaborations.

The activities described in this month's feature, 'The Transcontinental MIDI Songwriting Shuffle' (p.38), are still a rare event. However, electronic communications networks and MIDI make ideal bed partners, and the availability of a superb European comms network devoted to all manner of musical activity, The Music Network, has the power to revolutionise the way music is made. Just think, instead of sitting alone in your bedroom wracking your brains as to how you might develop the riff you have composed on your MIDI sequencer, you could save your work as a MIDI File, then transmit it via electronic mail to your co-songwriter (who might be in America, or 60 miles up the road). He or she could then download the file into a computer, load it into a sequencer, and start adding new bits and generally help arrange the music. Having somebody else's input on a song can add a whole new dimension to your music. And if you think MIDI collaborations by electronic mail are far-fetched and more to do with science fiction than music, then turn to page 38 and prepare for enlightenment! Roll up, roll up...