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Fairlight Repository now available in the Vintage Repository - ChickenMan - 21-10-2022
When the Fairlight CMI was released, both the machine and its software represented a significant step forward in the application of computer technology to music. Today, the Fairlight is used in the making of popular music the world over, as well as performing an important role in the field of musical and technological education.
The Fairlight Computer Musical Instrument (or CMI, as it was commonly known) was the result of five years' research. This started in the mid-'70s, when Peter Vogel, an electronics designer, and Kim Ryrie, a synthesizer enthusiast, tried to design a digital synthesizer. Ryrie had already founded a magazine called Electronics Today International, for which he had developed a DIY analogue synth, the ETI 4600. Frustrated with the limitations of analogue synthesizers, he suggested to Vogel that they start a company to develop digitally controlled analogue synthesizers, along the lines of the yet to-be designed Prophet V. In December 1975, they founded Fairlight - named after a hydrofoil that sailed across Sydney harbour - and worked on the synthesizer project for six months with no success until they teamed up with Motorola consultant Tony Furse.
Vogel and Ryrie were interested in the processing side of the machine, which already featured the light pen and some of the graphics that would later become one of Fairlight CMI’s trademarks. Incorporating Furse’s technology, Vogel, Ryrie and Furse kept working on their digital synthesis idea, and in 1976, after more than a year of hard work, came up with the QUASAR M8.
At this point, Vogel and Ryrie licensed the whole design from Furse, and continued to develop the machine for the next couple of years, during which time the price of microprocessors and the peripheral components dropped dramatically. This, along with the realization that the architecture of the system would have to change drastically to make production feasible, led to the next version of the instrument - the CMI.
Searching the internet over the past 12 months or so for any information on the Fairlight, I found bits and pieces scattered everywhere, many duplicates with most not in good condition as well. Considerable time was spend repairing, joining, centreing, de-skewing, etc etc to get acceptable results. Big thanks to these sites for providing the majority of files _
https://app.box.com/s/8m3t9ud3yy50kz83nmnwbjw80asp4z8h
https://www.outofphase.fr/manuels-fairlight/
https://archive.org/
Facebook Fairlight CMI Group
So the Repository was setup with these folders :-
Brochures - 15 files
Field_Change_Notices - 25 files
Manuals - 37 files
Pictures - 14 files
ROMs - 10 files
Schematics - 26 files
Software - 9 files
Tapes - 8 files
General - 32 files
and there a lot of general files from magazine adverts, newsletters, lists, technical notes, etc.
So if your interested in or curious about the Fairlight, check it out in the Vintage Repository in the Fairlight folder. There are 168 files for you to get lost in.
Check out this recent 30min Youtube video - Exploring The Fairlight Series III - E1: The First Episode
So in the Vintage Repository we placed the new Fairlight folder.