Two of the earliest commercial digital synthesizers were the Fairlight CMI, introduced in 1979, and the New England Digital Synclavier II.

The Fairlight CMI and the Synclavier were both expensive systems, retailing for more than $ 20, 000 in the early 1980s.

Although not as flexible or powerful as either the Fairlight CMI or the Synclavier, its lower cost and portability made it popular.

It used FM synthesis and, although it was incapable of the sampling synthesis of the Fairlight CMI, its price was around $ 2, 000, putting it within range of a much larger number of musicians.

The album has been criticized for its overuse of the Fairlight CMI synthesizer, and weak songwriting.

Series III of the Fairlight CMI ( computer musical instrument ) used dual 6809 CPUs and OS9, and also used one 6809 CPU per voice card.

* In the embedded market, where OS-9 has found application in such devices as the Fairlight CMI synthesizers, robotics, in-car navigation systems, and Philips ' Compact Disc-Interactive ( CD-i ) industry standard.

Although pricing made it inaccessible for most musicians, it found widespread use among producers and professional recording studios, competing at times in this market with such high-end production systems as the Fairlight CMI.

Horn polished the band's developing songs with modern studio effects and digital sampling using the Fairlight CMI and also played a prominent role in vocal arrangement ( including contributing to the backing vocals ).

It was notable for its use in the Fairlight CMI, and the BBC Micro.

** Fairlight CMI, the first digital sampling synthesiser

In the score, Zimmer uses synthesizers ( mostly a Fairlight CMI ) mixed with steel drums.

1984's Junk Culture was a return to a poppier sound and saw the band using digital sampling keyboards such as the Fairlight CMI and the E-mu Emulator.

The general concept of step-sequencing samples numerically, as used in trackers, is also found in the Fairlight CMI sampling workstation of the early 1980s.

It was during the Lexicon sessions that Horn first assembled the production team that would characterise and define the sound of a Horn production in the 1980s: Anne Dudley on keyboards and arrangements, Gary Langan ( later Stephen Lipson ) as chief engineer, J. J. Jeczalik on programming for the Fairlight CMI, backing vocalist Tessa Webb plus percussionist Luis Jardim.

# REDIRECT Fairlight CMI

Fairlight CMI series II — exhibited at NAMM Show 2011

The Fairlight CMI ( Computer Musical Instrument ) is a digital sampling synthesizer.

The Fairlight CMI was a development of an earlier synthesizer called the Qasar M8, an attempt to create sound by modeling all of the parameters of a waveform in real time.

By 1979, the Fairlight CMI Series I was being demonstrated in Australia, the UK and the US.

" Page R " and light pen | lightpen on Fairlight CMI II

The Fairlight CMI was very well built, assembled by hand with expensive components and consequently it was highly priced ( around £ 20, 000 for a Series I ).

This system is supposed to have the look and feel of the 1979 CMI but will use the latest ' Crystal Core media engine ' developed by Fairlight. au.

In 2011, Fairlight also released a CMI app for the Apple iPad.

The sandstone cliffs have been the subject of considerable erosion in relatively recent times: much of the Castle was lost to the sea before the present sea defences and promenade were built, and a number of cliff-top houses are in danger of disappearing around the nearby village of Fairlight.

In 1999 it was sold on to the newly formed Lightworks Inc., then owned by Fairlight Japan, and then purchased by Gee Broadcast in May 2004.

The Cano brothers were innovative musicians in the use of technology, and Nacho was one of the first Spanish musicians to own a Fairlight keyboard.

It was designed in 1979 by the founders of Fairlight, Peter Vogel and Kim Ryrie, and based on a dual-6800 microprocessor computer designed by Tony Furse in Sydney, Australia.

EBN-OZN's " AEIOU Sometimes Y " was the first American single recorded entirely on a Fairlight in 1981, released in 1983 by Elektra Records and Arista Records in London.

The first American album recorded entirely via Fairlight was Feeling Cavalier by EBN-OZN ( 1984 ).

Guitarist Ricky Wilson died during the making of the album, and so the Fairlight was used to make up for the lack of guitar parts on the album.

In America, Joan Gand of Gand Music and Sound in Northfield, Illinois was the top salesperson for Fairlight.

A lawsuit was won by the Gands against Fairlight in California, for unpaid sales commission on the last Series IIx to be sold.

It was never settled as Fairlight went bankrupt within days of the judgment and is still outstanding.

In the case of the music workstations, the next output devices to be added were typically computer terminal displays ( some with graphics ), and in the case of the Fairlight, the next input device was a light pen for " drawing " on the display screen.

The Fairlight was known for its " Page R " functions which provided real-time composition in a graphical form which was similar to that later used on drum machines such as the Roland TR-808.

The first commercially available sampling synthesizer was the Computer Music Melodian by Harry Mendell ( 1976 ), while the first polyphonic digital sampling synthesiser was the Australian-produced Fairlight CMI, first available in 1979.

However, in 1991, Fairlight ESP Pty Ltd developed the MFX2, the first 24 track disk recorder.

Fairlight later released the Series IIx, which increased the sampling rate to 32 kHz and was the first to feature basic MIDI functionality.

In 1979 they created the Fairlight CMI, the first digital audio sampler, quickly used by artists such as Peter Gabriel, Kate Bush, and Jean Michel Jarre.

The music was composed by Slava Tsukerman, Clive Smith and Brenda Hutchinson using the Fairlight CMI, the first digital sampler / synthesizer.

Back in 1982, Russell Mulcahy had directed two of their video clips: " Hey Little Girl " and " Street Cafe " ( released February 1983 ), after these Mulcahy asked Davies to record the score for his film Razorback, it was entirely instrumental, and featured Davies ' first recorded use of the Australian designed Fairlight Music Computer, the trailer for the movie was released in 1983, the film itself in April 1984.

1988-The first issue of their pioneering diskmag Exceller 8 was released in cooperation with Fairlight.

DiCola also pioneered the use of sequencers on his soundtrack recording for Rocky IV, one of the first to exploit the Fairlight CMI & Synclavier II's computer's sequencing capabilities.

The music makes heavy use of the Fairlight CMI IIx music computer, which was one of the first sampling systems.

Peter Gabriel was one of the first customers of the Fairlight CMI IIx.

Keyboard enthusiasts have taken special note of the Fairlight CMI ( the first digital sampling synthesiser ) that Nick Rhodes operated with a light pen in this video, and throughout the tour.

He also wrote a full album for his friend Catherine Ferry using for the first time his Fairlight synthesizer he bought at high price.

During the Summer, Bala come back in Scotland for his eighth and most successful record: Sauver l ' amour The French artist innovates again using his Fairlight and especially it's the first album released on Compact Disc.

On his first test of the new protocol, he is joined by his " Personal Digital Assistant " ( i. e. robot companion ), Cybert, and a delivery girl named Zeta Fairlight who is accidentally caught in the action that sweeps Argon and Cybert into the computer and the Web.

In addition to the use of synthesizers, Lawrence pioneered the use of computers and sampling on albums and was the first musician in Los Angeles to own and use the Fairlight CMI ( computer music instrument ).