SOUND ON SOUND
The XV88 is the first of Roland's new XV range of synths to sport a keyboard, and also adds all manner of real-time control facilities. Gordon Reid checks it out with two of the new SRX-format sound expansion boards.
If you're after a great rhythm section, these days it's very easy to whip up a great groove from a MIDI file disk. But an inside knowledge of how and why drum patterns work can help make you a better musician and get your rhythm section really working.
Roland's Jupiter family yielded one or two shining examples of what an analogue polysynth should be.
Hot on the heels of Fostex's DMT8 Roland's new VS880 offers another take on the affordable digital multitracker concept. But as Paul White discovers, beneath the apparent similarities lie significant differences...
Paul White goes beyond the final frontier with Roland's latest 3D sound processor.
Michael Anthony takes us back to the mid-eighties, when MIDI was in pre-school playgroup, and manufacturers built synths that couldn't decide if they were analogue, digital, or both...
Vocoders aren't just about tiny robot voices from awful '70s records — some could generate lush choir sounds and opulent strings too.
Everyone is looking for that elusive extra dimension to their mix, and Roland's latest unit claims to deliver it right out of the box. Dave Lockwood assesses dimensional expansion for himself.
Don Lewis toured with the Beach Boys, as well as played studio sessions for Quincy Jones and Michael Jackson. He's now the focus of a documentary film by Ned Augustenborg.
Affordable new V-Drum kit offers mesh heads and comes with TD-07 MIDI-compatible sound module.
