Here's the thing. YouTube demos of keyboards such as K2600's and PCK3's mostly impressive - you can see them in West End orchestra pits (sad irony) - imo both analogue and digital sounds (in some cases) beat Roland/Yamaha stuff hands down - they're built like tanks. BUT I went on their website the other day and the product range hadn't really changed since the last time I looked.a year ago.
Go on the forums and people are saying that the 'VAST' engine hasn't changed for decades and is thus making the product line sound dated. Having said that some are prepared to pay thousands for ancient Roland synths. Not an issue in a musical but for other stuff? Thoughts anyone? Regular Posts: 463 Joined: Sat Apr 04, 2009 12:00 am. I own a K2500XS with all updates - Piano, Orchestral, Contemporary ROMS, Latest available OS with KB3 Organ model, KDFX, 128MB RAM and K-Sounds Steinway Piano loaded, internal HD, libraries of programs.Even though it's 20 years old, it's still magnificent.
This instrument, along with some other Romplers from that time - SY77/99, O1R/W and a few others have such longevity and relevance today because they combined several features which only in hindsight you can see were absolutely top-notch:1. They were exquisite 'controllers' - with the K2500 hosting two Ribbons, Fatar keyboard with aftertouch, Mod wheels, breath control, bucket loads of I/O. that actually surpass even top MIDI controllers of today2. They had fantastic synth engines. Think of the K2500 - it isn't just VAST. It's a sampler, Rompler, Hammond Organ Virtual engine, and then VAST which is actually equivalent to a virtual analog modelling synth with user configurable architecture even though it wasn't called that at the time.3. Crikey - thanks for liking my post.
An excellent thread about an era in synthesis perhaps a little under appreciated but which, yielded, as we know, some amazing instruments.And indeed - wasn't it an exciting time - every NAMM seemed to deliver a really exciting new upgrade, or generation, of instrument through the late 80's, 90's and early noughties that for me isn't quite the same today (I'm getting old:-) ). Perhaps we'll see the best of those synths regain credibility and value over time?? Frequent Poster Posts: 803 Joined: Sun Jan 12, 2003 1:00 am.
Kevin Nolan wrote:And indeed - wasn't it an exciting time - every NAMM seemed to deliver a really exciting new upgrade, or generation, of instrument through the late 80's, 90's and early noughtiesIt was an exciting time, as new things were coming, technology and computing power was increasing, and I was young and into this stuff!It was also the pinnacle of digital technology allowing ever more complicated engines being shoved into boxes without a good way to accessing it, other than a screen and a handful of buttons. The engines of things like the SY99, XV5080 and so on are fantastic, but it's just not fun or inspirational programming those things - and when they came with 1000+ sounds, why bother?And at peak late 90s digital, the kids had already embraced the analog resurgence. They didn't want to buy a £2K digital rompler, they were rediscovering cheap TB303s, TR909s, analog filters and cheap analog polys that everyone had offloaded previously for peanuts as the new digital thing came along. And that was the sound that had started to infiltrate the charts, and popular culture.And we see a continuing trend today - kids have gone back to the types of studios/environments that we.started. with - loads of small, restricted functionality boxes (often analog) all connected together, and jamming around with them, turning knobs.
Not quite as much of a mess of cables these days with USB etc, but still a bunch of small boxes connected together - that's how I used to work before we started getting computer sequencers as a central hub, and could work in one place with a bunch of synths/racks hanging off it - and then we could add audio etc, and we moved to the whole DAW thing where we are today.The thought of going back to a whole mess of small boxes doesn't really excite me (though there is much to be said for realtime hands on control), but that's what a lot of kids are doing and loving. I expect if you showed a lot of those people a TG77 or XV5080, they'd go 'why would I want a dumb box full of pianos and strings??' Kevin Nolan wrote:Perhaps we'll see the best of those synths regain creditability and value over time??Everything comes and goes due to fashion I guess. Kurzweil owners have debated this on their own forums for years.So a couple of points worth considering:1. Kurzweil has been a 'boutique' manufacturer now for a long time - well over a decade. It's not anywhere near the same league as the big three. But then so is Nord.
And both companies are producing instruments that people still want, despite not being everything to everyone. They simply don't have the resources to launch a new synth or major update every year. But their gear is stable and well known.
Free Sounds Download Audio
And sound great. There is something to be said for longer product lifespans and I know people who have been burned when 'failed' products have been ditched and no spares / repairs are available a couple of years later.2. Saying that, VAST has had a few tweaks over the years.
When the PC3 launched, they updated it so that layers could also process other layers and added algorithms to handle that. Plus they now have very high resolution, non-aliasing oscillator blocks so creating more traditional synth sounds is lovely and clean all the way up the keyboard.
(and associated filters - basically all the work they did with creating a VAST-based VA synth that never got made).But, tbh, VAST has been a programmer's wet dream now for over 20 years. It's pretty darned good;)Yes, you do have to learn their way of programming, and to know it fully is a daunting prospect, but there are YT tutorials out there for wave sequencing, FM, all sorts of mad things.In some respects, their new kit is ahead of the game: I weep that my Kronos doesn't retain samples after power down. But then rejoice that my Forte does. (all 3.3Gb of it and that's quite respectable).
Polyphony is 128 notes same as most - but then the whole (fully polyphonic) organ emulation is free on the Forte. Nice.Back to VAST, as I said earlier, the user base has discussed this for a while. And that includes the occasional Kurz staff member.
The general consensus of that speculation is that any next gen VAST will probably not have much in the way of programming tweaks, but might see some macro based editing as a 'simple view' to get you started and allow you to go under the hood and use full VAST for trickier stuff. Sounds sensible to me - I'll wait and see if it happens.In the mean time, for a boutique manufacturer, they do ok.
And the OP is right - they are definitely big in the Theatre. I've just sold one to pro who does time in the pits and he pointed out that a certain high profile show, which made a big deal of the fact that the main keys player uses a Kronos, is actually coming off Kurzweils behind the scenes.Jedi Poster Posts: 5311 Joined: Thu Apr 03, 2003 12:00 am Location: Maidenhead. The thing with VAST is that Kurzweil got it right. I was great then, it is great now - and MUCH more friendly to program than the Kronos, for one successful example. Call me strange, but I LIKE to program in numbers - at least when they are in Hz and dB; the numbers mean what they say.I have to admit that I was prepared to leave VAST behind recently, and then a certain chap above introduced me to the PC3 and I was smitten all over again - what a fantastic keyboard. Just a pity they dropped the nice vocal samples from the earlier machines and replaced them with all that goddawful Take 6 scat garbage!Jedi Poster Posts: 12733 Joined: Tue Aug 14, 2001 12:00 am Location: Sheffield, UK.
@Desmond - agree with most of what you say, but I disagree that kids today would look at a TG77 in the way you describe if they had access to my library! It reveals the SY/TG to retain world class dynamism in sound - and thats as coveted today as at any time. Why, because the optimised library I've spent dozens of hours assembling is the best of thousands of programmers over many years - and its pure quality at the highest level, still.Respectfully suggest you're kind of saying those 90's instruments were just inherently 'lesser' in capability compared to those available today; and that's not the case in many respects. They just dont know about about them well enough (yet).
My point above being that those 90s devices, at their best, is still a pinnacle in synthesis. I believe it will be rediscovered, and aspects of it have not been surpassed.I also don't feel quite as ageist about all of this as you might feel ( sure I feel my age:-)!! ) - but I love the new as well as the old technology (in the past two years I've bought a ridiculous amount of new instruments and controllers - two Boutiques, Reface CS, Monotribe, BeatStepPro, QuNexus, Seaboard Grand and a Push2 - still trying to figure most of it I admit:-) ). And yes they offer an approach so pertinant to todays music, but actually - I got to tell you - they all integrate pretty well with DAW environments and with a plethora of analogue and Rompler synths from the 90's too.But I also got it say - none is 'stand out superior'. And - look across Youtube at Volca/AIRA only based setups and you rapidly witness real limitations - yeah they are great for producing endless variations of beats, glitches and what not - but - it all sounds the same.
I anticipate 'the kids' abandoning that paradigm pretty quickly and looking for more sophosticated means of making music, and in that you can bet they'll start looking to the past - including the best of the Kurzweil generation of synths!! There not done with yet. Frequent Poster Posts: 803 Joined: Sun Jan 12, 2003 1:00 am. @ The Elf - respectfully disagree that VAST is easier to program than the OASYS / Kronos. Indeed STR-1 and MOD-7 are deep - but - its user interface is amazing and I agree with Desmond's point that actually those complex instruments were widely acknowledged to be a pain to program through those small LCD based screens.And on that @One Horse Town: I fully expect Kurzewil, Yamaha and Korg to implement all of their past synth engine glories as VST / AU Plugins at come juncture. Korg have already done a lot of that of course, and now we have Roland Cloud - so surely it's only a matter of time before we see a software based VAST synth engine, SY or VL synth engine or MOD-7, AL-1 and STR-1 from Korg?
Once all other revenue options are exhausted on those technologies in hardware, surely they'll gain a second life in software?? Frequent Poster Posts: 803 Joined: Sun Jan 12, 2003 1:00 am.
Kevin Nolan wrote:@Desmond - agree with most of what you say, but I disagree that kids today would look at a TG77 in the way you describe if they had access to my library! It reveals the SY/TG to retain world class dynamism in sound - and thats as coveted today as at any time. Why, because the optimised library I've spent dozens of hours assembling is the best of thousands of programmers over many years - and its pure quality at the highest level, still.Maybe. I'm sure the sounds you have are great for you, but don't forget not everybody shares the same taste in sounds - I'm sure there's plenty of sounds I love that others would hate, and vice versa. Wrong and wrong. But then why let facts get in the way?:roll:The initial development of the K2000 went through several iterations and stabilised on v3. But Young Chang acquired the company in 1990 - the same year that the original K2000 was released.
Before that, there where basically the K250, the K150, and then spin offs (midiboard and K1xxx series). Sure the 250 was great and way ahead of the competition but it's not like the company was throwing revolution after revolution out the door one minute and nothing the next.(edit: just noticed that we have to scrub the Midiboard from that list - it was actually designed by Key Concepts and licensed to Kurzweil)Oh. Who was the legend who worked on the K2000 and oversaw all it's analogue samples and was the consultant on how it should sound? A certain Dr Moog.The 90s gave us the stabilisation and expansion of VAST, new sample sets, the ability to sample, KB3 mode, total overhaul of the effects (KDFX spun off into some wild effects units), Triple mode for VAST, additional algorithms. All in the 90s.And Ray was actually brought back into the fold as part of the sale to Hyundai in 2006/7.The whole point of the posts above is that the VAST engine is pretty darned top notch and I'd love you to give me an example of a modern engine which gives it a spanking.
Please?Jedi Poster Posts: 5311 Joined: Thu Apr 03, 2003 12:00 am Location: Maidenhead. Can any of you guys point me at a video that shows sound design on VAST? Real detail - not one that just explains the building blocks and parameters, but one that digs into VAST's unique abilities to create a sound that it is not to be found on lesser synth engines.In all my GS/YT/etc mooching, I've never found one. VAST (like the FS1R) seems to be one of those exotica where the cognoscenti claim it's better than anything else but are unable to give examples that demonstrate it.I'm genuinely interested. I've got space now for an 88-key piano weighted synth, and the low cost of used Kurzweils makes them look very suitable.
Regular Posts: 139 Joined: Mon May 04, 2015 12:00 am. @Escapegoat - haven't looked at these but there's four of them so perhaps they're quite detailed (?)@Desmond- while I agree that the SY77 and 99 libraries I 'optimised' are personal to me, the point I'm making is a bit more general. For example, I didn't trawl through the 15000 sound available to me with a selection process based on what I like. (can we please keep the personal comments - from everyone - out of here.?
It's bad enough that it's in the Lounge)Escapegoat, there's a nice Kurz fan called PoserP who posts great tutorials on programming the PC3x/VAST. Check out his youtube channel:he's very knowledgable and definitely not a slick pro, so it's a bit rough, but he does present things quite well and shows interesting techniques. Like physical modelling with VAST (wow). He's also on the standard Kurz forums and seems a lovely chap always ready to help fellow users. Bit of a star really.Jedi Poster Posts: 5311 Joined: Thu Apr 03, 2003 12:00 am Location: Maidenhead. All contents copyright © SOS Publications Group and/or its licensors, 1985-2019. All rights reserved.The contents of this article are subject to worldwide copyright protection and reproduction in whole or part, whether mechanical or electronic, is expressly forbidden without the prior written consent of the Publishers.
Great care has been taken to ensure accuracy in the preparation of this article but neither Sound On Sound Limited nor the publishers can be held responsible for its contents. The views expressed are those of the contributors and not necessarily those of the publishers.Web site designed & maintained by PB Associates & SOS.
Kurzweil Pc3 Sound Editor Download
Here's the thing. YouTube demos of keyboards such as K2600's and PCK3's mostly impressive - you can see them in West End orchestra pits (sad irony) - imo both analogue and digital sounds (in some cases) beat Roland/Yamaha stuff hands down - they're built like tanks. BUT I went on their website the other day and the product range hadn't really changed since the last time I looked.a year ago. Go on the forums and people are saying that the 'VAST' engine hasn't changed for decades and is thus making the product line sound dated. Having said that some are prepared to pay thousands for ancient Roland synths. Not an issue in a musical but for other stuff? Thoughts anyone?
Regular Posts: 463 Joined: Sat Apr 04, 2009 12:00 am. I own a K2500XS with all updates - Piano, Orchestral, Contemporary ROMS, Latest available OS with KB3 Organ model, KDFX, 128MB RAM and K-Sounds Steinway Piano loaded, internal HD, libraries of programs.Even though it's 20 years old, it's still magnificent. This instrument, along with some other Romplers from that time - SY77/99, O1R/W and a few others have such longevity and relevance today because they combined several features which only in hindsight you can see were absolutely top-notch:1. They were exquisite 'controllers' - with the K2500 hosting two Ribbons, Fatar keyboard with aftertouch, Mod wheels, breath control, bucket loads of I/O. that actually surpass even top MIDI controllers of today2. They had fantastic synth engines.
Think of the K2500 - it isn't just VAST. It's a sampler, Rompler, Hammond Organ Virtual engine, and then VAST which is actually equivalent to a virtual analog modelling synth with user configurable architecture even though it wasn't called that at the time.3. Crikey - thanks for liking my post. An excellent thread about an era in synthesis perhaps a little under appreciated but which, yielded, as we know, some amazing instruments.And indeed - wasn't it an exciting time - every NAMM seemed to deliver a really exciting new upgrade, or generation, of instrument through the late 80's, 90's and early noughties that for me isn't quite the same today (I'm getting old:-) ). Perhaps we'll see the best of those synths regain credibility and value over time?? Frequent Poster Posts: 803 Joined: Sun Jan 12, 2003 1:00 am.
Kevin Nolan wrote:And indeed - wasn't it an exciting time - every NAMM seemed to deliver a really exciting new upgrade, or generation, of instrument through the late 80's, 90's and early noughtiesIt was an exciting time, as new things were coming, technology and computing power was increasing, and I was young and into this stuff!It was also the pinnacle of digital technology allowing ever more complicated engines being shoved into boxes without a good way to accessing it, other than a screen and a handful of buttons. The engines of things like the SY99, XV5080 and so on are fantastic, but it's just not fun or inspirational programming those things - and when they came with 1000+ sounds, why bother?And at peak late 90s digital, the kids had already embraced the analog resurgence. They didn't want to buy a £2K digital rompler, they were rediscovering cheap TB303s, TR909s, analog filters and cheap analog polys that everyone had offloaded previously for peanuts as the new digital thing came along.
And that was the sound that had started to infiltrate the charts, and popular culture.And we see a continuing trend today - kids have gone back to the types of studios/environments that we.started. with - loads of small, restricted functionality boxes (often analog) all connected together, and jamming around with them, turning knobs. Not quite as much of a mess of cables these days with USB etc, but still a bunch of small boxes connected together - that's how I used to work before we started getting computer sequencers as a central hub, and could work in one place with a bunch of synths/racks hanging off it - and then we could add audio etc, and we moved to the whole DAW thing where we are today.The thought of going back to a whole mess of small boxes doesn't really excite me (though there is much to be said for realtime hands on control), but that's what a lot of kids are doing and loving.
I expect if you showed a lot of those people a TG77 or XV5080, they'd go 'why would I want a dumb box full of pianos and strings??' Kevin Nolan wrote:Perhaps we'll see the best of those synths regain creditability and value over time??Everything comes and goes due to fashion I guess. Kurzweil owners have debated this on their own forums for years.So a couple of points worth considering:1. Kurzweil has been a 'boutique' manufacturer now for a long time - well over a decade. It's not anywhere near the same league as the big three. But then so is Nord. And both companies are producing instruments that people still want, despite not being everything to everyone.
They simply don't have the resources to launch a new synth or major update every year. But their gear is stable and well known. And sound great. There is something to be said for longer product lifespans and I know people who have been burned when 'failed' products have been ditched and no spares / repairs are available a couple of years later.2.
Saying that, VAST has had a few tweaks over the years. When the PC3 launched, they updated it so that layers could also process other layers and added algorithms to handle that. Plus they now have very high resolution, non-aliasing oscillator blocks so creating more traditional synth sounds is lovely and clean all the way up the keyboard. (and associated filters - basically all the work they did with creating a VAST-based VA synth that never got made).But, tbh, VAST has been a programmer's wet dream now for over 20 years. It's pretty darned good;)Yes, you do have to learn their way of programming, and to know it fully is a daunting prospect, but there are YT tutorials out there for wave sequencing, FM, all sorts of mad things.In some respects, their new kit is ahead of the game: I weep that my Kronos doesn't retain samples after power down. But then rejoice that my Forte does. (all 3.3Gb of it and that's quite respectable).
Polyphony is 128 notes same as most - but then the whole (fully polyphonic) organ emulation is free on the Forte. Nice.Back to VAST, as I said earlier, the user base has discussed this for a while. And that includes the occasional Kurz staff member. The general consensus of that speculation is that any next gen VAST will probably not have much in the way of programming tweaks, but might see some macro based editing as a 'simple view' to get you started and allow you to go under the hood and use full VAST for trickier stuff.
Sounds sensible to me - I'll wait and see if it happens.In the mean time, for a boutique manufacturer, they do ok. And the OP is right - they are definitely big in the Theatre.
I've just sold one to pro who does time in the pits and he pointed out that a certain high profile show, which made a big deal of the fact that the main keys player uses a Kronos, is actually coming off Kurzweils behind the scenes.Jedi Poster Posts: 5311 Joined: Thu Apr 03, 2003 12:00 am Location: Maidenhead. The thing with VAST is that Kurzweil got it right. I was great then, it is great now - and MUCH more friendly to program than the Kronos, for one successful example. Call me strange, but I LIKE to program in numbers - at least when they are in Hz and dB; the numbers mean what they say.I have to admit that I was prepared to leave VAST behind recently, and then a certain chap above introduced me to the PC3 and I was smitten all over again - what a fantastic keyboard.
Just a pity they dropped the nice vocal samples from the earlier machines and replaced them with all that goddawful Take 6 scat garbage!Jedi Poster Posts: 12733 Joined: Tue Aug 14, 2001 12:00 am Location: Sheffield, UK. @Desmond - agree with most of what you say, but I disagree that kids today would look at a TG77 in the way you describe if they had access to my library! It reveals the SY/TG to retain world class dynamism in sound - and thats as coveted today as at any time. Why, because the optimised library I've spent dozens of hours assembling is the best of thousands of programmers over many years - and its pure quality at the highest level, still.Respectfully suggest you're kind of saying those 90's instruments were just inherently 'lesser' in capability compared to those available today; and that's not the case in many respects.
They just dont know about about them well enough (yet). My point above being that those 90s devices, at their best, is still a pinnacle in synthesis. I believe it will be rediscovered, and aspects of it have not been surpassed.I also don't feel quite as ageist about all of this as you might feel ( sure I feel my age:-)!! ) - but I love the new as well as the old technology (in the past two years I've bought a ridiculous amount of new instruments and controllers - two Boutiques, Reface CS, Monotribe, BeatStepPro, QuNexus, Seaboard Grand and a Push2 - still trying to figure most of it I admit:-) ). And yes they offer an approach so pertinant to todays music, but actually - I got to tell you - they all integrate pretty well with DAW environments and with a plethora of analogue and Rompler synths from the 90's too.But I also got it say - none is 'stand out superior'. And - look across Youtube at Volca/AIRA only based setups and you rapidly witness real limitations - yeah they are great for producing endless variations of beats, glitches and what not - but - it all sounds the same. I anticipate 'the kids' abandoning that paradigm pretty quickly and looking for more sophosticated means of making music, and in that you can bet they'll start looking to the past - including the best of the Kurzweil generation of synths!!
There not done with yet. Frequent Poster Posts: 803 Joined: Sun Jan 12, 2003 1:00 am. @ The Elf - respectfully disagree that VAST is easier to program than the OASYS / Kronos. Indeed STR-1 and MOD-7 are deep - but - its user interface is amazing and I agree with Desmond's point that actually those complex instruments were widely acknowledged to be a pain to program through those small LCD based screens.And on that @One Horse Town: I fully expect Kurzewil, Yamaha and Korg to implement all of their past synth engine glories as VST / AU Plugins at come juncture. Korg have already done a lot of that of course, and now we have Roland Cloud - so surely it's only a matter of time before we see a software based VAST synth engine, SY or VL synth engine or MOD-7, AL-1 and STR-1 from Korg? Once all other revenue options are exhausted on those technologies in hardware, surely they'll gain a second life in software?? Frequent Poster Posts: 803 Joined: Sun Jan 12, 2003 1:00 am.
Kevin Nolan wrote:@Desmond - agree with most of what you say, but I disagree that kids today would look at a TG77 in the way you describe if they had access to my library! It reveals the SY/TG to retain world class dynamism in sound - and thats as coveted today as at any time. Why, because the optimised library I've spent dozens of hours assembling is the best of thousands of programmers over many years - and its pure quality at the highest level, still.Maybe. I'm sure the sounds you have are great for you, but don't forget not everybody shares the same taste in sounds - I'm sure there's plenty of sounds I love that others would hate, and vice versa. Wrong and wrong.
But then why let facts get in the way?:roll:The initial development of the K2000 went through several iterations and stabilised on v3. But Young Chang acquired the company in 1990 - the same year that the original K2000 was released. Before that, there where basically the K250, the K150, and then spin offs (midiboard and K1xxx series). Sure the 250 was great and way ahead of the competition but it's not like the company was throwing revolution after revolution out the door one minute and nothing the next.(edit: just noticed that we have to scrub the Midiboard from that list - it was actually designed by Key Concepts and licensed to Kurzweil)Oh.
Who was the legend who worked on the K2000 and oversaw all it's analogue samples and was the consultant on how it should sound? A certain Dr Moog.The 90s gave us the stabilisation and expansion of VAST, new sample sets, the ability to sample, KB3 mode, total overhaul of the effects (KDFX spun off into some wild effects units), Triple mode for VAST, additional algorithms. All in the 90s.And Ray was actually brought back into the fold as part of the sale to Hyundai in 2006/7.The whole point of the posts above is that the VAST engine is pretty darned top notch and I'd love you to give me an example of a modern engine which gives it a spanking.
Please?Jedi Poster Posts: 5311 Joined: Thu Apr 03, 2003 12:00 am Location: Maidenhead. Can any of you guys point me at a video that shows sound design on VAST? Real detail - not one that just explains the building blocks and parameters, but one that digs into VAST's unique abilities to create a sound that it is not to be found on lesser synth engines.In all my GS/YT/etc mooching, I've never found one. VAST (like the FS1R) seems to be one of those exotica where the cognoscenti claim it's better than anything else but are unable to give examples that demonstrate it.I'm genuinely interested. I've got space now for an 88-key piano weighted synth, and the low cost of used Kurzweils makes them look very suitable. Regular Posts: 139 Joined: Mon May 04, 2015 12:00 am.
@Escapegoat - haven't looked at these but there's four of them so perhaps they're quite detailed (?)@Desmond- while I agree that the SY77 and 99 libraries I 'optimised' are personal to me, the point I'm making is a bit more general. For example, I didn't trawl through the 15000 sound available to me with a selection process based on what I like. (can we please keep the personal comments - from everyone - out of here.?
It's bad enough that it's in the Lounge)Escapegoat, there's a nice Kurz fan called PoserP who posts great tutorials on programming the PC3x/VAST. Check out his youtube channel:he's very knowledgable and definitely not a slick pro, so it's a bit rough, but he does present things quite well and shows interesting techniques. Like physical modelling with VAST (wow).
He's also on the standard Kurz forums and seems a lovely chap always ready to help fellow users. Bit of a star really.Jedi Poster Posts: 5311 Joined: Thu Apr 03, 2003 12:00 am Location: Maidenhead. All contents copyright © SOS Publications Group and/or its licensors, 1985-2019.
All rights reserved.The contents of this article are subject to worldwide copyright protection and reproduction in whole or part, whether mechanical or electronic, is expressly forbidden without the prior written consent of the Publishers. Great care has been taken to ensure accuracy in the preparation of this article but neither Sound On Sound Limited nor the publishers can be held responsible for its contents. The views expressed are those of the contributors and not necessarily those of the publishers.Web site designed & maintained by PB Associates & SOS.