Stealing a bit of someone else's playing is the way to swing a dance record. But rather than just lifting a drum loop, wouldn't it be nice if you could invite the drummer to play directly into your sequencer? Well, maybe you can. Wilf Smarties explains how.

New products from the States

Atari ST Software

Combining four Dr T's programs, Omega brings together scorewriting, sequencing and powerful editing facilities on the Atari ST. Ian Waugh reckons it's Christmas.

cheap SMPTE coding

Paul Ireson beats a path to the door of Roland's new flagship drumbox and finds a groovy kind of love.

Multiverb II Multiverb EXT

Dave Lockwood casts his eye over this brace of MIDI controllable multi-effects processors from ART.

Beyond the Groove

Turtle Beach QuadStudio

Digital four-track for PC

We look at internal sampling packages for all the top micros in this definitive round up

TLO Records recently released a single by Bonaventura in the form of a four track Portastudio-compatible cassette that you can mix yourself. Could it be a new trend for the future?

interacting with the future

The automation of creation

The ability to load new samples whilst playing is only one of many performance-related features which make the 20-voice EPS stand out from the current crowd of sampling keyboards. Craig Anderton reveals the others...

UMI 2B Software

The 1B version was good, but Simon Trask has spent a month with its successor, and reckons it deserves its reputation as the most professional sequencing package designed round a home computer.

Software for the Atari ST

This new Atari ST sequencing software package from America combines affordability with flexibility. Simon Trask applies the soft touch.

Where everything clicks

Your questions answered

David Hughes lends an ear to three well-priced CDs full of synthesizer and drum machine samples.

Performance Sampler

It's been a while in the pipeline but Ensoniq's successor to their popular Mirage sampler is up and running. Simon Trask checks out the latest "peoples' sampler".

Tascam Porta Two

This month's cover feature, the brand new Tascam Porta 2. Bristling with features, this 6-channel, 4-track portable studio still falls within an attractive price bracket.

Digital Soup Editing Software For The PC

It's very cheap and immensely powerful. Read our review to find out more...

Hybrid Arts budget package that thinks big as John Renwick discovers

So you wanna record an album? Anyone with a DAT recorder can make what they think is a usable master tape, but it takes a little know-how to do it properly. Mastering engineers Mike Brown and Martin Giles of CTS Studios explain what goes into preparing master tapes for tape, record and CD duplication.

Quantisation: the sequencer's revenge on the trained musician. Vic Lennard looks at this much-used but little-understood feature and finds that it has feelings, too.

Digital Drum Machine and Keyboard Recorder

The people who introduced the world to the concept of digital drums have now applied their expertise to MIDI keyboard recording. Paul Wiffen gives his verdict.