To sample or not to sample, that is the question.

As 'Newsdesk' takes a month's breather in the wake of the Frankfurt Musik Messe, we devote an extra page to your comments and queries.

An intriguing new synth design that tries to combine digital waveform generation with analogue control. Does it achieve its objectives? Dan Goldstein thinks it does - just.

To complete their recent flurry of new products, the Cambridgeshire company have come up with a programmable drum synth module and a set of 'Super Pads' specially designed for it. Nigel Lord takes the system for a trial run.

Paul Wiffen heads off into dreamland to sample the delights of New England Digital's latest improvement package for what's arguably the world's most prestigious computer music system. Not surprisingly, he gives it the thumbs up.

A single electronic pad with a handful of controls and an IC socket underneath it. It doesn't look like a recipe for tremendous excitement, but Paul White finds that there's more to the SDS1 than meets the eye.

Gerry Queen brings us an exclusive preview of what will be Britain's first custom-designed computer music system - from the people who brought you the OSCar monosynth. It's capable of combining analogue, digital and sampled sound sources, and it's cheap.

There are now more peripheral MIDI devices than there are MIDI-equipped musical instruments. Trish McGrath treads through the debris to report on an ingenious connection matrix from London's Syco Systems.

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.

The best-known instrumentalists aren't necessarily the ones with the most to say. We chat to American avant garde guitar player Steve Tibbetts via the postal service, and find he's got a lot of views worth hearing.

Matthew Vosburgh attaches tape recorder to tripod and lets New Order add their words to his pictures. He also traces the recorded history of one of Britain's most influential modem music outfits.

We conclude our coverage of this build-it-yourself synth voice card, with a parts list and some application notes for the adventurous.

If you're a complete newcomer to the world of synthesisers, this is the series for you. Steve Howell takes a beginner's look at filters.

The readers' synth sound page. This month's featured instruments include the Roland JX3P, Yamaha DX9 and Korg Poly 800.

Co-designer Tim Orr takes us through the mechanical construction and front panel controls of the MIDI Controlled Sampler.