is video nasty?

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.

Rocktron HUSH Intelligent Sound Processor

Paul White opts for the quiet life with this effective cure for hiss — and there's even an enhancer and compressor thrown in for good measure.

The man behind Clapton, guitarist supreme Albert Lee talks guitars and playing with Max Kay.

Key Expander/SMPTE Synchroniser

Integration is the name of the game with Steinberg's Midex - a single unit combining a software key expander and a SMPTE synchroniser for the Atari ST. Nigel Lord even likes the colour.

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.

With The Housemartins

What a nice, ordinary, loveable bunch of geezers they are, Paul Trynka declares

David Ellis begins a two-part excursion into the E&MM archives to discover a myriad of bizarre musical instruments that somehow never quite made the big time. How many of them can you remember?

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.

In 1984, The Blue Nile released an album widely hailed as the finest debut LP of recent years. After five years of silence, they've produced another masterpiece in Hats. Paul Ireson talks to the men behind two of the decade's finest records.

Studio Focus

Deep Studio

A look at Deep Studio - set up with the help of the Manpower Services Commission.

How Good Are They?

Over the next two issues Graham Hinton tests five mixer automation systems which all provide control of audio signal level by means of Voltage Controlled Amplifiers (VCAs) and are accessible to some degree by MIDI. This month it's the turn of the Akai MPX820 and Simmons SPM8:2.

Don Goldstein talks to American composer Harold Budd about his past collaborations with such luminaries as Brian Eno and Michael Nyman and, more recently, the Cocteau Twins.

A personal look at one of the few modular synths available by Ian Boddy who examines, in depth, the systems capabilities.

People, Gear, Events, Gossip

happening people, gear, events, gossip

Voyetra Audio View

PC sample editor

Sample Editing Via Midi

Why is it there are so many computer-based sample editing packages being released? Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that they make working with a sampler considerably easier. Jay Chapman ponders their worth.

Arrested whilst gigging with a bunch of jazz musicians in Paris, Sting talks to Paul Tingen about his new album, the inadequacies of high technology, and the future of The Police.

Thoughts on MIDI's Next Decade

The Mellotron: A Historical Perspective

British Music Fair Show Report

This year's British Music Fair attracted hordes of equipment-hungry punters eager to see what the future of music might hold. Simon Trask was there asking the same question.