Time travel may well be a physical impossibility, but writing for monthlies gets pretty close to it sometimes. For example — I'm writing this just before Christmas (1985, numbskull) and you're reading it just as woolly lambkins are about to start busting out all over the hillsides. This makes my waffle about bonzer Christmas gifts look pretty out-of-date, unless of course you start looking ahead to Christmas 1986 by which time you'll be able to stick a Fairlight into a pocket calculator.

Nevertheless, the fact remains that several companies launched computer music packages aimed specifically at the Christmas 1985 market, and one of the most impressive of these packages was the Commodore Sound Expander from Music Sales.

Priced at £99.99, the Sound Expander does for the 64 what Yamaha's FM synth module did for their CX5, turning it into an eight-note polyphonic synth with sound quality far removed from the usual bleeps and clunks of built-in computer sound chips.

Music Sales are in fact buying in their FM chips from Yamaha, but creating the software themselves. The basic software on disk is of the 'Play-Along' variety, although forthcoming packages will make the Sound Expander more useful on a professional level.

The Sound Expander cartridge can be controlled either from the popular Music Maker clip-on keyboard (£9.99) or from a full-sized four-octave keyboard costing around £69. A phono output connects to your hi-fi (although you can use a special lead to connect to a TV's video input if preferred) and the software presents you with a main page giving various playing options — normal or single finger chord playing, octave transpose (vital if you're using the Music Maker keyboard), ensemble on/off for richer four-note polyphonic sounds, chord memory, programmable split point, variable border colour and so on.

A separate 'Lower Half' menu gives the same choice of sounds for the lower half of a split as for the upper — Brass, Electric Piano, Organ, Synth and so on, all with the high degree of realism associated with, for example, the Yamaha DX9. Many C64 users will be happy just to have turned their computer into a usable polysynth in this way, although there's little control over the sounds except for an overall Brightness adjustment.

However, the more ambitious will find 12 rhythm accompaniments with their own arrangement of bass and arpeggio patterns and lifelike drum sounds also available. Again there's little programmability, but perhaps this is to come.

The 'Riff Machine' section includes a couple of complex demo tunes but also allows you to program your own chains of preset sequences in various styles — pop, disco, banjo and so on. Just tap in the sequences on the computer's 1-10 keys (or on the Music Maker keyboard if you're using one) and the riffs fall together, theoretically in any order like a musical Lego set.

The Riff Machine is impressive in operation but ultimately limited in serious appeal. But from February, Music Sales hope to be delivering an FM Composer package which will allow you to create your own pieces using up to eight different monophonic sounds simultaneously, rather like the Yamaha CX5 FM Composer software.

The existing Sound Expander software flashes all the notes you play onto a musical stave, and presumably this display will be expanded in the compositional software. It's quite educational in its present form though — you can change the display to show either sharps or flats and there's also an option of flashing the border colour as the auto accompaniment features plays — a sort of miniature light show.

It's worth investing in a Sound Expander now in anticipation of the Composer and Sound Creation software, and for the fact that a force-sensitive keyboard is also on the way. Certainly for existing C64 owners, it's cheaper than going out and buying even the most inexpensive Casio or Yamaha synth.

Those still soldiering on with MSX will be pleased to know that there's some movement on the MSX music front. You'll remember that the system was launched about 18 months ago in a blaze of publicity, but despite the support of around 20 manufacturers failed to catch on in the UK because most people already had a Spectrum or Commodore 64. Now there's an expanded MSX II standard (Toshiba have an MSX II Music Computer which we hope to look at soon) and JVC have developed a MIDI interface for the original MSX machines.

JVC's plan is to make their computer range compatible with their video and hi-fi machines, perhaps helping with programming and display functions, and now with their existing range of MIDI home keyboards. But the EMR interface and MIDI Performer software launched by JVC will theoretically work with any combination of synths.

JVC's interface fits into the computer's cartridge slot (in theory it will work with any 64K MSX computer) and has one MIDI In socket and two MIDI Outs, external clock Start/Stop facilities and LEDs to indicate MIDI Data reception and transmission. The MIDI Performer package is a multitrack realtime compositional system simulating the functions of a tape machine, with speed variation, punch-in, and synchronised polyphonic recording. A built-in metronome click, time correct and future software compatibility are also featured.

Coming up; a step time Composer package, an editing package, and a computer-generated graphics package. Prices haven't been settled yet, but you can contact JVC for further information.

Owners of the Greengate DS:3 system will be pleased to know that the company are now delivering a MIDI interface card for the Apple-based sampling device. In fact existing owners probably know that already thanks to Greengate's news mailouts, so for the rest of you...

The DS:3 has been a little under pressure lately, with the availability of the Ensoniq Mirage and Prophet 2000. And admittedly, these machines are easier to use for stage applications, but comparing them to a DS:3 is like comparing a Fairlight to an EmulatorII — there are a few similarities but a whole world of difference.

The DS:3 resembles a baby Fairlight more than anything else, and offers four independent channels of sampled sound, full sequence composition, advanced waveform editing, sequence chaining and much more. Recent options have included an EPROM Blower which allows you to transfer sounds to chips for use in a Drumtraks, Oberheim, Linn, Simmons or other drum machine, and with commercial chips at up to £70 each this facility alone almost justifies the £1,000+ investment in a DS:3.

Adding MIDI to the DS:3 (In and Thru at the moment, with Out to come as a software update) takes it into a new world of compatibility. If you didn't like the real-time based DS:3 software sequencer, you can now replace it with an input from a Roland MSQ700 or other MIDI unit. The MIDI update responds to dynamic information, although not to pitch bend and modulation at the moment, and is ideal for use in conjunction with a Yamaha DX7 or similar synth.

Existing Apple owners would be well advised to get hold of the DS:3 hardware, while those thinking of building a sampling system from scratch should consider their needs carefully. The stage-wise 'Piano and Strings' merchant may well want to go for a Mirage, but the more serious studio musician interested in accurate sample editing, drum machine expansion and complex sequencing may well find that the DS:3 better fits the bill.

Greengate Productions, (Contact Details)
JVC (UK) Ltd, (Contact Details).
Music Sales, (Contact Details)