Fairlight

[thebaggytrouseredone]

I know the fairlight iOS app is over priced but I love using it on my iPad. I love the sounds but would you concider then hi-Fi or low-fi?

What was the quality of the original CMI, I know it was one of the first digital samplers or the first but reading the specs online it listed 16 bit 44.1khz for some machines but was it really cd quality?

simon

[davide37]

I know the fairlight iOS app is over priced but I love using it on my iPad. I love the sounds but would you concider then hi-Fi or low-fi?

What was the quality of the original CMI, I know it was one of the first digital samplers or the first but reading the specs online it listed 16 bit 44.1khz for some machines but was it really cd quality?

simon

The Fairlight app is a funny thing. When it was first announced, I thought: "Fantastic, I'll get an iPad". But now that I've also purchased loads of other synths and sequencers for a fraction of the Fairlight Pro, most of which are much better ergonomically and sound quality-wise, the app feels like a bit of expensive nostalgia. I'll still come back to it from time to time but I can't imagine doing anything serious with it. My lust for Page R has definitely vanished. And you can always use the higher quality CMI IIx samples in other apps.

[thebaggytrouseredone]

I kinda agree, but I'm looking for lo-Fi ish sounds and I like the fairlight app for this, with the core midi support I'll be using it as a sound module with my DAW.

[mindnoise]

I can agree,

If you are willing to take the Failight Pro for what it is, the emualtion of a Aus $30.000 hardware-dinosaure nostalgia, this is great bargain.
If you WANT a Failight this is the cheapest way to go.

If you try to compare it to modern music workstation you miss the point.

It's like buying a Stradivari Violine and complaining that there is electric pickup build in.

[D.Josef]

I really like the signature fairlight sound, but seem to be unable to get anything optimal out of it.

Thing has gone like this since I bought it:
- Create harmony on paper
- Play harmony on piano, sounds FSCKING AWESOME
- Spend half an hour putting an instrument together in Fairlight
- Putting the harmony into page R
- Almost throwing up from how horrible it sounds
- Spend 2 hours changing voices and re-patterning the rhythm
- Not getting anything better than below average and taking a hike from the whole thing

Maybe if there are some seasoned fairlighters out there, you could make some youtube vids with hints on selecting voices, etc.

[Jazz Franco]

It was the second audio app I bought (the first being iMS-20). Actually, Fairlight was one of the reasons I wanted an iPad in the first place. But... I rarely, if ever, use it. It's a marvelous, fantastic toy -- and a pricey one -- but still a toy. No way to integrate it with other apps/desktop DAWs -- no ACP, not even simplest iTunes wav export. Still, all those great sounds and absolutely fantastic feel of a pain in the a** while using the page R
All in all, it's like getting a real fairlight in your living room -- but without anything else, no $$$$ mixing board, not a single TASCAM 24-track and not a shade of a Peter Gabriel lurking around

[Scott Murrell]

---I bought it for pretty much the reason others did, I never could afford a Fairlight and all of a sudden I had one but now what to do with it? I use the Trevor Horn stab and that's about it...

[D.Josef]

The people at Fairlight say that they want to develop the app in the future, based on popular demand... And after posting a feature request, I got a very promising reply:

thanks for your feedback. I've added your vote for waveform drawing, which is a very popular request.

Sounds like we'll be getting a Page6.

[D.Josef]

Haha I finally figured Fairlight out, at least at a basic level, so I thought I'd share some experience with others.

What fazed me was that chord blocks simply don't seem to work on it. I'm still struggling with trying to get the sheer high voltage of a piano playing chord blocks out of the fairlight, and maybe it's an endeavor that is doomed to fail.

Anyway, what I found that works relatively good is:

* Put a pad down in the range of the 2nd octave. SARARR works wonders here.
* Get some bass synth or some such, and arpeggiate each chord with some octave jumping on the 2nd-3rd octaves.
* For the melody, don't try to use the full note length, ever. It always sounded deplorably mundane, no matter which voice I tried it with. Crank the Release of the voice up to 7-9, and just "touch" each note in turn, leave the note length up to the Release.
* The best solution I found for chord blocks (but still lightyears from the power of a piano, or any decent synth) is to set up three of the same voice, with the "topmost" the melody, and add the harmony notes with a 1/32 delay one after the other.

That said, chord blocks are still shit. Any idea on that? I really miss that electrifying buildup of tension that a good progression creates on a proper keyboard.

[topaz]

is the fairlight app multi timbral ?

[mindnoise]

is the fairlight app multi timbral ?

you can have eight monophonic voices on their own MIDI Channel or one 8x polyphonic voice.

[topaz]

Great thanks,

Is the timing now solid in the sequencer, early demos I heard where sloppy timing.

is the fairlight app multi timbral ?

you can have eight monophonic voices on their own MIDI Channel or one 8x polyphonic voice.

[mindnoise]

Great thanks,

Is the timing now solid in the sequencer, early demos I heard where sloppy timing.

I did not do any longterm sync tests, but within the song I'd say it is solid.

[topaz]

Yep all good

Grabbed, wonderful app.

[goldenanalog]