John Diliberto must have felt satisfaction approaching ecstasy when he wrote the cover story for our September 1986 issue. In a wide-ranging discussion, Diliberto and Frank Zappa conversed about Zappa's use of his $200,000 New England Digital Synclavier composition and synthesis system. As one would expect, Zappa had plenty to say, and Diliberto did a fine job writing the article.
The September issue's main focus was very different from the ideas Zappa and Diliberto considered: we presented four features on telecommunications. Steve Sagman gave us “Telecommunications for Musicians,” which discussed transferring data between two computers. Sagman started out with using a null modem and RS-232 port to transfer data directly between two local computers; he then got into transfers via terminal-emulation programs. He also explained how to use a bulletin-board system — the BBS was a precursor of today's FTP sites, chat rooms, and newsgroups — and defined a few basic terms.
Next, a variety of authors delved into specific telecom services and networks for musicians. Richard Elen discussed Esi, Jules Delgado explained MusicNet, Perry Leopold promoted the Performing Arts Network (PAN), Bryan Bell discussed his SynthBank synth-patch service, and Gary Rottger gave us the skinny on Synth-Net and MIDI-Connection. Jack Orman provided a quick overview of contemporary BBSs, and Craig Anderton offered advice for choosing and using the services.
“Telecommunications in the Real World” featured short stories by industry pros about how they used online technology. Authors included synthesist Larry Fast, singer Graham Nash, Farmyard Studio manager Graham Hutcheon, bass wizard Tony Levin, Roxy Music electronic guitarist Phil Manzanera, audio engineer David Scheirman, and studio owner and consultant Bobby Nathan.
Longtime contributor Alan Gary Campbell completed our telecommunications special with a story on low-cost modems, including plans for modifying them.
In September 1986, we were still deep in the era of DIY electronics. Michael Dosa showed how to build an external sound module for the MXR Drum Computer; Eric Barbour provided several modifications for the Sequential Drum Traks drum machine; and Mark M. Williams gave us the Program Stepper, a footswitch that let you change programs on Korg's classic Poly 800 analog synth without using MIDI. We also had a DIY computer program, Jim Johnson's MIDIPrint, which let you view and analyze MIDI data on a Commodore 64.
Those stories and part two of Craig Anderton's overview of music-computer basics left space for only three reviews. Two were of fairly popular synths, Yamaha's DX100 FM and Roland's MKS-20 digital piano module. The third review was, in my opinion, much more significant: our first look at Mark of the Unicorn's Performer MIDI sequencer for the Mac, which quickly established itself as one of the finest sequencing programs on the planet. Just days before I wrote this column, the company released Digital Performer 3.0, yet another major upgrade.