MIX MASTER MIKE AJ!

Forget boogying down at your local club, you don’t even have to leave the comfort of your armchair if you get copies of these wicked sample disks from Mike AJ! There’ve been a few sample demos on the SAM before but not ones that last an amazing three minutes!

The first disk has three sample demos: Popcorn, originally heard on Fred disk 15 with over 45 seconds of horribly annoying tune (I think it’s triff, y’bast! — Prod Ed); We Will Rock You by Queen, Mike’s version of the classic rock anthem; and Dragonsfunk by Moby, an Amiga track totally reworked for the SAM with over two minutes of stereo sound!

The second (and best) disk is a three-and-a-half-minute remix of Pet Shop Boys Always On My Mind. The quality suffers a little due to the length of the mix but it had everyone dancing around the office (liar! — Ed) so it can’t be bad!

Mike Andrews works with Pete Clark on the disks, calling themselves AJ Incorporates. Several of their disks have received SCPDSA awards and their next masterpiece will be a tribute to Freddie Mercury. Contact the Public Domain software organisation to order the sample demos.

LERMING FROM THEIR MISTAKES?

Lerm Software have just released a new version of their indispensable disk utility, SAM Disk. It takes all the features of the original and adds useful new ones to make life (even) easier for everyone. There’s an improved repair feature that can create loadable bad tracks, a RENAME option for files, two types of disk FORMAT and two types of file COPYing.

The best feature of SAM Disk 2 Is the ability to REPAIR, FORMAT or UNFORMAT any track you select. People who’re lucky enough to have two disk drives can copy disks at hyper speed, too. The program will only format tracks it needs to, saving considerable time.

It costs just £7.50 to upgrade from SAM Disk 1; contact Lerm for details of how to buy SAM Disk 2 from scratch. Lerm Software are the people to order your disk from.

GOODBYE, SAM HOTLINE!

I’m sure the person who pays the phone bills in your house will be glad to learn SAMCo have scrapped their hotline service, which kept users up to date with SAM goings-on, straight from the horse’s mouth.

But before you break down and cry with the thought of not getting your monthly fix of SAMCo, listen to this: from the brain of Alan Miles comes the News Disk! This will be a monthly disk available to everyone on the big SAM database (for a nominal fee, I assume) and will include text files holding news about your favourite computer plus screenshots and level demos of the latest software releases.

The first issue of the SAM News Disk was due for release on January 17, featuring demos of Batz ’n’ Balls and Manic Miner.

30TH CENTURY SOFTWARE

One thing the SAM software scene isn’t short of is disk magazines, as the previous item went some way to prove. They come into the office by the wheelbarrowful... Okay, that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but there are now several to collect. The latest has the trendy name of Nexus from 30th Century Nexus the people who produced ail the graphics for Blue Alpha software!

The two issues I was sent were wildly different in content. The first had the usual menu with lots of text files to read and a couple of demos, including an Advanced Skoda Simulator! The other was packed full of sound samples for use with the Blue Alpha sampler, including Bart Simpson, RoboCop and Michael Jackson. The ED-209 from RoboCop was the best sample, a clear voice booming, ‘Put down your weapon, you have 20 seconds to comply.’ The rest were a bit iffy, sample speed and quality a little lacking.

All you disk mag collectors can get copies of the Nexus disks from 30th Century Nexus. Issue One costs £1.30 and the rest £1.60. Make cheques payable to Patrick Griffiths.

SAM GALLERY

Many people don’t appreciate the quality of graphics produced with our blue-footed friend; they just think SAM’s a glorified Spectrum so don’t even want to bother with it. To prove how wrong they are, here’s the CRASH SAM Gallery, showing off some of the better pieces of artwork found on disk magazines and slideshows in the Public Domain.