Throughout the music trade calendar, there appear various dates which bear more significance than others and which provide the industry with a grand opportunity to reveal the news of their latest achievements, re-hashes or blunders, whatever the case may be. At the top of the 'be there or be square' list there is the West German 'booze up' in Frankfurt, carefully disguised as a trade fair.

This is where all manufacturers from all corners of the music trade — guitars, drums, keyboards, computers, recording, amplification, sound reinforcement, to name but a few, assemble under one roof to flaunt their wares.

However, the fervent secrecy with which manufacturers attempt to conceal their latest mini-triumphs of modern technology can prove too much for some of them, and the combination of this with a little investigative journalism can reveal the majority of answers to the questions and mysteries thrown up over the past few months.

To kick off with the news, I shall run through a selection of the manufactures in alphabetical order, giving a general picture of what will be seen over the week long festivities.

Allen and Heath of Brighton will be showing their new computer controlled CMC series of mixers with two new computer interface cartridges, the CMI 64 and the CMS 64, which enable you to connect the popular Commodore 64 to the aforementioned mixer series, extending the facilities and capacities of the CMC's internal computer. Also on hand will be the God-like Inpulse One computer, finally confirming its existence, as well as a new series of stage mixers — the SR series.

Bandive/Turnkey have a few new items to show at Frankfurt. Their extremely successful quality/budget range of Accessit effects is supplemented with a new unit called the Exciter, and the other famous Bandive unit, the Great British Spring, will also be there in its latest form aimed at professional recording applications. The third area of new developments for Bandive are in their range of Seck mixers, most notably the 16-8-2 which was primarily developed as the ultimate and cheapest for Fostex's B16. This wins my award for innovation in its novel approach to a 16 track mixer.

Casio are a company, nay an Empire, who are always good for the old leap for mankind and this year they won't disappoint us. Although their most exciting project, their equivalent to the Fairlight for under £6,000, is unlikely to be ready in time for this Frankfurt, there are, nevertheless, many new items which will be appearing: a full sized version of their digital synthesizer the CZ101, which will be called the CZ1000, a five octave, touch sensitive CZ5000 and the MX300, all of which are MIDI digital synthesizers. All of these will hopefully be present and 10 CZ101s and two CZ1000s will all be MIDI linked to a large, mystery computer referred to as 'the workstation'. Casio have more new additions to their range of home keyboards, the MT-85 Mini keyboard with ROM pack, the MT-36, MT-100 polyphonic keyboard, MT-210 stereo, CK-10 with built in AM/FM and the CK-500 with both built in radio and twin cassette recorder facilitating four track multitracking. All these are of the mini-keyboard variety and will be in the shops by early summer.

Custom Sound amplifiers will be making their presence felt with a new range of CUB combo amplifiers for guitar, bass and keyboards. As well as having a reverb/chorus and 60 watts of power to chuck out, they will also be somewhat more 'styled' than the previous Custom sound ranges. Colin Barratt is the man behind this company, and his stand will also feature the ACES range of mixing consoles, graphic equalisers, power amps etc, along with the new MultiKlone electronic drum kit.

A spectacular sight will be the ddrum. They will not only have their current range of digital drum pads augmented by 20 new sound cartridges, but they will also have an alternative system which develops into a complete live digital drum kit, with the sound modules being rack mountable and triggered from a kit featuring a very unusual 'kick' drum (see pic) yet the whole system being very versatile and powerful with superbly sampled sounds, all interchangeable from a very large selection of drum sounds and special effects.

E-Mu Systems will have their Emulator II's interface for the Macintosh ready in time for Frankfurt, and this will enable the EII to give PPG-type wavetables.

The Fairlight series III will also be present with 16 bit sampling, 16 track recording, MIDI, a hard disk in addition to the soft disk which will store 1090 of the soft disks, 50kHz sampling rate, linear encoding, three Megabytes of waveform memory allowing 30 second samples at full bandwith, or up to 64 section multi-sampling, expandable to 12 Megabytes which will allow a total full bandwidth sample time of two minutes. I think you may have got the picture on that score...

On the more conventional side of the fence, Fane will be showing their new range of drivers — the Studio series is augmented by a new 1" full-range compression driver, and the Crescendo series has been significantly up-dated with high power 5" and 8" drivers, as have the economy Classic and Specialist ranges with an 8" 50 watt driver, and two high output 12" models which aspire to duplicate "the ever popular Rock sounds of the 50's".

Fender haven't rested on their impressive laurels. As their spokesman told us, "since production has been shifted to Japan we've taken a fresh look at Fender's entire range."

At the time we went to press, news was that there's going to be a Japanese range of Fenders and Squiers, including one pickup Strats with totally new electronics; two new tremolo systems (and this from the people whose unit has set the standards for years) a bass which is a hybrid of the Precision and Jazz; new finishes; and prices are slated to be even more reasonable than before. Gibson have been keeping a rather low profile — perhaps these staunch stalwarts of the guitar industry know how to keep secrets, we'll soon find out.

One person who spilt the beans in time was James How, who will be showing his new range of Superwound Starfire range of strings. These are all nickel wound and unlike most Superwound strings they have extra wrappings over the bridge, and these are going to be available for guitar in 31 individual gauges (the basis of three sets) and for bassists in Medium Light, Medium and Standard gauges.

Kurzweil hope to grace Frankfurt with their presence, and as with the Emulator II, the Kurzweil 250 will now be able to interface with the Macintosh computer which will make sampling possible.

Another high, high tech manufacturer from the US is Linn. Yes, the very same Linn of revolutionising-the-music-of-today fame, will have their latest creation for all to wonder at — namely the Linn 9000. Anything that a drum machine could conceivably do, it does, and I shall list a selection — samples sounds, dynamic instrument buttons, built in 32 track MIDI sequencer, built in Macintosh disk drive, reads and generates SMPTE, libraries of new sounds can be swiftly and simply loaded into the 9000 via cassette load/dump (at present there are 200 sets from which to choose), hi that decay time is totally programmable, totally programmable volume, pitch and panning for very instrument, and it also has the ability to be played (touch sensitively, of course) from external pads. This is most certainly an extraordinary instrument, and it comes with a not too extraordinary price tag of approximately £4000.00.

You may argue that it's no longer Rock and Roll with all this micro-miniaturisation. However, a name synonymous with Rock and Roll appear to be going in the same direction. Marshall have brought out a new range of amps and cabs. Called the compact stack this consists of a transistor amp head with a 100 watt Mosfet power stage — the 3210, and model 1965 A-angled and B-base cabinets, each handling 140 watts each. The most unusual thing about this compact stack, as the name implies, that the total height of the two cabs and amp head amount to only five feet, yet still retain the Marshall 'dignity', without appearing toy-like.

Music Sales are a company who have been writing music programmes for the Commodore 64 computer. Their most popular one to date is the Music Maker program, a system which comprises a two octave clavier keyboard which clips onto the top of the 64's Qwerty keyboard, various instruction booklets, and the disk itself which gives you eight preset sounds, waveshape, filtering and ADSR parameters for sound creation (mono or polyphonic), six octave range, 256 note sequencer etc. This programme has now been added to by three new programmes, the cheapest of which is the Playalong programme, which is basically a beginner's educational programme; the Prosynth, which will sell for around £15.00 giving a graphic display of voice parameters, step and real time sequencing, multi-tracking, mono mode for more complex sound creation, MIDI and is compatible with the Music Maker keyboard. The third Music Sales programme is the Sampler. Selling for approximately £50.00, this will feature forwards and backwards sample replay over a 10 octave range. Looping, echo, MIDI and various graphic displays make the Sampler programme look extremely useful. However, it remains to be seen (or rather heard) what the sampling quality is like...

Musimex are another stand where you will find a huge and wide ranging selection of products, possibly the most popular of which are the range of Session amplifiers. Not a range of amplification to succumb to the trend of regular re-vamps, Session have stuck to their successful formula of quality, reliability and value for money and only made the odd addition or upgrade since their conversion to Mosfet. Another range of amplifiers which come under the Musimex cluster is the incredibly expensive and incredibly good Engl range of digital amps — capable of memorising eight sets of Eq and effects settings. Manson guitars will be prominent on the Musimex stand, as will tc electonics' range of effects pedals. The latter have specifications which would put many rack-mounted effects to shame. Also to be found among these items are the Tubby synth, an item which "offers the acoustic kit drummer the opportunity to achieve a wide range of drum synthesizer sounds...", and a new range of leads with a 10 year warranty — the Super Shield range...

Roland have one of the stands which will inevitably be swarming with people. I find it hard to believe that it was only at 1982's Frankfurt Music Fair that Roland's price busting Juno 6 was unveiled. Since then much water has passed under the bridge of technology (so to speak), and we have seen the emergence of the Juno 60, the Jupiter 6, the JX3P, the Juno 106 and a range of Mother Keyboard and Planet and Super-Jupiter modules. Now the main item of interest is Roland's new JX8P polyphonic, programmable, touch sensitive keyboard. This is a five octave, six voice polysynth with aftertouch control of vibrato, brilliance and volume which will sell for mere £1250. It also features two envelope generators with key follow. Its internal memory comprises 64 non-volatile preset voices as well as 32 memory locations or on RAM cartridge, the voices can be given names up to 10 characters in length, which are displayed in a bright green LCD window that also displays parameters and their current values. A full review actually appears in this very issue.

Other than the exciting news of the existence of the above, Roland have a complete new range of Super Cube amps: lead and bass, a JC77 looking like a smaller version of the JC120 and a range of very stylish compact speaker enclosures designed for pub/club/studio installation.

Their latest digital drum machine, the TR707, will be on show, and with all digital sounds, individual outputs, graphic display, all for £525; looks as though it will be yet another highlight on the Roland stand.

Of the Roland Contemporary Keyboard division, the HP20 basic piano at £275 which first appeared at the British Music Fair will be augmented with two new models, the HP350 and HP450 pianos. These are superceding the 300 and 400, and for a little more money they offer more volume and better keys and action.

Roland's Boss division will have at least one newcomer, in addition to the DB66 Doctor Beat metronome, the CE300 Super Chorus. This is a 19" rackmounting chorus unit in the style of their DE-200 Digital Delay.

Other than that, Roland are keeping their mouths shut but for the promise of a further 24 new lines as yet unseen anywhere in the world!

Rose Morris will be there in force, with the new Vox range of Venue amplification, an updated AC30, and the new Concert series which are all valve combos with channel switching, LED indications and a new look of black and gold.

Another item to be found on the Rose Morris stand will be the range of EMR MIDI software. With programmes specifically for Korg, Roland, Yamaha and all MIDI instruments with interfaces for the Commodore 64, Spectrum, and MSX computers.

Korg are promising world beaters — namely a bargain priced polyphonic MIDI sequencer, a DIY sampling machine, a MIDI bass pedal unit (the KMB100) and a digital synthesizer which is something of a cross between the Poly 61 and Poly 800 in appearance, yet with eight digital waveshapes from which voices are based, with a full size keyboard and a decent smattering of MIDI. The new model will be labelled DW6000.

Rosetti will no doubt be turning a few heads with their new JMS software, the highlight being the RMS 28C Score Writer. This programme allows accurate transcription of music recorded with MIDI equipment in real time, compensating for playing inaccuracies and estimating note values according to musical context. Also, they have developed a MIDI master synchroniser, rackmountable, which will synchronise MIDI with any clock or sync pulse, as well as to tape. The third piece of ingenious software is the CG-X interface which will transfer MIDI information into CV and Gate pulses to any old mono synth, even sending key velocity data to Minimoogs.

SIEL are another manufacturer who are putting a great deal of emphasis on MIDI software. In addition to the official launch of the MK900 polysynth for the semi-pro market, will be that of the CMK49, a keyboard which utilises the Commodore 64 SID chip for its initial sound generation, and also comes with 40 presets on software with the possibility of 99 sounds being ready on one sound library. With very visual software with some very ingenious features for parameter control, SIEL look to be heading in the right direction. Also they are spreading rumours of the additional release of three new low cost digital series of keyboards for the computer, education and home markets with RS232 interfaces. We'll have to wait and see about those...

Simmons will be flaunting their SDS7 electronic drum kit in addition to their EPB Eprom Blower and SDS1 digital drum. They, like many percussion companies, are ones for impassioned secrecy, and although ahead of their competition, if only by merit of their reputation, this does not prove to be a solution to the fact that progress on their guitar synthesizer is slow. Knowing Simmons, they're bound to have something up their sleeve.

Over on the recording front Soundcraft have a completely new range and new look of mixing consoles. They will be showing the Series 500 and Series 600 mixers for the first time in Europe, and these are compact consoles with a wide range of facilities for those working in a small studio and, in the case of facilities for those working in a small studio and, in the case of the 500, in the live performance market. The series 600 mixers have full 16 track monitoring, normalled to the input channels for mixdown. Available in 16, 24 and 32-input configurations the 600 also comes with channel direct inputs for extra flexibility in a recording environment, and this is all said to be at a budget price (not yet decided).

Trace Elliot are promising to have their complete range of bass amps, cabs and combos on display in Frankfurt, with the addition of two new items, the AH 350X Bass Head and the 1818X speaker cabinet. Anyone who has ever carted around any piece of Trace Elliott equipment will appreciate what a feat of modern transport it is to bring their entire range to the show, and this fact alone justifies a round of applause. They have built up a reputation to the point where the name alone says everything that need be said about the equipment — quality, power and a great sound.

Yamaha. This is where we've really got some news to tell. Everyone must be reasonably familiar with the DX7 phenomenon by now. Appearing the Frankfurt before last they've remained so in demand from that point in time onwards that they took on a certain myth-like reverence. Now, two years on and as popular as they were a year and a half ago, we see the appearance of the DX7 in MIDI module form, accessible to almost anyone, and those who are already DX owners are given the opportunity to double the number of operators per note and to achieve what sounds the £10,000 DX1 is able to achieve. This modular DX7 goes under the name of the TX7. Almost identical in appearance to SIEL's Expander, yet coloured black with a row of light blue panel buttons and a 16 character LCD display, this FM Expander has a few extra functions not found on the DX7 such as tape dump to cassette and overall preset volume. Attractively styled, compact and designed to be stacked, the TX7 should be in the shops by early summer and should sell for under £700.

Almost identical in appearance to the TX7 is the QX7, a polyphonic MIDI sequencer for less than £500. This will record in both real time and step time, again with tapedump. Possibly the highlight of the Yamaha pro range of keyboards is going to be their DX5 synthesizer. This is without doubt the best looking synth I have ever set my eyes on, and this alone should guarantee high sales figures. It is basically a scaled down version of the DX1, yet without all the red displays and huge dimensions of the latter. It has a very large 76 note keyboard (longer, in fact, than the DX1's), an extra-long LCD display, two RAM/ROM cartridge ports and... performance memories, as on the DX1. The only indication of its price so far has been that it will be "a mid-priced FM keyboard", possibly quite a bit more expensive than the DX7, which is logical because it is in effect two DX7s with a lot more besides.

Yamaha are far from being a company to be left out of anything,and consequently we see the appearance of the KX88 MIDI Master keyboard. This is an 88 note, wooden, weighted remote keyboard capable of selecting from 128 patches over two channels, and also has the unique ability to control output volume of the expander modules/satellite synthesizers via the MIDI bus. This will have a price tag in the region of £1400, and again should be available by early-to-mid summer.

Over on the recording front, Yamaha will produce a new version of the MT-44 four-track cassette deck, the MT-44D which will run at twice normal speed, and will also be cosmetically transformed into having a completely black fascia with red digital tape counter, LED indicators and red peak metering. This should sell for a similar price to its predecessor. It is also accompanied by a similarly restyled yet much more sophisticated mixer.

Various accessories will be available for Yamaha's CX5 MSX computer. The SMD-01 MIDI pack should be available at under £70.00, a similarly priced word processing unit called the SRM-01 and a graphic card set. The first two will fit into the compartment on the CX5's underside, replacing the SFG-01 sound synthesizer unit, whilst the latter graphic card set fits into the MSX cartridge slot with a cable running to the card reader itself. This last item should be just under the £100 mark.

On the guitar front, Yamaha are going for the modern look. The odd headstockless bass here, the odd Flying V or Explorer shape there. Tremolos and solid, bright colours too appear to be in vogue in Japan at the moment. My favourite, however, are the relatively conventional shapes and feels of the new SG range, in particular the SG 1300TS in jet black with a tremolo arm and string clamp at the nut and fine tuning. However, this will be selling for £599 in our shops and for those with not quite such an expensive appetite, the SG range starts at £339.00. The bargain of Yamaha guitars goes, however, to the SE200 prices at only £189.00.

Finally, Yamaha will also be introducing a new mid-price range of acoustic drum kits designed for semi-pro and professional use with features that will complement the 9000 recording series drums.

Well therein lies a smattering of what is to be found at this year's Frankfurt Music Messe. I'm now off to pack my toothbrush and I promise to return with yet more news, especially on the conventional instrument side, which cannot be as staid as it appears at the moment. It is unlikely that the only excitement to be found is in synths and computers, but we'll have to wait and see.

Now all that remains are the questions, such as wherein lies the truth to the rumours of Tascam's 24 track machine? Will the Octette ever escape from the realms of myth? More to the point, will Gwen Alexander be able to support the entire music industry single handed, and whatever happened to Moog (rather — did you know Bob Moog's joined forces with the Kurzweil clan...)

More rumours next month on our return.