Fairlight-CMI

Hello, I'm new to the board — a lover of the Fairlight sound who
doesn't own one.  I have a few questions:

1) What was it about the Page R that led people in the musical
directions it did?  With very few exceptions, if you listen to a
Fairlight album from the mid-80s, just about everyone was doing these
very off kilter, herky jerky sequences, with tons of panning and
a-rhythmic fills.  Because while plenty of people did the Yello/Cosby
Show/"Oh, look a guy going 'Doh!'" thing w/ cheaper samplers after the
Fairlight fell out of favor, a lot of the sequencing elements that made
Fairlight records unique just about completely disappeared.   But w/o
ever having seen one hands-on, what were they exactly?

2) How would you best emulate this aspect of the Fairlight with, say,
Reason or some other modular synth program today?  I have both the
Digital Domain disc and JJ's Art of Sampling to get close to the sound
part, at least...

Thanks!
Matt