Never been that fond of sample CD's or the increasingly common sample CD released as a virtual instrument. They tend to be a bit too specific, can work well together but often it's hard to find sounds that could be used elsewhere. They can also be expensive, justified by the enormous library in which you can only find a handful of really usable sounds. So it wasn't with enormous enthusiasm that I responded to Cinematique Instruments offer to try some of their samples. Glancing at their list of instruments I was immediately roused from my apathy by the odd mix – it was a small selection but very unexpected. No less unexpected was the price – a handful of Euros for individual instruments, this is much more like it.

Things have been a little bit slow around here over the summer. As we head into the autumn we will be making a renewed effort to keep content fresh and interesting and to bring you our perspective on the world of computer music. We have a bunch of articles and reviews in the pipeline so make sure you follow us on Twitter to get all the latest updates. PC Music Guru is a little bit different to other news and reviews sites. If you're new to it then here's what we're about. We are into gear and making music - that's our starting point. We're not employed by a magazine or at the mercy of advertisers we're independent, opinionated users of the gear we're talking about and who also have regular day jobs. When we review something it gets used in real situations, not just a five minute overview.

October the 1st is a big date for Native Instruments as they launch a load of new versions of their range of software instruments and effects. Probably the most exciting thing is that their "Komplete" package which features all their main products bundled together has reached the dizzy heights of version 6 - but more importantly they are selling it for about half the original price. It used to retail for over a grand and now you can pick it up for 499€ or $599 - so that's under 500 quid to us Brits. It's astoundingly good value and you'd be an idiot not to pounce on this. I already own most of what's inside the bundle but the combined cost of upgrading Kontakt and Guitar Rig to the latest versions is more than it costs to upgrade to the whole package of Komplete 6 - mad!

I'm always on the look out for the perfect audio interface. Perfect for me, that is, for what I need and what I do. I've been using the M-Audio Omni I/O and Delta 44 card for about 10 years and although tempted from time to time I've yet to find anything with the right feature set that could replace it – until now. I don't need outputs as I mix everything on the computer, I don't want a rack unit as I don't have any other rack gear and they tend to be either in the way or inaccessible while at the computer, and I don't want something ugly or fiddly. Ta-da! In walks the Lexicon U82s – gleaming, understated, accessible, weighty, lovely knobs and a level of design that sets it apart from pretty much everything else out there. Oh yes, this could be the one.

Sometimes cool bits of kit sit around undiscovered for ages. The other day I was getting a bit frustrated with the Arturia Minimoog because I needed to play with the cut-off and resonance at the same time to produce the sound I was after. I was about to map the controls to some knobs on my keyboard but that means I have to turn away from the screen to operate it. I spotted the Nocturn box under a bunch of magazines, dusted it off and plugged her in. After a fair bit of faffing around downloading the software and letting Automap (whatever that is) scan and relabel all my plug-ins it was ready to go. Wow, what a revelation - loaded up the Minimoog and the Nocturn lit up like a christmas tree with the knobs mapped to exactly the controls I wanted - I didn't have to do anything!

There I was, minding my own business, when I stumble upon a news item about the D-Touch Drum Machine. The idea appeared to be that you would print off a couple of sheets of paper, make a couple of paper counters and arrange them on a sheet to create drum patterns. Following links to youtube videos it looked every bit like some kind of clever April fool jape - but it's July. Blocks would be put down on the paper and new noises would occur. I thought it was just people off camera making the noises. They would all be giggling to themselves as they got people to build their own drum machines out of paper - what a jolly caper. However, i looked a little deeper and found that maybe there was something else here.

Eight years after the first "The Grand" arrived Steinberg have reached version 3. There's a lot more competition around these days, with everyone having their own massive piano sample to tempt serious players, and The Grand 3 certainly brings Steinberg back into contention. Along with the Steinway D they've got a Yamaha C7 and the ubiquitous Bösendorfer 290 Imperial plus an electric piano, the Yamaha CP80 and an upright called the Nordiska Pianofabriken whatever the heck that is. It certainly brings along a wide palette of sounds in a single package of an alarmingly huge 88GB's of samples.

Four fabulous days were spent talking nonsense to passing punters in a huge hall inside the Excel exhibition space. This is the second  year of the London International Music Show and how it differs from Music Live! or the British Music Fair, or the Plaza is anyone's guess but all the usual exhibitors were in attendance. Most of the visitors seem to prefer thumping drums, banging keyboards or whacking guitars than talking intelligently about computer based music technology - and who can blame them? It wasn't packed by any stretch of the imagination although tube strikes may have had something to do with that, but there were enough people to make it interesting.

If you're a guitarist wanting to use software guitar plug-ins then you'll want one of these. You can't fool yourself forever that you're content with a mouse and keyboard shortcuts - you need to get your foot into the action so you can actually play like a guitarist rather than a sound engineer who likes to tweak things after the event.

The strangely named StealthPedal (what - you can't see it or something?) is a nifty rugged metal wah pedal with a USB audio interface built in. Gives you a couple of guitar inputs into your computer and full expressive control over your software parameters - like, for instanse, perhaps, wah!