The Good, The Bad and The Ugly at Frankfurt's Musical Fiesta

Five pages of glorious colour on the exhibition to end all exhibitions - the annual Frankfurt Musik Messe. Dan Goldstein comes hotfoot from Germany to report on the latest developments on the hi-tech music scene. And there are a lot of them.

Tony Bacon on the trans-oceanic hotline

Who makes which Jap electrics? Check ERRATA

hot shot oriental entries

Goes Chrimbo Crazy

A special seasonal waft of your favourite news and gossip column, this time drifting through the whole magazine and including mini-interviews with the likes of China Crisis and jokes from the likes of us. The fun starts here.

Preview of a micro

As Fifth Generation computing takes more definite shape, David Ellis goes crystal ball-gazing in an attempt to predict its musical implications.

Tama are the first acoustic percussion manufacturer to enter the electronic arena: Paul White tested the first example in the country to see if the Japanese could make something more than a Simmons copy.

Roland Desk Top Media Press Conference

What is 1¾" high, has 31 voices, plays the piano, vibraphone and sax, and has its own library? Simon Trask checks out Roland's latest PCM sample module.

CD ROM Player

Expensive it maybe, but CD ROM storage is one way of making a sampler a much more powerful instrument. And if you're using a Roland S550, it may not be as expensive as you think, as Simon Trask discovers.

BMF Report

Lager bottle in hand, the Editor guides you through the gallery of new music technology on demonstration at last month's newly-public British Music Fair. Plus lots of photographs so that those who missed it can find out what the gear looks like.

Fostex Foundation 2000

Incorporating the News. And starring all you need to know about the new products and where they'll be. The one you need.

Following last month's list of synthesis casualties, David Ellis delves deeper into the archives and finds yet more mysterious products of human ingenuity. Some of them are quite spectacular.

Korg's very latest keyboard is non other than a touch-sensitive, sub-£1000, 8-voice FM synthesizer! Mark Jenkins managed to catch a sneak preview.

Lookout... it's coming this way!

the Roland story

This Japanese audio company seem hell-bent on making a name for themselves as producers of high quality products and this rack-mount electronic keyboard mixer incorporating a four channel MIDI Thru box certainly fulfils that aim. Ian Gilby reports.

With the summer shows out of the way and the forthcoming new products all unveiled, Martin Russ looks into the crystal ball and plots out his version of where the world of synthesis might be heading...

If you're already running a MIDI studio on a budget and want to add a handful of tape tracks, the Vestax MR200 could be the answer. Nigel Lord checks out a cassette multitracker that won't cost you much more than £300.

start of a three month OTT investigation into recording desks. This issue - eight mixers up to £600

The Best of British

Britain's booming hi-tech music industry.