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Do you have a guitar, an interest in songwriting and a modest equipment budget? Read on, and David Mellor will tell you why this backing band in a plastic box could be just what you need.

Have Roland finally come up with a more affordable MIDI guitar for the masses? Paul White obviously thinks so.

Martin Russ looks at the long-awaited new keyboard from Alesis and finds that it takes an alternative approach to just about everything...

Drawmer's new dual-channel tube equaliser combines traditional parametric EQ with Drawmer's own high and low-pass filters to create a highly flexible, classic-sounding EQ. Paul White takes it into the studio.

Based on the popular 9030, the Zoom 9050S offers combinations of up to eight simultaneous effects from a repertoire of 55 effect types. Paul White investigates the need for speed.

Steinberg's Time Bandit is a Mac software package for processing Sound Designer II files off-line, using sophisticated time stretch and pitch shift algorithms. Long-time Sound Designer II user Paul White couldn't wait to get it home...

Nick Magnus takes a look at the digital incarnation of Dynacord's popular CLS 222 Leslie Simulator.

This month, Derek Johnson investigates the GT Pro MIDI studio workstation stand from Cambridge Innovation Systems.

Some ingenious filtering and noise reduction possibilities combine with four channels of frequency-conscious noise gating to make this new studio processor more than meets the eye. Paul White investigates.

What can Sony's new effects processor offer that its competitors don't already have? Paul White took the new Sony HR-MP5 into his studio to find out.

Sixteen-part multitimbrality, 32-note polyphony and a respectable set of GM-mapped Tones join some usable and fun auto-accompaniment, and an absurdly low price tag, in a 'home' keyboard that deserves some attention from the studio musician. Julian Colbeck just wants to have fun...

This inexpensive program lets you add the advantages of pattern-based drum programming to your setup, without abanoning your full-blown sequencer. Brian Heywood gives it a battering...

Hands On Development came into the field of MIDI-controlled lighting very early, with their sophisticated Limetime controller. Now the Starlite offers even the most fiscally challenged the opportunity to add another dimension to a live performance. Martin Russ seeks enlightenment.

For around the same cost of the equivalent individual pedals, you could buy this intergrated, programmable effects pedal system, which includes an amp simulator for direct recording. Paul White checks it out.

Manufactured in Russia under the auspices of the state plan for 'work creation regardless of demand', the MK219 cardioid microphone is styled with all the panache of an Aeroflot tea trolley — but plug it in and you hear quite a different story, as Paul White discovers...

Soundcraft's new mixer attempts to combine budget pricing with a level of performance capable of doing justice to the new breed of digital multitrack machines. Paul White finds out how well it succeeds.

Owners of Sound Tools II digital editing systems can now have access to sophisticated techniques for reducing noise on recordings - thanks to the DINR intelligent Noise Reduction software. Paul White loads it up and looks for a quiet life...

This month, Paul White checks out the 4th edition of Aspen Pitman's (Groove Tubes) popular Tube Amp Book.

The legendary Kurzweil piano sound is now available in a smaller box and with a lower price tag than ever before - though in the UK it's still significantly more expensive than competing piano modules from other manufacturers. Is it worth the price premium? Derek Johnson finds out.

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.