Intriguing.
If it were going to be $5k it would have to bring significantly more to the table than the original Series III for me to be interested. ; At $5K I'd expect hundreds of voices of Fairlight sounding sampling/synthesis, sequencing, lots of tracks of hard disk recording and some DSP processing (EQ, delay, possibly reverb), basically a studio in a box.
I would pay up to $1500-2000 for something equivalent to CMI III/MFX II functionality. For just sampling emulation with nothing else it would have to be well under $1k. When people were talking software emulation I'm guessing they were thinking of something in the under $500 range.
Thanks for posting Peter, I'd like to see something like this happen but I also understand that to make it happen at a price point that folks will jump onboard is probably going to be difficult, especially if it's going to be a PC card.
Al
------ Original Message ------
Received: Tue, 04 Nov 2008 04:58:40 AM MST
From:
To:
Subject: [Fairlight-CMI] Fairlight CMI series IV?
There have been discussions from time to time about replicating the CMI
using a software emulation. These efforts will have limited success because
the "Fairlight sound" relies on the peculiarities of the hardware used in
the original design.
In the days when I was the designing CMI hardware, my greatest challenge was
to minimise the distortions and artifacts that were inherent aspects of the
hardware available at that time. In effect, we struggled to make the
Fairlight sound less "Fairlight". So the intimate details of what makes a
Fairlight sound like a Fairlight are indelibly etched in my brain.
When Fairlight brought out the Crystal Core Engine last year, my imagination
ran wild. Here was a tiny board with enormous capabilities that could be
configured to faithfully reproduce the CMI hardware in its FPGA (Field
Programmable Gate Array). Every bit of the 1980's CMI hardware, the essence
of its sound, could be reconstructed faithfully in digital hardware form.
To fully appreciate the astounding potential of the CC-1, download the
brochure here:
http://www.fairlightau.com/downloads/public/Fairlight%20NEW%20CC-1%20Brochur
e%20for%20WEB%20VIEW.pdf
I also recently discovered that ALL the IP relating to the original
Fairlight CMI including all of the hardware and filter designs, sample
libraries etc are still retained by Fairlight.au in Sydney.
So I have been wondering if it would be worthwhile to develop a faithful
reproduction of the CMI on the "Virtual Hardware" of the CC-1?
This would perform identically to the original CMI series II or III, but run
on a PC fitted with the Crystal Core card. The MIDI input would come
directly into the CC-1 so there would be no problem of latency introduced by
the PC.
At this stage I'd like to "feel out" the market to assess the level of
interest in this project and whether the significant investment in R&D will
be worthwhile.
The Fairlight Series IV (CC-1, I/O box and software) might be sold for
approximately $US5,000.00.
So my question is, what do you think of this idea? How would a Fairlight CMI
at this sort of price be received by the market? Who would the buyers be and
how would I tap into them?
What do you think?
Peter Vogel