Developed in Australia during the ’70s and ’80s, the Fairlight CMI (Computer Musical Instrument) was the first commercial sampler and screen-based rhythm sequencer. Today every sampler, digital synthesizer, sequencer and audio workstation can trace its lineage back to this legendary machine. Now you can have, in your pocket or on your iPad, a piece of history developed by Fairlight staff who worked on the CMI in the ’80s.
You can Buy and download the Pro App from the App Store, or if you are not sure you want the Pro features, you can get the Player App and play original Fairlight CMI sounds and sequences straight away. Then if you want to create your own masterpieces you can use the in-app upgrade process to get all the Pro features listed in the Features page.
You can find an audio montage of Fairlight App sounds, made by a Fairlight customer, on SoundCloud.
Video Guide 1
Features OverviewVideo Guide 2
Player vs. ProVideo Guide 3
Voice Sampling
Accepts input from Core MIDI devices as well as from the Line 6 MIDI Mobilizer and Akai SynthStation.
A great way to get quality audio into the new sampling feature in version 1.1 is via iRig Mic, and the perfect support for your iPad is iKlip.
To see all comments on the Fairlight web site, you can bookmark the Comments RSS Feed.
I have just purchased an iPad 2 and the Fairlight Pro app. Is it Fairlight’s intention to enable the waveform editing functionality and sound morphing that was a feature of the hardware in the original version? I was hoping to blend samples, edit waveforms etc and at the moment this functionality does not appear to exist. Thanks! Gwyn Evans
Gwyn, that’s a very popular request, and certainly a feature we’d like to add in a future release.
I love this app, it feels great to use the same sequencer that my heroes used.
Still seeing how full of limitations the system is, it would be cool to have some form of community support or tutorial base, showing the proven ways of building up a song on a Fairlight.
I’d love to hear some comments on which voices are useful for leads, what about the ones that seem to be limited to about a major third in range, and sound awfully silly outside that (happens to several human samples), etc. Tips and tricks from people who used the original CMI and know its quirks and the way around them.
Still, good job, and thanks.
Hi,
very nice app. Filters and lfo would be excellent addition, also there are very obvious crackles on sound release, keyboards 2 – wurli sample seems to be cut ( have no idea whether the original was the same). With few improvements Fairlight can make a welcome alternative to present lifeless vst samplers that lack any character ( btw. Some kind of Akai/soundfont/or any other commercially available sample format import would be fine).
Tomas
Hi,
I am very interested in your app. however, can´t find any info if there is any Audio Copy/Paste protocol supported.
Can i please have any info on this?
Thank you.
Sorry, there is not yet any audio copy/paste support. The only way to get audio out of the App at the moment is via the headphone socket or line out. A bit like the 80s, really.
thank you very much for your quick reply.
i appreciate the authenticity of the fairlight, i do believe that the some modern features should be implemented especially considering the pricing. not saying the app is not worth it- just that it would be more appealing to wider audience.
such features would make it far more usable production tool to be used within the ipad environment.
do you see any more room for improvement of the app, that is are any updates to be expected in the future.
thanks again for this app and best of luck,
Yeah, audiocopy/paste (sonoma) would be desirable.
I’ve added your vote for this feature.
Yes, our plan is to continue development of the Fairlight App as our limited development resources permit, focussing mostly on the features most requested by our customers.
in that case i look forward to supporting you.
sonoma copy would be indeed amazing to have. please consider it.
thank you for your swift replies. it is very reassuring.
I was beggared beyond belief to find my favourite sound equipment from my teenage years, the FCMI, app last night! Naturally, I haven’t slept all that much since then…
I guess like most musically passionate people, it’s almost as if the FCMI underscored the track of my life through all the amazing artists and albums. What a blast from the past!
Congratulations on the “rebirth”!
Now, I don’t have $20 grand lying about doing nothing, but by golly, my wife is in very good condition, hardly used, with all her original parts in perfect working order! She’s as pretty as a postcard too, and just loves music and audio nerds (she married one, after all).
That’s gotta be worth a good bit of a CMI 30A. Terms are negotiable. Please don’t tell her…
Is it possible to export audio from the Fairlight app? For example, say I composed a song in Page-R…can I record it to a .wav or .mp3 file and then export that file? Or are the songs created on the app forever captive to the app?
Sorry, there is not yet any audio export support. The only way to get audio out of the App at the moment is via the headphone socket or line out. A bit like the 80s, really.
Is it possible to create CMI III quality versions of the CMI IIx samples? I guess this would require access to original recordings of the CMI IIx sounds (i.e., prior to their having been digitized for inclusion in the IIx library way back when)…if such recordings even exist.
I LOVE the CMI app and I upgraded to the “pro” version. The difference in sample quality between the two is remarkable however and it would be very cool to somehow produce the IIx samples in III quality.
As you say, this would not be possible without the original recordings, which were not systematically kept. I do however have the original of “ORCH5″… that might end up as a SIII sample in a future update, now that you mention it!
Are you considering a standalone app or an Audio Unit plug-in for use with sequencers like Logic Pro on OS X? This would be HIGHLY desirable…especially if it had the entire CMI II and III libraries all properly looped and with some sound manipulation control such as ADSR envelopes. This would be relatively easy to produce since the iOS app you have already derives from the same Objective-C code base and uses the same Core Audio and Core MIDI classes. This would be “low hanging fruit” for you guys and would open up your app to a whole new range of potential customers.
I’ll add your vote for this. Although it’s one of the more popular requests, it’s a big project, because the user interface and application software environments are very different between iOS and Mac OS. A Mac-only audio unit is not so much work, but is still a significant amount of work.
Thank you for the response. One thing you may consider to reduce complexity is eliminating the Page R sequencer in an AU Plug-In version. Despite Page R’s historical significance it would be redundant if one were going to use a Fairlight Plug-In with a sequencer like Logic Pro.
Another option, and this is a completely different approach, would be to partner up with a company like Native Instruments and release the sound libraries from the CMI II and III as “instruments” for their Kontakt sample player. This would involve far less coding (and thus expense) and would likely generate revenue for today’s Fairlight company. There are already many Fairlight samples out there but an “official” release from Fairlight itself with professional looping of the samples would be very desirable. Plus you could leverage the sample playing and manipulating capabilities of the Kontakt player which are already in widespread use in the the recording industry. The Kontakt player already has such features as ADSR envelopes, built-in effects, etc. That would be very cool.
Will Fairlight be releasing more disks for the Ipad App? Is there a video tutorial for Page R?
Sorry for the slow response. Things get pretty quiet around here in the holiday season.
We are considering releasing more Series III voices, but have to find the best way to deliver those huge files.
No, there is no video guide specific to Page R, but video guides #1 and #2 should give you a lot of what you need. The rest is in the Page R help pages.
Any chance of an Android version?
Unfortunately, not only do iOS and Android use different languages, but the Fairlight App uses the iOS Core Audio libraries, which are not available in Android. So it would not only be a complete rewrite, but a bigger job than the iOS version.
We are not convinced that there is a big enough Android market to justify the expense. Of course, we are happy for our customers to convince us otherwise.
I’d be VERY interested in an Android version – if you posted on a few social networks and whatever, asking if people want it, you’d probably find a much bigger market. And if it costs twice as much, I’ll pay it.
The claim that there is “not a big enough Android market” is hard to justify. The Android market now dwarfs the iOS market. Today (December 2011) there are 2.5 Android phones sold for every iPhone sold:
http://www.businessinsider.com/android-vs-iphone-units-sold-in-first-11-quarters-since-iphone-launch
So please, don’t dismiss this issue because of the “lack of market”. It just ain’t so. Also, don’t forget that Android now has AMAZING native code support, so that your C/C++ code will just compile and run beautifully on that platform.
“We don’t want to do it” is fine, but please don’t make BS excuses like “there’s no Android market” because a lot of us know better.
I didn’t say “there is not a big enough Android market.” I said “We are not convinced that there is a big enough Android market to justify the expense.” So far only a handful of people have asked for it.
The Fairlight App is almost entirely written in Objective-C, so it would all have to be completely rewritten, plus a whole pile of new code to replace the iOS built-in Core Audio and Core MIDI functionality.
As I said, we are happy to for our customers to convince us otherwise, but you have not said anything convincing. And please keep it polite in future.
Here’s Objective C support in gcc for Android:
http://code.google.com/p/android-gcc-objc2-0/
Naturally, your GUI would have to be rewritten, but since “the Fairlight App is almost entirely written in Objective C” this should give you a substantial leg up.
I have both iPhone and Android, and I have to say that I prefer the latter and have thus retired my iPhone on that basis.
Does Google’s Objective-C compiler include support for Core MIDI and Core Audio though? Those are Apple proprietary frameworks. They may…one would have to ascertain that first though.
You’ve identified the biggest obstacle: Core MIDI and Core Audio are proprietary Apple frameworks, and are definitely not available for use on Android. On top of that, a great deal of the code uses the iOS user interface libraries, which is (from my experience) much more sophisticated and easier to use than the Android user interface. So I’ll just repeat what I said in the first place: porting the Fairlight App to Android would be a complete rewrite. Not impossible, but we have to make sure there is enough customer demand to justify the development cost.
I understand the hesitation to invest in an Android version. Apple’s ecosystem is more conducive to audio apps, and Core MIDI is just the start — the hardware accessories alone are a huge advantage. But someone WILL come along and write great synth apps for Android at some point. It’d be great if the Fairlight was part of that.
Hello,
I thought I’d let you know about a track I’ve just uploaded. It was entirely played on the Fairlight iPad app, and mixed in Ableton Live.
Hope you like it:
http://alonetone.com/danielb/tracks/fairlight
Also, I’d like to thank Thomas for the excellent support I recently received from him.
Daniel
Daniel, that’s pretty cool! I’m glad I can help our Fairlight Fans to be so creative!