Where big band Jazz meets hi-tech production. Richard Walmsley looks beneath the Matt gloss.

The Input Channel

A guided tour through a typical in-line channel strip.

Established as a top keyboard player in Deep Purple and Whitesnake, our interview analyses the music of his new LP ‘Before I Forget’.

Polyphonic Synthesiser

Simon Trask follows up our earlier preview of Wersi's first polyphonic synth, with a full review that delves deeper into the possibilities of additive synthesis. Is it too complex to use?

Super LA Synthesizer

The D50 was never going to be an easy act to follow, but a successor to the title of Roland's flagship has now arrived. Richard Lamont puts it to the test.

AKG K240DF headphones and AKG C535EB mic

Mike Skeet gives us his opinion on these monitor quality headphones. Are they really an alternative to mixing on speakers? Next he takes a look at the C535EB microphone.

Another low-cost digital reverb from Alesis, a SMPTE/EBU to MIDI event synchroniser, new DX ROM/RAM cartridges, and a visual editor for Akai's S900 sampler are all amongst the forthcoming crop of new products.

Arranger

Lone arranger Richard Walmsley analyses the profession's pros and cons

The Additive synthesizer

Once upon a time, 'additive synthesis' was an expensive and little used option on expensive computer music systems. Now, thanks to Kawai's latest keyboard, there is an instrument dedicated to this type of synthesis. Paul Wiffen, long-time advocate of creating your own waveforms, investigates.

Producing String Sounds

A new in depth look at building up complex patches

Personal Keyboard

The words Siel and MIDI have gone hand in hand throughout 1984. Trish McGrath looks at what happens when the former puts the latter on a budget personal keyboard.

Sequential's One Man Band

Paul Wiffen first encountered the Studio 440 sampling drum machine several months ago when he was called in to help Stevie Wonder suss out his! It has since become the mainstay of his own programming armoury. Here he tells why...

Live Aid

Gig of the century, report of the millenium by Jim Betteridge

Tonight the hot instrumental news is read by someone with a megaphone. Strange.

The Human League are still one of the world's most successful synth bands, but their new album was a long time coming, and they've stuck guitars all over it. The League's Ian Burden explains why.

A big Austrian event that focuses on electronic music.

Digital sampling keyboard

Much rumour and speculation has surrounded the launch of what Ian Gilby reckons to be the best mid-priced sampling keyboard on the market. So what makes Emax special? Read the UK's first in-depth review and find out.

...Beating Like This

If conventional drum pads sound old hat, Matt Isaacson and Chris Meyer might have a few ideas for you as they check out the alternatives in our series on creative drum programming.

Performance Synthesizer

John Renwick looks at the new SY-77 from Yamaha

Dream Machine: Casio PG380 guitar synth

is the Casio PG380 the ultimate guitar synth ?

A report on this popular annual event.

Music Workstation

The problem with building the most popular keyboard in years is having to follow it. Simon Trask test drives the successor to the Korg M1 and likes what he finds.

Synthcheck

Paul Fishman does his Bit

Glimpse some of the forthcoming and recently released new products from the hi-tech and recording fields.