Amongst the burgeoning ranks of 4-track portastudios the MT1-X stands out as one of the most distinctive in its appearance. Those Yamaha people have done their damnedest to keep all knobs and buttons as much within the squared confines of the black casing as is practically possible. This means that the faders, sliding EQ and Aux controls and all switches are recessed and the pan pots and monitor level pots resemble partially sucked Trebor mints, except for the colour of course. The whole machine is black except for the writing and calibrations which are green and the level indicator lights which are yellow up to the 0dB mark and red above it.

Each of the four channels consists of an input select switch, a pan pot, HI and LO EQ controls (HI centering around 10KHz and LO centering around 100Hz with a 10dB cut or boost range for each control) an AUX SEND control, a sliding gain control and an input fader.

The mic or line input sockets are located at the front of the unit where we also find the headphones jack and a 'Punch in/out' socket which is for a remote foot pedal switch for use on drop-ins. This pedal is not supplied with the machine. Around the back there is a similar jack for the AUX SEND and two more for AUX RETURN. Then there are two phono stereo outputs for use when transferring the final mix onto an ordinary stereo cassette. Beside these stereo outputs are four phono 'Tape Out' sockets which is basically an individual output for each track. Finally there are two more phono sockets, 'Sync In and Out' for use with MIDI machines.

The track assignment section consists of four two-position switches which can be switched to positions 1, 2, 3, and 4 respectively to record each channel on its respective track or they can be switched to 'L' (1 and 3) or 'R' (2 and 4) corresponding to stereo Left and Right signals.

Also in the mixer section there is a master fader, AUX master Send and Return faders, a three way Monitor/Mix/Stereo selector switch, a phones volume control pot (mint style) and a dbx on/off switch. The monitors consist of minty volume and pan pots for each channel.

The recording section features a 'Zero Stop on/off' switch and a slider for pitch alteration. This enables you to decrease or increase the tape speed (4.75 cm/sec) by 10%.

The tape operation buttons are well spaced but they don't really go down as far as you expect them to. Nothing serious but it's the kind of thing that makes you feel uneasy when you're not familiar with the machine because it's hard to tell from a distance whether or not a button is depressed.

As for the overall operation, well I loved it but then again I think that any portastudio is good fun. The faders do vary a bit in their smoothness of operation but they're all satisfactory and the smaller sliding controls such as the EQ controls feel very nice indeed. The mint-shaped pots are not as easy to manipulate as your conventional knob but they do the job and certainly wouldn't get snapped off if you dropped the thing. The quality of the actual recording is very good and the ease of operation of the whole 'inspiration immortaliser' is aided by a very easy-to-follow manual.

The unit comes supplied with the mains adaptor and a carrying strap (strap buttons are located near the front on each side) so keen ornithologists can record the mating calls of the cuckoo, mud lark, and great crested grebe, add distortion and maybe a bit of flange, mix it all down and put it out on a 12" disco remix. Anything's possible these days, folks.

YAMAHA MT1-X: £499