Features Timeline
Models | Year | Price | Notable new features | Voice# | Synthesis | Software | I/O | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Qasar I, II, M8 | 1975 ~1977 |
$20,000 base price |
|
? |
|
? | |||
CMI Series I | 1979 | ~£18,000 |
|
8 |
|
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|||
CMI Series II | 1980 | ~£25,000 |
|
8 |
|
|
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||
CMI Series IIx | 1983 | ~£27,000 |
|
8 |
|
|
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||
CMI Series III | 1985 | £50,000 |
|
16 |
|
|
|
||
CMI Series 30A | 2009/ 2011 |
~£20,000 |
|
? | ? | ? |
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||
Fairlight Pro App | 2011 | £29.99 |
|
? |
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|
Qasar I, II, and (last) M8 (1975–1977)
- Made by Fairlight and Creative Strategies
- Price: $20,000 base price
- CPUs: Dual Motorola 6800
- Storage: Hole paper tape reader
- Memory: 4 kB per voice
- Voices: 8 voices (no sampling, just numeric additive synthesis with 128 harmonics)
- Synthesis: Additive synthesis; dynamic harmonic control, waveform editing
CMI Series I (1979)
- Musical sampler was introduced.
- Price: ~£18,000
- CPUs: Dual Motorola 6800
- Storage: Two 8" floppy drives
- Memory: 16 kB per voice, System: 64 kB, Video: 16 kB (512x256 pixels)
- Voices: 8 voices of polyphony
- Synthesis: waveform drawing via lightpen; dynamic harmonic control, waveform editing
- Sampling: 8 bits at 16 kHz (mono)
- Sequencer: Basic keyboard sequencer, Musical Composition Language (MCL),
- Keyboard: 73 note unweighted velocity sensitive + slave keyboard
CMI Series II (1980)
-
- Price: ~£25,000
- CPUs: Dual Motorola 6800
- Storage: Two 8" floppy drives
- Memory: 16 kB per voice, System: 64 kB, Video: 16 kB (512x256 pixels)
- Voices: 8 voices of polyphony
- Synthesis: dynamic harmonic control (Page 4); waveform generating (Page 5); waveform drawing via lightpen (Page 6)
- Sampling: 8 bits at 2100 Hz to 30.2 kHz (mono) (Page 8)
- Sequencer: Basic keyboard sequencer (Page 9), Musical Composition Language (MCL, Page C), Realtime Composer (Page R)
- Keyboard: 73 note unweighted velocity sensitive + slave keyboard
- I/O: No MIDI, optional CV/Gate interface (Page A)
CMI Series IIx (1983)
-
- Price: ~£27,000
- CPUs: Dual Motorola 6809
- Storage: Two 8" floppy drives
- Memory: 16 kB per voice, System: 256 kB, Video: 16 kB (512x256 pixels)
- Voices: 8 voices of polyphony
- Synthesis: waveform drawing via lightpen; dynamic harmonic control, waveform editing
- Sampling: 8 bits at 2100 Hz to 30.2 kHz (mono) (Page 8)
- Sequencer: Page R, Basic keyboard sequencer, Musical Composition Language (MCL)
- Keyboard: 73 note unweighted velocity sensitive + slave keyboard
- I/O: MIDI, SMPTE
CMI Series III (1985)
-
- Price: £50,000
- CPUs: Dual Motorola 6809 CPUs, and one 6809 CPU for each voice card, one Motorola 68000 (to 68020) for waveform processor card
- Storage: Hard drive and Tape DC600 Streamer (ESDI, SCSI), one 8" floppy drive
- Memory: 14 MB, expandable to 32 MB and maximum 64 MB on last hard revision (RAM RAM disk), System: 356 kB
- Voices: 16 voices of polyphony (expandable)
- Synthesis: waveform drawing via graphics tablet; FFT; waveform editing
- Sampling: 16 bits at 100 kHz (mono) or 50 kHz (stereo)
- Sequencer: CAPS (Composer, Arranger, Performer Sequencer), 80 track polyphonic, Musical Composition Language (MCL),
- Keyboard: 73 note unweighted velocity sensitive (MIDI compatible)
- I/O: MIDI, SMPTE
CMI Series 30A (30th Anniversary) (announced in 2009, released in 2011)
-
- ~$20,000
- Retro look and feel of the original CMI
- Sound architecture based on the new Crystal Core
- CMI-30A Hardware Specifications
-
- System Components
- Mainframe — free-standing and adaptable to rack mount, includes 500GB SATA hard drive, DVD R/W drive, USB ports.
(Welded aluminium enclosure. Width:58 cm, Depth:50 cm, Height:30 cm, Weight:32 kg) - Monitor — 17" 1280 x 1024 pixels
(Width:51 cm, Depth:28 cm, Height:38 cm, Weight:12 kg) - Lightpen — Precision machined stainless steel pointer with left/right click button
- QWERTY keyboard — 85 clicky keys, USB output
- Music keyboard — Fatar 76 key TP40GH, with weighted keys and hammer action for a real piano feel,
velocity and aftertouch, pitch wheel, mod wheel, 3 assignable rotary controls, 2 assignable switches, assignable multitouch colour screen
(Width:130 cm, Depth:44 cm, Height:9.5 cm, Weight:25 kg)
- Audio Outputs
- 12 channels analogue, balanced TRS
- 2 channels analogue monitor mix, balanced TRS (front panel access)
(Dynamic range > 100 dB (unweighted); THD < 0.002% @ 1 kHz, −1dBFS; Frequency response +0.05 / −0.15 dB, 20 Hz – 20 kHz) - Digital output: 64 channel BNC MADI
- Audio Inputs
- 2 balanced mic/line inputs XLR, phantom power 48V option
(Sample rate: 44.1, 48, 96, 192 kHz; THD < 0.002% @ 1 kHz, −1dBFS; Frequency response +0.05 / −0.15 dB, 20 Hz – 20 kHz) - SPDIF
- Other I/O
- USB, Pedal x 3
- MIDI and MIDI Timecode input and output via 5 pin DIN
- LTC (Linear Time Code) input and output
- Word clock (for synchronisation to external sources)
- Power
- 100–240V AC — Mainframe & Keyboard: 9W, Monitor: 50W
Fairlight Pro App for iPhone, iPod Touch & iPad, iOS 4.0 or later. (2011)
-
- £29.99
- Entire original Fairlight CMI IIX Sound Library containing 564 voices.
- 100+ selected CMI III sounds - play the CMI voices from an external MIDI input or the on-screen keyboard.
- Display voices graphically using ‘Page D’, and change your viewpoint by tilting the iPhone/iPad.
- Authentic Fairlight CMI user interface.
- 8 track composition using ‘Page R’ pattern-based sequencer.
- Ability to create instrument sets that store settings for all 8 channels, including the voices, pitch shifts, volumes, release times etc.
- Import/export voices, compositions, MIDI and instruments.
Read more about this topic: Fairlight CMI
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