FOLLOWING THE SUCCESS of last year's DX Owners' Club Convention, Yamaha have widened their criteria to encompass all X' Series equipment (eg. DX, CX, RX). This year's bash takes place at the London Tara Hotel, Scarsdale Place, Kensington W8, between noon and 7pm on Sunday December 8th, and will feature all the new stuff-without-knobs, including the DX21, DX100, UMI-2B, and DMS and Compumusic software for the CX5, not to mention swoony demonstrator Dave Bristow having a chat. Entry is entirely free of charge to all-comers.

TOO LATE TO QUALIFY FOR a full review, but worth a mention nonetheless. Out of the cardboard wrapper and onto the desk come 'The Digital Delay Handbook' and 'The Complete Guide To Synthesizers, Sequencers & Drum Machines', two tomes from Amsco Publications. Craig Anderton's DDL reference manual (£7.95) is a simple-but-complete guide to making your box do tricks. It deals with basics like flanging, chorusing, and reverb effects, and also with more complicated matters such as using CV inputs, drum delay effects, and multiple delay applications. Helpfully written — any book that tells you to "fool with the modulation" is all right by us — though not indispensable. Dean Friedman's (for it is he) synthi-book lives in the shadow of Julian Colbeck's newer more comprehensive publication. £9.95 for words written in big type a long way apart on big pages next to big photographs is not our idea of a bargain, even if it is tolerably (Mirage, but no Prophet 2000) up to date.

SHOULD YOU BE IN Munich, and I know I have, then you should be aware that Chandler Guitars, not content with the view from Kew, have a new branch there. The place for all things six-string in Munchen is (Contact Details). Zwei bier bitte (old Frankfurters' phrase).

NEW EXTREMELY LOUD cymbals from Sabian. You can tell they're LOUD because they have names like Roctagon (it's an 18in octagonal crash, natch). There are "Sizzle Hats", too. Fingers-in-ears time...

JIM MARSHALL, A MAKER of amplifiers, has been selected for immortalisation in concrete. Rather than play an integral part in bridge supports for the M25, Jim is being flown to Los Angeles to leave his handprints in Hollywood's new 'Walk Of Rock' on Sunset Boulevard. Along with Bob Moog, Leo Fender, Frank Martin III, Les Paul, Bill Ludwig, Remo Belli, Eddie Van Halen, and Stevie Wonder, our British hero has been selected for his "significant and lasting contributions" to the rock music business. Our congratulations.

HAMPLIFIERS FROM Hampshire for helectric drums? Frazer Wyatt proffer their ZX100P powered speaker with P100-EHDD amplifier for those what want them. Frazer Wyatt's whizzy Expanded Headroom Dynamics allow high clarity at high volume, without overloading, they tell us. Two-band EQ, gain and sensitivity give a measure of control over the signal, whether the amp is used direct, or as an onstage monitor taking a feed from the mixer. More scam from (Contact Details).

YET ANOTHER FOOT TAPPY digimodal soundelode effecter-mole processy box. The Aria DM-X10 is a digital chorus/flanger, selling for under £160. Ignoring Aria's rather ignoble tittering at having put one over on Ibanez (whose separate chorus and flanger are £160 each), the DM-X10 seems to be a good thing. With the one proviso that it's not possible to switch between chorus and the two flange modes without handling the pedal, Aria seem to have taken the first steps towards the ultimate 'rack-in-a-box', with ultra-silent hi-tech digital stuff as well. Bonus pointyoles to Aria chaps.

IT'S NOT USUAL TO DUB competition winners 'poor bastard', but in the case of Bill Findlay in Corby, we'll make an exception: Bill was the winner of a shiny new red SG3000S No. L110016 in Yamaha's BMF Prize Draw. This, in inself, is a good thing. What is not good is that subsequent to this triumph, Bill's house was burgled and said guitar plus a Strat (black w/maple neck), a Juno 6, and copious quantities of home recording equipment removed. Poor bastard. As we said. Chaps of the month at Yamaha have already offered another guitar, but that's no excuse for not calling Bill via us if you have any information. Pronto.

THIS IS A MESSAGE FOR THE owner/occupier of 51 High Street, Croydon: you have a new neighbour. His name is Rick Falstein, and that sign you can see going up outside says 'Hi-Voltage Pro Audio'. He'll be selling and demonstrating all sorts of recording gear, from portables up to complete systems, including tapes, mikes, etc. He's at 53-59 a full six days each week, so nip in and offer him a cheery welcome while he's settling in. You could even buy something.

EXTREMELY RICH MUSICIAN persons who love the magazine already know about the Nomis Complex. For the rest of us who thought it was a curable psychological disorder, the news is that Nomis is London's numero uno rehearsal facility. Not content with being used by people so famous no-one is allowed to write their names, Nomis now offer Complex Insurance Services, whose aim is to give "specialised help at competitive prices, along with 'special problem' high risk insurance items such as helicopters and yachts, so popular with musicians." And no, Mr Le Bon is not a shareholder. Details of this and more on (Contact Details).

HERE'S A SHREDDER FOR SM freaks — four new condenser microphones from Shure, the SM94, SM96, SM98, and rather shy 16L-LC. The 94 is a flat response, unidirectional mike intended for instrument miking and recording, while the 96 has that extra presence and low-end roll off that makes it suitable for vocalising through. Their quietness, and a price in the region of £200 suggest that the 94 and 96 are intended for professional studio use. The SM98, at £290, is a miniature mike, intended for close miking acoustic instruments and amplifiers either on stage or in the studio. (Miniature means the same size as a cannon connector.) And the 16L-LC, weighing in at £70, is top of Shore's Prologue series of low cost alternatives to the SMs; it's a unidirectional, flat response, stick type thing intended for home recording, but also suitable for stage vocals. More info from HW International, (Contact Details).

AND NOW FROM THE inventors of the drum machine, Linn (so they'd doubtless argue)... a sequencer. Not any old sequencer: Syco, who peddle the stuff, say it "enhances the musical process". We'll let you know.

NEW SEYMOUR DUNCAN pickups for Jazz and Precision type basses will feature built-in active EQ circuitry, actually switchable on the pickup. Three miniscule switches will give the open-minded bassist access to eight different settings, varying from 'warm & fat' to 'snappy hi-tech'. Powering for these low impedance devices will be via a nine volt battery, giving a claimed 5000 hours of life for a two pickup system. Unsurprisingly expensivish at £108 for one or £165 for a pair. Call Stephen McLuckie at Labtek on (Contact Details), for more stuff.

ONE BIG BOX, TWO BIG amplifiers. The new Peavey Stereo Chorus 400 features two individual 130W amplifiers each driving a 12 in Scorpion speaker. The amp comes liberally adorned with compressors, push/pull boost knobs, reverb, chorus (obviously) and vibrato. Individually, Channel One offers three band passive EQ, active presence, and Thick Boost (for those too intelligent players); Channel Two has three band active EQ, middle control, and active presence. Not to mention Automix footpedal switching and a whole host of flashing lights. Not to mention them, because we're reviewing the amp next month. In the interim, more details of this £500 wonder can be had from Peavey UK, on (Contact Details).

AT LAST, WITH CALCU-lator still steaming, dictionaries akimbo and judges knackered, it can be told... the winner of the final Sycomp is Mr Peter Skiba of Blackpool. C. Rathbone of Chessington, Surrey, should also be stepping up soon to receive the Roland Playbus as prize for winning Sycomp 5. More next month. Words, details and more.

TOKYO TIDINGS

YUKI SAITO, our mon in Tokyo with the computer in his wristwatch and surround-sound video in every room, brings us this report of the Tokyo Music Fair '85, which took place there in late October.

IT WAS CRAMPED, it was small, and it was very sweaty. For three days I have trekked across the small room which housed most of the big homegown names of the Japanese music industry, who gather together every two years to show off their new wares. There was a feeling this year that many makers might have been hiding things while waiting for the more internationally important Frankfurt and NAMM trade shows, but still enough objects as well as rumours to interest the readers of honourable One Two Testing musicians' magazine.

But I have been to your British Music Fair this summer, and believe me Tokyo Music Fair was maybe one-sixth the size. It is incredible, is it not so? Much business was going on as businesspersons crammed into surrounding hotel rooms, while down on the floor of the show itself it was Tokyo's crazed pop kids who did the looking, the plucking, the prodding and the playing. Has it not always been so?

But editor he cries, "Information!" and so you shall have. Big noise was being made about the new Roland sampled piano. Walking past their ever-crowded stand, I thought, "Ah, Roland must have Kurzweil, or much weirder still, must have grand piano." But no. It is useful too as a MIDI master keyboard, and had knock-out grand piano sound. I don't think it could sample your sounds, but there was talk of price of £2000. They also had new JU1 synth, six-note poly, 49-note, essentially an add-on as it's not touch sensitive itself, but can, via MIDI, receive dynamic info for velocity and aftertouch. It makes waveforms digitally, "but more DCO than FM," as one Roland person had it. Expect UK supplies before Christmas at £575.

Guitars? Confusion, I say. Even spotted copies of honourable British Status-type bass guitars, but much fuss being spoken about Ibanez MIDI guitar controller. I have sneaked out a picture for you, but know no more. Ibanez people would tell me nothing of it. Have a squint, as you say.

But you want more Japanese high-tech wonder-chip beasts, is it not? Yamaha as busy as ever, and a few new interesting good things. In home-keyboard type PS area, there was a sampling keyboard on show, but this seemed from my brief fiddlings to be low-tech. They also had a flash new white bass called the Motion B, with fine tuners, brass, and BIG LETTERS on the body.

Yamaha they also had new pianos called the PF70 and 80, updates of the 10 and 15, with different sounds and MIDI, but best of all two new DX synths, the DX100 and the DX27. The 27 is full-sized keyboard FM synth, with 192 ROM presets, and four-operator algorithms, and should be in the UK in January at under £500. The 100 is a mini-keyboard FM synth, same number of presets and operators as 27, but definitely aimed at competing with Casio's similarly tiny 101. It should be in the UK before Christmas at £350.

And talking of Casio, off I jolly well go old chap old bean to the stand of Casio Computer Company. Now I admit big party last night for a company the name I do not know remember. Much sake, so eyes blurry, but sure this is what I saw on Casio stand. Here goes, boss editor. Casio had a rack-mounted sampler on show, with an implied price about £1000 and full bandwidth sampling at two seconds. It was about 5U high, with disc drive on the front, but not expected in production until well after Frankfurt show in February.

Also MIDI pads, like a drum kit, on Casio stand, plugging into a racked controller to select MIDI channel and so on. And a new CZ range synth, the CZ3000. It's a 5000 minus the sequencer and tape dump, but added MIDI Thru, and should be about £200 less than the 5000 when it turns up in your country before Christmas. There was also some talk of a touch-sensitive version of the CZ5000 on which you can name your own voices, but more than that I know not.

Lastly Casio had a drum machine, the RZ1, in prototype form. It has full MIDI, tape dump, 100 patterns, 20 songs, 12 preset sounds and four memories for a total of 800mS of your own samples. It could go for about £300 when it turns up some time next year.

Lots of other samplers about, but none looking like they'd be up and running for some time. MIDI drum pads also very popular, with Yamaha sporting a couple of prototypes on their stand, too.

My eyes were definitely all a-blur now: I think I saw an Akai CPZ1000 music computer at a stand, which seemed at the time like a 16-track recording version of Yamaha's QX1. Someone has written in my notebook: "Twin drives, keyboard and monitor, UK target price £1700, 4U high unit." I know not whom, do you say?

Anyway, esteemed editor and other workers at One Two Testing. This has been my first report for you of "Tokyo Music Fair '85", and I wish salutations to your fine readers of what those who knowhere call "Finest musicians' magazine in decadent west that we ever heard of". Sayonara.