
Yamaha CS1X
True, the name harks back to the CS-series synths of the '70s and '80s, but with their new CS1x, Yamaha definitely have their eyes set on the future. Critics Derek Johnson and Debbie Poyser analyse Yamaha's blue period...
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True, the name harks back to the CS-series synths of the '70s and '80s, but with their new CS1x, Yamaha definitely have their eyes set on the future. Critics Derek Johnson and Debbie Poyser analyse Yamaha's blue period...

After 'QuickTime and OMS with everything' last month, Martin Russ seeks an alternative view of MIDI on the Mac.

Physical modelling may be fashionable, but it isn't always very controllable. AAS aim to change all that for PC owners, by equipping their Tassman software synth with an easy-to-use front end. Martin Walker enters a new world of generators and resonators.

Nigel Shaw isn't signed to a record company, yet sales from the multiple albums he's produced in his home studio enable him to make a good living from his talents. Paul Tingen talks to him about the business of independent music

Ensoniq were as the forefront of workstation and sampling technology in the '80s, but their recent synth offerings have not kept up with the fashion for controller-festooned techno boxes. The Fizmo, however, updates their take on wavetable synthesis with extensive real-time control.

Software samplers are revolutionising studio recording, but can they replace their hardware counterparts in live performance? Jazz keyboardist Django Bates is in the process of finding out...

What would modern popular music be like without effects? Can you imagine rock without distortion? Ambient techno without delays? New age without reverb? Effects are second only in importance to the instrument needed to produce the music in the first place. Over the next nine pages, Derek Johnson and Debbie Poyser present their guide to what's on the effects market today...

Mike Collins gets to grips with GRM Tools and compares it to the latest incarnation of HyperPrism.

It's not a new synth — it's seven! Korg's amazing new Prophecy offers analogue and FM synthesis, and physical modelling, and still costs under £1000. Unsurprisingly, SOS staff have been dying to review one ever since it was unveiled at this year's Frankfurt Musik Messe. Lucky man Gordon Reid won the toss...

Digital delay tends to be taken very much for granted, but the majority of today's studio effects would be impossible without it. Paul White describes how to set up your own DDL effects from scratch.

Roland have finally released the rackmounting version of their much-vaunted JP8000. And what is this? A mic input? Paul Ward adopts his best Kraftwerk pose for a spot of modern nostalgia.

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.

Arboretum's latest Hyperprism suite of effects and processors offer no less than 29 modules, at an average price of less than £10 each. Janet Harniman-Cook gets plugged in.

A synth company that produced as many classic and well-loved instruments as did Moog Music is surely allowed the odd turkey! Gordon Reid waxes critical over one of them.

If you like your music production tools hip, knob-laden and all in one box, you're probably drooling over the MC505. Derek Johnson gets into the groove.

Within just a few years, the Mackie brand has come from almost nowhere to a prominent position in the project studio mixer market. Now the company are looking to the future and deciding where they can next apply the Mackie philosophy. Paul White takes a busman's holiday to Seattle and looks behind the scenes in R&D.

In a packed column this month, Martin Russ looks at MIDI machine control, FreeMIDI, the Mac serial port, and even manages to mention the latest Apple news. He kicks off with a look at Performer 5.0.

The ball of S&S synthesis had been thrown, and most of the big names in synthesis caught it and ran with it, scoring some notable goals in the process. Paul Wiffen continues his chronicle of modern synthesis with a look at the state of play from the late '80s to the present day.

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.

In an age of ever‑growing polyphony, Studio Electronics, best known for their vintage synth rebuilds, have returned to first principles — to create the first analogue monosynth for almost a decade. So how does this MIDI‑equipped modern classic measure up to its vintage forbears?