Yes, IT readers, as we promised you last month the brave 'IT Cat Hit Squad' made it back (more or less intact!) from this year's Frankfurt Fair. Fully de-briefed by our intelligence staff (Intelligence? Ha!) — what follows is the first instalment of their descriptions of 'Things to Come'...

GUITARS & AMPS

(by Tim Oakes, David Jones and others)

One of the most pleasing aspects of this year's show was seeing how well established British-made guitars and basses have become in the world market. This year's contingent of UK-based exhibitors included Wal, Manson, Overwater, Staccato, Pangborn, Gordon Smith etc. — they all seemed to be doing as well in the European shops as they are now doing at home.

Particularly impressive among the new British guitars was the Manson headless bass. Sporting a beautiful Indian Rosewood front, it should retail, in a passive version, at only £775 (including a case). An active model will cost just £60 more. Also on the new basses theme Wal unveiled (at long last) his new five string model (it's tuned to B,E,A,D,G, by the way). This new move towards extending the response of the bass downwards has really caught hold of a lot of players' and manufacturers' imaginations of late, contributors to the genre including Yamaha and Ibanez, with (we understand) Rickenbacker destined to join the throng before the year's out. The new Wal, meanwhile is currently on its way to us for a review, so we'll tell you more when we've tried it.

Of course, not every player will want five strings, so Overwater's 'C' Bass fits the bill nicely there. Having worked closely with string supremos Superwound, Chris May tells us that he now offers two string gauges for this fabulous low tuning bass and that some of his users (who now include some of the bass playing names) have started using the lowest of the four strings as a 'B'. Meantime, Overwater also showed their new 'Professional Active' guitar, which raised a lot of enthusiasm — especially as it sells at just £750 which is very fair indeed for such a luxurious instrument.

Gordon Smith seem to have come back with a bit of a bang of late, and they are claiming that their adaptation of the Schaller tremolo system (which does without all the usual accoutrements as locking nuts etc. etc) does exactly the same quality job as some of the better known 'advanced trems' without all the fuss. No new models from them as such, but the trem looked interesting, as did some of the colour schemes on Graduate and Galaxy models.

Leaving the UK for Japan (metaphorically speaking at any rate!), Westone appear to be continually up-rating their models to higher peaks. Newcomers of particular note were their Pantera range instruments, ranging in colours and finishes from 'pearl pink' to 'Caspian blue' through a nice natural amber shade — very similar in colour to Lucozade, in fact! The Panteras are expected in the UK some time during the Summer and will sell as a range above the existing Spectrum types, probably starting at around £350. Three guitars and two basses (with luxury woods including flame Maple, some with Kahlers and some with active pickups) should make these hot contenders for your money.

Meanwhile F.C.N., Westone's importers, have a new bass amp, the British made Cougar. Destined to sell at around £280, this offers what the makers call a 'true 10 watts undistorted' and shows some good thinking behind its facilities, which include variable compressor, LED overload, master vol, standby and a 7-band graphic. A properly ported 1x15" cab will be offered as an extension unit. Aimed at fitting 'on the back seat of a Mini', it looks very competitively priced indeed.

Ibanez (as we predicted last month) pushed the boat out in a big way this year, especially with their ideas on a MIDI guitar (more of which later). On a more modest level they showed several interesting newcomers, including the striking new Axstar range. As far as we could see, these were all headless and are due in the U.K. at Ibanez's usual competitive prices. Not to mention the models we previewed last month, look out too for new Ibanez acoustics plus new Lonestar electric/acoustics.

On the strings front, it's fair to say that our own UK-produced James How Industries lead the world in innovation, and they didn't let us down this year, using the Frankfurt Show to launch their new 'piano string' Superwound 404 'Super-bronze' roundwound acoustic strings. For the classical players among you, by the way, we gather that their nylon sets now come in high tension types with or without ball ends. Yet more introductions from this Kentish team included their new Starfire 80/20 Bronze sets. Unfortunately, the much rumoured 'new development' which is being extensively whispered about didn't make its debut here, but should be with us by the end of the year. To be honest, we still can't find out what they're up to — not even a hint about it!

Finally, a re-launch also on the British-made strings front for the Picato range. Now owned by leading string distributors Strings & Things, the Picato factory has been receiving a lot of investment money during the past year from its new owners, resulting in apparently extensive new production facilities. Expect to see a review of some of the new Picato strings in these pages very soon.

IT s Tim Oakes claims some odd sightings during this year's show, like 'seeing one managing director secretly painting a certain item white at the back of their stand — later to be seen with a big NEU sign on it. Pity it was first launched at Frankfurt five years ago!' Mind you, Tim did see plenty of genuine goodies as well, as he explained when we had him on the office lie detector, shot full of sodium pentathol...

Oh the wild and the weird, the great and the grotty — Frankfurt has the lot! To be honest, most makers at this year's show looked like they were occupied with improving the design of existing guitars, rather than trying anything new. Having said that, you can't get more radical than the new Gittler which I spotted on the Musimex stand! This unbelievable little instrument has no body, no machine heads, no neck (to speak of), and not even any frets! (Who freaked that lie detector? — Ed). Seriously though, the Gittler consists of a metal bar to which are welded short chromed tubes, these being graduated to form the frets. In practice this means you can play vibrato technique and string bending in an up and down movement, pressing the string down between the steel tubes. The pickup is in the body and it's hexaphonic too, i.e. with six separate outputs, one for each string. Musimex have picked up distribution for the UK on this one and I hope to be laying my hands on one for a review very soon.

Jazz players, meantime, should make a point of looking out for Australians Maton who were showing a beautiful new active powered Jazz model, the GG22.

More on Frankfurt's Guitars, Amps and Drums in next month's IT . Meanwhile, it's over to NICK GRAHAM for part 1 of his keyboard and electronics gear overview — or, as he puts it, 'How I flew in, flipped, and flew out again!'.

SAMPLERS, EFFECTS & COMPUTERS

by Nick Graham

Due to other commitments, I was only able to spend one complete day at the Frankfurt Music Fair — but what a day! I came away loaded with presskits, freebies of sort or another, and the distinct impression that the usually quite normal people who work in the musical instrument industry had all gone nuts (naughty but nice!). 'Get on with it!' I hear you say; and quite right too. After all, the last thing you want to read is what a great time I had. That would be a bit like listening to somebody's description of the party of the year to which you weren't invited!

There were very few actual surprises at this year's show — most of the larger manufacturers has already announced their new products beforehand. Not much radically new technology, either — what is there left to invent? — but there were some amazing new applications. Most manufacturers (certainly those who produce instruments for mere mortals) are now concentrating on perfecting and finding new uses for existing ideas, and then bringing down the price. Thus a company like Akai aren't trying to shake the world with new concepts, but exploiting tried and tested technology to make a very high quality product with superb facilities available at an accessible price.

A noticeable trend was towards instruments and rack units (effects and synth expanders) which were software based — you buy the hardware, and by using different types of software the machine can do several different jobs. This isn't a new idea, especially in high cost pro-studio/music systems, where genuine attempts have been made to give hardware a longer lifespan by designing it with future software updates in mind. Of course this is precisely what computers are good at, and in the area of sound design and control the programmes I saw at Frankfurt, running on a wide variety of computers, were generally miles better than any dedicated machines designed to do the same job. Major manufacturers are obviously keeping their eyes on the software developers, and more than a few are beginning to take an active interest in this area. Finally, if it ain't got MIDI, it ain't worth a thing — that message came over loud and clear at Frankfurt, especially on the keyboards side; and anything without full MIDI specifications tended to be relegated to a 'novelty' category.

Before I go further, I must mention that in covering electronic keyboards, effects etc. I am only writing about a very small part of what goes on at Frankfurt. From the high profile which the electronics section of instrument manufacturers maintains, anybody would think that the music world was dominated by the microchip. This is not true. By far the biggest proportion of this enormous event was dedicated to traditional instruments; piano, for example. Being a keyboard player (and still a pianist at heart) I couldn't resist a quick look round the vast area dedicated to these instruments. I managed to thump out a tune on the most expensive Bosendorfer concert grand (£15,000 or so?), but it was refreshing to hear words like 'craftsmanship' and 'tradition' being used instead of 'high-tech' and 'parameter'!

One slightly disappointing aspect of the Frankfurt Fair this year (and in previous years) as that many of the new products 'launched' there are actually scheduled for release to the public as late as May or June (if yer lucky!) — all you see at the Fair are limited prototypes which tend to disappear back to their makers after the show. Having had my little grouse, it has to be said that Frankfurt is the one place where all the relevant products can be seen side by side, and from this point of view it's a good opportunity to compare new products with well-established lines and make assessments. On this basis I've decided that, rather than give you a list of new products (most people are probably aware of these by now anyway), I will try to identify some of the best products (new or established) and discuss things like new applications, lifespan, and value for money. Perhaps the brief comparisons will give you a better idea of whether to buy now, wait, or give up altogether and become a knowledgeable spectator!

Samplers

There's no doubt that the main 'battle of the keyboards' was fought this year over sampling devices. With new products from almost every manufacturer, there was fierce competition in this area and I heard much talk over the thorny question: which sampler would actually be the DX7 (so to speak) of the sampling keyboard market? It did seem at one point last year that the Ensoniq Mirage would achieve this position, but with the introduction of cheap, high quality 12-bit sampling by Akai, their hopes were dampened somewhat, and the general consensus of opinion seemed to be that this year Akai were set to establish a new standard in sampling with their S900. It's clear that they've listened hard to the feedback from users of their original S612 sampler, and have designed this new model with those comments in mind.

I did actually try the S900 at Frankfurt, and although it was under very cramped conditions I was suitably impressed. Not only is it an 8-voice, 12-bit machine sampling at 40kHz and giving 12 seconds at the full bandwidth of 20Hz-16kHz, but it also features integral self-formatting 3.5" drive, 32 split-points, full MIDI specification and considerable onboard editing. Additional software will also make this machine into a 16-oscillator sine wave synth, a short period digital recorder, and (it's rumoured) will allow sample wave form editing on a computer via an RS-232 C bus. All eight voices have their own outputs, and it will also be possible to trigger them individually from an external analogue signal, making this machine ideal as a 'brain' for electronic drum pads. The price? A very competitive £1599 RRP. Akai also have a cheaper 6-voice version — the S700 — in the pipeline, which will have the same high quality sampling but less flexibility and a smaller 2.8" Quick disc drive.

The one drawback to the Akai samplers is that you won't actually be able to buy one until May, and even then they will be in limited supply. Without waiting until then, you could buy the Prophet 2002 (rack-mount version of the 2000), which is in the shops now and offers very similar features to the S900 for roughly the same money. One advantage of going for this superb product would be the outstanding DigiDesign 'Sound Designer' software package, which runs on the Apple Macintosh 512k computer and allows programming of the Prophet from the computer. Originally designed for the Emulator II, this programme uses the beautiful graphics of the Mac for 3-D waveform display. Editing to incredibly high resolution, waveform drawing and re-drawing, digital 'mixing' of sounds in the computer's memory, digital Eq, looping, sound storage/recall — the list goes on. Also, anything sampled in an Emulator can be transferred to the Prophet via the 'Sound Designer' programme, and vice versa. Only one thing would put me off the Prophet 2000/2002 — no individual outputs are provided on the rear panel, only stereo; and this would limit its professional applications.

Both Roland and Korg demonstrated prototypes of their new samplers — two from Roland (the S10 and S50), and the DSS-1 from Korg. I heard both the Roland samplers at their pre-Frankfurt demonstration, and they sounded excellent. Both are keyboard instruments using 12-bit technology and sampling at 32kHz to give 20Hz-13kHz bandwidth, the 4-octave/8-voice S10 giving 4 secs., and the 5-octave/16-voice S50 giving 17.5 secs, at full bandwidth. Obviously the S10 will be the 'budget' sampler and the S50 the professional model. It certainly appears (from the specifications) to have amazing control and editing facilities, providing up to 61 split points, forty-eight 8-parameter envelopes, and the full complement of VCA/VCF/LFOs. A very interesting feature of the S50 is its output for a colour monitor, allowing visual editing, looping and storage of sounds, and making it unnecessary to rely on an external computer. Of course, all parameters and date are modified using the now standard Roland Alpha Dial, but there is also provision for the use of a computer keyboard or MSX mouse! If, as Roland have implied, the S50 offers some direct competition for the Emulator II then sparks will fly; but since there are no prices as yet for the Roland samplers, and they won't be available until June, it's very difficult to make a serious assessment.

As I mentioned, Korg showed their prototype sampler, the DSS-1, but I only managed to obtain very brief technical specifications for this. From what I can glean, it's a 5-octave/8-voice unit with a 3.5" disc drive, and it 'makes sampling into a truly musical technique' (what have people been doing with Fairlights all these years, I wonder?). Oh — and it's two-tone grey!!

Ensoniq launched a rack-mounted version of the Mirage at Frankfurt, and by pricing it at under £1000 cracked another barrier. According to the specifications it's an improvement on the already successful keyboard version, utilising established 8-bit technology. Certainly it would be a useful machine to own, but it's going to face stiff competition this year from the far superior sound of 12-bit sampling. In fact the Ensoniq is a typical example of the speed with which things move in the the musical instrument technology race — only a year ago it was the only high quality 'budget' keyboard/sampler available (although Julian Colbeck did warn, in Issue 5 of IN TUNE, that the Mirage was 'certain to be the flavour of the next six months').

Almost last on the list we came to the boffins at Greengate, who had their DS4 up and running at Frankfurt. This is a true 16-bit linear AD/DA system using the good old Apple II as the host computer. Assuming you already have a computer, 12 secs, will cost you £1500 and 24 secs. £1750, and the sampling rate of 44.1kHz gives you a bandwidth of 20Hz-22kHz (compact disc quality?). When the software is complete, this should offer a very cost-effective 8-voice system which will have many professional applications. Of course, the original DS3 8-bit sampling software and hardware is still available, and improvements are being made all the time.

In the megabucks category, the Emulator II, a 12-bit companding AD/DA system, gives 17.5 secs, at 20Hz-20kHz bandwidth, a dynamic range of -96dB, and all the control you can handle. The PPG Waveterm offers 16-bit sampling and 16-bit wavetables, and the PPG Realiser, although strictly a prototype, will eventually be capable of multi-track recording on to hard disc, as well as being able to simulate more or less any synth ever made!! Then there was the Fairlight Series II, Kurzweil... and Casio did a neat 4-voice sampler, the SK1, which features 1.4 sec. 8-bit sampling at a 9kHz sampling rate for £89. It takes all sorts!

Synthesisers under £1000

Although the Frankfurt show saw the launch of two new synthesisers in this category (the Casio CZ3000 and Akai AX73), it was plain to all that the leaders in small synth technology were still Roland and Yamaha. Each company has followed its own course, Roland developing analogue synthesis with the Juno series, and Yamaha perfecting FM synthesis with the DX series. Both companies produce low cost synths with very high specifications and flexibility of use, but buying either of their products inevitably will cause a dilemma — the choice between analogue and digital synthesis.

Neither system is better than the other, just different; and most keyboard players need both. At the low end of the range, the Yamaha DX100 and Roland Juno Alpha 1 offer excellent value for money (see reviews of both products in Issue 8). However, the DX100 (RRP £349) has a miniature keyboard, and it would be fairer to compare the DX27 (RRP £499) to the Juno Alpha 1 (RRP £525) as, like the Juno, it has full-sized keys. At £649, the DX21 will give you two DX27/100 sounds, either simultaneously or on a split keyboard. None of the synths mentioned so far has a touch sensitive keyboard, although they are all capable of responding to velocity/aftertouch through MIDI.

Taking a step up to £799, the Roland Juno Alpha 2 does feature a touch sensitive keyboard of 5 octaves, although in essence it's the same as a Juno Alpha 1: 6 voices, 1 DCO/ENV per voice. For something really powerful in the analogue domain, take another look at the Roland JX8P. This superb 6-voice synth with 2 VCOs/2 Envelopes per voice and a 5-octave semi-weighted touch sensitive keyboard can now be bought for just under £1000! The Juno Alpha 2 or the JX8P would make an ideal controlling keyboard for the DX100/27/21 when you can afford them, although this combination of analogue and digital sound will cost you well over a thousand pounds. There are alternatives, though; and one which combines digital and analogue type sounds very effectively is the Korg DW8000 (£999) and its expander equivalent, the EX8000 (£799). This is an 8-voice, fully programmable hybrid synth which relies on a digital waveform generator for its sound source. A choice of 16 basic waveforms is available, any two of which can be combined to form a voice. For analogue richness, standard sawtooth, square and sine waves are available, in addition to a selection of waveforms derived from real instruments. (These actually are sampled sounds which have been analysed and recreated by additive harmonic synthesis, then digitally encoded in a ROM chip.) From this point on, sounds are treated as in a standard analogue synth, with VCF/VCA and two 6-parameter envelopes. The results are stunning, and when you consider that the DW8000 also has an arpeggiator, a built-in fully programmable 512 ms. digital delay, a 5-octave touch responsive keyboard and exceptional MIDI spec (including MIDI sync for the arpeggiator), it begins to look like great value for money and a possible solution to any analogue-v-digital difficulties.

Also from Korg was a new, improved version of their famous Poly 800; the Poly 800 II. This 8-voice, 4-octave all-analogue synth now features an improved sequencer, improved MIDI spec (but no velocity or touch sensitivity) and an onboard digital delay, in addition to the 2 DCOs/3 Env per voice which give that unmistakable Korg sound.

It seems that most manufacturers have decided on the type of synthesis they are going to offer and are sticking to it. Casio are no exception, and pursued their chosen line of phase distortion with their new CZ3000. Unlike the other small keyboards they launched this is definitely aimed at the professional market, and is a full-sized 5-octave synth; basically a cut down version of the CZ5000 without the sequencer. Like all the phase distortion synths (of which the CZ101 was the most popular), it offers some of the best features of analogue and digital sounds on one instrument, and when it is using 2 oscillators per voice it's 8-note polyphonic. Somewhat disappointingly though, it has no velocity sensing capability; but it still represents good value for money at £599.

The only reason I've left the new Akai AX73 analogue synthesiser till last is that out of all those described already it's the only one which you can't yet buy in the shops. Nevertheless, I did see this instrument at Frankfurt and was pretty impressed, especially with its 6-octave touch-sensitive keyboard which, with its excellent MIDI specification, is splittable and therefore capable of being an excellent mother keyboard. The synth itself features a 6-voice 2 VCO/2 Env per voice system with stereo chorus, and most interestingly can be used to control and edit sounds from Akai's new S900 sampler described earlier. Apparently, full analogue treatment of sampled sounds will be possible using the AX73! Retailing at a mere £699, I fully expect that this instrument will provide some hot competition for the Roland Juno Alpha 2 when it becomes available in May. One to watch out for!!

More on Frankfurt keyboards next month!