Total Percussion Pad

On the trail of Roland's successful Octapads comes the SPD8 - a MIDI percussion controller with a neat line in onboard sounds. Simon Trask says beat it.

Whether you like his music or not, nobody can knock Paul McCartney's achievements as the world's most successful songwriter. In a rare interview he talks to Patrick Humphries about the music, recordings and personalities that combined to produce his first solo album for three years - 'Press To Play'.

The continuing story of Francis Vincent Zappa who, out on the road with a rock band for the first time in weeks, relates to one Ralph Denyer just how musicians get their action.

Musical Arrangement For Recording

PART 3: David Mellor looks at arranging tricks and techniques with an eye to achieving a better recording.

Hints, Tips & News From The World Of Music Software

More hints and tips from the wonderful world of music software.

MIDI Software for Spectrum Micro

A MIDI interface and sequencer that attempts to do an awful lot on a machine capable of doing comparatively little - the Sinclair Spectrum. Another review by that man Trask.

Roland VP330

Roland's VP330 Vocoder Plus not only helped to put vocoders on the map, but has since become a classic keyboard in its own right. Gordon Reid says "synths that make you go Hmmm".

How our seminars rocked London’s APRS Exhibition

Ben Duncan passes some of his tried and tested methods of evicting any studio gremlins that may be residing in the mains supply, and also explains the phenomenon of the singing light bulb.

Radio drama relies heavily on the skills of the sound engineer as you can well imagine. Janet Angus spoke with one of its leading exponents, John Rowland, aboard The Barge Studio to discover what special techniques are involved.

Richard Walmsley enquires into a smooth operation

With Richard Burgess And John Walters

Richard Burgess and John Walters talk about the make-up of Landscape.

A complete psychosensory experience in the back of a Transit van? David Bradwell talks to the man behind the most sophisticated sound system on wheels.

Digital Sound Production Workstation

The latest version of E-mu's popular Emulator sampler incorporates stereo 16-bit sampling and a hard disk drive. Chris Meyer can't believe his ears.

Even the biggest sample library never seems to have quite enough drum sounds. The solution? Roll your own. Craig Anderton passes on some hot hints and tips on how to get the best possible drum sounds out of your sampler.

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.

With Talking Heads on the back burner, keyboard player Jerry Harrison is building a strong following as a solo artist. Nigel Lord talks messages and machinery to a Casual God.

Feel Every Beat

Are Electronic, mutant offspring of New Order, The Smiths and the Pet Shop Boys, the first electro-supergroup? Does it matter? Mark J. Prendergast ignores the hype, sidesteps trivial speculation, and talks technical to Bernard Sumner.

ITs Guide To The British Music Fair

U2's guitarist interrupts recording of their new album for an exclusive Making Music interview.

Digital Wave Filtering Sampler

Yamaha's first sampler has been a long time a-coming. Chris Meyer puts it to the test to discover if the big "Y" have learned from other manufacturers' mistakes.

Take one of the most influential electronic composers of the current generation, a Fairlight, an entire library of vocal recordings from all over the world, and a few more-than-talented guest musicians, and you have the recipe for Zoolook, Jean-Michel Jarre's latest album. Here he talks about its creation.