You remember we previewed both the Sound Expander and Sound Studio packages way back in January? Well, now they're complete and Commodore is offering them together with a five-octave keyboard in one of two 'complete' packages'. The whole lot just mentioned costs £150, but you can get them complete with the Commodore 64 for £330. At present, the software is disk-based, but cassette versions are being prepared right now.

The Sound Expander module slots into the cartridge port on your C64 or C128. It not only uses the same FM technology as many professional synthesizers costing over £500, but it plays no less than eight notes at the same time.

Forget the SID chip, this gadget is capable of producing sound realistic beyond your dreams.

Looking as if from the front (when plugged in) you'll find the output socket on the right side, and the keyboard socket on the left. On top of the module there's a second cartridge slot protected from dust and cuppasoup by a pair of hinged flaps. This slot can be used to connect your system up to other equipment via a suitable MIDI interface.

Also included in the package is a brief but comprehensive instruction manual, a set of chord stickers, and a tutor booklet introducing the keyboard.

With the module duly plugged in and connected (with the leads provided) to your TV, monitor or hi-fi, and the keyboard plugged into its socket, you can safely power-up and load the software. Sound Expander has been designed with the complete amateur in mind, and no previous musical knowledge is needed (I know you've heard it all before, but this time I mean it) to produce spectacular (Richard Clayderman watch out) results!

The opening screen shows a small piece of musical stave, and pressing notes on the keyboard will show the notation on the stave, and play the note (at this point, a slinky vibraphone sound). Up to eight notes can be played at a time, sufficient for most purposes.

Across the top of the screen is a menu strip. Using f1 and f3, you can highlight each option, and pressing f7 operates the pull-down menu (a standard maintained throughout the system).

The first of these is the set-up menu, allowing you to choose the basic operating mode. When 'normal' mode is selected, you can play the chosen sound over the entire keyboard.

'One finger chord' mode is just that. Pressing a key will play its corresponding major chord, holding a key to the left as well will play a minor chord.

When 'fingered chord' is selected, a 3 or 4 note chord played on the lower half of the keyboard will produce an inversion of the chord, plus a bass note. The 'memory' function will hold the chord played after you release the notes, until you play another chord or press the space bar.

The 'split keyboard' and 'set split' options you to play two different sounds at once. One nd of the keyboard plays say a bass sound, while the other end plays something end. The point on the keyboard at which the change occurs can be set to any note you like.

Other options on this menu let you choose the border colour, display sharps or flats, and transpose the pitch of the keyboard up and down.

The 'Synth' menu is where you go to change the sounds. A set of 32 sounds is located with the main program, and a further set of sounds can be loaded from disc using the disc menu. The sounds included cover a wide range of orchestral instruments: string sections, flutes, guitars, brass, piano, as well as a number of purely electronic sounds. And the sounds have been carefully programmed to simulate the 'real thing'. You only have to close your eyes to appreciate the amount of time and trouble that has gone into these sound presets.

Once you have selected your sound(s), there is a little room for modification, the 'octave' function will move the pitch up or down in octaves while using the '/' and '.' keys will make the sound brighter or mellower, but the actual effect depends a lot on the sound you are using. Using the same keys shifted, you can tune the synth up or down to match other instruments (absolutely essential).

The rhythm menu offers a selection of twelve popular rhythms covering pop, rock, disco and Latin-American styles, using an extensive range of appropriate percussive sounds. The tempo can be adjusted from this menu through a more than adequate range, and you can choose 'Intro' and 'Outro' mode (outro being the opposite of intro). These fun items produce a pre-programmed introduction, 'break' or ending for your music. Pressing cursor up/down or cursor left/right initiates these. A different intro and outro are programmed for each rhythm selected, offering lots of variety.

The next menu is the riff machine is a collection of short arrangements (twelve for every rhythm) that can be used as a backing track for your own music. Each of the riffs are assigned to a key on the C64 or the full size keyboard, and a sequence of up to 256 riffs can be programmed before you start playing. Playing a note starts the sequence, and you can use intros and outros as well!

The final menu is for disc operations, you can load an alternate sound set from the Sound Expander disc, as well as a couple of beautifully produced demonstration pieces.

This keyboard is definitely no toy. I was quite surprised at the quality feel and gently rounded keys. It's just under three feet long and fashioned from good old black plastic. Connection is by a three foot length of ribbon cable terminated with a miniature plug that mates with a socket on the left-hand side of the expander. This is perhaps a little thoughtless, the ribbon cable is fragile, exposed and a little on the short side. Aside from this trifling detail, I can find nothing to diminish its value within the package.

The Sound Studio package runs independently of the Sound Expander module, and offers a full range of composing and sound creating facilities using the Commodore's SID chip. Sadly, you won't be able to use the add-on keyboard here.

The program consists of two parts: the Sound Editor and the Music Editor (sequencer). Once either part has been loaded, the user can flip from one to the other. Whichever part you start with, you get sixty preset sounds to use, with another sixty stored on the disk.

The main sound editor panel is laid out in boxes, with all relevant functions grouped together. A large purple arrow operated by joystick or cursor keys points to each function in turn for editing, and any of the sixty presets can be called up, edited and stored back in memory. Whole sound 'libraries' can be saved to disk for further editing, or for use while composing or performing.

Most of the values displayed on the editor screen are represented by graphic sliders that are adjusted with the cursor keys while you are playing.

A second editing screen can be called up, and deals specifically with SID's filters. All in all, the amount of control you have is quite impressive, and you can see at a glance exactly what's going on inside SID.

Selecting the Music Editor (takes about two minutes from disk), presents you with a system of pop-up menus similar to those of the Sound Expander software. No auto rhythms are available, but a metronome is provided in the top left of the screen to help you keep time.

Recording, both in real time and step time is accomplished in true multi-track style. In other words, you can record one track while listening back to a previously recorded track. Three tracks are available normally, but if you are fortunate enough to own a MIDI interface and synth, up to six tracks can be programmed.

Tracks entered in real time can be edited from the step time page, the note information is presented in the form of a downward scroll within a window, and notes can be entered or edited simply and without fuss.

Sound Expander is a revolutionary package that offers not only superb sound quality but remarkably easy to use software and a well-built 8-note polyphonic keyboard. What more could you want for £150?

It's unfortunate that the Sound Studio software is totally incompatible with the rest of the system - so the package isn't quite as 'complete' as you would imagine. Still, rumour has it that additional software may soon be available for Sound Expander, which may even make Sound Studio obsolete. Despite these minor criticisms, the Complete Music System is a real winner.