Electrosound is a familiar sequencer and sound editor type package. It's five main options offer Manual play, Sequence write/play and Track write/play. Manual play uses the upper part of the C64's qwerty keys, imitating that of a piano keyboard. The actual keys sed (CTRL through to RESTORE for the white notes, the black notes corresponding to the appropriate number keys), just happen to coincide with the Commodore overlay keyboard, offering a welcome alternative to labelling the appropriate keys with bits of masking tape (leaves a sticky residue behind)!

In manual play mode, you can choose any combination of three from an initial set of ten sounds. A further selection can be obtained by loading in one of the four alternative sound sets supplied. The preset sounds are quite impressive, offering a vast range of sounds, noises and effects; particularly impressive when hooked up to a hi-fi.

Editing the preset sounds to create your own vibrations and variations is made tricky by the rather complex screen display and unfriendly instruction manual. But, with a little perseverance and a watchful eye on SID's limitations, there's not a lot you can't do.

The sequencer also offers three simultaneous voices, using any of the preset sounds or those you've created yourself. Notes are entered on a left/right scrolling grid that behaves rather like a tape recorder being recorded, rewound and played back. Once again, the instruction manual leaves rather too much to the imagination.

As each sequence is rather short, the track write/play option lets you link sequences together to make longer compositions. Some excellent examples can be found in the demo program at the end of the tape (or disk).

In conclusion, I think it only fair to warn would-be composers of the complicated nature of Electrosound 64. Those without the experiences grained from other similar program formats may well be disappointed with Electrosound's initial performance but the scope this program offers warrants some perseverance and experimentation.

Stave notation: no Record modes: step MIDI: no Edit rhythm: yes Load/save: yes Printer: no Tempo: yes Transpose: no Tuning: yes Edit sounds: yes Graphics: 5 Easy use: 3