Fairlight-CMI

Hallo Peter,

I was visiting this group to post about a faulty diskdrive when I saw 
your post.
Great to see that you are still thinking about the cmi.
I think there might be quite some people out there who would be 
intrested in such a system.

When buying my IIx I also payed for the collectors value.
Not just to pose., but for me some older electronic instruments realy 
mean something special and I think that's true for a lot of cmi 
ethousiasts.
then again., if the system would faithfully reproduce the series III 
sound and capabilities I would be seriously tempted.

cheers,
David

--- In Fairlight-CMI@yahoogroups.com, <peter.vogel@...> wrote:
>
> 
> There have been discussions from time to time about replicating the 
CMI
> using a software emulation. These efforts will have limited success 
because
> the "Fairlight sound" relies on the peculiarities of the hardware 
used in
> the original design.
> 
> In the days when I was the designing CMI hardware, my greatest 
challenge was
> to minimise the distortions and artifacts that were inherent 
aspects of the
> hardware available at that time. In effect, we struggled to make the
> Fairlight sound less "Fairlight". So the intimate details of what 
makes a
> Fairlight sound like a Fairlight are indelibly etched in my brain.
> 
> When Fairlight brought out the Crystal Core Engine last year, my 
imagination
> ran wild. Here was a tiny board with enormous capabilities that 
could be
> configured to faithfully reproduce the CMI hardware in its FPGA 
(Field
> Programmable Gate Array). Every bit of the 1980's CMI hardware, the 
essence
> of its sound, could be reconstructed faithfully in digital hardware 
form. 
> 
> To fully appreciate the astounding potential of the CC-1, download 
the
> brochure here:
> http://www.fairlightau.com/downloads/public/Fairlight%20NEW%20CC-1%
20Brochur
> e%20for%20WEB%20VIEW.pdf
> 
> I also recently discovered that ALL the IP relating to the original
> Fairlight CMI including all of the hardware and filter designs, 
sample
> libraries etc are still retained by Fairlight.au in Sydney.
> 
> So I have been wondering if it would be worthwhile to develop a 
faithful
> reproduction of the CMI on the "Virtual Hardware" of the CC-1?
> 
> This would perform identically to the original CMI series II or 
III, but run
> on a PC fitted with the Crystal Core card. The MIDI input would come
> directly into the CC-1 so there would be no problem of latency 
introduced by
> the PC.
> 
> At this stage I'd like to "feel out" the market to assess the level 
of
> interest in this project and whether the significant investment in 
R&D will
> be worthwhile.
> 
> The Fairlight Series IV (CC-1, I/O box and software) might be sold 
for
> approximately $US5,000.00.
> 
> So my question is, what do you think of this idea? How would a 
Fairlight CMI
> at this sort of price be received by the market? Who would the 
buyers be and
> how would I tap into them?
> 
> What do you think?
> 
> Peter Vogel
>