Commodore's Sound Expander cartridge is a brand new device, currently (as I'm writing) still in the final stages of production, so I haven't actually been able to try one out yet. However, an hour spent at Music Sales' office recently provided enough information to whet the appetite.

Sound Expander makes use of the currently popular FM (frequency modulation) technology to produce stunningly real sounds using no less than eight voices. Thirty preset sounds are loaded in from disc, as is the keyboard and sequencer software. The sounds can't be edited at the moment, the normal ADSR/waveshape system just wouldn't work! The keyboard software is fully compatible with Commodore's low-over keyboard, and a suitable MIDI interface can be plugged in via a slot in the top of the cartridge.

The software core makes use of the new familiar pop-up menus to access the chord and rhythm generators, real and step time recording, etc.

Trust us to bring you the full picture as soon as we've had a chance to play with one!

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