Fairlight CMI IIx

Converters 8 / 8-voice polyphony. Sampling 30kHz stereo. 256KB of system memory and 128KB of ram for sounds.
Implementation complte midi (3 + 4 in out). A sampling from mono. Storage 8-inch diskette! and a gorgeous 76-key keyboard. In 82 's of luxury silent
It is a workstation with several complte squenceurs whose splendid page R, FFT analysis, morphing table of waves and so on.

UTILIZATION

Pages hyper intuitive and quick rev of ACCS as few as large memory. Fairlight software fits on a floppy disk and is the point. The analysis and resynthse are a bit long but I only use them rarely because I still trs mode sampling. The latter is of great simplicity with the wand on users press the word "sampling" and the turn is played, the sound loop and automatically maps. The wand is also useful for drawing trs harmonics or notes page R.

SOUNDS

It does not exist to sample the sounds that PForm more than this machine. 8 bit sampling with analysis by the beaches of frequencies and resynthse in 16 bit. But between the two, there is a change bcp! moreover Fairlight jealously guards its Mystra by not putting the same step in the technical docs schmas of cards chantillonage. You can sample n 'matter what, even a sound without interest and with any luck it will come out compltement redynamis and purified. A simple sound effects becomes much more musical. I have also to sample bits of pieces and no known trs n 'silent able to recognize the original. Yet Mr Jackson Thriller, everyone recognizes the first seconds lol. With IIx that is looting easy and safe

OVERALL OPINION

I like it:
- The 8-inch floppy disks! now unavailable
- Sound factory, bcp too heard and that does not reprsentent tural capabilities of the machine
- No hard drive except for that of Queen ngoc who had the option price of gold
- No dynamic allocation of voice you load a sound and you must assign it to converters. And each converter is a voice polyphony. Basically if you need to play a lap time of 3 votes a piece, and although there will only be 5 votes to play the rest even if the water does not play that at beginners!
- Weight, fuel consumption and noise: 45kg, 650w, and the fans. You feel not only when the lights
- The keyboard without aftertouch
- The memory limit 1s 24kHz (about) and voice. Of the eight votes it up right even 8s.

I like:
- Hyper music without the sound multiplex, its infrabass and acute (the 100 khz BCAN up and my dog ​​is happy trs). The transformation of sound ingrable (no ACCS - automatic processing) and devilishly effective: eight loops that run with the R page, it's so standard that it borders on overdose. In fact the sound of the Fairlight is too strong lol
It is really dernire machine that I would sell. I 'looking for a 2nd same, but it is hard especially since trs qqes months o everyone therewith hands. Ms. Duran Duran and Pet Shop Boys have surrendered their Fairlight!

The CMI I, II, IIx are machines that have a polyphony of 8 notes.
Each note is a sample (sample) or a re-synthesis of sound. The size of each sound is 16KB, and yes 16384 bytes!
The beach sample is limited in the range 2500Hz to 32000Hz.
The connection is the professional type that is to say: Balanced XLR.
It incorporates the first commercial software to track sequencer Interactive, the famous "page R" is an 8 track sequencer that uses n and all pages can be edited with the wand (lightpen).
There is no real effect as it entant now (like DSP) capabilities, but loops pseudo echo, etc ... But there is primarily against very good VCF filters (CEM 3320 and SSM 2045).
For data storage, there are two "old" players 8 inch single face (~ 512KB max per disk, that is to say, ~ 23 sounds).

UTILIZATION

This machine is a marvel of its kind to configure and use. This big box makes you want to delve into its operation, the software interface was well thought out, even if relatively complete! And "look" is mortal, we like it or not

Editing sounds is rather old technique or even primitive (must go through commands in console mode for example to rotations of the waveform) but there is always an omnipresent wand ...

The documentation is extensive but often only in English!)

Again, the machine is very easy to take over, so the documentation is useless soon!

SOUNDS

The sounds are suitable for my style of music ... Even if they are not very realistic!
But fishing! And yes, the IJC has a dynamic of hell itself does 8bits!

There is no real effect as it entant now (like DSP) capabilities, but loops pseudo echo, etc ... But there is primarily against very good VCF filters (CEM 3320 and SSM 2045).
Hence the grain very special Fairlight, who has not heard the "Haaa" or "hoooo" MIC (in many pieces of 80-90 years). Eg ¾ sounds is the Art Of Noise ... CMI Zoolook of Jarre's a lot of CMI ...
And also many other users and other: Peter Gabriel, Tears For Fears, Kate Bush, Jan Hammer, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Pet Shop Boys, Yes, Yello, Mike Oldfield, etc. ...

OVERALL OPINION

I bought my CMI IIx 37000Frs in 1991, it was down for a long time. I never had the time and place to retype ...

In recent years, "boot" again and produces sounds crazy (that is to say CMI)!
Warning MICs are difficult to repair. Although I am not an electronics (it's a hobby, but I'm starting to have a good base), and it took a lot of tests (so long)!
I am proud to have retyped my CMI almost all alone, and especially to regain my CMI in working ...
The current rating of a CMI II (on ebay this is that we find the easiest) is ~ € 3500 to € 4000 and a IIx for Series III according to the Rev.> 4000 € ... 9.34 A CMI and II MFX> € 11,000!

What I like about this machine is the manipulation of sound and its "retro design» top

And more, the granularity of the sound it makes! III MFX MICs and no longer really a granular (8 bits), but have other interesting features!

What is more painful? Doubt is not allowed: The sound of six fans and disk drives 8''...
There is also the sponsorship side of EDF through excessive consumption (~ 700W), in fact it's a real heater! Think of air conditioning the room or the CMI will be Oh yeah it makes a sound of madness it is not to be next to be ..

Certainly if the opportunity arises is, I would make the same choice ... Besides, I want a CMI MFX III or II ...
But for this next step, I put aside Euros!