Riff Raff, FON

In Part 1 of a series on independent labels, MT looks at the case histories of Fon and Riff Raff to discover just what it takes to get going and avoid the pitfalls

Sounds, samples, & software upgrades for the modern studio

Software, sounds and samples

Who helped make Climie Fisher's single a hit? And the Pet Shop Boys', and Depeche Mode's, and Bananarama's? David Bradwell investigates the latest action in the Stock, Aitken & Waterman production stable.

By ignoring the charts and treating dance music as a live phenomenon, Adamski has won himself a huge following and a chart placing. Simon Trask talks about the live applications of studio music.

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.

From their excellent 1984 debut single 'Venceremos', Working Week have charted a unique course between fashionability and credibility. Simon Trask works out with Simon Booth.

Sampled Percussion Performance Module

What is it about programmed drum parts that make them sound programmed. Paul Wiffen goes in search of the secret of realistic drumming, and finds it in the Emu Procussion.

Gordon Matthewman's interests in hi-tech and his horn have found him in some of the most unlikely musical settings with his project Blow. Simon Trask blows another man's trumpet.

Turning their backs on pop notoriety to meet electronic experimentation head on, Sheffield's LFO are taking dance music into new areas. Simon Trask gets a new perspective on nostalgia.

If you thought vocoders were just an obsolete way of making a singer into a Dalek, you've been missing out. Tom McLaughlin explains music technology's most overlooked innovation.

LA Synthesiser

Roland's latest keyboard combines two currently important concepts: the workstation and the company's own Linear Arithmetic synthesis. Simon Trask test drives the "multi-timbral linear synthesiser muhitrack sequencer".

Techno music, the true successor to late seventies synth-pop, translates the desolation of post-Motown Detroit into electronic dance rhythms. Simon Trask listens to the programmer's tale.

Ten years ago Incognito's first LP heralded a new British jazz funk movement; today their second celebrates a world-wide dance movement. Tim Goodyer asks Bluey Maunick if the song remains the same.

Sampling Module

After much pre-publicity, Cheetah's first venture into the world of samplers is here. It's 16-bit stereo, reads S900 disks and is reviewed by Vic Lennard.

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.

Sounds, samples, & software upgrades for the modern studio

New software, updates, sounds, and samples

Learn to read the future in these pages...

British Music Fair Show Report

This year's British Music Fair attracted hordes of equipment-hungry punters eager to see what the future of music might hold. Simon Trask was there asking the same question.

Sounds, samples, & software upgrades for the modern studio

New software, updates, sounds, and samples