Synthesiser Module

It’s more than just a rackmountable version of the JD-800, but just exactly how much more you’ll have to ask Ian Waugh to find out. A flagship is the ship aboard which the commander of the fleet is quartered, by the way - so look out for portraits of the Roland Board Of Directors on the back panel

Most editing software is more user-friendly than digital parameter access, and more suited to the demands of editing complex digital synthesizers than traditional analogue controls. Greg Truckell investigates.

Digital Audio Recorder

David Mellor explores the higher echelons of audio technology and finds a machine which is destined to become a classic of its time: Soundstation II from Digital Audio Research.

The shape of things to come

Tony Reed goes back to the future for the Frankfurt forecast

CD player 3-way test

Denon, Pioneer, Vestax lock lasers

Janet Angus talks to Robin about practically everything.

Boss DSD2 Sampler/Delay

The Boss DSD2 Sampling pedal.

World music's elder statesman puts aside his many saxophones to talk musical styles, modern technology and old-fashioned emotion. Simon Trask catches him onstage and off.

Cassette Multitrack

It is said that small is beautiful - and Tascam's new personal multitrack machine is certainly small. Nik Newark dubs his demos and road tests Tascam's latest four-track cassette machine.

Wavetable Synthesis

Many of today's popular digital synthesisers use variations on "wavetable synthesis". Chris Meyer explains what this mystical but powerful method is all about.

Two software packages that offer a generic approach to sound creation on Yamaha's four-operator FM synths. Ian Waugh boots up Dr T's 4-Op Deluxe and the Soundbits 4X4.

While many producers are content to work within one or two musical styles, Peter Collins casts a much wider net - using high technology to increase the number of possibilities open to him.

ARP Odyssey owner and enthusiast Gordon Reid remembers the only synthesiser that gave the Minimoog a run for its money back in the 70s - the sounds of oscillator cross-modulation and filter sweeps live on.

GuitarCheck

Who knows how good a MIDI add-on for your guitar can be? The Shadow knows, as Paul Trynka finds out....

Mark Jenkins brings you a round-up of the current state of the digital reverb market.

Tips to help you achieve that 'modern' drum sound.

Loudspeakers

If loudspeakers and crossovers remain a mystery to you, read on and find enlightenment.

An exciting Music Maker special that uses state-of-the-art micro control.

How To Get Signed

Snatching that elusive deal — how four recent signings did it, and how you can too. Instant success story by Richard Walmsley (£3.5m advance, eight album deal)

Sly Dunbar & Robbie Shakespeare

Filling in the musical background, Ralph Denyer talks to Peter Tosh's back line, Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare.

The Changing Scene

Dynamix Powermix II Powered Mixer

Just as MIDI itself has gone far beyond what its developers imagined, so MIDI Time Code has the potential to take MIDI technology into areas quite removed from the synthesis and sequencing worlds in which it has become so familiar. MTC user Paul D. Lehrman explains how.