Fairlight-CMI

Great thoughts Tobias and great idea to think about a CMI IV Peter,
please let me give some thoughts, too... 


Basing the original CMI operating system and features on a CC-1 will
be definitely nice. But nowadays there are much more possibilities
regarding workflow and GUI design as it was necessary in those days.
Of course the limitations led to special solutions which should be
remembered when designing the "new" GUI. 

But the main point will be the sound... the sound of the CMI was
created by its hardware components which was the best available. Today
you get better components for less money but are you sure you want
this? To have a clean and sterile sound? It is a different thing
emulating a "vintage" sound or having the original hardware as you all
will agree. You cannot emulate the small electric and chaotic things
which happen in analog hardware. By the way, having REAL good
converters is still very expensive (and you are not sure if you will
have the dynamics and the sound of the old machines)...

Lets have a small calculation:

5000$ - cc-1 card
3000$ - 8 channel AD conversion (benchmark Apogee AD-16)
3000$ - 8 channel DA conversion (benchmark Apogee DA-16)
2000$ - rack mount case for modules (height 8U)
????$ - fee for software development, service, warranty, shipping,...

Now get your "dream system"... having e.g. 8 inputs and 24 outputs
would generate a system of minimum 20k$... 

Just being able to use the old Fairlight sounds is not a big thing,
but having the real sound quality of the machines will be very hard to
reach. 

Greetz,

Michael 

P.S. The BIG and rich sound of the old systems came from the fact that
each output was dedicated to ONE voice so the quality will lose the
power when you will try to get more than one voice mixed/multiplexed
to a single output.