PART 1: Ace programmer Greg Truckell begins a power user’s guide to this popular LA synth expander.

Roland JV1000 Music Workstation

Does Roland's flagship workstation live up to its promise?

MIDI Master Keyboard/Piano Sound Board

Take a well-facilitated MIDI master keyboard and add a piano module and you have the basis of Akai's MX1000 - a "dumb" controller with a voice. Simon Trask plays and listens.

The all-but-forgotten guitar synth is due to return to music shops with a vengeance this summer, in the shape of Roland's GR700/G707 system and a breathtaking new British design, the SynthAxe. Paul White puts both instruments through their paces.

Programmable 12-Voice Multi-timbral Polysynth

The world's most awesome analogue polysynth finally gets the attention it deserves, as Simon Trask finds out just what you can do with two Xpanders and a row of black-and-white keys.

Bristol, capital of the West, is alive and well.

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.

Part 3, Chadacre to Crumar

Music Production System

Is it a bird, is it a plane? No, it's a multitimbral synth module, it's a sequencer, it's an automated mixer... Simon Trask puzzles over Roland's Studio M.

Bootleg synths a killer?, New EX, Alligator PA, More scoops

Part 2, ARP to Buchla. Buchla? Yep, Buchla

Roland’s Computer Music range

Martin Russ looks at the evolution of Roland's approach to computers in music, culminating in their latest CM products.

Choosing the right cabinet for the right job can be difficult. IM surveys what's available.

Emu Proteus Master Performance System

Martin Russ continues his in-depth look at Emu's new keyboard.

ITs guide to the British Music Fair.

Music Workstation

The problem with building the most popular keyboard in years is having to follow it. Simon Trask test drives the successor to the Korg M1 and likes what he finds.

Gem S2 Music Processor

GEM's newest synth, with its polished sound and presentation, could be set to dispel the company's homely image. Martin Russ discovers the multi-faceted GEM S2.

Korg i3 Interactive Music Workstation

When is a home keyboard not a home keyboard? When it's Korg's new interactive music workstation.

RCM Synthesizer

The DX7 captured musicians’ imaginations like no other synthesizer before or since. But the legacy of releasing endless variations on the DX theme has turned some musicians away from FM synthesis and into the waiting arms of a new generation of 'sample plus synth' keyboards. Now Yamaha are back with a vengeance, an even more powerful method of synthesis (Real-time Convolution and Modulation), and a spanking new flagship synth. But has the SY77 got what it takes to regain the hi-tech musician's vote? Martin Russ finds out.

The Beautiful People: If 60s Were 90s...

Sneak glimpse of some of the goodies on display at the most important instrument exhibition of the year

One of the most successful, certainly the most consistent, of Britain's electronic musicians, Gary Numan has succeeded in taking his eclectic and compelling music into the mass market. Gary talks of his songwriting and recording techniques, his past career, and what he plans for the future

Martin Russ reflects on a cult phenomenon: Kawai’s K5 additive synthesizer.

Steve Reich & Beryl Korot's The Cave