The Microsound is a 49-note, 4-octave keyboard and synthesizer package for the Commodore 64. The biggest part of the package is obviously the keyboard itself, a sturdily built affair in black vinyl covered chipboard. On the left-hand side of the keyboard is a pair of analogue sliders, and connection to the computer is via a pair of joystick-style connectors, fitting (rather awkwardly) into games ports one and two.

The software is provided on disk or cassette, with a loose-leaf manual. This is well written and indexed, with the various aspects of the system deal with section-by-section.

After loading, you are presented with a sound edit panel, covering all the functions of the SID chip. Once created, a sound can be stored on tape or disk for future use. In this way, a whole library of sounds can be built up and easily accessed.

The sequencer part of the software works extremely well, although you are restricted to steptime entry. Record your music one voice at a time, and the notes are displayed on a scrolling chart. At any time you can go back and correct a duff note, and enter the rhythm before going on to enter notes for the next voice.

The analogue sliders to the right of the keyboard can be patched to operate a variety of functions, such as pitchbend, vibrator, filtering, etc, depending on how you set up your sound.

The Microsound keyboard is designed with expansion in mind, Microsound intend including esampling and MIDI extensions to the base system. This is probably the best C64-dedicated keyboard around.

Stave notation: yes Record modes: step MIDI: no Edit rhythm: yes Load/Save: yes Printer: no Tempo: yes Transpose: yes Tuning: no Edit sounds: yes Graphics: 4 Easy use: 8