Fairlight-CMI

Hi Laurence,

Here's a nice clip where you can see Page R in action:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afkAcPirz9U

Best,
David
http://dvdborn.blogspot.com


--- In Fairlight-CMI@yahoogroups.com, "matthew_weiner_2000" <matthew.weiner@...> 
wrote:
>
> Laurence, thank you — that was helpful to hear.  I've actually tried
> some of the things you suggest with...mixed success.  I would def.
> agree that the monophonic and velocity things are big — it adds to the
> robotic feel of the thing.  
> 
> I don't know if you're familiar with the program, but Reason—with its
> pattern-based Redrum drum machine emulator and Matrix
> Modulator—strikes me as being a system that SHOULD do a fairly decent
> job of reproducing the Fairlight composition process.  But still I
> don't get it exactly — things I do seem to plod repeatedly where most
> Fairlight sequences seem to be in a constant state of change.  
> 
> Lastly, I'm replying to this response of yours, as part of me wonders
> how much of the artiest IIx stuff I've been hearing—JJ Jezcalik's work
> with Trevor Horn comes to mind—was done on MCL as opposed to Page R. 
> There's just this hyperattentive level of detail on some of those records.
> 
> Any further thoughts?  Part of me thinks that hearing a multitrack of
> some of this stuff (a la Gabriel's "Shock the Monkey" but with all
> Fairlight) would really help.  As would seeing this thing for myself,
> though where that would happen is anybody's guess...
> 
> --- In Fairlight-CMI@yahoogroups.com, Laurence Shields <mercybox@>
> wrote:
> >
> > It's not a stupid question at all. First, the Series II and IIx had
> three sequencers, Page 9, MCL, and Page R. There was no way to "sync"
> any of the sequencers together (apart from multi-tracking one to tape,
> then loading and syncing the other). If you think about it, it
> wouldn't make much sense anyway, as the Fairlight could only play 8
> voices altogether. Having those voices shared between two sequencers
> at once would be of limited value. 
> > 
> > Page R, as has been said, is a rhythmic composition page. You have 8
> monophonic lines that you can repeat, transpose, and so forth. You use
> patterns to represent, say, parts of a song, and then you can arrange
> them in different orders to make up that song. Really, just think
> glorified drum machine and you've basically got it.
> > 
> > Page 9 (or Keyboard Sequencer) is altogether different. It is a
> straight record and overdub page. It's basically useful as a
> scratchpad for recording a performance but there are no editing
> features of any kind. No quantize either(!). You can overdub lines
> with another sound in the Fairlight's memory and change the tempo and
> such but that's about it. You play it in, it plays it back. That's it.
> It does have a facilty for importing MCL sequences, for easy playback.
> > 
> > MCL (or Music Composition Language) is also quite different. It
> doesn't using the music keyboard at all. Commands and note events are
> step-entered from the QWERTY keyboard using codes for pitch, length,
> velocity, controllers and so on. Unless you are experienced, composing
> a song in this way takes a pretty long time. However, you can achieve
> results that are not possible with the other sequencers. I think many
> power users in the early 80s must've used this quite a bit on records.
> Incidently, this is the only one of the sequencers in which you can
> record and play back controller data that has not been assigned to one
> of the Fairlight's physical controls, if that makes any sense. :-)
> > 
> > By the way, the Series III is totally different in many, many ways.
> Not only do you have 16 voices, but you have another sequencer, CAPS,
> that is a bit more modern and supports polyphonic recording and such.
> I would imagine that many people used that.
> > 
> > Hope that helps.
> > 
> > Laurence
> > 
> > 
> > ----- Original Message ----
> > From: Andrew <taoist.hermit1@>
> > To: Fairlight-CMI@yahoogroups.com
> > Sent: Wednesday, October 4, 2006 5:46:47 AM
> > Subject: Re: [Fairlight-CMI]Re: Page R — What Made It So Unique and
> How Can I Emulate It?
> > 
> > 
> > I hope this isn't a stupid question.  I don't have a Fairlight so
> I'm just 
> > on this list for gathering information.
> > 
> > As I recall (from many years ago :D), the Series II had Page R as a
> rhythm 
> > programmer, but also Page 9 as a sequencer.  I would have expected
> if that 
> > was the case that Page R would usually be used for rhythm events - 
> > percussive stuff - and Page 9 for note sequences.
> > 
> > But that doesn't seem to be what's being said here, which refers to
> Page R 
> > being used for rhythmic note sequences.  Is this because - as many
> people 
> > complained at the time - there wasn't a way to link Page R and Page
> 9?  I 
> > always assumed (dangerous, I know) that Fairlight would fix that with a 
> > software update, or sort it with the Series III, but it doesn't
> sound that 
> > way from what's being said.  So I'm curious about Page 9 and why people 
> > didn't use it for sequencing.
> > 
> > 
> > 
> >  
> > Yahoo! Groups Links
> >
>