Fairlight-CMI

To answer Tristan's questions:
	
>	Do you mean to say you would replicate the CMI digital logic in the
FPGA but that the analogue 
>	parts would be emulated using DSP? Or would there be an extra board
with the analogue filters etc 
>	on it? What about the CMI light pen, would that be emulated in some
way on the PC?

There would be no analogue parts, it would all be emulated in the FPGA.
	
>	What is be the intended market life of the CMI IV? Although the
existing CMI models have been 
>	kept working many decades after being discontinued, what will happen
when the CC-1 card is 
>	discontinued and PC hardware and Windows software versions change?
Will the CMI IV continue to 
>	be updated and supported?

That is of course a concern of any hardware sort software product. The
intention would be to continually update the software. The hardware has
vastly more capacity than is required for the series II emulation, so there
will be room for expansion. 
	
>	Would you be looking to extend and improve on the CMI design? Could
we expect larger memory 
>	sizes and other added processing/synthesis features in addition to
the authentic CMI sound, UI and 
>	mojo?

Yes, certainly. If you look at what the CC-1 card does today, you will see
that there is horsepower to burn. From Fairlight website:

What can be achieved with just ONE CC-1 card

*  Capable of sampling frequencies up to 384Khz
*  Able to manipulate audio at 72bit floating point
*  Processes up to 230 hi res audio channels at 48Khz
*  Delivers 8 fully parametric bands of EQ on EVERY channel
*  Delivers 3 Stages of Dynamics on EVERY channel
*  Delivers 72 user definable mix busses from Mono to 7.1
*  Provides a 64 channel audio bridge for 3rd party PlugIns
*  Supports up to 220 physical I/Os per CC-1 card, Analogue, Digital or MADI

So the Series IV could be much more capable than the Series III, and
potentially run an excellent mixer and hard disk recorder at the same time.
The issue of course is development cost, which is why I'm considering an
entry point that will provide the revenue for further development.

Best regards,

Peter
	
	/Tristan
	
	Quoting peter.vogel@vogelfamily.net
<mailto:peter.vogel%40vogelfamily.net> :
	
	> 
	> 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
<http://www.fairlightau.com/downloads/public/Fairlight%20NEW%20CC-1%20Brochu
r> 
	> 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
	> 
	>