Frankfurt Fair Preview

...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.

Richard Buskin looks back at the illustrious past of the world's most famous studio and discovers why Abbey Road has remained a front-runner for so long.

From artistic oppression under Stalin to contributing to Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, György Ligeti has remained a true music pioneer. Simon Trask talks to a musical legend.

Advanced Vector Synthesiser

In their days at the top, Sequential pioneered an exciting form of sound generation called Vector Synthesis. Simon Trask witnesses its revival in Korg's Wavestation.

Drum Machine

As the drum machine goes from strength to strength, Yamaha give it a new dimension by adding a synth-style "bend" wheel. Simon Trask wonders if the beatbox will ever be the same again.

Analogue tape, digital tape or hard disk? All have strengths and weaknesses, some of which are more obvious than others; this comprehensive overview unscrews the inscrutable.

SSSH... From You Know Who

Following last month's review of the Tascam MSR24S, Dave Lockwood turns his attention to Fostex's new one-inch 24-track with Dolby S: The G24S.

Fender Facts

The true story, told at last!

Do you use a computer to help you make music? Then why not go the whole hog and use it to keep track of your songs? Vincent Taylor shows that there's more to computer spreadsheets than merely adding up figures.

Mark Prendergast talks with trumpeter, composer, and synthesist Mark Isham about new technology, David Sylvian, Van Morrison, Windham Hill, and his solo career as one of Hollywood's more interesting film soundtrack composers.

Reports from the musical instrument exhibition plus interviews with five of the world's top designers, researchers and experts.

Direct-to-Disk Studio System

Here's a computer-based sequencer with a difference - PROMIDI records direct-to-disk, lets you structure your music any way you please, and runs on low-cost PC compatible computers. Ian Gilby investigates...

This month, we've devoted all of our news pages to two special show reports; from Chicago's NAMM fest, and London's APRS — the products which'll be making next year's news...

RCM Synthesis explained

In this second part of our in-depth review of the SY77 synthesizer, Martin Russ delves into Yamaha's ultra new synthesis method: Real-time Convolution and Modulation.

A complete history of record production accompanied by quotations and anecdotes from no fewer than 18 of the world's leading producers.

The more imagination you apply to signal processors, the more you can get out of them. Craig Anderton presents 49 tips that take you beyond stock effects and into new ways of creating your own sonic signature.