*********************************** AM/FM ***********************************        SOME OF THE LETTERS TO AM/FM      (Translated from Norwegian by [Ed]:) Good evening! "Hobbits & Spaceships" was incredibly great. I'm rating it among the top CD's in my collection. Among your songs, I especially liked "A New Age". It almost had Mike Oldfield-qualities! I'm returning AM/FM Sample Disk #10. It had quite a few r/w-errors. It's a bit frustrating to have only the "major" chord and not the "minor"..! I also wonder if you could (off the record) send me a copy of Music-X. If I should buy it, it would cost more than my synth! I already have Bars & Pipes and KCS, but I don't like any of them much. How about writing a "guide to the synth jungle" article in AM/FM? I'm thinking of buying something, but I have no idea what to look for. Tell us what are the best choices in the various price ranges, what they can do, etc. Just so I won't have to wait for the nest article: What's BEST in the price range around £1.000 ?? On the other disk, I've enclosed some PT-modules. Maybe you can use some of it as background-music... Yours, Vidar Engen, Norway  Dear Vidar, Thanks for the letter and the disk. You have now already received a new copy of Sample Disk #10. I hope this one will work perfectly. Sorry about the trouble. (Note to everyone else reading this: If you've received a faulty AM/FM-disk, you should return it to wherever you bought it - NOT to AM/FM! (That is, if you haven't bought it directly from AM/FM, like Vidar has...)). Nice to hear that you liked "Hobbits & Spaceships". My next CD will be released around new-year 93/94, or possibly a little bit later. I will CERTAINLY NOT (!!!) send you a pirate copy of Music-X!!! Neither I personally or AM/FM wants to have _anything_ to do with any piracy! Shame on you! Music-X v1.1 can be bought for the ridiculously low price of £20.95 from the mail order company DIAMOND in England, on phone +44 (0) 703 334638. It is easiest done if you have a credit card, or maybe one of your parents have one. Of course you have to pay sky high prices if you are buying from greedy Norwegian importers. Personally, I boycott all these greedy importers and buy everything directly from UK! Afterall, UK is just a phone call away! Music-X v2.0 will be available in mid August (or so I'm told) from the English company "The Software Business Ltd". A "guide to the synth jungle" could be a great AM/FM article, but I don't feel that I have enough insight to write this article myself. I will try to look out for someone with enough insight to write a good article, or perhaps a series on the subject. Thanks for the tip. Worth checking out around the £1.000-mark: Ensoniq SQ-R 2, or the rack version, which is called Ensoniq SQ-R+. (The latter of these, I use myself, and I'm quite happy with it - in Norway it costs about £750-800. Or maybe one of the Korg Wavestation models could be of interest? They're wonderful synths... The "hottest" thing right now is the Kurzweil K2000, but that's a bit more expensive (Around £2.000 in Norway, if I'm not mistaken..) Thanks for the modules too - I might just use one or two of them (We shall see). Once again, thanks for the letter - it's nice to have a bit of contact with the readers now and then. [Ed]  (Translated from Norwegian by [Ed]: Hi Bjorn! First of all, thanks for the quick reply to my question about OctaMED. I have an idea for an article or a series in AM/FM. I am very impressed at yours and Seppo Hurme's CD "Hobbits & Spaceships". It's just enormously great! It would be very interesting to hear how it was made, what kinds of synthesizers, sequencers and computers that were used to make it. I'm also interested in knowing what kind of recording equipment you used, all the way up to mastering, and whatever problems you might have encountered during the process. I think it could be a very nice article or series of articles, and I think there are many others besides myself who think so too. It would also be interesting to hear how things are going with Lars Hamre's program "Apollon", previewed in one of the early AM/FM issues. Odd Henning Sandvik, Norway  Dear Odd Henning, Thanks for the tip - the article was a great idea, and I will certainly make sure one is made. As for Apollon, I must admit I haven't heard diddly from Lars Hamre, neither concerning Apollon or anything else, despite the fact that I've tried to contact him several times. I have no idea what he's up to, or whether or not Apollon will ever see the light of day. Rest assure I will keep you updated with whatever I hear! Look for the "The Making of Hobbits & Spaceships" article in this issue - if you can't find it, look for it in the next issue! Thanks for the letter. [Ed]  HI BJØRN, Enclosed: 10 pounds, Please send me the latest edition of AM/FM. (Not a future edition, but one that has been released). I have paid 10 pounds, and that's 2 disks (Sample and Mag) + postage. PS: Do you have the JV30 (Roland's Sound Canvas Module) Protocol for Music-X? If so, then could you please copy it to the enclosed formatted disk? Since I have paid 2 pounds over the price, you have at least got some money for it. PS: I read your letter in CU Amiga... is it true? Dr.Awesome (ex) over to Atari Falcon or IBM? What about AM/FM? HELP!!! Commodore will soon release the DSP - will your magazine support it? Why not copy some of your excellent modules to my formatted disk too? (Pleeeeease). Well that's all. Good luck with the Mag. Stig Jellestad, Norway  Dear Stig, AM/FM Magazine Disk #14 and Sample Disk #14 will already have been yours for a long time when you read this. Enjoy them. According to my calculations though, you have only payed 1 pound over the price, not 2 as you stated. (2 disks = 8 GBP + 1 GBP postage = 9 GBP). Anyway, never mind...! I'm sorry, I don't have any Music-X synth protocol for the Roland JV-30. If you have a close look at AM/FM Magazine Disk #13, you will see that this disk contains 89 (!) different synth protocols for Music-X, but unfortunately, the JV-30 wasn't one of them. Don't despair, though. On AM/FM Magazine Disk #14 you will have found the excellent "Step-by-Step" Patcher and Editor for the JV-30 and other General Midi synths. I'm sure you've already used it a lot when you read this! I have copied some of my older modules to the disk you sent. But for the other ones out there who read this: This is NOT something I normally do. I have absolutely no time to collect modules on disks for readers, and if I should do it, I would at least want 3 GBP per disk. Note that many of my game-modules (previously not released) are available on AM/FM Special Disk #4 and #5. Thanks for the letter! Hope to hear from you some time again. [Ed]. *********************************** AM/FM ***********************************