Roland

Roland's eagerly awaited multimedia Windows sound package competes head on with the Sound Blaster Pro and Turtle Beach sound cards well known to PC musicians. Brian Heywood finds out how the newcomer measures up.

Roland's latest offering in the 16-bit sampler stakes is more compact, more expandable, and less expensive (by a fair margin) than its predecessors. But have they had to make significant omissions to achieve this? Paul Wiffen investigates.

Make your digital synth put on an analogue hat. Does the current passion for analogue mean you have to put your digital synth back in its box and track down an analogue instrument? Not if Nick Magnus has anything to do with it!

This month, Paul Wiffen looks at ways of modifying a filter's shape, both in terms of frequency response and over time, and considers the importance of routing in connecting together a synth's various sound-generating and -modifying components.

Though Korg have been making some inroads lately, notably with the Prophecy, Roland is still the name to drop in dance circles, so the announcement of a new, analogue-style Roland megasynth stirs the blood like little else.

Having looked at the various types of effects available, Paul White explains the importance of the order in which these effects are applied.

If you need an easy-to-use controller keyboard Roland's latest mid-ranger master could be the one for you. Nicholas Rowland takes a spin down the A33.

Much hard graft has been put in by electronic instrument manufacturers over the years in an attempt to transfuse the essence of the tonewheel organ into a MIDI-compatible keyboard. Nick Magnus dissects Roland's latest virtual modelling approach, and pronounces the operation a complete success.

Roalnd's D50 became the sound of the late '80s. Does it still have a place in the late '90s? Paul Ward takes a trip around LA...

Paul White tries out Roland's MBD1 Bass and Drums Sound Expansion module and discovers a wealth of really useable off-the-peg sounds.