A new studio standard?

Buying a Secondhand Synth

know how

Last month we followed the career of Dave Meegan as he progressed from studio tape-op to full-time engineer at Trevor Horn's Sarm West Studios. This time Chris Allison discovers Dave's feelings about studio life in the fast lane.

Tony Mills thinks Neuronium's curious blend of electronics, guitar-strumming, and psychedelic art could be just the thing to break the musical jelly mould in 1985. See if you agree.

The future looks like this

Rhythmcheck

Linn take a massive leap into the future and come up with the ultimate drum machine. Bob Henrit is astounded

A long-time member of the MIDI establishment, Jeff Rona is a musician who gets more mileage out of computers than most. Scott Wilkinson listens in on Mac, PAN, digital editing and Jon Hassell's latest LP.

16-Bit Stereo Sampler

Akai's S1000 is without doubt the industry standard professional sampler, so why try and improve on the best? Paul Wiffen finds that SMPTE cue listing, AES/EBU real-time output, and built-in effects are a good start (with hard disk recording to follow).

Jim Murphy

Rural recordee in Farmhouse sex romp with raving reporter

Replacements, recommendations and quality.

As MIDI expands its influence, guidelines for improved compatibility between instruments are emerging. Vic Lennard examines the new General MIDI spec and Roland's proprietary GSS system.

Brian Wilson

Brian Wilson part one

In which five of E&MM's writers pick their fave things of the year. If your personal preferences aren't there, don't take it out on us.

Learn about Arif Mardin, Glenn Miller, Afrodiziak, DX7s, PCM70s, 9000s, and "One On One".

In the second part in our series on successful sample looping Chris Meyer concentrates on the mysteries and subtleties of crossfade looping.

Riding the ambient house wave, The Orb have released a concept album that mixes dance beats with new age textures. Tim Goodyer tunes in to Alex Paterson and Thrash as they chill out with technology.

Peavey SP Sample Playback Synthesizer

Martin Russ takes a close look at Peavey's long-awaited DPM SP dedicated sample player, and its sample input partner the DPM SX.

Take an eight-track tape deck and a 128-track MIDI sequencer and you've got the basis of 2nd Sense studio. Nicholas Rowland visits a studio taking full advantage of what modern technology has to offer.

Fostex X18 Cassette Multitracker

Following in the footsteps of Fostex's X15, their new X18 offers the cheapest and simplest entry to 4-track recording. Dave Lockwood puts it to the test.

Continuing on from last month's review of the Roland D-50 Linear Arithmetic synthesizer, Martin Russ takes a detailed look at the technical aspects of the D-50, liberally sprinkled with excerpts from a rare interview with Mr Ikutaro Kakehashi, President of the Roland Corporation.

Chris Maillard samples Dave Yorath and his extensive MIDI system

Patrick Wilson

A commercial outlook and a complex setup. We invade Patrick Wilson's home studio

And you thought PCM was a medical complaint...

Direct-to-disk recording explained

MT's guide to the theory and practice of the tapeless studio