October 1994 Magazine Contents

The MPC3000's dedicated sequencing and drum sampling control surface aims to tempt high-level musicians away from their computers with its luxurious hardware approach. David Mellor puts in a hard day's night and gives it the thumbs up.

Paul White finally gets his hands on the long-awaited big brother to the Alesis Quadraverb and Quadraverb+.

Derek Johnson investigates an affordable MIDI exapnder for the Atari ST.

Dynacord products have a quiet reputation for quality amongst those in the know, but are often overlooked in a market dominated by the big guns in effects. Nick Magnus thinks the DRP5, offering high-quality reverb at an affordable price, might be about to change all that...

Mike Barnes rounds up a new wave of software and hardware support for the Emu EIIIX, which once again makes Emu samplers a serious alternative at the higher end of the sampler marketplace.

Paul White's looking at a gadget to improve impedance mismatch.

Mark of the Unicorn's Performer has been a Mac sequencing stalwart for almost as long as the Mac platform has been used by musicians. Now faced with a growing number of competitors, it's up to version 5.0 and continues to improve in presentation and functionality, according to Mike Collins.

Paul White takes the necessary Steppes to check out this innocuous looking mic and discovers a competent all-rounder.

The S760 sampler represented excellent value for money on its release back in February this year. Now it looks even more impressive, with the arrival of the OP760/1 expansion board and the v.2.12 system software. Paul Wiffen checks them out.

Behind the conventional facade of Yamaha's latest drum machine hides a section of sophisticated features — like 'human feel' groove quantisation, bass sounds and built-in digital effects. Paul Ward gets into the groove.

Though the acoustic piano isn't exactly Paul White's forte, he (fortunately) knows rather more about miking it up than about playing it...

Paul Austin brings you the future of the Amiga from the American angle, plus all the latest news from home and abroad... American Amiga Lightwave and Toaster.

In two minds about which multi-effects box to choose? Craig Anderton provides some helpful pointers on what features to look for during your next shopping spree.

Following his article on the unconventional use of signal processors as mix automation equipment in out July issue, Paul Ward takes a general look at using equipment in ways that probably never occurred to the designers...

Paul White looks at both sides of hard disk recording, and concludes that although it's generally a good thing, it isn't destined to take over the world just yet.

Martin Russ brings you the latest Apple news, starting with MOTU's new FreeStyle package.

It is not always necessary to buy the big boys' top-of-the-range, feature-packed music software. Steven Helstrip compares seven budget PC sequencers, and proves that you don't have to sacrifice reliability or user-friendliness if you're trying to save your pennies.

This month, in addition to the latest PC product news, Brian Heywood gives you a quick rundown on how to access the Internet, and looks at the current options for digital recording on the PC.

Vic Lennard investigates a rather interesting new Falcon product...

Open just about any equipment manual and you'll come across terms like input impedance, output impedance, impedance matching and so on — but what do they all mean, and does it matter anyway?

Fluke got their first low-key press attention in the late '80s for their innovative dance-based sound and inteligent, musicianly approach. Now they're gaining a higher profile for their varied remix work. Nigel Humberstone talks to the trio.

There are very few people who can make a living doing a job they really enjoy. Producer John Leckie feels he is one of the lucky ones — and that's why it irritates him when people he works with in the studio don't realise how lucky they are. He explains why he thinks that artists, engineers and producers should all count their blessings...

Jon Anderson discusses the recording of the Yes singer's forthcoming solo album, an intriguing mix of old and new material presented in a classical style, plus his latest venture with Yes.

Where can you go to mess about on a Mini Moog, do battle with a Bulcha, operate an Odyssey, programme a PolyVoks or make friends with a modular? The Museum of Synthesizer Technology has all this and much more, and was recently opened by none other than Bob Moog at a star-studded ceremony. Julian Colbeck reports.

Seattle is known to many of us as the Grunge music capital of the world. If Mackie Designs have their way, it could also become known as the mixer capital of the world. Paul White went on a tour of Mackie's factory for the inside story on the company's history and product line.