Carol of the Doorbells

Failed Muso

"My gift to you all this Xmas and a tongue-in-cheek nod to all those people who describe my beloved FM synthesizers as expensive doorbells!

Have a safe, happy and healthy Xmas and here's to a better New Year!

All the best,

Rob aka Failed Muso

© Failed Muso Productions"

Yamaha CS1x

flickr by Failed Muso.

Click here for Failed Muso's first flickr album.

via Failed Muso

Yamaha CS1x Demo by Failed Muso - Pt.4

YouTube via FailedMuso.

All four parts here and of course check out Failed Muso.

"The final part of my run through of some of my favourite sounds from the Yamaha CS1x. Come back soon for more demos of my favourite instruments. "

New Fairlight?

via Failed Muso who spotted this note from Peter Vogel on the Fairlight Yahoo Group:

"here have been discussions from time to time about replicating the CMI using a software emulation. These efforts will have limited success because the "Fairlight sound" relies on the peculiarities of the hardware used in the original design.

In the days when I was the designing CMI hardware, my greatest challenge was to minimise the distortions and artifacts that were inherent aspects of the hardware available at that time. In effect, we struggled to make the Fairlight sound less "Fairlight". So the intimate details of what makes a Fairlight sound like a Fairlight are indelibly etched in my brain.

When Fairlight brought out the Crystal Core Engine last year, my imagination ran wild. Here was a tiny board with enormous capabilities that could be configured to faithfully reproduce the CMI hardware in its FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array). Every bit of the 1980's CMI hardware, the essence of its sound, could be reconstructed faithfully in digital hardware form.

To fully appreciate the astounding potential of the CC-1, download the brochure here:

CC-1 Brochure

I also recently discovered that ALL the IP relating to the original Fairlight CMI including all of the hardware and filter designs, sample libraries etc are still retained by Fairlight.au in Sydney.

So I have been wondering if it would be worthwhile to develop a faithful reproduction of the CMI on the "Virtual Hardware" of the CC-1?

This would perform identically to the original CMI series II or III, but run on a PC fitted with the Crystal Core card. The MIDI input would come directly into the CC-1 so there would be no problem of latency introduced by the PC.

At this stage I'd like to "feel out" the market to assess the level of interest in this project and whether the significant investment in R&D will be worthwhile.

The Fairlight Series IV (CC-1, I/O box and software) might be sold for approximately $US5,000.00.

So my question is, what do you think of this idea? How would a Fairlight CMI at this sort of price be received by the market? Who would the buyers be and how would I tap into them?

What do you think?

Peter Vogel"

You'll find some more notes on Failed Muso.

Fairlight on YouTube

Bob Moog Fairlight Intro


"Dr Moog demos the Fairlight CMI 1983"

Fairlight Keith Emerson

"1983 Today Show with Keith Emerson and the Fairlight CMI"

YouTubes via jhanalog.

Via Failed Muso. Check out Failed Muso for some more videos including Vince Clarke.

More Details on the New Fairlight

via failed muso via the Fairlight list:

"We’re hoping to have some more detailed specs this week, however I can answer a few questions in general terms.

The CC-1 can perform very complex algorithms and lots of them, with almost no latency. So yes, we are modelling the quirky hardware of the CMI. The sound of each CMI was subtly different, due to their analogue bits, so it won’t sound exactly like any one CMI, but lined up with a few CMIs you won’t be able to tell the difference.

The sound will be user selectable, to be like a series I,II,IIX, III etc. Or you can dig deeper and make it sound like nothing else.

One of the many nice things about the CC-1 is that it has no inherent bit width. “Normal” processors generally offer say 32 or 64 bit operations, where as the CC-1 can be configured to any number of bits. So if something works most effectively as 33 bits, so be it. And the bit widths can be mixed within the one signal path.

The “n” polyphony is achieved by “n” individual circuits set up in the FPGA working in parallel, as opposed to the software emulation model which is necessarily sequential. The channels can have different configurations is required; in any case there will be subtle coefficient differences between channels to reproduce the individuality of outputs that has often been cited.

How much polyphony? All we know at this time are the extremes – it will certainly be at least 16 like the original Series III but given that the Crystal Core when used in a DAW delivers up to 230 channels of mixing ALL of which have full processing (8 bands EQ, 3 stages Dynamics), you can safely assume a lot more than 16 will be possible.

Re pricing: yet to be finalised, but the choice to go with the CC-1 does come at a price. Although the CC-1 is not sold currently as a separate card (it would be no use without the software etc that goes with it), the retail price would be around the $5,000 mark. So you can do the sums, the CMI 30-A is not going to be price competitive with the mass-market synths which abound.

Peter"

Flying GX-1

YouTube via cnxww893. via Failed Muso.
"this is how the GX-1 was delivered. It must be interesting for many people to see GX-1 flying."

GX-1のチューニング how to tune GX-1

RIP Stephen Howell of Hollow Sun

We lost another. Some sad news in via Atomic Shadow:

"I learned this morning of the passing of my best friend, Stephen Howell. Many of you know of his work as Hollow Sun. He was a well respected sound designer who had worked for Peter Gabriel and many others. He was a long time fixture at Akai Professional where he designed the UI for many of their top products as well as producing the sample content.

Stephen was my mentor and gave me the nudge to take my music in to a totally abstract direction. Without him there would have been no Atomic Shadow project. I plan to write a bit more about him when I can think more clearly. I am closing down yesterday's world of tomorrow, at least for now.

We only produced one piece of music together. I always tried to get him to do more of his own music, but he said that making music did not pay the bills. He was correct of course. I cut together a video to go with it at the time. Please enjoy it and share it with anyone that you know who may have known Stephen, or had their musical experience made more alive by using one of his instruments."


Mid Century Electronica from Atomic Shadow on Vimeo.

"A short piece featuring my vintage, tube HP sine wave generators, tape loops and ring modulators with a photographic homage to the early pioneers of electronica.... Daphne Oram in twin set, the impish Delia Derbyshire of the early BBC Radiophonic Workshop, several tweedy boffins in their music labs, Karlheinz Stockhausen and so many others. A different age when innovation and ingenuity triumphed over the many technical limitations of the age.

Abstract music soundtrack re-mixed and produced by Stephen Howell of Hollow Sun using traditional techniques in a digital age."

You can find an interview with Stephen Howell on SoundBytes here.

"I was always huge fan of early electronica and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop (Dr Who, Delia Derbyshire and all that as a six-year-old), Louis and Bebe Barron (who did the ‘electronic tonalities’ for the classic sci-fi movie ‘Forbidden Planet’) and loved the weird old gear they used to make/use, so Mario and I were able to design and create, using Kontakt, weird and wonderful things that flew in the face of, shall we say, more ‘conventional’ modern synths and sampler instruments..."

Indeed. Click here for all posts featuring Hollow Sun on MATRIXSYNTH. Each post is a tribute to his spirit. He will be sorely missed.

Update: Failed Muso has set up a condolence page here.

And on KVR here.

Update2:


Stephen Howell and the Subharchord from Ina Pillat on Vimeo.

"December 2011 at the Museum of Technology (Deutsches Technikmuseum) in Berlin. Stephen Howell takes recordings of the instrument. Per Platou, founder and leader of www.pnek.org, has invited him to create a sound library and helps him with the recordings. Inventor Gerd Steinke in conversation with Stephen Howell.

Photography: Jenny Barth
Sound: Johannes Schmelzer-Ziringer
Director: Ina Pillat
Production: Norwegian Arts Council // Per Platou, Ina Pillat"

Fairlight Instruments Factory Tour 1986 part 1

"A video sent to Fairlight customers in 1986 to give them an inside view of what goes on at head office in Sydney. If anyone can identify themselves or others in this, please leave a comment with the timecode and who it is.
Part 1 of 2 clips."

Fairlight Instruments Factory Tour 1986 part 2

"A video sent to Fairlight customers in 1986 to give them an inside view of what goes on at head office in Sydney. If anyone can identify themselves or others in this, please leave a comment with the timecode and who it is.
Part 2 of 2 clips."

Fairlight Auction 1989 - watch and weep.

"A tragic day. Fairlight Instruments goes broke in 1989 and all the goodies are auctioned off for a song! If you recognise yourself here, please leave a comment so I can add some captions."
YouTubes via psvbluemts. via Failed Muso. Also see these videos.

BeatEd - a simple drum machine for S60

YouTube via suckho. via Failed Muso.
"BeatEd homepage:
http://www.byterapers.com/BeatEd/

BeatEd is a simple drum machine application for Symbian S60 mobile phones. It was originally developed in couple of nights to get a drum machine and metronome application for personal guitar playing purposes. After getting a lot of new ideas and positive feedback, I decided to improve it a bit and make a decent public release of it. So here it is, have fun!

Feature highlights:
- Easy to use beat editor, even easier beat player.
- Change tempo and volume while playing.
- Edit beat on-the-fly while playing.
- 16 bit 16 channel audio mixer.
- Extremely accurate beat timing (1-999 BPM).
- Real-time VU meters.
- 16 different drum tracks.
- Supports S60 v3.x mobile phones.
- Adjusts to different screen layouts.
- Random volume variance.
- and much more..

Supported devices:
- All S60 3rd edition devices (Forum Nokia list)

Tested devices:
- Nokia 6120 Classic, N82, N91, N93i, N95, E51, E60, E65, E70, E90 Communicator

Sorry about the crappy sound quality in the video! It's due to the camera I used, not the software :)"

mpc500 for the IPhone

Note this is not an official Akai product.

"A Native iPhone Application replicating the Akai Mpc-500 Drum Machine/Sampler. Future goals are to have a complete studio of audio production applications. Application is in EARLY development stages as of now. Beta release planned @ mid Oct. 2007"

click here for more info. via failed muso in the comments of this post.

News - Fairlight CMI Legacy School Edition

YouTube via bitleyTM | November 24, 2010

"For immediate release: The Fairlight CMI Legacy School Edition ReFill

The Fairlight CMI Legacy School Edition refill contains the entire Fairlight CMI Legacy and Supremacy 1.4 refills, giving each student or each fan of the legendary Fairlight sound access to these libraries for only $45 (per seat) worldwide.

The Fairlight Legacy library was introduced earlier this year and became a huge success. The library was then updated to Supersonic, giving it a huge addition of new sounds, samples and patches. The price of Supersonic was originally $149 but has now been reduced to $65 only. The School Edition version contains Fairlight CMI Legacy and Supremacy (the update refill), costs $45 and can be upgraded to Supersonic for only $25 (per seat)."
http://bitley.laconicsounds.net/refills/supersonic/
via Failed Muso

NAMM: Akai MPK88

Gregatronic, you're prayers have been answered.

88 Key Akai MPK MIDI controller keyboard.

via Failed Muso

Recording an MPC500 to PC

YouTube via Lovesign. via Failed Muso.

Fairlight CMI Series III Restoration Part 1

Published on Jul 20, 2013 FailedMuso·56 videos

"Part one of a set of videos documenting the restoration of a Series III Fairlight CMI.

In this first episode, the CMI has been extracted from its flight cases, installed in my studio and received an initial surface clean.

Keep up to date with the restoration over at my blog...

http://www.failedmuso.com/blog"

Fairlight CMI Series III Restoration Part 2

Published on Aug 12, 2013 FailedMuso·57 videos

"IT LIVES!!!

After fitting an updated Q133 Debug card, connecting the original monitor and alphanumeric keyboard, we gingerly introduced power back into her old bones and she breathed once more! She's yet to find her voice, but that's the next step :-)

For more info, pictures and videos, visit the blog at...

http://www.failedmuso.com/blog"

Fairlight CMI Series III Restoration Part 3

Published on May 22, 2014 Failed Muso·57 videos

"Part three of a set of videos documenting the restoration of a Series III Fairlight CMI, previously owned by Ian Stanley of Tears for Fears.

In this episode, the CMI music keyboard has been opened up, exposing the keybed and circuit boards, along with decades worth of corrosion, grime and fluff!

Keep up to date with the restoration over at my blog...

http://www.failedmuso.com/blog"

Emulator II 40th Anniversary | Podcast

video upload by Sound On Sound magazine

"In celebration of the 40th anniversary of the groundbreaking E-mu Systems Emulator II sampler, Dave Rossum, Kevin Monahan and Paul Wiffen share inside stories of the development and manufacture of the instrument, their struggles to get around the technological limitations of the time and how the instrument was widely adopted by bands, artists and pop culture.

Chapters
00:00 - Introduction
01:50 - The Origins Of The Emulator
03:59 - The E-mu Name
04:57 - Kevin's Background
08:09 - Paul's Background
11:19 - The Motivation For Creating Emulator II
16:26 - Specific Challenges
25:19 - The Challenges Of Adding Hard Drives
30:35 - How Did The Iconic Industrial Design Come About?
35:11 - Having Two Disc Drives
38:22 - How Artists Responded To The Emulator II
46:46 - Using Sampling To Create Novelty Sounds
56:08 - Kevin's Contribution To Ferris Bueller's Day Off
57:37 - The Legacy Of The Emulator II And Sampling

CLICK FOR MORE »

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The Fairlight library for Reason

YouTube via bitleyTM — March 18, 2010 —

"Five months in the making, my new Refill "Fairlight CMI Legacy" is now available from PowerFX.com. All music examples and sound programming by Patrick Fridh Aka Bitley™."

Fairlight CMI Legacy playing a track


"A little track made with my new refill, available from www.powerfx.com." via Failed Muso Update via BITLEY™ in the comments: "Thanks for picking this one up & noticing, spreading the word! :) The refill is now officially approved & positively seen by Fairlight.au and Fairlight Instruments, which feels great. A little bit like when Roland "OK'd" Propellerhead back in the ReBirth day, as a user pointed out. I've set up a little web page with new updates and so forth. This is probably the first commercial refill in the world that gets free updates. Since its release two weeks ago, I have updated it twice, increasing the number of patches from about 300 to nearly 600. The update refill, called Supremacy, also acts as a demo bank for anyone wanting to try it out. More info on PowerFX of course but also here; http://bitley.laconicsounds.net/
Thanks again!!!

Best,
Patrick"

Tracey Thorn 'Why Does The Wind?' (Live At Home Version)

YouTube via buzzinflyfilms | June 17, 2010

Some synth spotting with Tracey Thorn of Everything but the Girl. Note the Suzuki Omnichord.
"Recorded in the home studio with Ewan Pearson (synth, drum programming) and Ben Watt (electric guitar) in Feb 2010 this is a stripped-back live version of a song from Tracey's album 'Love And Its Opposite' (released May 17 2010)"
via Failed Muso

CME WIDI Jack Production Sample in Action!

Failed Muso

"Here’s CME’s latest addition to the WIDI Bluetooth MIDI family, the WIDI Jack.

This literally just arrived direct from the factory and worked right out of the box. Excuse my chaotic desk and presentation but this is a very exciting development. WIDI Jack brings Bluetooth 5 wireless MIDI functionality to devices that don’t have powered MIDI ports or use either 2.5mm or 3.5mm (yes, I know I said 2.5 inch in the video!) TRS MIDI ports. It can also connect to regular 5-pin DIN MIDI or 6-pin DIN Mini MIDI ports with the correct cables. These cables can be chosen when you order your WIDI Jack. You get one cable choice included in the price, which will be $59 (or $29 if you register you interest now!)

https://www.cme-pro.com/widi-jack/"