Ricoll Action Replay

Your Spectrum

Ron Smith

THREE FROM RICOLL It's said that three new add-on products from Ricoll Electronics have proved so successful that supply is only now returning to normal. The first is the company's professional-standard keyboard. Housed in a coffee-coloured case, its cream keys are guaranteed for 50x 10^6 (50 million) operations - a pretty high degree of reliability. It also features a proper space bar, with an extra Shift key on the right. Supply has reportedly improved drastically, with an order to delivery time of two to three weeks. Sound boards are obviously very useful when it comes to improving the 'playability' of computer games and Ricoll's does more than most. It'll produce the kind of music and sound effects normally to be found only on full-size monophonic synthesisers. The gadget includes three oscillators (programmable from 0.01 Hz to 62KHz) and gives a square wave ouput. Other notable features include a noise generator, envelope shaper, three audio channels with programmable volume, internal audio amplifier and a 16-bit I/O port. Combine all this lot with the programmable filter and you'll be synthesising many sounds that rival units will be unable to generate. On the subject of sound 'extras', there's Ricoll's Action Replay box which plugs into the Spectrum's expansion port. It's not actually a sound synthesiser, and is used more for 'real' sound effects. Using a microphone, a sound can be input and sampled, sorted in memory and then replayed at any pitch. The most interesting feature is the device's ability to create glitch-free tape loops for producing the most amazing sound effects. The keyboard costs £37.95 plus £2.00 p&p, while the sound generator is £39.95 plus 70p p&p. The Action Replay box which still has an order to delivery time of six to seven weeks, is expected to sell for just under £100. All equipment is available from Ricoll Electronics Ltd, [redacted]. For more info, telephone them on [redacted].