Simon N Goodwin

NEXT TECH

Simon's latest book was released worldwide on 23rd November 2024 and promptly shot to the top of the Amazon UK Computer Hardware Upgrades chart. Next Tech is a book about the ZX Spectrum Next home computer and is currently available as an Amazon paperback. Additional information is available via email to the publishers De Re Books on spectrumnexttech at gmail dot com

The Sinclair ZX Spectrum Next packs 45 years of British home computing into an elegant case created by Sinclair’s in-house designer Rick Dickinson. It combines brilliant ideas from Sinclair, Acorn, Amstrad and the Amiga in a modern system made by industry professionals who never forgot the thrills of the early micros, and who had the vision and community spirit to develop that technology further for the 21st century.

NEXT TECH is a book for readers who enjoyed or wish to revive the hobbyist thrills of the pre-PC home micro scene of the late 1970s and early 80s. It helps Spectrum Next owners to progress beyond the manual that came with their computer, providing them with inspiration, expert guidance and enthusiasm spread over 500 pages. It’s written for the people for whom Sir Clive Sinclair created his computers in the first place.

NEXT TECH is a celebration and source of inspiration expertly researched and written over six years. This new book explores the creation stories, inner logic and endless potential of classic computers that do just what you ask of them... flexible, interactive, accessible micros designed for quick learners and creative minds, now enhanced with speed, memory and storage options unimaginable in the 1980s, not forgetting modern WiFi and HDMI.

BEEP TO BOOM

BEEP TO BOOM is an expert book for interactive audio professionals, published worldwide by Routledge imprint Focal Press, endorsed and peer-reviewed by the Audio Engineering Society. For details of the contents of each chapter of Beep To Boom, please visit the web page simon dot mooli dot org dot uk slash b2b - this is the same link previously published here, revised to please a recently-unleashed and rather reader-hostile bot. Since Beep to Boom was published fourteen errors in the text have been found. All the corrections we're currently aware of are at errata.html on the above page.

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About the author

Simon N Goodwin has been encouraging the creative use of technology for more than 30 years, initially as a columnist in hobbyist magazines such as Crash (Tech Tips), Personal Computer World (Computer Answers), Sinclair QL World (DIY Toolkit) and Amiga Format (Under the Hood, Workbench, Banging the Metal) and a dozen other mass-market titles.

Simon's first hit game, Gold Mine, spent two weeks in the UK All Formats top 20 in November 1983. He wrote that in six weeks, split fairly evenly between the gameplay, graphics and sound, the cassette copy-protection system, and shoehorning the original 48K title into 16K RAM for the original ZX Spectrum home computer.

Simon has professionally published over two million words of lucid technical writing, including the book 'Beep to Boom - The Development of Advanced Runtime Sound Systems for Games and Extended Reality' for Focal Press and the Audio Engineering Society. That one took 18 months to write and over 30 years to research. Six years on, his latest publication is Next Tech, from De Re Press, written between 2019 and 2024, for people interested in the ZX Spectrum Next home computer.

In the 21st century Simon built a reputation as an Interactive Technology Consultant with companies like Amiga Inc, Codemasters and DTS. He designed and implemented advanced Ambisonic 3D audio technology in several multi-million-selling games, including six number 1 hits in the UK and major EU territories and two BAFTA award winners, RaceDriver Grid and F1 2010.

Simon has been writing articles, making games and inventing technology since the heyday of discrete transistors and one-bit sound. Simon has contributed to the system software and design of micros like MGT’s SAM Coupé, CST’s Thor and the ZX Spectrum Next. He is expert in console, mobile and PC audio and streaming system development, variously working as a sound designer, game audio programmer and audio systems engineer. He was Principal Programmer of the team which developed the 3D audio tech in the VR hit Elite: Dangerous.

Simon has been granted five US and UK patents, advised on AHRC and EPSRC research programmes and lectured at GDC, AES, BBC, Audio Programming, Retro Computing and University conferences.