Fairlight-CMI

A number of related questions:

1. Can a Series III without MFXkbd run OS 11.39 and produce music or 
does it need to have the MFXkbd attached ?

2. Is there a hardware modification needed to have a series III run 
11.39 instead of, say version 6 if the objective is to have more 
music functionality (don't care about the Mfxkbd) ?

Thanks,

Harald.

Hi Harald,

To answer your questions:
 
> 1. Can a Series III without MFXkbd run OS 11.39 and produce music 
or 
> does it need to have the MFXkbd attached ?

Yes, a series III can run rev 11.39 software without an mfx keyboard. 
The CMI must have a waversuper with 4 Mbyte private RAM, and you'd 
need a colour graphics card to see anything.... 

 
> 2. Is there a hardware modification needed to have a series III run 
> 11.39 instead of, say version 6 if the objective is to have more 
> music functionality (don't care about the Mfxkbd) ?

Fairlight CMI IIIs can be divided into two very disticnt groups. 
The "early" systems could run up to revision 6 software, max 14 
Mbytes RAM, and house-brick sized hard drives.

"Later" or upgraded CMIs can run software from revison 7 to revision 
11.39, although most of these would be running 9.34. They can access 
32 Mbytes RAM, and modern SCSI devices up to 4 Gbytes. There are big 
hardware diiferences between the two machines. Read more about them 
in the hardware overview on my site at: www.horizontal.co.uk

So, you can't run 11.39 on a rev 6 machine! But why try and run 11.39 
at all if you're not using the disc recorder ??? Rev 9.34 is 
fundementally the same as rev 11.39 apart from the disc recorder....

Regards,

Peter Wielk

On Sun, 16 Nov 2003 17:17:53 -0000, "horiprod"
<horizontalproductions@hotmail.com> wrote:

>Hi Harald,

Hi peter,

>To answer your questions:
> 
>> 1. Can a Series III without MFXkbd run OS 11.39 and produce music 
>or 
>> does it need to have the MFXkbd attached ?
>
>Yes, a series III can run rev 11.39 software without an mfx keyboard. 
>The CMI must have a waversuper with 4 Mbyte private RAM, and you'd 
>need a colour graphics card to see anything.... 

Understood, thanks.
 
>> 2. Is there a hardware modification needed to have a series III run 
>> 11.39 instead of, say version 6 if the objective is to have more 
>> music functionality (don't care about the Mfxkbd) ?
>
>Fairlight CMI IIIs can be divided into two very disticnt groups. 
>The "early" systems could run up to revision 6 software, max 14 
>Mbytes RAM, and house-brick sized hard drives.
>
>"Later" or upgraded CMIs can run software from revison 7 to revision 
>11.39, although most of these would be running 9.34. They can access 
>32 Mbytes RAM, and modern SCSI devices up to 4 Gbytes. There are big 
>hardware diiferences between the two machines. Read more about them 
>in the hardware overview on my site at: www.horizontal.co.uk

If I understand correctly, the difference would be in the wavesuper,
the ROMs the router and CGC.

Would there be any soldering involved ?

How long does this upgrade process take ?

>So, you can't run 11.39 on a rev 6 machine! 

Got it :)

>But why try and run 11.39 
>at all if you're not using the disc recorder ??? Rev 9.34 is 
>fundementally the same as rev 11.39 apart from the disc recorder....

If 11.39 were installed in an upgrade process (along with the
hardware) you'd only need an additional MFXkbd to have disk recording
'enabled' if you wanted too.

>Regards,
>
>Peter Wielk

Thanks for explaining !

Regards,
Harald.

Hi Harald,



> If I understand correctly, the difference would be in the wavesuper,
> the ROMs the router and CGC.
> 
> Would there be any soldering involved ?
> 

Yes, there is a "little" soldering involved. First you take the 
digital motherboard out, and solder some mod wires there. Next obtain 
and install a wavesuper and test it boots up. Then you take all the 2 
Mbyte RAM cards out, and extensively modify these, with each one 
taking about an hour. You then take all 8 channel cards out and 
modify these, removing one chip and replacing with another. Then you 
install the new ROMs and test channels and memory for a couple of 
hours. Reject or repair any bad cards. Next the sampler needs to be 
modified, which takes a few hours to perform and then test. Next, 
remove all the old drives, and throw into a canal. Time taken here 
depends on how close your nearest canal is. Install a new 4 Gbyte 
drive, and copy across a full of libraries, and the system software. 
Then make a nice aluminium cover plate, spray it black and install. 
Meanwhile, get a full set of manuals copied, while you do final audio 
testing...

Simple really.....    


> How long does this upgrade process take ?


It takes me a couple of days. The list price of this is GBP 2,750, 
but I'm doing a special offer until Christmas of GBP 1,750

Regards,

Peter Wielk

Horizontal Productions London

PS: In the unlikely event that anyone might want to contact me for an 
upgrade, don't use my yahoo address which is jammed up with spam. 
Instead use: horiprod@blueyonder.co.uk

On Mon, 17 Nov 2003 23:49:08 -0000, "horiprod"
<horizontalproductions@hotmail.com> wrote:

>Hi Harald,

LOL ! :)

Peter, do I detect a sense of cynicism here ? :)

I did not mean to offend you, in case I did...

I was being curious, I am aware you offer the upgrade and I am happy
you do. The idea was that if the upgrade is a 'package' to put in and
pay for, if it were easy enough to do it ourselves, we might pay the
same price for the package and forget about shipping a magnificent,
yet, very heavy, mainframe to you and back :)

But thanks for elaborating, it is insightful !


I'll keep your offer in mind !


Best regards,
Harald.

>> If I understand correctly, the difference would be in the wavesuper,
>> the ROMs the router and CGC.
>> 
>> Would there be any soldering involved ?
>> 
>
>Yes, there is a "little" soldering involved. First you take the 
>digital motherboard out, and solder some mod wires there. Next obtain 
>and install a wavesuper and test it boots up. Then you take all the 2 
>Mbyte RAM cards out, and extensively modify these, with each one 
>taking about an hour. You then take all 8 channel cards out and 
>modify these, removing one chip and replacing with another. Then you 
>install the new ROMs and test channels and memory for a couple of 
>hours. Reject or repair any bad cards. Next the sampler needs to be 
>modified, which takes a few hours to perform and then test. Next, 
>remove all the old drives, and throw into a canal. Time taken here 
>depends on how close your nearest canal is. Install a new 4 Gbyte 
>drive, and copy across a full of libraries, and the system software. 
>Then make a nice aluminium cover plate, spray it black and install. 
>Meanwhile, get a full set of manuals copied, while you do final audio 
>testing...
>
>Simple really.....    
>
>
>> How long does this upgrade process take ?
>
>
>It takes me a couple of days. The list price of this is GBP 2,750, 
>but I'm doing a special offer until Christmas of GBP 1,750
>
>Regards,
>
>Peter Wielk
>
>Horizontal Productions London
>
>PS: In the unlikely event that anyone might want to contact me for an 
>upgrade, don't use my yahoo address which is jammed up with spam. 
>Instead use: horiprod@blueyonder.co.uk