Altec Mixers

Audix, the UK importers and distributors of the Altec Lansing pro audio range, have announced two new microphone mixers from the selfsame stable. The 1674B and 1678B are four- and eight-channel automatic units, claimed to be the only units which give true, continuous automatic mixing of multiple mikes. Contact them at (Contact Details).

Crest Of A Waveform

Another new computer music innovation has been introduced by Waveform Inc, the people who brought out the rather zappy MusiCalc software. The new baby is a two-octave touch-sensitive membrane keyboard (rather like the late lamented Wasp synth) which plays its own software via your Commodore 64. Its functions include teaching via a play-it-yourself system, with preset songs, compose, and it also includes the first ever real-time scoring of your compositions. More good news is that the keyboard and software costs less than $80 in the US, which even with exchange rates at their present level, translates into a pretty cheap deal. Waveform Corp are based in Berkeley, California; (Contact Details).

Cusdrum and Bangit

Tidings have reached us from our percussive contacts of a company based in Hull who are building a reputation as fast as they are building custom drums. Cusdrum make sets both to customers' personal specifications or in a variety of standard sizes, and will build anything from six-inch octobans to giant marching band bass drums, varying the thickness of the ply shells to suit, and finishing them off in various high gloss colours or natural wood finish. They are available either double or single headed or even with just shells, should you wish to attach your own fittings or use them as avant garde wastepaper baskets. And as odd sizes and formations often crop up in custom kits, they also make drum cases to suit.

Prices are reasonable indeed — a standard kit of five drums, all double-headed, would be approximately £650 excluding stands, cymbals, pedals, etc. Contact Cusdrum at (Contact Details).

Making a Marquee

A whole heap of news from Marquee Electronics, the London-based pro audio gadgetry distributors; first is that in their capacity as agents for the Eventide range they are now in proud possession of the new H969 Pro Pitch Harmoniser, the latest in the renowned Eventide line of pitch shifting doobries. This uses 16 bit linear PCM coding which means that bandwidth is 16kHz and the performance in general is cleaner, more glitch-free and more stable in tuning terms. Facilities include presets for six delay settings and 12 common pitch intervals, a maximum delay time of 1.5 seconds (three at half bandwidth) plus repeat and/or reverse functions.

The existing models will remain available meanwhile, including the Eventide SP2016 signal processor — for which, coincidentally enough, Marquee are making available new software and an upgraded operating system. This update kit can be fitted by an existing user without difficulty, they say, and is indeed available to owners of the super-versatile delay unit free of charge. Lastly, the company have been made UK dealers for the Adams-Smith system of time code and synchronisation modules, under the keen eye of new sales engineer and Adams-Smith expert John Didlock who has just joined Marquee.

Contact him or anyone else there at (Contact Details).

In Good Voice

The DX Owners' Club the Yamaha-sponsored body who get together over a steaming synth and swap patches, among other things, recently staged a competition to find the best voices (synth, not human). When the judges had made their pick, the winner emerged as John Pagan for his voice entitled 'JM Jarre'. For this ultra-realistic emulation of the French synthesists' best noises, he received an MT44 four-track tape recorder and PB44 patchbay. 20 other voices also won their owners £25 as runners-up, including such gems as 'Bubbles', 'Ethereal Fanfare' and 'Steel Spring 2'. The DX Owners' Club can be contacted through Yamaha at (Contact Details).

Tasty Paiste

A new range of eye=catching cymbals have just leapt from Paiste's Swiss factory. These are finished in a variety of bright colours such as red, blue, green and black and seem ideal for the drummer who would rather look as loud as he sounds. The Color Sound 5 range are in all the usual types of cymbal and now obviate the need to get out the hi hats and Dulux. More details about these and other new Paiste cymbals can be found in the 'checks' section of the magazine.

That's The Wonder Of... Turnkey

Joining the shopping boom are Turnkey, the well-known recording gear suppliers, because they've opened the first ever high street store just for recording equipment. The shop, at (Contact Details) was officially opened by Jools Holland recently, and with its wide stocks of all sorts of gear from home to pro studio setups it is sure to attract a lot of interest from the recording fraternity.

Say Something Sample

More revelations on the low-cost sampling front; Powertran Cybernetics have announced the release of a brand new sampling unit which is fully MIDI interfaceable, giving your MIDI keyboard the ability to do Fairlight impersonations at a mere £699. The MCS-1 is a rack-mounting unit which is also usable as a delay with

32 seconds of time available, and when sampling at a 32kHz bandwidth, it gives you two seconds of sample. It can be interfaced with the BBC computer via an interface costing an extra £59, giving storage of samples on floppy disc so you can build up a library of sounds. Contact Powertran Cybernetics at (Contact Details).

We Have The Power

Leicester's finest drum manufacturers, Premier Percussion, have introduced a new kit, which they reckon to be "the most exciting new drum outfit to date". Called the APK (Advanced Power Kit) it's an upgrade of the popular Royale kits to fully professional standard and yet goes for a mere £499 including stands. It comes in a variety of finishes including natural wood (Rosewood or Walnut) and a choice of Trident or Tristar stands. Standard features include a Power bass drum, wooden hoops, a black display head with white logos and a new 6½" deep metal shell snare drum specially made for this kit. For more information contact Premier Percussion at (Contact Details).

Come Join The Bandive

Two of the major companies in the field of recording gear have joined forces. Atlantex and Bandive have had a trading relationship for some years, but now have merged to form the biggest independently owned wholesaler/distributor in the UK. Atlantex's main man Bob Wilson will be joining the board of Bandive as Sales Director, and said he was "very excited by this merger".

Prickly Purchase

Transducer specialists C-Tape Developments have bought the Cactus Consultants company, who produced the Desert Drum system, a synthesized drumkit. The immediate aims of C-Tape, who themselves make the C-Ducer contact mikes, are apparently to iron out a few bugs in the Cactus kit and to work on equipment that will combine the benefits of both companies' products; obviously a real/synthdrum combination can't be far off. Contact C-Tape at Transducer Laboratories, (Contact Details).