MATRIXSYNTH: Fairlight CMI IIX


Wednesday, September 03, 2025

Fairlight CMI IIX

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via this Reverb listing

"I purchased this Fairlight CMI IIx about 6 years ago from a music store out of Colorado. After having the unit freighted to New Jersey, I would take yearly trips to have a good friend and excellent repair tech Mike Walters out of Chapel Hill, NC to do various repairs and general maintenance on most of my vintage gear. I had purchased both a IIx and a Series III, which he documented part of the journey on his Mystery Circuits website (Google to have a look!)

The IIx came from a widower who had put some of her husbands gear on consignment. The unit was in good shape (albeit with some wear bits/light paint chipping on the keyboard and CRT screen wear) and working condition when I purchased it, but without a lightpen. I had Mike do various maintenance bits and upgrade the disc system to the Virtual Music Fairytale (Smart SD Card System). The floppy drives do function as well, and can be used to load sounds/systems alternatively. I will include my collection of floppy discs as well. It took several years to track down a lightpen and get it to work with the unit. Mike was brilliant in researching and repairing bits and pieces to make it work. The pen does require a light tap on the base to engage the selector mechanism, but functions as expected.

I've had the unit gone over maliciously over the years and it has had light playing time during my ownership going between my home studio to garage. I've used it mostly as a expensive rompler- sad to say and have never touched upon the sampling side of things. Due to the nature and fragility of the Fairlight and the great expense/risk to ship, the sale is strictly As-is, As-described. I am located in Toms River, NJ and would strongly encourage qualified buyers to set up a day and time to inspect and look over the unit before or after purchase. I had this shipped to me and at the time it was somewhere north of $2k to have a freight company package and pallet the unit for coast to coast shipping. You would have to make plans after purchase to do so as it is an undertaking and liability I don't want to take on."

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