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An orchestra of sounds
The Fairlight came with 33x 8” disks. A
library of unique and unusual sounds.
Each 8” disk was labled: Bells, Brass, Choral, Organs, Drums, Effects. Each
disk holding a maximum of 64 sounds. Each sound being 8bit with a length
of 16k or 16384bytes. Sound too short, then you have to loop it, but make
sure you get rid of that CLICK!
Two sounds stand out in the library: SARARR.VC which is a breathy layered
human voice that can be heard on Tears For Fears mega hit:’Shout’ and the
80’s defining ORCH2.VC (which was taken from Stravinsky's Firebird Suite)
and was used by EVERYONE! It was first heard in Afrika Bambaataa's ‘Planet
Rock’ and soon after in Kate Bush's ‘The Dreaming’. Other examples include
En Vogue's ‘Hold On’ and Duran Duran's ‘A View to a Kill’ not forgetting Yes's
‘Owner of a Lonely Heart’ And if anyone says “it was ORCH5.VC or
SARAR.VC”, the library names kept changing through various revisions.
Jean Michel Jarre - preperation for Lyon concert 1986
Tech Tip
The Fairlight had an
extensive and very well
known library of sounds.
Each new customer would
also feed back their
creations to Fairlight, and
the library expanded. There
was even competition
between producers to see
whose sounds would be
included in the next update!
All of these components, assembled by hand in Fairlight’s facility in Rushcutter’s Bay, came together to
form the Computer Music Instrument and, quite literally, changed the way we make music forever. Both
technologically and culturally important, the legacy of the CMI lives on to this day. Thankfully, its internal
design does not. If I had a penny for every time someone tells me that their mobile phone has “a million
times more processing power”, I’d be a very rich guy. But what your mobile device lacks is character. It
lacks brazen ingenuity, unshackled by the bean counters and style gurus. It doesn’t smell of warm
electronics, nor does it deliver a
deep sense of satisfaction every
time it powers up and boots
Rob and a (now very working) Series III
without failing. Most importantly, it
is too clean. Too pristine. There’s
no sonic colour or quaint glitches.
It’s too perfect and that’s what is
missing in so much today. And
that’s why I slave over broken
CMI’s, every spare minute I have.
If you want to know more, or
want your Fairlight restored, or
want to buy one (deep pockets
are still required). Pop along to
www.failedmuso.com and let’s
chat.