Information Society's combination of funk, hip hop, sampling and Star Trek give them a particular perspective on modern music making. Society spokesperson: Deborah Parisi.

Software Package

JJ Jeczalik

With the title track from the film Dragnet currently on release, the Art of Noise are still newsworthy. Paul Tingen talks to JJ Jeczalik about sampling, Frankie Goes To Hollywood and court cases.

Goldsmiths' College, University of London

Goldsmiths' College in London was the first higher education institute to set up its own electronic music studio and offer a course. That was back in the late 1960s. Today, it has an even wider range of specialist courses and a much better equipped complex of studios to offer prospective students the training facilities necessary for a longterm career.

Expander modules may be the modular synths of our age, but are they as good? Steve Howell explores the Akai VX90 and provides some guidance on how it can be used with Akai's range of sampling machines.

Could you make music using only samples from natural sources? Paul Tingen talks to a band who've done just that in an attempt to draw attention to our environment.

Emulator SP12

What happens when you give a drum machine the sound-sampling capabilities of an Emulator keyboard? Little short of a miracle, according to reporters Paul Wiffen and Annabel Scott.

The art of writing music for popular television in the last few years may have been single-handedly redefined by Jan Hammer. His upbeat, rocky soundtracks to the hit TV series 'Miami Vice' (along with a few of the chart hits used in the show) have now produced two albums of instrumental music. Ed Jones finds out how they were done.

Hugh Padgham has worked with some of the best contemporary artists - The Police, Genesis, Sting, Peter Gabriel, Hall & Oates, and Phil Collins, to name but a few - and has earned his place in the recording industry history books through his sensitive, innovative, and inspired sound engineering and production work. How did he do it? Brian Jacobs finds out...

Another year, another host of hardware to look back on. We take you through the goodies and the baddies that came out during '84, just in case you missed any of them.

Computer Musician in Rock

Ian Gilby visits The Garden Studio and learns how John Foxx composed and recorded tracks from his recently released album 'In Mysterious Ways'.

As their hit single 'Perfect Beat' proves, Bronski Beat are more than capable of producing enjoyable, dynamic electronic pop. Mark Jenkins talks in depth to Bronski's Larry Steinbachek about how they encompass modern technology in their recordings and live performances.

From synth pop to sequencers and back. Two-and-a-half years since they lost graced our front cover, Paul Humphreys and Andy McCluskey tell Tim Goodyer how progress is made, as album number seven hits the streets.

Laurie Anderson, pioneer and populariser of avant-garde electronic music, and arguably the performance artist, recently brought her 'Empty Places' show to the UK. Interview by Mark J. Prendergast.

Eight-voice Polyphonic Sampling Keyboard

Paul Wiffen goes gaga over E-mu Systems' latest attempt at giving the average keyboard player complete control over the sound sampling process.

Paradise Studios

Synth players in search of Heaven need look no further than West London, where a recording studio puts the emphasis firmly on hi-tech musical equipment, but doesn't charge people the Earth to use it. Simon Trusk pays Paradise a visit.

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.

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.

Yamaha V50 Workstation

Paul Ireson explores Yamaha's latest professional keyboard, which integrates FM synthesis, a drum machine, a powerful sequencer and a multi-effects unit into a single package. Could it be FM's finest hour?

Who says multitrack hard disk recording has to cost the earth? Digidesign's Deck allows four tracks of digital audio to be played back and mixed on a Macintosh II, with full 16-bit/44.1khz digital fidelity. Paul D. Lehrman investigates.

Question: What do Phil Collins, Howard Jones, Chaka Khan and David Bowie have in common? Answer: They have all recorded with Arif Mardin, one of the world's top record producers. Robin Tolleson chats to the man himself...

Founder of Ultravox and owner of The Garden Studio, John Foxx talks about all aspects of his recording methods and highlights the technological changes that have caused him to rethink the way he composes.

Samplecell is a top-quality RAM sample playback card for the Macintosh II, and the latest addition to Digidesign's impressive range of digital audio hardware and software. Paul D. Lehrman enthuses.

BBC Radiophonic Workshop

Radiophonically speaking