Let's face it... no, let's interface it instead. The old days of 'plug in and play' have given way to a whole new idea: plug in and plug in and plug in and plug in and then hit the 'start' button on your sequencer.

And to celebrate that we've got a great big lump of information on the subject of MIDI keyboards. If it's got a keyboard on one end and a five-pin DIN plug on the other we've covered it in the supplement you'll find neatly bandaged to this month's IM&RW. You can't find it? You've been ripped off. Or more accurately, it has.

But this high-tech directory is only one side of the musical equation; the other was summed up by the reader who wrote to us this month complaining we were neglecting the type of thing you blow or pluck non-electrically. The reason for that is that the hardware one finds at the microchip end of the industry is constantly changing and hence demands constant attention; the other extreme is by its very nature almost static in its development. With miniscule changes a mandolin is a mandolin is a mandolin.

In both cases, though, the most important part is the software — you. And if there's anything you'd rather hear about than the latest and flashest wonder synth, write in and tell us.

For instance, have you ever wondered what happened to the white Gibson Thunderbird bass that Overend Watts played in Mott The Hoople? You hadn't? No matter, the answer's on page 80 anyway.

International Musician. We give you the facts you need to know. And lots of the ones you didn't...