The Fairlight CMI, the neglected pioneer of electronic music
In 1975, I had just finished highschool and was looking for something to do. My school-friend, Kim Ryrie, played me a record called “Switched on Bach” which was recorded entirely using the Moog synthesiser. I thought this was really cool - electronic music obviously had great potential.
The record sleeve had a photo of the Moog synthesiser; rack after rack of electronic modules with hundreds of patchleads and knobs that all has to be set just right to make it happen.
Kim was very keen to develop a better synthesiser, and knowing my interest in electronics, he suggested we join forces. I had long been interested in computers - I built my first computer when I was about 12 - and it was obvious to me that combining digital technology with music synthesis was the way to go. A year or so later, we met Tony Furse, an engineer who was also working on digital music synthesis. Tony introduced us to these new-fangled things called microprocessors (the personal computer was still a decade away).
After four years of working around the clock, we had the first working prototype of what was to revolutionise the music industry. Priced at between $50,000 and $100,000 each, over 300 “Fairlights” were sold world-wide.
On his web site, you can listen to the majority of the audio Vogel accumulated during his tenure with Fairlight. It makes for a fascinating listen. In particular, check out “Reelin’ in the Fairlight” (parts 1 and 2) at the bottom of the audio archive page - with examples of songs the Fairlight has been used in over the past forty years, it makes for a fascinating listen.
Peter Vogel’s Fairlight Audio Archives: http://anerd.com/fairlight/audioarchives/index.htm
Also, you’d be amazed how hard people work to create such small (but perfectly formed) creations… In 2005, MusicThing ran a series of articles called “The Tiny Music Makers”, documenting a handful of some of the most notable examples: http://musicthing.blogspot.com/2005/05/all-this-week-tiny-music-makers.html. Enjoy.
