I've recently bought a Sequential Circuits Prophet 600 synth. Unfortunately, it came without a manual, and I have no idea how to select a MIDI channel: can anybody there help me out? Thanks in advance.

Steve Chesney
Manchester

Derek Johnson replies: If you have a very early Prophet 600, you won't be able to. As you may know, the Prophet 600 was the very first MIDI-equipped synth (released in 1983) and as such had a very basic MIDI spec. During its commercial life (about three years), the operating system was steadily upgraded, and the last version -- v8 -- is a great improvement. Whereas early Prophet 600s were perennially in Omni mode, and responded to data sent on all MIDI channels at once, the last OS version allowed the user to set a MIDI transmit and receive channel, and tweaked a few other things. You can find out which version of OS your machine has by opening it up (carefully!) and looking at the OS chip. If it's not v8, you'll probably want to change it. Luckily, Wine Country, the Sequential support company formed by ex-Sequential employees in 1987, can supply this chip for just $39. You can contact them direct (1572 Park Crest Court, Suite 505, San Jose, CA 95118, USA. Tel: 001 408 265 2008. Fax: 001 408 266 6591. Email winecntry@aol.com), although most UK synth service specialists should be able to get it for you. Once you have v8 installed, the button-pushes you need are, I believe, as follows: Record and 8, to select MIDI Mode 3 (the Prophet 600 will now respond to just one MIDI channel); Record and 9, to display MIDI channel; and Record, 9 and Tune to increment the MIDI channel.

Incidentally, I found a mine of Prophet 600 (and general Sequential) information on the Internet. Apart from Wine Country's own web page (http://www.winecountrysequential.com), there's the Note One page (http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/2163/sc.html), which is dedicated to providing loads of info about Sequential's SixTrak, Maxx and Prophet 600. Between the two pages, you should find plenty of jumping-off points to other pages and discussion groups, as well as spares and sounds for Sequential products.

Paul D Lehrman, in last month's article about his technological tribute to Frank Zappa, mentioned that he used Casio's DH100 MIDI Horn as a controller during the gig. Although this instrument has been long discontinued, Paul said that he'd picked his up at reasonable cost from a company in Wisconsin. Any idea who this company is, and how I can get in touch with them?

John Claydon
Tunbridge Wells

Matt Bell & Derek Johnson reply: The company you're looking for is Consumer Electronics Corporation, and you can contact them at 12425 Knoll Road, Elm Grove, WI 53122, USA (Tel: 001 414 784 9001. Fax: 001 414 784 9066). They have what appears to be the last stocks of brand-new DH100s on the planet, and will happily sell you one for US$149.95, plus shipping costs. If you want some background on the DH100, check out the SOS review back in October 1988.

I was wondering if you know what happened to Intermanual Rescue? You featured the company back in May 1995, when they were handling the auctioning of loads of Keith Emerson's old gear, but I haven't been able to contact them recently.

P Jeffrey
Brighouse

Derek Johnson replies: We also thought the company had gone rather quiet, so we dug around, and discovered that IMR's Chris Newman was actually taken suddenly and seriously ill a year or so ago. Needless to say, this put rather a damper on his business, and Chris needed to take some time off for treatment and recovery. We hear, fortunately, that the prognosis is good, and that IMR is slowly getting back into action. In fact, Chris plans to run another auction in the near future, offering a range of classic and artist-related gear. Of course, IMR can still supply vintage synth manuals (the list continues to grow) and spare parts, not to mention offering sales and support of vintage synths and other equipment. Contact them at Millcroft Farm, Undley Road, Lakenheath, Suffolk IP27 8BY. Tel (from September): 01842 862620 (pager 01426 245994). Fax: 01842 862620. Email Click here to email.

I have two problems concerning some gear that was reviewed in your magazine. I bought these products on the strength of your reviews and am generally very happy with them. Thanks for doing a good and thorough job!

Firstly, I use a Joemeek VC3 preamp for recording vocals and acoustic instruments on my Tascam DA38, bypassing the desk. When I'm using dynamic mics or an AKG 414, all works perfectly well, although the VC3's output level is a bit on the low side (the output control is on full). Nevertheless, it sounds very good. When using my Neumann U87, however, there is hardly any output at all, and what little I hear is distorted. Plugged into the desk, the U87 works fine, and when the VC3 is inserted into the signal path there are no problems. Could this be a phantom power-related thing? As far as I know, 414s work on less than 48V and Neumanns don't. Perhaps the unit doesn't produce the full 48 volts for some reason?

Andy
via email

Paul White & Derek Johnson reply: The low gain when recording onto a DA38 is probably due to the fact that most digital recorders register around -12 to 14dB on the PPMs when the incoming signal is +4dBu. This is designed to allow you to use some of the headroom in your desk, but it can also make level-matching difficult on occasions, so I don't think we've heard the last of this one. The Neumann problem sounds phantom power-related, and could be either a voltage or a current problem. Sound Valley, the distributor for Joemeek products, note that the VC3 is definitely capable of providing 48V phantom power, and has worked successfully with strange Russion mics that need up to 60V. They suggest that you double-check the wiring on your U87 (wiring instructions are in the mic's manual), and also make sure that the VC3's phantom power switch is actually on. If your VC3 continues to cause problems, Sound Valley would be glad to hear from you (01494 434738): if there is a fault, they can offer a very fast repair service.

We were pleased to read Hugh Robjohns' comments in his review of the Amek 9098 Dual Mic Amp (in the July '97 issue of SOS). Hugh's comments about the benefits of placing high-pass filters in the 'S' path is absolutely valid, and the unit is designed to allow this and to fully exploit the flexibility of M-S signals. We will elaborate slightly on this in the next edition of the User Guide, though five pages of the manual are already devoted to a background to general M-S principles, without any direct reference to the product.

A product user guide needs to focus on how to use the controls of the product and can only give a limited amount of broader training in audio techniques. The Amek web site (http://www.amek./com) contains technical background pages which cover many audio engineering topics, including M-S signals and image width manipulation. Paper printouts of these pages are also available free of charge (though an SAE saves us a lot of admin!), as they are of use as general, non-Amek-specific, audio training material.

Peter M Harrison
Director of Engineering
Amek

With reference to Hugh Robjohns' review of the CLM DB400 in August's issue of SOS, we'd like to let you know that we've taken some of his comments on board. For example, we're changing the mains switch to a rocker switch, so it won't jam; we've altered the Mid and Side output function, as recommended in the review; and we've corrected the 'Insert 2' screen print error on the rear panel.

Grant McDonald
CLM Dynamics

I'm in the process of saving for a sampler, and Emu's ESI32 is currently my number one choice for memory and price. I'd like to know if Sound On Sound have ever reviewed this sampler, and how I can get hold of the back issue. I hope you can help.

Stuart Smith
Walsall

Derek Johnson replies: The simple answer to your question is January 1995, and the back issue would cost £2.95 plus £1.25 postage, but check with our mail order department for availability and price on this and any other back issues. If an article you require appears in an out-of-print back issue, photcopies of individual articles are available at £1.50 each. As you have this issue in your hand, you may well have noticed that we're running a bit of a sampler special: not only are there several features on using samplers and sample CDs, there's also a sampler buyers' guide with comprehensive spec for all currently available models -- it sounds as though you've made up your mind, but you can never have too much information! Incidentally, I had a quick glance through several dealer ads over the last month or two and found some rather good offers on the ESI32. Good luck!

Following the article in June's Sound On Sound discussing the use of external MIDI controllers, I'm looking for a way to add pitch-bend and modulation controllers to my current PC sequencer setup. Apart from the PC (running Steinberg Cubasis Audio), I have a Korg Concert 3500 piano and Korg 05R/W. Neither Korg device has controller input sockets and the Concert 3500 lacks pitch-bend and mod wheels.

Brendan Kirby
Chertsey

Derek Johnson replies: Unfortunately, the ideal solution to your problem is no longer manufactured: Yamaha's MCS2 MIDI Control Station provided exactly the features you're after, plus a load more, in a convenient, compact keyboard-top package. Apart from the wheels you need, the MCS2 also offered a collection of switches (for sending program changes), two sliders (labelled Controller and Parameter), a breath controller input and two footpedal and two footswitch inputs. Although MCS2s don't turn up very often, expect to pay something in the vicinity of £100 if you see one.

Incidentally, the MCS2 isn't the sort of product you'd normally expect people to get intense about, but a quick look on the web turned up a couple of interesting things. First of all, John Hollis (writer of the Trackman sequencer for the Atari platform) found that his MCS2 was a little lacking in the assignable controllers department -- the unit is 11 years old, after all. Reasoning that it was likely to be a shortcoming of the software, John took the back off and discovered that he could solve the problem quite simply. After an unofficial tweak of the machine's code, it was working perfectly, with access to a full range of MIDI controllers. Before you visit John's site (http://www.hollis.co.uk/john/mcs2.html), download his unofficial code, make the modifications and install the software suggested, be warned that you are taking your MCS2 into your own hands. Be very sure that you know what you are doing, or seek professional help. John and SOS can't be held accountable for the results.

The other MCS2 info we found is located on a number of sites (we got it from http://www.cs.ruu.nl/pub/MIDI/DOC/Yamaha-MCS2-bugfix), and offers one Robin Whittle's fix for a breath controller bug on the MCS2. Apparently, the breath controller on some MCS2s doesn't always output the full value range of 0-127. The solution involves swapping around two legs of one transistor; the instructions are pretty clear, with plenty of background about why you'll be doing what you're doing, and how to do it, but once again, if you search out this bug-fix file, it's your problem if anything goes wrong -- be careful! We provide these contacts as general information, not recommendation.

The current market doesn't really offer an equivalent, although any hardware offering controls that transmit MIDI data would work. Units such as Peavey's PC1600 might be over-powered for your particular task. A lateral, and perhaps slightly inelegant, solution might be to use a floor-mounted MIDI controller designed to help guitarists control their effects units. These often have a built-in variable foot controller, and usually a few extra continuous controller inputs for adding your own pedals -- ART's X15 MIDI Master Control and X15 Ultrafoot (Key Audio, 01245 344001) are typical examples. Finally, a really simple answer would be to buy a cheap synth (which would give you more sounds) or a compact desktop music controller keyboard, such as Roland's PC200 MkII or Yamaha's CBX-K1, and patch them into your system.

As a user of manuals for hardware, software, and audio gear, I can sympathise with Godric Wilkie's manual plight (SOS Sounding Off May 1997). It is indeed ironic that, in these days of the Internet, Windows 95, and powerful yet inexpensive writing tools, many companies still cannot communicate their ideas effectively. As a technical writer working hard for better user manuals, I'd like to ask Godric and SOS readers to complete a user manual survey (at http://www.infopage.net/surveys.html). My hope is that their comments will help us writers improve our user manuals, and put an end to the kind of hassles experienced by Godric and, no doubt, many others.

Paul Findon
Hamamatsu
Japan