October 1995 Magazine Contents

Until now, musicians wanting to add that distinctive valve sound to their recordings have had to beg, borrow, or steal to do it. At a mere £149, ART's new tube mic preamp looks set to change all that. Paul White checks it out.

The trouble with sequels is that they're not usually as good as the originals. Is the follow-up to Digitech's powerful TSR24 the exception to the rule? Derek Johnson and Debbie Poyser find out.

Paul White checks out the new features in this latest update to Emagic's MIDI recording environment.

Andy Davies casts his eyes, and fingers, over Fatar's latest low-cost master keyboards.

Paul White provides a sneak preview of the world's first truly portable 8-track digital multitracker for musicians.

Paul White turns his critical ear to three Groove Tubes valve mics, and concludes that they are more likely to tell you what you want to hear than the unbridged truth.

It's not a new synth — it's seven! Korg's amazing new Prophecy offers analogue and FM synthesis, and physical modelling, and still costs under £1000. Unsurprisingly, SOS staff have been dying to review one ever since it was unveiled at this year's Frankfurt Musik Messe. Lucky man Gordon Reid won the toss...

Offering evolution not revolution, the feature-laden K2500R packs one heck of a sonic punch. Paul Ward remains impressed...

Paul White discovers that doubling the input capacity of a Mackie LM3204 is as simple as plugging in a single ribbon cable — and signing a cheque!

Panicos Georghiades and Gabriel Jacobs put Steinberg's new budget 'MIDI-plus-audio' sequencer for Windows through its paces.

Norman Fay takes a relro look at the Rhodes Chroma, the last and most obscure of ARP's long line of analogue synthesizers.

Paul White bolts Roland's new range of synth expander modules into his rack, seats himself in the comfy chair, then switches it on.

Team SOS checks out an advanced damping polymer from Spectra Dynamics in Wales.

Once again, Paul White disrupts his studio listening system, this time to audition Tannoy's diminutive PBM5 IIs.

Team SOS test a practice amp from Washburn.

Power amps may not be as exciting as synths, but they can make a big difference to your sound. Paul White checks out Yamaha's latest power tool.

Brian Heywood hails the arrival of Windows 95, and passes on some hints for getting digital sound out of your AWE32 soundcard.

Ofir Gal jumps into Vic Lennard's shoes to discuss the state of the Atari today...

Do your recordings sound like they've been made through a white noise generator? Well, don't just blame the vintage synth or battered effects unit — it could be your gain structure that's at fault. Paul White offers some tips on getting it right...

Paul Overaa brings you the latest Amiga news, discovers how to improve his built-in speaker sound quality, and discovers the meaning of giftware...

Martin Russ explains how he discovered the curious truth behind Apple hardware supply, and explains the meaning of 'Spanning'...

Simon Millward continues his fundamental guide to Steinberg's flagship MIDI recording software package.

Paul Farrer looks at ways of using Proteus 2 samples to create a convincing orchestral arrangement.

What are MIDI messages and what do they do?

Paul White examines the role of the keyboard submixer in the MIDI/tape recording studio.

If anyone epitomises the home recording DIY ethic, it's Bill Nelson. With over 40 albums to his credit, many of which emanated from his modest home studio, Bill continues to experiment. Nigel Humberstone explores his latest guitar-based creations.

Paul White trips off to California to discover the inside track on sampling, resynthesis, Darwin, and the future power generation of musical instruments from industry pioneers, Emu Systems.

Thanks to MIDI, modern musicians can achieve effects that would have seemed nothing short of magical only a few years ago — but it can still seem like mumbo jumbo to the uninitiated. Regular SOS contributor Paul Ward believes it could be so different with just a little standardisation.

A lavish production well ahead of its time, 'Bohemian Rhapsody' remains one of British rock's finest moments. Twenty years after its original release, Mark Cunningham learns how the mercurial muse was committed to tape from its producer, Roy Thomas Baker, and (then assistant) mix engineer, Gary Langan.

We think nothing of using computers to help us create music via the wonders of MIDI — so why not use the computer to generate the actual sounds, and take entire synthesis systems into the realm of computer software? Paul D. Lehrman puts the case for and against this move and talks to some software synth developers.

Spain's annual Sonar festival, held this June in Barcelona, is one of a growing number of European events devoted to electronic music of all types. Derek Johnson and Debbie Poyser were in attendance.