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Description
One of the world's first music workstations, the Fairlight Computer Musical Instrument (CMI) paved the way for modern music production with its unprecedented multitimbral capabilities and convincing ability to emulate various instruments. After its introduction in 1979, the CMI quickly became a studio staple (despite its nearly $100,000 price tag), appearing in everything from "Everybody Wants To Rule The World" by Tears for Fears to the "Miami Vice" soundtrack.
Videos
Fred Koke
Herbie Hancock jams with his Fairlight CMI
Reviews
Critic Reviews
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Artist usage
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At the beginning of this article, there is a photo of Gabriel with a Fairlight, as the caption underneath confirms.
Atari 1040 ST, Atari Mega ST 4, Roland: Super JX 10, S 50, D 50, MKS 80, MKS 30, U 110, MPG 80; Akai X 7000, Fairlight, Yamaha TX 81 Z, Akai S 612, Korg DVP 1, Roland SRV 2000, Korg SDD 1200, Ibanez SDR 1000, Eventide Harmonizer, 3x Hohner HS-1/E, 2x Klark EQ, Arsonic-Sigma 5.2, EMS Synthi A, and others...
The attached image is from the sleeve of the Discovery album and the Fairlight Series II (keyboard, computer and monitor) can be seen in the centre. Oldfield was one of the early Fairlight owners. He actually had two of them (astonishingly, given their cost at the time!), both of which were used for live work. (reference tubular.net http://tubular.net/instruments/#SAMPLER )
Accoring to this article Roland Orzabal used a Fairlight CMI when recording Tears For Tears classic album Songs From the Big Chair
''Peter Vogel brought an early CMI to the UK in person, and one of the first people to get one was Peter Gabriel. Once UK distributor Syco Systems had been set up, the client list started to grow. John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin) bought the first as a replacement for his Mellotron. He was soon followed by Kate Bush, Thomas Dolby, Geoff Downes, Queen, Keith Emerson, Alan Parsons, Stuart Copeland, JJ of Art of Noise, Trevor Horn and Frankie Goes To Hollywood, and many others''
This Sound On Sound article states: "The huge cost of the Fairlight CMI did not put the rich and famous off. Peter Vogel brought an early CMI to the UK in person, and one of the first people to get one was Peter Gabriel. Once UK distributor Syco Systems had been set up, the client list started to grow. John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin) bought the first as a replacement for his Mellotron. He was soon followed by Kate Bush, Thomas Dolby, Geoff Downes, Queen, Keith Emerson, Alan Parsons, Stuart Copeland, JJ of Art of Noise, Trevor Horn and Frankie Goes To Hollywood, and many others."
"A picture of Chris Lowe from the Pet Shop Boys playing a Fairlight Series III on"
In this comment from his Reddit AMA, Frost mentions he used a CMI in his score for season 3 of the Netflix series 'Dark'.
According to an article by Heather Johnson on Mixonline, Curt Smith used the Fairlight CMI synthesizer during the recording of Tears for Fears' classic album "Songs from the Big Chair."
"With careful manipulation you can use the latest technology to drive the old stuff anyway; for instance, I use a Fairlight CMI to drive the Minimoog, because I still don't think there's been a better lead synthesizer than the Minimoog in terms of actual solo synth playing."
Ric used the CMI Fairlight on Heartbeat City as well as Greg Hawkes for some parts
Greg Hawkes Both Greg and Ric used the Fairlight CMI extensively on Heartbeat City, but also used the Roland Jupiter B and Vocoder, the Memorymoog, the Yamaha DX7 and DX9, the Mini-Korg, a Prophet 5 and a PPG 3.2 Wave synthesizer.
Album Usage
The Fairlight CMI has been featured on the following albums:
End Of World
Public Image Ltd (2023)
Existential Reckoning
Puscifer (2020)
Discovery (Remastered 2015)
Mike Oldfield (2016)
Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence
Ryuichi Sakamoto (2015)
Zoolook
Jean Michel Jarre (2015)
Sign O' The Times
Prince & Prince (1987)
They Might Be Giants
They Might Be Giants (1986)
Dream Come True
A Flock of Seagulls (1986)
Scoundrel Days
A-ha (1986)
Songs From The Big Chair
Tears for Fears (1985)
Heartbeat City
The Cars (1984)
Junk Culture
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (1984)
Points On The Curve
Wang Chung (1984)
Beat Boy
Visage (1984)
90125 (Deluxe Version)
Yes (1983)
Future Shock
Herbie Hancock (1983)
Tug Of War
Paul McCartney (1982)
Genre Usage
Based on how artists on Equipboard use this gear, it is most commonly found in the following genres.
Used With
Based on how musicians on Equipboard use Fairlight CMI, it is most commonly used with the following gear.
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