Closest thing to a fairlight CMI Series III emulation.

[V0RT3X]

I know there are plenty of amazing samplers out there by UVI and the Bitley refill, however I am just curious if there is a VSTi emulation that works in the same way
the Waldorf PPG Wave 3.v does.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntTNmB8XTwI

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairlight_CMI

I think it would be awesome to have! I suppose it would require getting on board with Peter Vogel and getting his graces to proceed.

Also I would be wondering what the closest thing would be to getting that same Fairlight sound in a VSTi.


I have no idea but I really love the sound of this instrument. IMO Its almost like the fairlight is one of the bigger definitive 80s instrument.

[fluffy_little_something]

And I am still waiting for a Synclavier emulation

[whyterabbyt]

I know there are plenty of amazing samplers out there by UVI and the Bitley refill, however I am just curious if there is a VSTi emulation that works in the same way

Not VST, but there's what's basically a CMI for iOS.

http://petervogelinstruments.com.au/ios/

[sergiofrias]

I know there are plenty of amazing samplers out there by UVI and the Bitley refill, however I am just curious if there is a VSTi emulation that works in the same way
the Waldorf PPG Wave 3.v does.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntTNmB8XTwI

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairlight_CMI

I think it would be awesome to have! I suppose it would require getting on board with Peter Vogel and getting his graces to proceed.

Also I would be wondering what the closest thing would be to getting that same Fairlight sound in a VSTi.


I have no idea but I really love the sound of this instrument. IMO Its almost like the fairlight is one of the bigger definitive 80s instrument.

I would also love to get the Fairlight ,also i would love to get a e-mu emulator emulation,(so much love for 80's here )but unfortunately there is no complete vst emulation of the fairlight (UVI Darklight its not a complete emulation),much of the sound of those machines was derived to A/D converter,you could try using a bitcrusher and sample rate reducer to aproximate the sound of the fairlight i suggest you to use Sonitex 1260 or D16 Decimort.

[xNiMiNx]

Just to throw it out there:

http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=5212865

Follow the links, youll come to disk images of the sounds, along with things like notebooks from engineers.

[Vectorman]

So apparently there's finally a place to get some of the Series III library...in the iOS app. I'm more interested in the III library than the IIx at this point, but I still don't feel any burning desire to get an iPad.

[xNiMiNx]

I'm more interested in the III library than the IIx at this point, but I still don't feel any burning desire to get an iPad.

http://www.fairlightus.com/Downloads/in ... 2FIII+WAVS

[Failed Muso]

Recreating a CMI, be it a Series I, II or III, as a plug in is currently not technically possible. This is not my personal opinion but that of Peter Vogel, co-inventor of the Fairlight.

Some years ago, this discussion was had over in the Fairlight Yahoo group and Peter was part of that discussion. To faithfully recreate a Fairlight CMI in software, right down to the last fuse, resistor and chip, would require far more processing power than a regular computer and off the shelf audio interface could manage. Ironically, however, the present day Fairlight company that grew out of the ashes of the original organisation, had recently released a dedicated DSP and audio IO system based around their Crystal Core DSP chips.

Peter had evaluated this and found that this hardware was capable of accurately modelling the vintage circuitry and components in order to give us a modern day version of the Fairlight. And Peter set out exploring how to do this.

The very limitations of the technology of the time, and the clever workarounds invented by Peter to overcome those limitations, gave the Fairlight a unique sonic colour. So, unlike today, where we can sample any sound and replay it, sounding a near perfect rendition of the source, in the late 70s and 80s, only a few seconds of sampling time were available, and the memory could only hold a few samples at a time, so that sample had to be stretched across the entire keyboard range. It was only with the Series III that multi-sampling became possible. Long story short, the Fairlight had to perform some pretty complex trickery to keep those samples sounding somewhat authentic. To do this, there were numerous processors and other digital components that performed all kinds of tasks. It was these components and these methods that gave the Fairlight its quality. And it's these very things that are incredibly difficult to recreate with a regular PC and a good quality IO. It needs dedicated DSP to be done.

So, with the CC-1 card from the present day Fairlight company, Peter finally came up with the Fairlight CMI 30 AX, a $20,000 AUD machine that centred around a PC running Linux and a bespoke application and using the CC-1 DSP and audio IO to do the hard work. These were built in limited numbers. The iOS app, which I had a hand in marketing, was supposed to be a piece of working nostalgia, a novel and useful historical tool that recreated some of the foibles and many of the sounds of the original machines. The samples in there are custom conversions of the original library data. Whilst they are very recognisable, because they haven't been played back through an actual Fairlight, they are a little way off being 100% accurate.

Now, there are plenty of Fairlight samples out there, some way better than others, such as Bitley's Fairlight library for Reason and Kontakt. In my humble opinion, that's as close as you'll get to a sample library doing the Fairlight justice. Many other libraries exist of varying qualities. But there really is nothing like hearing those samples emanate from an actual Fairlight. I can vouch for this as I have a Series III sat 2 feet behind me, a system that used to belong to Ian Stanley of Tears for Fears and that is currently being restored by myself and Peter Wielk, a former Fairlight product manager and engineer and probably the world's leading restorer of these magnificent machines.

As much as I'd love there to be a way of recreating a CMI in a plug in, it just isn't currently possible, ironic as it might seem. I know of a project that is currently in beta that may well deliver a very acceptable halfway house, but I'm under NDA and can't discuss it at the moment, but it's looking promising.

My personal recommendation is Bitley's Fairlight Library for Reason & Kontakt. It contains a myriad samples and patches, abeit based around the Series II libraries (the Series III libraries are still under copyright, AFAIK). Alternatively, the iOS app can also give you a good collection of sounds that will come to life with a bit of FX added. Oh, and the UVI "Darklight" library is very good also

Hope that helps?

You can follow the progress of the CMI restoration I am doing over at my blog, as well as read about other Fairlight based items.

www.failedmuso.com/blog

[V0RT3X]

Recreating a CMI, be it a Series I, II or III, as a plug in is currently not technically possible. This is not my personal opinion but that of Peter Vogel, co-inventor of the Fairlight.

Some years ago, this discussion was had over in the Fairlight Yahoo group and Peter was part of that discussion. To faithfully recreate a Fairlight CMI in software, right down to the last fuse, resistor and chip, would require far more processing power than a regular computer and off the shelf audio interface could manage. Ironically, however, the present day Fairlight company that grew out of the ashes of the original organisation, had recently released a dedicated DSP and audio IO system based around their Crystal Core DSP chips.

Peter had evaluated this and found that this hardware was capable of accurately modelling the vintage circuitry and components in order to give us a modern day version of the Fairlight. And Peter set out exploring how to do this.

The very limitations of the technology of the time, and the clever workarounds invented by Peter to overcome those limitations, gave the Fairlight a unique sonic colour. So, unlike today, where we can sample any sound and replay it, sounding a near perfect rendition of the source, in the late 70s and 80s, only a few seconds of sampling time were available, and the memory could only hold a few samples at a time, so that sample had to be stretched across the entire keyboard range. It was only with the Series III that multi-sampling became possible. Long story short, the Fairlight had to perform some pretty complex trickery to keep those samples sounding somewhat authentic. To do this, there were numerous processors and other digital components that performed all kinds of tasks. It was these components and these methods that gave the Fairlight its quality. And it's these very things that are incredibly difficult to recreate with a regular PC and a good quality IO. It needs dedicated DSP to be done.

So, with the CC-1 card from the present day Fairlight company, Peter finally came up with the Fairlight CMI 30 AX, a $20,000 AUD machine that centred around a PC running Linux and a bespoke application and using the CC-1 DSP and audio IO to do the hard work. These were built in limited numbers. The iOS app, which I had a hand in marketing, was supposed to be a piece of working nostalgia, a novel and useful historical tool that recreated some of the foibles and many of the sounds of the original machines. The samples in there are custom conversions of the original library data. Whilst they are very recognisable, because they haven't been played back through an actual Fairlight, they are a little way off being 100% accurate.

Now, there are plenty of Fairlight samples out there, some way better than others, such as Bitley's Fairlight library for Reason and Kontakt. In my humble opinion, that's as close as you'll get to a sample library doing the Fairlight justice. Many other libraries exist of varying qualities. But there really is nothing like hearing those samples emanate from an actual Fairlight. I can vouch for this as I have a Series III sat 2 feet behind me, a system that used to belong to Ian Stanley of Tears for Fears and that is currently being restored by myself and Peter Wielk, a former Fairlight product manager and engineer and probably the world's leading restorer of these magnificent machines.

As much as I'd love there to be a way of recreating a CMI in a plug in, it just isn't currently possible, ironic as it might seem. I know of a project that is currently in beta that may well deliver a very acceptable halfway house, but I'm under NDA and can't discuss it at the moment, but it's looking promising.

My personal recommendation is Bitley's Fairlight Library for Reason & Kontakt. It contains a myriad samples and patches, abeit based around the Series II libraries (the Series III libraries are still under copyright, AFAIK). Alternatively, the iOS app can also give you a good collection of sounds that will come to life with a bit of FX added. Oh, and the UVI "Darklight" library is very good also

Hope that helps?

You can follow the progress of the CMI restoration I am doing over at my blog, as well as read about other Fairlight based items.

www.failedmuso.com/blog

Thanks for this very insightful reply! I guess I will have to make do with what the Bitley refills, which means I should probably re-buy Reason 7 again.

Thanks again for the reply!

[Lode_Runner]

Hollow Sun also do a sampled Fairlight for Kontakt, and as always with Hollow Sun it's relatively cheap (15 pounds) http://www.hollowsun.com/HS2/products/v ... /index.htm

[Gamma-UT]

Thanks for this very insightful reply! I guess I will have to make do with what the Bitley refills, which means I should probably re-buy Reason 7 again.

Bitley did a library for Kontakt. I'm not sure if he's still selling it but it has been updated fairly recently.

[carrieres]

Recreating a CMI, be it a Series I, II or III, as a plug in is currently not technically possible. This is not my personal opinion but that of Peter Vogel, co-inventor of the Fairlight.

Some years ago, this discussion was had over in the Fairlight Yahoo group and Peter was part of that discussion. To faithfully recreate a Fairlight CMI in software, right down to the last fuse, resistor and chip, would require far more processing power than a regular computer and off the shelf audio interface could manage. Ironically, however, the present day Fairlight company that grew out of the ashes of the original organisation, had recently released a dedicated DSP and audio IO system based around their Crystal Core DSP chips.

i just can not believe this !
just read about Moore's law http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moore%27s_law

[crimsonwarlock]

Recreating a CMI, be it a Series I, II or III, as a plug in is currently not technically possible. This is not my personal opinion but that of Peter Vogel, co-inventor of the Fairlight.

Some years ago, this discussion was had over in the Fairlight Yahoo group and Peter was part of that discussion. To faithfully recreate a Fairlight CMI in software, right down to the last fuse, resistor and chip, would require far more processing power than a regular computer and off the shelf audio interface could manage. Ironically, however, the present day Fairlight company that grew out of the ashes of the original organisation, had recently released a dedicated DSP and audio IO system based around their Crystal Core DSP chips.

i just can not believe this !
just read about Moore's law http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moore%27s_law

Agreed, I would say that the original developer of any 'product X' is the LEAST objective and/or believable person to give such statements

In programming, it is also common to refer to the NIH "Syndrome" as the tendency towards reinventing the wheel (reimplementing something that is already available) based on the belief that in-house developments are inherently better suited, more secure or more controlled than existing implementations.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Not_invented_here

[Vectorman]

I'm more interested in the III library than the IIx at this point, but I still don't feel any burning desire to get an iPad.

http://www.fairlightus.com/Downloads/in ... 2FIII+WAVS

Cool, thanks for that. The choir and drum sounds smack of mid '80s (in a way I rather like). I'd have to make sure the same samples are included in the iOS app before using them - at that point, if you buy the app, you've essentially bought a license to use the sounds (whether you play them from the app and pipe them into your computer or just play the WAV's in Kontakt is kind of moot in terms of the end result).

As far as getting at least the original IIx library to sound right all up and down the keyboard, shouldn't it be as simple as just chromatically sampling every key on the Fairlight for each sound? Then you'd get all the transposition artifacts and anti-aliasing filter coloration of the original throughout the key range. Obviously that wouldn't do if you wanted to take your own samples and have them sound like they would being played back on a Fairlight, but for the original library, you'd think that would be sufficient.

[Failed Muso]

Recreating a CMI, be it a Series I, II or III, as a plug in is currently not technically possible. This is not my personal opinion but that of Peter Vogel, co-inventor of the Fairlight.

Some years ago, this discussion was had over in the Fairlight Yahoo group and Peter was part of that discussion. To faithfully recreate a Fairlight CMI in software, right down to the last fuse, resistor and chip, would require far more processing power than a regular computer and off the shelf audio interface could manage. Ironically, however, the present day Fairlight company that grew out of the ashes of the original organisation, had recently released a dedicated DSP and audio IO system based around their Crystal Core DSP chips.

i just can not believe this !
just read about Moore's law http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moore%27s_law

We're not talking about hardware performance increasing exponentially, we're talking about recreating antique hardware in software as a plug in. Therefore, Moore's Law is irrelevant here.

If you wish to dispute this with Peter Vogel, feel free