Some Fairlight CMI IIX Sounds

This video shows some sounds from the Fairliht CMI IIX sampler from 1983 which used 8 inch floppy disks to store 8 bit samples. This particular machine has gone on world tours with Michael Jackson and other groups.

[nj]

This thing must have felt like a space ship from the future for musicians in the early 80's!

[William_sJazzLoft]

A generation later the Fairlight CMI is still one of the most awesome musical instruments ever conceived. Your demonstration brings out the best in it.

[tjsase]

THIS is the sounds I'm after, those digital artifacts and harmonics in the low register add so much character and crunch, throw some light reverb on and OOMF it sounds lovely

[looneyburgmusic]

It's really amazing how far and fast synth tech moved in the 80's - 90's era. Not even a decade after the first release of the CMI there were far more affordable samplers, which were just as capable, on the market... What a time to be alive and collecting gear.

[MrGoneTroppo]

In 1997 Fairlight becomes self aware. It plays Peter Gabriel albums to the Soviets, thus forcing them to launch missiles

[MacXpert]

That Michael Jackson disk was kind of interesting. The original sound on the record was not done with a Fairlight, but instead with it's rival at the time, the Synclavier. :)

[bolttracks]

For anyone curious, SonicBloom has a ton of free CMI samples available, a lot of the ones featured on here are in there as well!

[JAHKAMREN]

OMG I wish I can relive the moment of inserting a floppy disk in these old computers.. I was born in 1989 and I was fortunate to hear them in the early 90's... so nostalgic

[WV]

imitated but never duplicated. even now after all these decades it still has the most original and unique library of sounds.

[violr]

To demonstrate the capability of this thing, Def Leppard’s albums pyromania and hysteria (which set the standard for 1980s rock music) used the Fairlight heavily. Beautiful

[pyjama]

Plucked Strings / harpupgd @5:19 sounds like the sample “the art of noise” used for the harp interlude in “moments in love”.

[MrOuija-rrkq]

Sampled guitar noise at 3:11
You’ll find that kind of sound all over Nine Inch Nails early albums.

[dan_rtype]

This sounds like an Amiga on steroids. I love it.

[productionplan]

I used to have Alan Parson's old Series IIx, then in 1988 bought the Series III (at horribly great expense!). Page R was so ahead of it's time in terms of composition speed. I loved that you could say Copy Patterns 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 Bars A, C, D, F, instantly mapping out bars and bar segments, then group-combine them and repeat. It was so simple, you could more clearly think your way through the structure of the song, without a GUI of interminable clutter.

[SoundsofDecay]

Magnificent machine. I'd love to have a go on one. Even tho its digital, it has a ton of character compared to today's squeaky clean VST samplers.

[nikitamarkovskiy]

This feeling when 80’s sample machine sounds better than all you have now in 2020

[KRAFTWERKK]

ARR1 will forever be THE quintessential and defining sound of the Fairlight CMI to me. <3 There is absolutely no other Fairlight sample that has engraved itself into my mind since my earliest childhood like this one.

[AndresAU]

The Beat It intro sound was immediately recognisable!

[miskelproducts]

What makes it legendary is the fact that you can get the technology and sound architecture in maybe $400 worth of software, but if I could I would STILL get the real thing.

[jamesbarton]

The BEATGONG sample is originally the Galactic Cymbal from the Synclavier ll keyboard.