| Fairlight CMI | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Manufacturer | Fairlight |
| Dates | 1979–1989, 2011–present |
| Price | £ 15,000[2]–112,000[3] |
| Technical specifications | |
| Polyphony | 8–16 voices |
| Timbrality | Multitimbral |
| LFO | forvibrato[4] |
| Synthesis type | Additive synthesis Sampling (8 bit @ 16 kHz –16 bit @ 100 kHz), waveform editing/drawing, additive resynthesis (FFT) |
| Filter | low-pass foranti-aliasing[4] |
| Input/output | |
| Keyboard | 73 keys non-weighted, velocity sensitive. Option: slave keyboard[4] |
| Left-hand control | 3 sliders, 2 buttons, numeric keypad (right side)[4] |
| External control | Computer keyboard Light pen CV/Gate (option, CMI II~) MIDI •SMPTE (CMI IIx~) |
TheFairlight CMI (short forComputer Musical Instrument) is adigital synthesizer,music sampler, anddigital audio workstation introduced in 1979 byFairlight.[5][6][7] It was based on a commercial licence of the Qasar M8 developed by Tony Furse of Creative Strategies inSydney, Australia. It was one of the earliest electronic music workstations with an embedded sampler and is credited for coining the termsampling in music. It rose to prominence in the early 1980s and competed with theSynclavier fromNew England Digital.
In the 1970s,Kim Ryrie, then a teenager, had an idea to develop a build-it-yourselfanalogue synthesizer, the ETI 4600, for the magazine he founded,Electronics Today International (ETI). Ryrie was frustrated by the limited number of sounds that the synthesizer could make.[8] After his classmate,Peter Vogel, graduated from high school and had a brief stint at university in 1975, Ryrie asked Vogel whether he would be interested in making "the world's greatest synthesizer" based on the recently announcedmicroprocessor. He recalled: "We had long been interested in computers – I built my first computer when I was about 12 – and it was obvious to me that combining digital technology with music synthesis was the way to go."[7]
In December 1975, Ryrie and Vogel formed ahome business to manufacturedigital synthesizers.[8] They named the business Fairlight after thehydrofoil ferry passing before Ryrie's grandmother's home inSydney Harbour.[8] The two planned to design a digital synthesizer that could create sounds reminiscent of acoustic instruments (physical modelling synthesis).[8] They initially planned to make ananalogue synthesizer that was digitally controlled, as the competingMoog synthesizer was difficult to control.[9]
By 1978, Vogel and Ryrie were making "interesting" but unrealistic sounds. Hoping to learn how to synthesize an instrument by studying theharmonics of real instruments, Vogel recorded about a second of a piano piece from a radio broadcast. He discovered that by playing the recording back at different pitches, it sounded much more realistic than a synthesized piano sound. He recalled in 2005:
It sounded remarkably like a piano, a real piano. This had never been done before ... By today's standards it was a pretty awful piano sound, but at the time it was a million times more like a piano than anything any synthesizer had churned out. So I rapidly realised that we didn't have to bother with all the synthesis stuff. Just take the sounds, whack them in the memory and away you go.[9]
Vogel and Ryrie coined the termsampling to describe this process.[13] With the Fairlight CMI, they could now produce endless sounds, but control was limited toattack, sustain, decay andvibrato. According to Ryrie, "We regarded using recorded real-life sounds as a compromise – as cheating – and we didn't feel particularly proud of it."[8] They continued to work on the design while creating office computers for Remington Office Machines, which Ryrie described as "a horrendous exercise, but we sold 120 of them".[8]
In addition to the keyboard, processing, computer graphics and interactive pen borrowed from Furse's synthesizer, the pair added aQWERTY keyboard, and a large 1×1.5×3-foot box stored the sampling, processing andADC/DAC hardware and the8-inch floppy disk.[8] The biggest problem was largely considered to be the small 16 kB sample memory. To accommodate sample lengths from approximately a quarter of a second to an entire second, a low variablesample rate between 24 kHz and 8 kHz was used.[8] The low sample rate introducedaliasing; however, Vogel felt that the low quality of the sounds gave them their own character.[14]
The Music Composition Language feature was criticised as being too difficult for practical use.[8] Other primitive aspects included its limited amount of RAM (208 kilobytes) and its green-and-black graphics.[8] Nonetheless, the CMI garnered significant attention from Australian distributors and consumers for being able to emulate sounds of acoustic instruments, as well as for its light pen and three-dimensional sound visualisation. Still, Vogel was unsure whether there would be enough interest in the product.[8] The CMI's ability to emulate real instruments made some refer to it as an "orchestra-in-a-box", and each unit came with 8-inch, 500-kilobyte floppy disks that each stored 22 samples of orchestral instruments.[8] The Fairlight CMI also garnered publicity in the science industry, being featured on theBBC science and technology seriesTomorrow's World. TheMusicians' Union described it as a "lethal threat" to its members.[8]
In the summer of 1979, Vogel demonstrated the Fairlight CMI at the home of English singer-songwriterPeter Gabriel, where Gabriel was working on histhird solo studio album.[8] Gabriel, as well as many other people in the studio, was instantly engrossed, and he used strange sounds such as breaking glass bottles and bricks on the album.[8][15] One of those present for the demonstration, Stephen Paine, recalled in 1996: "The idea of recording a sound into solid-state memory and having real-time pitch control over it appeared incredibly exciting. Until that time everything that captured sound had been tape-based. The Fairlight CMI was like a much more reliable and versatile digitalMellotron. Gabriel was completely thrilled, and instantly put the machine to use during the week that Peter Vogel stayed at his house."[8]
Gabriel was also interested in selling the CMI in the United Kingdom, and he and Paine formed Syco Systems to distribute it for £12,000.[8] The first UK customer wasLed Zeppelin bassistJohn Paul Jones, followed by musicians includingBoz Burrell,Kate Bush,Geoff Downes,Trevor Horn,Alan Parsons,Richard Wright andThomas Dolby.[8] The Fairlight CMI was also a commercial success in the United States, used by acts such asStevie Wonder,Herbie Hancock,Cabaret Voltaire,Jan Hammer,Todd Rundgren andJoni Mitchell.[8] Musicians came to realize that the CMI could not match the expressiveness and control that could be achieved using acoustic instruments, and that sampling was better applied as imaginative sound than pure reproduction.[8][16]
The second version of the Fairlight CMI, Series II, was released at a price of £30,000 in 1982.[8] The sampler's maximum sample rate was increased to 32 kHz, allowing a reduction of aliasing, but only for short samples, as its sample memory was not increased. Thebit depth of the sampler also remained 8 bits.[8] The CMI's popularity peaked in 1982 following its appearance on a special of the arts magazine seriesThe South Bank Show that documented the making ofPeter Gabriel's fourth self-titled studio album, where he used 64 kilobytes worth of samples ofworld music instruments and sequenced percussion.[17]
The Fairlight CMI Series II became widely used in popular music recordings of the early to mid-1980s,[8] and its most commonly used presets included anorchestra hit ("ORCH 5") and a breathy vox ("ARR 1").[17]
The popularity of Series II was in large part due to a new feature, Page R, their first truemusic sequencer.[8] As a replacement for the complicated Music Composition Language (MCL) used by Series I, Page R helped the Fairlight CMI Series II become a commercial juggernaut. Page R expanded the CMI's audience beyond that of accomplished keyboard players.[8]Audio Media magazine described it as an echo of thepunk rock era: "Page R also gave rise to a flow of quasi-socialist sounding ideology, that hailed the impending democratisation of music creation, making it available to the musically chops-challenged."[8] Graphically depicting editable notes horizontally from left to right, themusic programming profession and the concepts ofquantization and cycling patterns of bars where instrument channels could be added or removed were also born out of the Page R sequencer.[8] CMI user Roger Bolton recalled: "By definition, its sampling limitations and the Page R sequencer forced the composer to make high-quality decisions out of necessity. The CMI II was a high-level composition tool that not only shaped the sound of the 80s, but the way that music was actually written."[18] Fairlight kept making updates to the system, such as a 1983 upgrade called the CMI Series IIx, which now allowed forMIDI, until the release of Series III in 1985.[8]
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The sampler of the Series III featured many improvements on its predecessors. It was capable of 16-bit sampling, with a maximum sample rate of 44.1 kHz, across 16 channels. This was enabled by the increase in sample memory from 16 kB per channel to 14 MB across all channels, an increase by a factor of 56, even when all channels are in use.[8] Its design, graphics, and editing tools were also improved, such as the addition of a tablet next to the QWERTY keys, using a stylus instead of the on-screen lightpen;[8] this change was made due to complaints from users regarding arm aches from having to hold the pen on the screen.[18]
An enhanced version of the Page R sequencer called Composer, Arranger, Performer, Sequencer, or CAPS, as well as Eventsync, a post-production utility based onSMPTE timecode linking, were also added to the Series III computer.[8] However, while many people were still using CMIs, sales were starting to diminish significantly due to much lower-cost, MIDI-based sequencers and samplers including theAtari ST andAkai's S612,S900 and1000 samplers appearing on the market.[8] Paine stopped selling the CMI in the United Kingdom because of this.[8] The Fairlight company was becoming more focused on post-production products, a market Paine had a hard time getting used to, and when HHB Communications Ltd took over distribution for the United Kingdom, they failed to sell any.[8]
Peter Gabriel was the first owner of a Fairlight Series I in the UK.Boz Burrell ofBad Company purchased the second, whichHans Zimmer hired for many recordings during the early part of his career.[19] In the US,Bruce Jackson demonstrated the Series I sampler for a year before selling units toHerbie Hancock andStevie Wonder in 1980 for US$27,500 each.[20] Meat-packing heirGeordie Hormel bought two for use atThe Village Recorder in Los Angeles.[20] Other early adopters includedTodd Rundgren,Nick Rhodes ofDuran Duran, producerRhett Lawrence and Ned Liben ofEbn Ozn,[8] the owner of Sundragon Recording Studios who served as the demonstration representative for Fairlight for the U.S. east of the Mississippi.[citation needed]
The first commercially released studio album to incorporate the Fairlight wasKate Bush'sNever for Ever (September 1980), programmed byRichard James Burgess andJohn L. Walters.[21]Wonder took his Fairlight out on tour in 1980 in support of the soundtrack albumStevie Wonder's Journey Through "The Secret Life of Plants" to replace theComputer Music Melodian sampler he had used on the recording.[20]Geoff Downes used the Fairlight onYes' 1980 studio albumDrama and its subsequent tour. Downes later used the Fairlight onthe Buggles' 1981 studio albumAdventures in Modern Recording, and both in the studio and live withAsia.Mike Oldfield used the Fairlight CMI extensively on side one of his 1983 studio albumCrises.The first classical album using the CMI was produced byFolkways Records in 1980 with composersBarton McLean andPriscilla McLean.[22]
Peter Gabriel's 1982 studio album also featured the CMI. In 1981, Austrian musiciansHubert Bognermayr and Harald Zuschrader composed a symphony,Erdenklang – Computerakustische Klangsinfonie.[23] This work premiered live on stage, using five music computers, during theArs Electronica festival in Linz.[24] In 1984, he released an album by the singer and songwriter Claudia Robot. (Phonogram) Her studio albumAlarmsignal consisted of songs written by the female vocalist, with tracks produced by the Fairlight CMI.
The first commercially released single in the US made with a computer, a Fairlight CMI, wasEbn Ozn's "AEIOU Sometimes Y" (Elektra 1983) - actually recorded in 1981-1982,[25] along with their studio album "Feeling Cavalier" (Elektra Records 1984).
Devo's 1984 studio albumShout heavily featured the Fairlight CMI at the expense of analog instruments.Gerald Casale later stated thatShout was the biggest regret of his career, "because the Fairlight [synthesizer] just kind of took over everything on that record. I mean, I loved the songwriting and the ideas, but the Fairlight kind of really determined the sound."[26] FrontmanMark Mothersbaugh later used the CMI in the soundtrack of the 1991 children's television showRugrats.[27] The instrument is most prominently heard as the lead instrument in the show's theme song – it is the 'Swannee' sample with alow-pass filter applied.
Australian singerJohn Farnham used a Fairlight CMI on his twelfth album,Whispering Jack, in 1985 and 1986.[28]
After the success of the Fairlight CMI, other firms introduced sampling.New England Digital modified theirSynclavier digital synthesizer to perform sampling, whileE-mu Systems introduced a less costly sampling keyboard, theEmulator, in 1981. In the United States, a new sampler company,Ensoniq, introduced theEnsoniq Mirage in 1984 for the price of $1,695, less than a quarter of the price of other samplers.[29]
In America, Joan Gand of Gand Music and Sound in Northfield, Illinois was the top salesperson for Fairlight. The Gand organisation sold CMIs toPrince,James "J.Y." Young ofStyx,John Lawry ofPetra,Derek St. Holmes of theTed Nugent band,Al Jourgensen ofMinistry, and many private studio owners and rock personalities.[30] SpokespersonJan Hammer appeared at several Gand-sponsored Musictech pro audio events, to perform the "Miami Vice Theme".
The ubiquity of the Fairlight was such thatPhil Collins stated on the sleeve notes of his 1985 studio albumNo Jacket Required that "there is no Fairlight on this record" to clarify that he had not used one to synthesize horn and string sounds.[31]
Swedishwarez and Commodoredemo scene groupFairlight took its name from this device, whichJean-Michel Jarre used on some of his records.[32]
Experimental music groupCoil considered the device unique and unsurpassed, describing using the Fairlight as "An aural equivalent ofWilliam Burroughscut-ups".[33]
In 2005, the Fairlight CMI was inducted into theTECnology Hall of Fame, an honor given to "products and innovations that have had an enduring impact on the development of audio technology."[34] In 2015, the Fairlight CMI was inducted into theNational Film and Sound Archive'sSounds of Australia collection.[35]
In February 2025, an Australian documentary calledThe birth of electronic music | How the Qasar & Fairlight CMI pioneered computer music technology was released. It uncovered a lot of previously unreported or mis-reported information about the Fairlight CMI.
Citations
{{citation}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)Production: Designed by Tony Furse. Made by Tony Furse and Creative Strategies, Sydney, Australia. / History: Used by Tony Furse, Kim Ryrie and Peter Vogle as prototype to development of Fairlight CMI.
Sources
