As you will have gathered from last month's Welcome, Sound On Sound has a new Editor, hence the new pic at the top of this page. You now get my inane grin instead of Ian Gilby's. First of all, I'd like to thank Ian for his kind words last month, but above all to congratulate him for making Sound On Sound what it is today — the UK's leading hi-tech music recording magazine. Ian's dedication and exacting standards have been reflected in every aspect of the magazine you are now reading, from its far-sighted editorial view (we were the first UK magazine to look seriously at how MIDI would revolutionise recording practices), to the standard of writing and the quality of design. We are in the business of communication — keeping you informed of what's happening in the world of hi-tech music — and all of this matters.

So, if the magazine's so good, what's going to change with the change of editor? Not all that much, actually — if it ain't broke, don't fix it. We'll just be getting bigger and better, and I'll be able to commission Ian to write articles for me instead of vice versa. We know from the feedback that you give us that, whilst we can never please everyone, you appreciate both the aspects of recording technology that we cover, and the way we cover them. So, there will be no drastic changes; rather the magazine will continue to evolve and improve as it has done over the last five years. The magazine has also grown in size, and we still can't fit in all of the articles that we'd like to bring you every month, so that trend will doubtless continue. We will be responding to, and looking ahead at, the changes that technology will inevitably bring, and we'll be keeping you informed as we have since our launch.

On the subject of change, it seems that the prospect of Apple breaking into the UK music computing market in a big way is rapidly disappearing into the sunset. When news emerged of several new Macintosh computers, including a low-cost entry-level machine, ears pricked up. The Atari ST has of course dominated computer music in this country for some time, and good though the ST is, the Macintosh is a far more attractive machine in many respects. The trouble is, Macs are still too expensive to compete with STs, PCs and Amigas from the point of view of most semi-pro or home recording folk (although I make no apologies for including three reviews of new or updated Mac sequencers in this issue, if only because the interest in Macs and Mac software is out of proportion to ownership levels).

Unfortunately, although we'll have to wait until around the middle of October to know for sure, it looks like the cheapest of the new Macs will still be too expensive for most of us — which is a shame, as given the opportunity, the music market would take to the Mac in a big way. This is hardly a missed opportunity for Apple — the UK music market is pretty insignificant in terms of the corporation's global sales — but it's a shame that many average musicians aren't able to afford what might be their computer of choice, when Apple undoubtedly could make it possible.