Leaving convenient music labels behind, Nigel Lord approaches his beatbox in a fresh way in this month's drum programming column. Off the Beaten track?

A brief look at the basics of this important synchronisation system.

Roland TR505

Roland find another home for some 707/727 drum voices, and come up with a digital successor to the Drumatix. Trevor Gilchrist waxes lyrical on the best budget drum machine yet.

The record company A&R man is your enemy, right? After all, it's only him that stands between you and a record deal. But technology has changed his job and your relationship with him.

Acoustic drum samples from producer Bob Clearmountain rub shoulders with Mega Beats drum machine samples, while SSU sounds for the Yamaha SY77 complete the lineup in this month's Patchwork.

Song Position Pointers

Sound On Sound's MIDI Doctor Jay Chapman, returns with a new series that concentrates on specific aspects of MIDI and explores their relevance and use in a musical set-up. This month: the Song Position Pointer.

Studiotest

A dream or a mere luxury?

What, a revolution in the US? Tony Mills plays foreign correspondent

The Perfect Beat

Is this the ideal way to programme rhythm patterns into your drum machine? Paul Ireson gives Roland's updated drum-to-MIDI convertor a good bashing!

Yamaha RY20

Beatbox rejuvenated

Put six PCM drum sounds in a small black box, add a velocity-sensitive pad and a sprinkling of controls, and you have some pretty neat add-on percussion modules. Dan Goldstein hits and listens.

Programmable Percussion Machine

The Latin percussion variant of Korg's new budget drum machine duo comes under the scrutiny of Trish McGrath. Is its beauty more than skin deep?

Multitrack Cassette Recorder

Affordable cassette multitrack with a few unexpectedly sophisticated features.

Build a sync to MIDI interface

Rag Bags and Hotch Potch

Another grab-bag of micro-goodies from IM&RW's computer hack (or is that hacker?) Tony Mills

By Vic Lennard

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.

Puts the home in home recording.

From Weather Report drummer to hi-tech enthusiast and Mac fanatic. Bob O'Donnell talks to a drummer who's discovered technology and used his rhythmic knowledge to get the best from his programming.

What About Owner's Manuals?

The Next Generation

A new generation from Roland

Recipes For A Tasty Dance Track

Our dance music series continues with a selection of drum patterns, chords, and basslines for you to try out.

Ian Waugh discovers how well this program can create respectable sounds on the Archimedes