Nothing for ages, then two come along at once !!

It's been all quiet on the Fairlight front recently. Just as well really, as now, more than ever, they are destined to be forever out of my reach.

But within the last few days, two have sprung up. And they share a common link.

Firstly, we have this beauty....[via Matrixsynth]



This is a CMI III Revision 9.34 with the MFX2 functionality (revision 11.39) added. MFX2 is basically a 24 track "Direct To Disk" HD audio recorder/editor. This is probably the ultimate CMI. It also comes with the following libraries, capable of inducing involuntary bladder leakage and uncontrolled ejaculation...

Complete Fairlight library, Prosonus Strings, Brass, Percussion, Sound Genesis strings, plus many libraries collected over the last 20 years dealing with top producers and musicians. These include libraries from: Pet Shop Boys, Trevor Horn, Hans Zimmer, Frankie goes to Hollywood, Art of Noise and many, many others. The complete Fairlight IIX library is also included.

Currently sitting with no bids on eBay Australia, it has a starting price of AUS$12,490 and a Buy It Now of AUS$14,865. That works out at about £5047 & £6808 respectively. Then of course there would be the shipping. It's a fine example and worth every penny.

Secondly, a member of the Fairlight Yahoo list is selling. No pics of this one, but very similar to the afore mentioned CMI. In their own words....

Hi everyone,

I'm selling my Fairlight Series III (rev 9.34), if anyone on this list in interested. I bought it in from NY as a 6.03 machine in 2002 and soon after had it serviced and upgraded to a 9.34 machine courteous of Peter Wielk at Horizontal Productions. It's served me well ever since :)))))

The full spec is as follows:
9.34 Machine
16 Voice
14 Meg RAM (7x 2 Meg Boards)
1x 4GB Internal HD - Full of amazing libraries such as the FULL Series III factory sounds (including Subscription Tapes), IIx libraries, Pet Shop Boys, Hanz Zimmer, Pro Strings, Pro Brass, Pro Percussion, JJ (Art on Noise), plus many more
1x 4GB External HD - Full of rare and excellent libraries, beats, sounds which compliment the 1st HD libraries nicely
Original Monitor
Original Music Keyboard
Original QWERTY / G-Tablet keyboard
Original 60 MB Tape Streamer
Original 8" Disc Drive
Original cables / wires / plugs
Several 60MB Tapes
Couple of 8" discs
Cosmetic condition is about 8.5 / 10
Working condition is 99.99%*
It was sold to me as previously owned by ZZ Top, but I can't confirm this. It's more likely it had been used by them in the studio they recorded in.

* The G-Pen cap, which screws on at the end and holds the metal nib in place, has a chip broken off meaning it can't hold or keep the nib. This is a dead easy fix. I have thought about melting the plastic and re-shaping it, but it's something I'm not too clued up on so was waiting for someone to come along and recommend me a better way. Apart from this, it works as it should.

Please mail me off list if you're interested. It will be very upsetting to see her go, so I'm not about to accept any silly offers. I also have photos which I can supply on demand.

Contact Peter at peter.yahoogroups@googlemail.com if you are seriously interested.

Anyway, the common link is that both these machines have been serviced by Peter Wielk at Horizontal Productions. Peter is a former Fairlight employee, so his experience is virtually unparalleled.

Visit the website & check out the Parts and systems page where, amongst other things, he is selling 4GB hard drives with library ! Now, apparantly there is a piece of PC software that can read these Fairlight HD's and convert the samples to .wav. I've been approached to go halves on one but my budget won't allow that right now. However, it must be worth it to try and get some of these legendary sounds !

Well, here are a few more pics of the first CMI for you to have a "Tommy Tank" over !