ELECTRONICS- MUSIC- HOME RECORDING August 1984 BILL NELSON REMOTELY MIDI. JHRT he video revolution is making a dramatic impact on T the way the music industry looks at its own product. Careers come to life overnight in the eye of a camera. In an Industry Artists who’ve tried to get their tapes heard for years, are suddenly gaining long-deserved visibility. If locking into video is your next step, TASCAM Where Out of Sight advanced audio systems can move your music right into the picture. Our recorder/reproducers give you the Can Put You solid quality and innovative functions you demand as a professional, syncing you to the limitless possibilities of video. Our mixers put you in total control of the creative Out of Mind, process, with engineering depth and operational ease. For mixing, our M-520 places a full range of artistic choices at your command, with 20 balanced input channels, Tascam Gives Your 8 print busses and 16 tape returns, effects busses, an independent 16-input monitoring section, and much more. For recording/reproducing, our 58 is the industry’s first Music V2” 8-track with all the technological sophistication of a 1” machine, but at far less cost. Its unique “Omega Drive” Video Visibility. assures exacting tape to head contact and smooth tape handling - entirely eliminating tape stretch or bounce. And microprocessor 3-motor servo control significantly speeds up your recording and editing, taking you quickly and accurately to your mark without stalking and stuttering through time code. And if your budget is a bit more restrictive, take a close look at our hard-working 48, boasting most of the 58’s comprehensive features. When it’s time to master your mix into mono plus code, our 42 delivers exceptional precision. And our 44B is the perfect stereo plus code post production tool. In an industry where seeing has become believing, TASCAM lets you put your music’s best image forward. See your TASCAM dealer for full details or write TASCAM, TEAC Professional Division, 7733 Telegraph Road, Montebello, CA 90640, (213)726-0303. Copyright 1984-TEAC Corporation of America Put your music in the video scene, with TA SCA M ’s full line of SMPTE-compatible audio equipment. STAFF -------CONTENTS PUBLISHER ISSN: 0163-4534 John S. Simonton, Jr. EDITOR ------------ F o S y p h o i ^ ^ Craig Anderton VOLUME 9, NUMBER 5 EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Vanessa Else AUGUST, 1984 MANAGING EDITOR Linda Kay Brumfield PRODUCTION MANAGER TECHNICAL ILLLUSTRATOR An Interview with B ill Nelson Caroline Wood By: John K. D iliberto ...................................................................... 8 CIRCULATION Ramona French Peggy Walker Electro-Harmonix Instant Replay Review BOOKEEPING By: Chuck P o g an ......................................................................................34 Cathi Boggs PRINT PRODUCTION Remotely MIDI, Part II Phuong Nguyen By: Kirk Austin ......................................................................................24 SEMCO Color Press Summer 1984 NAMM Show Report POLYPHONY (ISSN 0163-4534) is published bimonthly at 1020 W. Wilshire Blvd., By: Craig Anderton ............................................................................12 Oklahoma City, OK 73116, by Polyphony Publishing Co. Entire contents copyright (c) 1984 by Polyphony Publishing Co. All '64 SOUNDS, Part II rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reproduced in any By: James A. Lisowski..........................................................................22 manner without written permission fr<pm the publisher. Second Class postage is paid at Oklahoma City, OK 73125. ADVERTISING rate card and deadline schedule is available upon request. Contact Linda Brumfield at (405) 842-5480. DEALERS & DISTRIBUTORS bulk prices are DATABANK .......................................................................................................... 32 available upon request. Contact Linda Brumfield at (405) 842-5480. Current Events ................................. 36 SUBSCRIPTION rates: American 1 year $12.00 2 years $22.00 Practical Circuitry: The Hi-Hat & percussive Voice Foreign 1 year $14.00 2 years $26.00 By: Thomas Henry ............................................................................16 We now accept MasterCharge and Visa payment for subscriptions, back issues, and PolyMart items. Foreign payments Re-View must be by charge card, money order, or certified check in US funds drawn on a By: Robert Carlberg ...................................... 6 US bank. BACK ISSUES are available at $2.50 each ppd. Send SASE and request our 'Back Issue L ist' for a complete index of issues and their features, or see the back issue ad in this issue. CHANGE OF ADDRESS notifications must include your former address and zip code, and any numbers from the mailing label, as well as your new address. Ad I n d e x .............................................................................................................42 When you move, be sure to notify your post office that you DO want second class and controlled circulation Equipment Exchange .....................................................................................42 ublications forwarded. This w ill save Post or returned issues. Polyphony is not responsible for replacement of lost or returned issues when we have not been Letters ............................................................................................................... 4 supplied with change of address information. TO POSTMASTER, send address changes to: POLYPHONY ON THE COVER: PO Box 20305 The MIDI Remote Keyboard as interpreted in an Oklahoma City, OK 73156 Ph. (405) 842-5480 illustration by Lee Strauss. August 1984 3 When writing to change the address on your POLYPHONY subscription it is important that you enclose the mailing label. Our computer cannot locate your name on the subscription list without it. ATTACH OLD LABEL HERE \ gate input. You would then use EDITOR'S NOTE: ATTENTION the ADSR to control a VCA that EUROPEANS! inserts between the organ output NEW ADDRESS and amplifier. However, by fol­ I expect to be visiting lowing this approach you w ill only Europe in e a rly -to -m id November, be able to generate attack, decay, Name___________________________ 1984. While I'm th ere, I hope to and sustain since taking your Address_____________________ ■ visit electronically-oriented mu­ fingers off the keys initiates the City------------ State--------Zip____ ___ sicians in a number of different release function; and if your countries. I would like to hear fingers are off the keys, there's from any European readers who are no sound to release. Also, note mail to: P o l y p h o n y eager to discuss musical elec­ that the envelope will affect the PO BOX 20305 tronics, are willing to put me up overall sound, not each individual Oklahoma City,OK 73156 for a day or two, and possibly, note. could introduce me to other local electronic musicians. If you're at all interested, please write as INTERFACE BLUES, PART 2 PLUG INTO soon as possible so that I can start working on my itinerary. In the past year, I have Incidentally, I speak French and a purchased a Timex ZX81 with 16K Fofyphof^ l i t t l e b it of Spanish and German. memory, Roland Juno 6, and Boss I look forward to hearing from Dr. Rhythm. We both know th at you, and hope to see you in Novem­ these toys cannot be intercon­ ber! Thank you very much. nected...or can they, with the right modification? Can I inter­ Craig Anderton, Editor face the Dr. Rhythm to the ZX81? Can I store melodies on tape or in V_______________________________ ) the ZX81 for later playback? Can the Juno 6 accept MIDI? Can I change the Juno 6 chorus speed and INTERFACE BLUES, PART 1 make it less hissy? C. L. Jaszberenyi FOR Some time ago I purchased a Toronto, Ontario, Canada ELECTRIFYING IDEAS! voltage controlled ADSR from PAIA Electronics, and would like to use C. L. — For those questions DON’T MISS AN ISSUE it on my electronic organ. Will it accept an analog signal into relating to mods (i.e. changing SUBSCRIBE TODAY! the trigger input? chorus speed), your best bet would be to contact a Roland service Charles Schrade center that has schematics for the | ( ) One year $12 US/$14 foreign San Jose, CA equipment. Regarding in te rfa c in g (6 issues) to a computer, this is not like | ( ) Two years $22 US/$26 foreign Charles — ADSRs are general­ plugging into an amp by any means. If you intend to do any serious ly designed to accept a logic I experimentation with keyboards and "high" signal at their gate inputs |Name:_________________________ computers, both need to be de­ (i.e. a steady-state DC voltage |Address:_____________________ signed with that specific task in around +5V, or sometimes +10V). mind. Sorry to be discouraging, | City:________state:_____ zip:. Generally a trigger is derived but some things just aren't easy. I from this logic high signal by | VISA/ Mastercharge accepted. differentiating the signal through ■ Card No.___________ a capacitor/resistor combination. j Expiration date: One way to interface a gate input INTERFACE BLUES, PART 3 to the organ is to take a separate I (signature) feed from the organ audio output, I have follow ed Thomas Hen­ Mail to: rectify and filter it to convert ry's Micro-Drums articles with I POLYPHONY, P. 0. Box 20305 it to DC, then amplify it (if great interest, and have con­ structed the necessary hardware. I Oklahoma city, OK 73116 necessary) to obtain the output I, level required to drive the ADSR cont. pg. 28 Polyphony August 1984 Imagine