If you're using a keyboard or sequencer that relies on floppy discs and you're tired of all the tedious loading then read on. These guys have a kit that replaces your existing floppy drive with one of their units that not only contains a floppy but also a hard disk controller. You can load up a floppy and then store it to the hard disc for speedy retrieval later. Goodbye floppies.

Lion's Tracs
Merano, (BZ) Italy
+39 473-220847
www.lionstracs.it

If anything can be called a "groove construction set" this is it. It's PC-based piece of software that can load up a number of different chunks of audio, drum loops, base lines, rhythm guitar part, etc. And with the magic of digital pitch and time change you can turn the individual elements on and off. You can perform a mix consisting of manipulating these elements then have the software save it all as a stereo WAV file. You can import your own audio data but the company already has a number of CD-ROM volumes containing audio pieces already in their special file format.

www.mixman.com

In a digital audio system your A/D converters are your window to the world. High quality converters make a huge difference over the long haul. Unfortunately outboard converters can get insanely expensive. In response to this Storm has come out with some very reasonably priced units that handle A/D, D/A and units that do both.

Storm Audio Systems
Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
(702)221-2027
www.stormaudio.com

The Trig Master unit is patched in between your pads/drums and your trigger to MIDI converter. It is essentially a very tight bandpass filter that only lets through the initial hit of the event, since it's a filter and not a gate it doesn't introduce any time delay. This unit has been around for a number of years but since I hadn't ever seen it before I thought that some of you might have missed it too.

K&K Sound Systems
Coos Bay, Oregon, USA
(800)TO-SOUND
www.kksound.com

This little box is going to be most useful to DJ's, it's an audio tempo analyzer that outputs MIDI clock. This way a DJ can create transitions from CD or Vinyl using MIDI gear. The output from the music source is plugged into this unit and after about 4 seconds it's locked onto the tempo of the song.

Red Sound Systems
Bucks, England, UK
+44(0)1494 429321
www.redsound.com

Here's a new completely digital wireless systems. It has an A/D converter built into the strap-on pack and it sends digital information on special frequencies. You can have up to five channels going at the same time. The feature I was most impressed with is that the receivers display the amount of battery time left on the transmitters.

Xwire Corporation
Sacramento, California, USA
(916)929-9473
www.xwire.com