A collection of CDs which should be the sampler's delight are the stars of this month's Patchwork. If your music needs a boost from Ed Stratton, Coldcut or Pascal Gabriel, check out these disks.

Chris Smith continues his series on synchronisation

In the '70s, Can paved the way for a generation of experimental electronic musicians. Simon Trask talks to Holger Czukay and Michael Karoli amidst the CD rerelease of their entire back-catalogue and a new LP for '89.

MusiCalc Software. The best software yet for the Commodore 64?

The chief engineer at the Old Smithy, one of the Midlands' most respected studios, passes on a few pearls of wisdom.

Computer synth rental

Wilf Smarties gives a new batch of CDs a spin.

The mysteries of SysEx are revealed. Martin Russ discovers that there may be more to that disk drive in your latest acquisition than you thought...

MIDI Programmable Mixer

A programmable mixer that will find a good home in a home studio.

After spending four years recording The Seeds of Love, Tears for Fears are back and touring the world. Curt Smith and Roland Orzabal talk tears and technology with Dan Rue and Tim Goodyer.

Build and modify this versatile effects unit

With the increased use of direct-injected sound sources like drum machines on modern recordings, the role of the humble noise gate has gradually shifted from a purely corrective to a creative one. Sound engineer Dave Lockwood discovered even more creative applications when he tested this American four-channel expander/gate from US Audio.

After April's In Brief review, Rick Davies sends us a user report on the latest FM synth module, and throws in a review of the MDF1 MIDI data filer for good measure.

A look at what's new in the recording and hi-tech equipment fields including Applied Microsystem's new synchroniser, Oberheim's rack-mount Matrix-6 expander and more...

Cheap guitars, new samplers, drum machines, synths and more - plus free details if you want them

Bryan Ferry

You know all those classic sixties and seventies songs you keep hearing on TV ads these days? Well, almost every one you hear is not in fact the original recording but a completely new version. To give you an idea of how such reconstructions are produced, Nigel Beaham-Powell of Streets Ahead Music Productions recounts how he went about reproducing a Bryan Ferry track.

Alesis BRC Big Remote Control for ADAT

Does the BRC make multiple ADAT working a real joy? Read our in-depth test to find out...

AHB Keymix

Simon Trask takes an in-depth look qt a computer-controlled modular mixer. Does MIDI programmability represent the future of the mixing console?

Really Big Men

The band tipped to make it BIG in '88. Tim Goodyer talks to a DJ/keyboard player with a unique place in rock 'n' roll and a singer/guitarist who's going to make Madonna and Lita Ford look like Dot Cotton and Hilda Ogden.

As Mr Fingers and Fingers Inc, Chicago-based Larry Heard was instrumental in creating the house music movement. Simon Trask talks tech with him on the release of his first LP on a major label.

If you're on the look-out for a compact 16-channel mixer which could do double duty in your home studio as well as on-stage, then the rack-mount M160 will definitely be of interest to you. Ian Gilby checks it out.

Ricky Gordon fires questions at hot Cole

Roland's new MIDI Micro Composer, Studiomaster and TOA MIDI Mixers and Soundcraft amplifiers are viewed through the crystal ball this month.

Clap Hands... here comes Roland... build this new, exciting percussion device.