Fairlight-CMI

Good afternoon Fairlight fans!!

Whilst the two Peters (and other members of the Fairlight Family) work furiously to get the first 30A's completed and ready for sale, I have been commissioned to start work around a number of side projects to compliment and enhance the 30A user experience as well as document the history of the CMI.

One of the jobs I am currently working on is collating a history on all the iconic and memorable sounds from the Fairlight factory libraries found in the Series II and III.  To this end, I am asking the community to share with me their favourite and best known uses of the contents of the factory library with me for consideration and possible inclusion into this documented history.

So, for example, the Pwang sample used so evocatively in Peter Gabriel's song "San Jacinto". Tell me the name of the sample and the track and artist that you remember it from. Even the ubiquitous Orch5 needs documenting so don't be afraid to tell us about the places you have heard it, because we might have missed them ourselves.

So that we don't clog the message board up, could you email me your contributions to rob.puricelli@fairlightinstruments.com.au using the subject header of "Fairlight Library Sounds History". This way, I can easily collate your responses and give credit where it is due.

I'm looking forward to receiving your mails and appreciate your assistance which will greatly contribute to the overall project.

Kind Regards,

Rob Puricelli
Fairlight Instruments

In reply to Peter K:

Regarding the lightpen, Peter Vogel has commented on the difficulties 
they've had in sourcing these.  It seems likely that he didn't offer any 
help on this issue in the past because he didn't have a source for them 
without committing to buy stock in bulk.

The same with floppy drives.  Several people on this forum had their own 
solutions to the issue and were in a better position to help than Peter or 
anyone else from the former Fairlight company.

I can appreciate your frustration if you're trying to keep a Fairlight 
working, but I certainly don't have the impression of Peter Vogel as someone 
who would simply ignore people he could help.  He's actually been very open 
to this community, as far as I can see, while standing aside to give people 
with experience in finding replacement parts the opportunity to help others 
here.

I've spoken to him a couple of times, and although I wasn't seeking help 
running an old Fairlight he was responsive and genuinely interested.  He 
personally provided information on the dog whose bark was in the original 
sample set, which led to a piece of music I wrote using that sample, which 
strikes me as the contribution of a person who cares about the instrument 
and its history.

Your question does raise a point that's occurred to me whenever Peter has 
referred to problems with parts, though.  I wonder whether the company will 
be providing the opportunity for owners of old Fairlights to buy replacement 
parts.

On the whole this seems like a very healthy and responsive community of 
people willing to help each other.  And a small company like Fairlight 
probably needs all the help it can get from such a community.  That would 
benefit all of us, as the healthier the company, the better for the rest of 
us.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: tonefloat01@yahoo.com

> Whoa!! I wouldn't expect an answer from Peter if uou're not nice! [etc]

Agreed.  Note for anyone reading this message, though - it's in reply to 
Peter K's original message, not to mine which was also a reply to Peter K.

Whoa!! I wouldn't expect an answer from Peter if uou're not nice! Wasn't there a guy on this forum that came up with a mouse replacement for a faulty or dead lighten on a fairlight? Why not contact that guy? 

Sent from my iPhone

On Feb 5, 2011, at 11:24 AM, "Andrew" <taoist.hermit1@virgin.net> wrote:

> 
> In reply to Peter K:
> 
> Regarding the lightpen, Peter Vogel has commented on the difficulties 
> they've had in sourcing these. It seems likely that he didn't offer any 
> help on this issue in the past because he didn't have a source for them 
> without committing to buy stock in bulk.
> 
> The same with floppy drives. Several people on this forum had their own 
> solutions to the issue and were in a better position to help than Peter or 
> anyone else from the former Fairlight company.
> 
> I can appreciate your frustration if you're trying to keep a Fairlight 
> working, but I certainly don't have the impression of Peter Vogel as someone 
> who would simply ignore people he could help. He's actually been very open 
> to this community, as far as I can see, while standing aside to give people 
> with experience in finding replacement parts the opportunity to help others 
> here.
> 
> I've spoken to him a couple of times, and although I wasn't seeking help 
> running an old Fairlight he was responsive and genuinely interested. He 
> personally provided information on the dog whose bark was in the original 
> sample set, which led to a piece of music I wrote using that sample, which 
> strikes me as the contribution of a person who cares about the instrument 
> and its history.
> 
> Your question does raise a point that's occurred to me whenever Peter has 
> referred to problems with parts, though. I wonder whether the company will 
> be providing the opportunity for owners of old Fairlights to buy replacement 
> parts.
> 
> On the whole this seems like a very healthy and responsive community of 
> people willing to help each other. And a small company like Fairlight 
> probably needs all the help it can get from such a community. That would 
> benefit all of us, as the healthier the company, the better for the rest of 
> us.
> 
>

Hi, Peter.  Thanks for your reply to my email.  I think you come across a 
lot better in this one.

My own impression of Peter Vogel is that he does care about the Fairlight 
and its history.  If he didn't, he wouldn't have replied to my question 
about the dog sample with details of the original dog and who she belonged 
to.  And his presence in this group predates his decision to go back into 
business making Fairlights, which also seems to confirm his genuineness. 
Indeed, when he originally started the company, he did so to market an 
instrument that was radical and didn't fit into any existing niche.  That 
suggests someone committed to the instrument and not to the market.

I think it's an unfortunate fact that as soon as someone's in business, 
their motives begin to be suspected.  It's also a fact that if you set up in 
business by identifying a need, you very quickly have people clamouring for 
the thing you're selling, which is good from a business point of view but 
only when you're sufficiently far developed that you can supply the demand.

At this point the new Fairlight company is at a very early stage and 
presumably financially precarious.  Also there are only a couple of people 
trying to do everything.

Regarding the floppy drives, you wrote:

> The current solutions are simply not good enough. At the moment I do
> think that Peter has the most insight and knowledge on this matter,
> please correct me if I'm wrong........

I don't have any priviledged knowledge on this, so I can't correct you if 
you're wrong, but I'd be inclined to agree, of course, that Peter's 
knowledge and experience would clearly be spot-on when it comes to the 
original instruments.  Whether he'd be as knowledgeable as anyone else here 
about different solutions using later technology I have no idea.  He'd 
obviously be an authority, though, however things are looked at.

The important point, to my mind, is the question whether the new Fairlight 
company is going to be in the spare parts business for the older 
instruments.  As I don't work for Fairlight I have no more idea than anyone 
else, but it seems logical that if new components would be compatible with 
the old instruments it would be in the company's interests to sell them.  If 
they can get hold of light-pens and drives that people want, common business 
sense would suggest they could either act as a supplier or else supply 
someone else who'd then do the necessary marketing and admin.  The question, 
therefore, is whether parts sourced for the new instrument would be 
compatible with the old ones.

Presumably that question will be answered in due time.  The sooner the 
better, of course, for people who need the parts, but at the moment Peter 
and co are working hard to get the company up and running, and there may not 
be a simple answer to the question.  Logically we'd all want the answer to 
the compatibility question to be `yes,' and that would include the company 
as it would be in their interests to make a profit selling the parts.  So 
I'd expect some information on this before too long.  If I had a Fairlight 
that was in desperate need of parts I'm sure I'd be as keen as you are to 
know what the situation is.

> There was a time that I liked everybody. Peace, love and happiness....
> Flower power.......... However, when you get older, you learn that not
> everybody is so nice and honest.

Yes, I'm old enough to have found that out, as well. :D  But I also see 
nothing negative about Peter or the new company, and I'm inclined to remain 
positive unless something negative emerges.

> Well, what if it's all just about the money and there is no love involved
> for the actual instruments? That doesn't make Peter a bad person.......
> However, if it would be so, and he would pretend to love the instruments,
> just to make money and in that process uses this community, perhaps giving
> them false hope on future support.... Now, that I wouldn't like so 
> much...........

Yes, I can appreciate that.  That's anxiety talking, I think?  And I'm sure 
I'd share the anxiety in your position.  But for the reasons I've mentioned 
I'm inclined to believe Peter does care about the instruments and the music 
made with them.  And maybe the false hope point you've made indicates 
precisely why there's been no information yet on parts for the older 
instruments?  It would give false hope if statements were made about 
supplying parts before it had been determiend whether suitable parts can be 
supplied.  As far as I can see, Peter hasn't given anyone false hope by 
promising something he may not be able to deliver.


> However, I would like to give the whole new company a word of advise:
> "Don't forget about customer support and take customers seriously. Don't
> make empty promises"

I think that's good advice.  I see no reason to believe that Peter or the 
new company think otherwise, though.  Time will tell, but at this point it 
all looks hopeful to me.

> At last for those who think I should always be nice to Peter:
> In my opinion, you should always speak up if you think something
> is wrong. If a person can't take some criticism, that that's his or her
> problem. A wise person learns from it...........

I think that's true.  Your original message did read more negatively than I 
think you intended, and to my mind all of this seems to be coming from your 
understandable hope and anxiety about an instrument you care about and want 
to be able to maintain.  But as yet there seems to be no reason to think 
anything IS wrong.  There's plenty of time yet to take Peter to task if he 
makes promises and fails to deliver - which is all the more reason why he'd 
be cautious about promising too much.

Just to address what I see as the key issues here... 

 

a)      If I knew where to get lightpens I'd be happy to share that
information.    I haven't actually been looking as they will only work with
CRT displays and the new CMI uses an LCD, so I have not been looking for
lightpens that would work with a CRT.  It would be possible to make
alternative electronics that would fit inside the case we're having made for
the new "lightpen" (which isn't an optical device at all) to replicate the
original lightpen. This would cost, at a guess, $5,000 to make say 20 of
these. If I could sell 20 at $250 I would recoup costs. So anyone who's
interested in buying a lightpen for $250 please email me and if I get 20
orders I'll do some more investigation. Alternatively, if someone else would
like to provide the electronics, I'd be happy to sell them the casings.

b)      I'm by no means the most knowledgable person on how to keep CMIs
operating.  I never owned a CMI, and still don't (although I am finally
buying a SIII and would like to buy a 2X if a good one is for sale?). I have
not used or repaired a CMI since 1989.  When I needed to find out how to
read 8" floppies on a modern platform, I consulted Google.  I doubt there
are any 8" drives available, but there is quite good information out there
on how to adapt a 3.5 or 5.25" floppy to work in place of an 8".  There are
also floppy emulators that use memory sticks - e.g.
http://plrelectronics.com. Again, Google is your friend. If there is no
drop-in replacement available, let me know. Again, if there is sufficient
interest to cover costs, I'll look into building something suitable.  I
guess this one would be $500 apiece.

c)       I try to reply to every email I receive, which is quite a large
task.  If I have failed to reply to someone, they are free to follow me up.
I must be one of the most contactable people in the world.  Anyone in the
world can find my direct office phone number in  10 seconds and my home
phone number might take 30 seconds.

Best regards,

 

Peter

 

PS

 

Does anyone have anything to contribute to my history project?

From: Fairlight-CMI@yahoogroups.com [mailto:Fairlight-CMI@yahoogroups.com]
On Behalf Of Andrew
Sent: Sunday, 6 February 2011 4:17 PM
To: Fairlight-CMI@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [Fairlight-CMI] We need your help!! Iconic Fairlight sounds

 

  


Hi, Peter. Thanks for your reply to my email. I think you come across a 
lot better in this one.

My own impression of Peter Vogel is that he does care about the Fairlight 
and its history. If he didn't, he wouldn't have replied to my question 
about the dog sample with details of the original dog and who she belonged 
to. And his presence in this group predates his decision to go back into 
business making Fairlights, which also seems to confirm his genuineness. 
Indeed, when he originally started the company, he did so to market an 
instrument that was radical and didn't fit into any existing niche. That 
suggests someone committed to the instrument and not to the market.

I think it's an unfortunate fact that as soon as someone's in business, 
their motives begin to be suspected. It's also a fact that if you set up in 
business by identifying a need, you very quickly have people clamouring for 
the thing you're selling, which is good from a business point of view but 
only when you're sufficiently far developed that you can supply the demand.

At this point the new Fairlight company is at a very early stage and 
presumably financially precarious. Also there are only a couple of people 
trying to do everything.

Regarding the floppy drives, you wrote:

> The current solutions are simply not good enough. At the moment I do
> think that Peter has the most insight and knowledge on this matter,
> please correct me if I'm wrong........

I don't have any priviledged knowledge on this, so I can't correct you if 
you're wrong, but I'd be inclined to agree, of course, that Peter's 
knowledge and experience would clearly be spot-on when it comes to the 
original instruments. Whether he'd be as knowledgeable as anyone else here 
about different solutions using later technology I have no idea. He'd 
obviously be an authority, though, however things are looked at.

The important point, to my mind, is the question whether the new Fairlight 
company is going to be in the spare parts business for the older 
instruments. As I don't work for Fairlight I have no more idea than anyone 
else, but it seems logical that if new components would be compatible with 
the old instruments it would be in the company's interests to sell them. If 
they can get hold of light-pens and drives that people want, common business

sense would suggest they could either act as a supplier or else supply 
someone else who'd then do the necessary marketing and admin. The question, 
therefore, is whether parts sourced for the new instrument would be 
compatible with the old ones.

Presumably that question will be answered in due time. The sooner the 
better, of course, for people who need the parts, but at the moment Peter 
and co are working hard to get the company up and running, and there may not

be a simple answer to the question. Logically we'd all want the answer to 
the compatibility question to be `yes,' and that would include the company 
as it would be in their interests to make a profit selling the parts. So 
I'd expect some information on this before too long. If I had a Fairlight 
that was in desperate need of parts I'm sure I'd be as keen as you are to 
know what the situation is.

> There was a time that I liked everybody. Peace, love and happiness....
> Flower power.......... However, when you get older, you learn that not
> everybody is so nice and honest.

Yes, I'm old enough to have found that out, as well. :D But I also see 
nothing negative about Peter or the new company, and I'm inclined to remain 
positive unless something negative emerges.

> Well, what if it's all just about the money and there is no love involved
> for the actual instruments? That doesn't make Peter a bad person.......
> However, if it would be so, and he would pretend to love the instruments,
> just to make money and in that process uses this community, perhaps giving
> them false hope on future support.... Now, that I wouldn't like so 
> much...........

Yes, I can appreciate that. That's anxiety talking, I think? And I'm sure 
I'd share the anxiety in your position. But for the reasons I've mentioned 
I'm inclined to believe Peter does care about the instruments and the music 
made with them. And maybe the false hope point you've made indicates 
precisely why there's been no information yet on parts for the older 
instruments? It would give false hope if statements were made about 
supplying parts before it had been determiend whether suitable parts can be 
supplied. As far as I can see, Peter hasn't given anyone false hope by 
promising something he may not be able to deliver.

> However, I would like to give the whole new company a word of advise:
> "Don't forget about customer support and take customers seriously. Don't
> make empty promises"

I think that's good advice. I see no reason to believe that Peter or the 
new company think otherwise, though. Time will tell, but at this point it 
all looks hopeful to me.

> At last for those who think I should always be nice to Peter:
> In my opinion, you should always speak up if you think something
> is wrong. If a person can't take some criticism, that that's his or her
> problem. A wise person learns from it...........

I think that's true. Your original message did read more negatively than I 
think you intended, and to my mind all of this seems to be coming from your 
understandable hope and anxiety about an instrument you care about and want 
to be able to maintain. But as yet there seems to be no reason to think 
anything IS wrong. There's plenty of time yet to take Peter to task if he 
makes promises and fails to deliver - which is all the more reason why he'd 
be cautious about promising too much.

On Sat, 2011-02-05 at 20:58 -0500, Steve Rance wrote:

> supported in any form that is 25 years old? Cars of the same vintage
> fall into the same category (and price) but you would not expect Ford
> or GM to maintain support for a 1980 model, enthusiasts do.

I picked up a 25-year-old Merc in rough-but-running condition for £300.
Let me know when I can get a Fairlight of any flavour for that sort of
money.

Oh, and Mercedes are more than happy to oblige with spare parts, even if
some of them take a couple of weeks to find and be shipped over from
Stuttgart ;-)

Gordon MM0YEQ

Come on Gordon, it is not reasonable, humourous or helpful to compare a huge well established corporation manufacturing a globally in demand product with Fairlight, a company that sold, what, less than 400 units? In a niche market over ten years. It shows a complete lack of understanding of how business is done.

The original complaint seeking parts for a vintage instrument is also completely unreasonable. If you own a vintage instrument, maintaining it is part of the fun surely! I don't understand this sense of entitlement to after market support when it's not even economically viable. Let the man earn a living, stop expecting charity.

Tomás.


--- In Fairlight-CMI@yahoogroups.com, Gordon JC Pearce <gordon@...> wrote:

>
> On Sat, 2011-02-05 at 20:58 -0500, Steve Rance wrote:
> 
> > supported in any form that is 25 years old? Cars of the same vintage
> > fall into the same category (and price) but you would not expect Ford
> > or GM to maintain support for a 1980 model, enthusiasts do.
> 
> I picked up a 25-year-old Merc in rough-but-running condition for £300.
> Let me know when I can get a Fairlight of any flavour for that sort of
> money.
> 
> Oh, and Mercedes are more than happy to oblige with spare parts, even if
> some of them take a couple of weeks to find and be shipped over from
> Stuttgart ;-)
> 
> Gordon MM0YEQ
>

On Sun, 2011-02-06 at 21:04 +0000, tomulcahy wrote:
> Come on Gordon, it is not reasonable, humourous or helpful to compare
> a huge well established corporation manufacturing a globally in demand
> product with Fairlight, a company that sold, what, less than 400
> units? In a niche market over ten years. It shows a complete lack of
> understanding of how business is done.

You get my point though - it's unhelpful to make sweeping
generalisations ;-)

Now if I was trying to source body panels for a 1920s Bugatti, that
would be more of a suitable car analogy.  I'd have to go to an expert,
who would probably make the part by hand, with a commensurate price tag.
I'm reminded of the paragraph on Streetly Electronics's website about
being able to supply *absolutely brand new* Mellotrons, built to your
spec - there's no price listed, because if you want to go there you
already know what you're getting into.

> The original complaint seeking parts for a vintage instrument is also
> completely unreasonable. If you own a vintage instrument, maintaining
> it is part of the fun surely! I don't understand this sense of
> entitlement to after market support when it's not even economically
> viable. Let the man earn a living, stop expecting charity.

I think that Peter Vogel is doing a wonderful job of supporting the
Fairlight community, and I only wish that the manufacturers of the
samplers I *do* have (hello, Ensoniq) were a tenth as helpful!

Gordon MM0YEQ

Is here : <http://ucla.academia.edu/RobertFink/Papers/179755/The_Story_of_ORCH5 
 >

:p

JB

Le 7 févr. 11 à 18:46, Laurent LEMAIRE a écrit :

>
> Hello David,
>
> i tryed to download the documents using the URL you gave us, but I  
> keep receiving the following error message :
> ForbiddenAccess denied by access control list.
>
> Am I missing something ?
>
>     Laurent.
>
>
>
> On 6 févr. 11, at 22:25, egrefin wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> Hello!
>>
>> > One of the jobs I am currently working on is collating a history  
>> on all the iconic and memorable sounds from the Fairlight factory  
>> libraries found in the Series II and III. To this end, I am asking  
>> the community to share with me their favourite and best known uses  
>> of the contents of the factory library with me for consideration  
>> and possible inclusion into this documented history
>>
>>
>> This could be very interesting for all people on this forum. Thanks  
>> to share with us!
>> About the ORCH5 sound, here are some interesting documents:
>> http://homepage.mac.com/rfink1913/FileSharing1.html
>>
>> David C.
>> http://www.fairlightcmi.fr/
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>

You get my point though - it's unhelpful to make sweeping
> generalisations ;-)
Hi Gordon. Ah, OK, I missed the implication of the ;). Too subtle for me! ;) 

Maybe use [sarcasm] [/sarcasm] instead?

It has been interesting reading this thread for it reminded me of one of the most important gifts of my relationship with Fairlight. When I purchased my Series III in 1986, I was in my early thirties,and having been a middling success, guitarist, songwriter and record producer, the financial commitment was huge. As my attempts to make the investment pay slowly got off the ground I carried a deep fear and I was always trying to get Fairlight to deliver MORE for my money. I hadn't quite grasped that I had bought into the privilege of being involved with a cutting edge experiment, which meant there was always a gap between what was hoped for and what was possible, or even sometimes what was promised and delivered, although what was delivered instead turned out even better. It also meant that one had to take on a certain responsibility to learn enough to be able to improvise repairs and make adjustments with one's own resources.

It all worked out, but in a few years Akai, Roland and all the large corporate instrument makers were selling samplers that could fulfill most people's (simple) demands for a fraction of the cost: the business model was over.

The kind of "support" that we have seen being demanded in this thread, is the kind that one develops with large corporate makers. It is a parental, always there to take care of my yammering desires style of "support". And, to go momentarily off topic, it makes me wonder if that is why we tolerate this corporate owned world we now find ourselves in; we trade our freedoms for a parental type "guarantee".

Oh well, I am glad that the "mad" tinkerers like Peter Vogel can get on with it. They rarely reap the big rewards for their passion, those same corporate mothers tend to sweep it up.

So to the unreal Mssr. K, I would suggest (in today's parlance) "man up", or don't swim out of your depth.

The real,

Peter Kaye






--- In Fairlight-CMI@yahoogroups.com, "lovesign50" <rob.puricelli@...> wrote:
>
> Good afternoon Fairlight fans!!
> 
> Whilst the two Peters (and other members of the Fairlight Family) work furiously to get t



etc. etc.

> 
> Rob Puricelli
> Fairlight Instruments
>

well said my man. 


--- In Fairlight-CMI@yahoogroups.com, "djangokitty2" <pdkaye@...> wrote:

>
> 
> 
> It has been interesting reading this thread for it reminded me of one of the most important gifts of my relationship with Fairlight. When I purchased my Series III in 1986, I was in my early thirties,and having been a middling success, guitarist, songwriter and record producer, the financial commitment was huge. As my attempts to make the investment pay slowly got off the ground I carried a deep fear and I was always trying to get Fairlight to deliver MORE for my money. I hadn't quite grasped that I had bought into the privilege of being involved with a cutting edge experiment, which meant there was always a gap between what was hoped for and what was possible, or even sometimes what was promised and delivered, although what was delivered instead turned out even better. It also meant that one had to take on a certain responsibility to learn enough to be able to improvise repairs and make adjustments with one's own resources.
> 
> It all worked out, but in a few years Akai, Roland and all the large corporate instrument makers were selling samplers that could fulfill most people's (simple) demands for a fraction of the cost: the business model was over.
> 
> The kind of "support" that we have seen being demanded in this thread, is the kind that one develops with large corporate makers. It is a parental, always there to take care of my yammering desires style of "support". And, to go momentarily off topic, it makes me wonder if that is why we tolerate this corporate owned world we now find ourselves in; we trade our freedoms for a parental type "guarantee".
> 
> Oh well, I am glad that the "mad" tinkerers like Peter Vogel can get on with it. They rarely reap the big rewards for their passion, those same corporate mothers tend to sweep it up.
> 
> So to the unreal Mssr. K, I would suggest (in today's parlance) "man up", or don't swim out of your depth.
> 
> The real,
> 
> Peter Kaye
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> --- In Fairlight-CMI@yahoogroups.com, "lovesign50" <rob.puricelli@> wrote:
> >
> > Good afternoon Fairlight fans!!
> > 
> > Whilst the two Peters (and other members of the Fairlight Family) work furiously to get t
> 
> 
> 
> etc. etc.
> > 
> > Rob Puricelli
> > Fairlight Instruments
> >
>