Fairlight-CMI

Hi Dustin,

MFX is basically a hard disk-based recording and editing system. 
A Series 3 machine can be upgraded to an early version of MFX,
allowing direct to disk recording and some editing facilities. To do
this, a Series 3 needs to be fitted with a CMI 41 card. This is the
Waveform Supervisor card you may have already heard of, and replaces
the old Waveform Processor card used up until 1988. This card gives
considerably more performance and allows even more advanced Fairlight
features! It is based on a 68020 chip rather than the original 68000.
Originally MFX (1) allowed 16 track recording, but, following further
hardware upgrades, including a new case to hold it all, new software,
etc., MFX 2 gave 24 track recording facilities. MFX3 took things still
further with up to 48 in and 48 out, all from the one hard disk and
capable of recording more than 2 tracks simultaneously.

MFX 1 and 2 both still allowed sampling and wave editing, but the
alpha keyboard was replaced by a more comprehensive one fitted with an
integral wheel for cursor movement and a "mouse type" version became
available too.

Many Series 3 machines have been upgraded to MFX, but there is a limit
to the mainframe's hardware capacity, not least the number of inputs
and outputs on the back of the machine. Later software versions can be
installed (beyond revision 9.34),but this is largely pointless as the
hardware can not support it!

Hope this helps.
No doubt others will be able to give more detailed info!

All the best

CJ







--- In Fairlight-CMI@yahoogroups.com, "formula311dn"
<formula311dn@y...> wrote:
>
> Greetings all,
> 
> 
> I've always been curious about what it means for a Fairlight to have
> an MFX extension/upgrade. Could someone enlighten me further on this?
> 
> 
> I've only seen a few photos of the MFX keyboard, but wondered about
> the absence of the graphics tablet. Was it still used?
> 
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Dustin
>