As the world and his wife gets hot under the collar about affordable 16-bit sampling, we wonder if the increase in sound quality is necessary at all.

Now that show fever has died down, time to catch up on some of the novelties that weren't being exhibited at the winter trade fairs.

MT readers give their views a thorough airing, and nobody in the music business is safe - least of all MT itself.

Another selection of readers' technical queries, answered by MT's resident team of agony aunts.

It sounds like sci-fi, but someday, all guitar pickups may work by sensing shadows along the frets with an infrared detector. Rick Davies again.

Real-time additive synthesis at an affordable price will become a reality when the KS hits the shops later this year. Rick Davies previews Kawai's best yet.

"Son of FB01" is one way to describe Yamaha's latest FM module, which adds programmability and a number of the features given to the new DX7. Martin Mickleburgh keeps it in the family.

For the first time, a UK magazine gives coverage to the fair that follows NAMM and Frankfurt. It may not be as big, but it's growing in importance all the time. Dan Goldstein reports from the Bosphorus.

As film music becomes a more popular means for composers to earn a living, Tim Goodyer talks to soundtrack expert Steve Parsons about his work on the new British film, 'Empire State'.

Is it worth spending nearly a grand on a non-sampling digital beat-box in 1987? Trevor Gilchrist, after testing the RX5, comes to the inevitable conclusion that it is.

...Beating like this. We start a major new series on how to make your drum machine - no matter what its spec - sound more interesting, both sonically and rhythmically. Your guides are Chris Meyer and Matt Isaacson.

Still in his early 30s, yet a man who's worked with The Police, Genesis, Bowie and McCartney, Padgham is one of the most successful young producers in the world. Paul Tingen coaxes him into revealing a few secrets.

Of all the instruments that became popular in the heyday of the "big synth" a few years back, Roland's Jupiter 8 has stood the test of time the best. Tim Goodyer, a self-confessed JP8 addict, explains why.

The start of another series, in which Chris Meyer reveals just how useful the new MIDI Sample Dump Standard can be in everyday applications.

Paul White, who's owned almost every Roland guitar synth built, puts the new GK1 synth driver and GM70 "brain" under test. Is this the first pitch-to-MIDI system that really works?

Chris Meyer takes an in-depth look at Oberheim's EPROM burner and reader, and considers its renewed significance in the light of continually evolving MIDI applications.

Is hip hop an unending stream of monotonous, empty rhythms, or the brightest star in the use of modern musical technology? Tim Goodyer cross-questions MC Tee and DJ Mantronik.

In the first of two appraisals of digital reverb units that offer real-time control of parameters via MIDI, Rick Davies analyses Korg's affordable approach...

If you earn a fortune in royalties from record sales and you want your own recording studio, what do you do? If you're Tears For Fears, you build The Wool Hall. Paul Tingen reports.

...While Simon Trask gets to grips with a more expensive model from America, with more parameters, a remote-control unit, and various other goodies; is it worth the extra?

Another crop of readers' own synth sounds. This month's featured instruments: the original DX7, the Casio CZ, the Ensoniq ESQ1 and the venerable Korg MS20 monosynth.

Match reverb parameters up with the way you'd like to control them from a keyboard, and you could win a Korg DRV2000 - the digital reverb that makes MIDI performance control affordable.

Dan Goldstein talks to the Can founder member whose current interests include providing the Pope with a backing band, recording with four valve tape machines, and chopping-up bits of Bulgarian folk music.