My obsession with the Fairlight

For me it all began in 1988. The Fairlight CMI music computer became something of an obsession. Ironically 1988 saw the demise of the company and the end of one of the most influential pieces of music technology. But the 1980’s were about only one instrument for me and its effect lingers to this day. 

The Pet Shop Boys album ‘Actually’ was one of my favourites in the 1980’s. As with many records around this time, ‘Actually’ included a credit to the ‘Fairlight programmer’. Much of the music I listened too seemed to use the Fairlight and as a budding electronic musician I had to know more about it.

In the days before the internet the only source of information on such obscure topics as music synthesizers were books. I first saw a picture of the Fairlight CMIIx in a biography of my musical hero Jean-Michel Jarre [see right]. Jarre sits poised with his light pen ready to edit waveforms with his modular Moog 55 behind him. Forget the pink jump suit.

Gradually I began to recognise the distinctive sound of the Fairlight everywhere. I also learned just how expensive it was and realised such a thing would only ever be a dream for me. I wanted one very badly for many years.

Yet as music and technology moved on in the early 90’s, the Fairlight was discarded. To be honest I moved on too as the new dance scene took over with its Akai S1000 beats and Korg M1 piano riffs. 

In my nostalgic middle age, I find myself listening to the songs of my youth and the yearning for the Fairlight CMI is rekindled. Recently I acquired many of the original CMIIx samples to use in my software sampler and was amazed at how terrible they are. The poor quality of the 8-bit samples gave me an even deeper admiration for the artists who used this synthesizer to make such polished and beautiful music from such a low quality source. I have no doubt that as this blog continues the Fairlight will crop up many times.