The future of the synthesiser: experimenter's toy or street-cred home organ?

The winners of the Quiz of the Decade are named, plus all the music technology news that's fit to print, and isn't covered by our show reports.

Tangerine Dream head the list of topics aired in the E&MM readers' forum. If you have an opinion to add to any subject, this is the place to head for.

Return of a regular Question and Answer session. If you've got a problem, E&MM will do its best to solve it for yap.

...In March 1981, E&MM's publishers launched this magazine onto an unsuspecting musical public. Dan Goldstein looks back at the issue that started it all.

As the band reach their greatest level of British success and release their third album, Talk Talk's Mark Hollis and Tim Friese-Greene discuss the curse of the synthesiser and the blessing of the piano with Tim Goodyer.

Paul White gets to grips with the first digital reverb to be fully touch-sensitive over MIDI, and finds it throws a whole load of additional effects into the bargain.

An exclusive preview of Sequential's first-ever digital synth: Paul Wiffen reckons it's been worth the wait.

Paul White again, with details of a pitch-following sampling delay for only £200. His conclusion? Buy it!

Yamaha's rack effects box to end all rack effects boxes. Tim Goodyer finds out why you might want two.

Another exclusive free-to-enter competition. Write a feature on your favourite E&MM-type subject, and you could become a regular freelance contributor - and win a brand new Yamaha DX100 polysynth as part of the deal.

Paul Wiffen, hotfoot from California, reports on the machines that made headlines at the US music industry's winter shindig...

...while Dan Goldstein, sore-foot from Germany, has the details on the new European and Japanese gear that'll soon be flooding the UK's music stores. Prepare for some surprises.

The quiet man of systems music tells Simon Trask why his work is so often misunderstood - and why tomorrow's 'serious music' won't be possible without computers.

E&MM's unique buyer's guide spreads its wings, with a round-up of what's around in the world of sound-sampling.

Simon Trask looks at how the Germans get computers to print out staves, notes and time signatures, and is suitably impressed.

The sequencing half of the Linn 9000 gets a once-over from Paul Wiffen, who concludes it's far from being a replacement for the tape recorder.

What have a Sting concert, a Steve Jolliffe album and a David Sylvian video all got in common? They're all reviewed in this month's OutTakes, that's what.

Tim Goodyer looks past the bright colours of Drum Theatre to find high technology and ethnic tradition working hand-in-hand, and selling records, too. The band themselves explain.

It's taken two British companies - XRI and Joreth - to produce the first computer-based editing packages for the Casio CZ range. Simon Trask finds out if they make programming life easier.

Digital drums the Dynacord way. Or as Nigel Lord would put it, a better-than-average electronic drum kit at a higher-than-average price. Is the Percuter worth the extra?

The readers' synth sound page, with patches for SCI Pro One, Yamaha DX7 and Casio CZ 101 instruments, plus reviews of anew DX RAM pack and another collection of sounds for sampling.

A complete idiot's guide to buying a four-track cassette recorder, with hints on what features to look for, and a rundown of some of the most popular machines.