January 1996 Magazine Contents

ADAT is dead, long live the ADAT XT. Paul White reports on the rebirth of a classic.

With new sounds, a new operating system and a lower price, the QS6 looks set to attract its fair share of admirers. Rob Brady tickles the ivories...

Can these two low-cost back-electret mics really deliver studio-quality performance? Paul White finds out.

Having led the way in the '80s sampling revolution, Emu have turned their attention to the '90s discipline of hard disk recording with the Darwin digital recorder. Paul Ward checks out the new species on the block...

Where equalisers are concerned, quality is more important than quantity, but does this Swiss-made equaliser justify its hefty price tag? Paul White finds out.

Part 2: Gordon Reid concludes his review of Korg's new family of workstations.

This unconventional sequencer program aims to let musicians work like musicians rather than computer programmers, and has already met with an enthusiastic response in its original Mac version. Paul Nagle hand-picks his virtual musicians and gets jamming.

When Paul White heard that Rogers had built the LS1 low-cost monitors for home studio use, he was keen to try them out. But could they deliver Rogers' quality at such a low price?

There's more to building a serious mic front end than putting a standard circuit in a flashy box. Fortunately, SPL's circuit design is even more impressive than their custom anodised front panels, as Paul White discovers.

Drawing on their experience of home keyboard and MIDI data filer manufacture, Italian company Viscount have created the MF01, a combined data filer and GM module. Andy Davies gives it a spin...

Some synth manufacturers seem to be hedging their bets lately, building home keyboard auto-accompaniment features into seemingly serious synths, to appeal to both types of keyboard buyer. Will the strategy pay off for Yamaha's QS300? Derek Johnson finds out in style...

Buying your first synthesizer can expose you to apparently meaningless technical specifications, conflicting advice, and overwhelming technical jargon. Confused? You won't be, after reading Derek Johnson & Debbie Poyser's plain English guide to making the right choices.

Martin Russ continues his look at computer busses and reports back from the recent Apple Expo show.

There's more to gating than just getting rid of unwanted noise: the humble noise gate is capable of truly creative studio trickery. David Mellor reveals some of the unusual uses for your Drawmer DS201, but if you don't own a DS201, don't despair: these tips can be adapted for most good quality gates.

Paul Overaa offers beginners some basic advice on using MIDI live.

Following the demise of the Windows MIDI Mapper under Windows '95, Brian Heywood considers ways of setting up alternative MIDI patch maps on your PC, and looks back on his personal favourite products of 1995...

Having come a long way from its humble beginnings in the early n-n-n-n-nineteen eighties, sampling is now an integral part of music making. Paul White explains what samplers do and how they can be used.

A true understanding of any piece of studio gear only comes after using it for months, or even years. 1995's Reader Survey suggested that more features would be welcome from people with such 'Long-term' gear experiences, so, in the first part of this occasional series, Janet Harniman-Cook reveals the truth about her PC sequencing and digital recording setup.

Paul Overaa goes behind the scenes at Tangent Music and discovers a rather unusual Amiga connection...

Noise reduction comes in various guises, with Dolby alone offering five different systems. Paul White explains the difference between Dolby, dbx and a bag on your head...

The information superhighway, the 'Net, you name it, the hype just goes on and on... Ofir Gal finds out how music-making Atari users can join in the fast lane.

SOS reader Eugene Romain frankly faces up to the embarrassing problem of gear lust, and asks: do we really need the next 'big thing'?

A record producer's career is seen as glamourous and exciting, but what does the job actually entail? Over the next few months, David Mellor will be talking to top producers about the whole process, from initial concept to final pay cheque. This month he looks at the different types of record producer in the music business.

During a fleeting visit to SOS headquarters, Paul White managed to soften up DOD/Digitech's Product Development Manager, Randy Thorderson, with a tasty curry before pumping him for info about products and future developments.

Over three years, Towering Inferno (led by core duo Andy Sanders and Richard Wolfson) engaged the services of over 50 performers to produce their self-financed opus Kaddish — described by Brian Eno as " the most frightening record i have ever heard!" peter jones charts the development of this ambitious project.

London's famous Turnkey music store was recently completely redesigned to offer instant hands-on access to virtually every major product in stock. SOS checked out the new facilities.

Mark J. Prendergast catches up with ace remixer/musician William Orbit to learn of his newfound passion for classical music.