I'm interested in appropriating the kinds of sounds Trevor Horn got in the early 1980's with The Art of Noise's Into Battle and Who's Afraid records, as well as ABC and others. I'm not so much into having the obvious sounds—the cars starting and the orchestral stab— as I am the general sound framework of those records — the drums, pads and textures. The Fairlight has such a unique sonic timbre.

So, does it make sense then for me to buy Jeczalik's CD or the whole IIx library? Obviously, both would be ideal — but if you had to choose. Mind you, Jeczalik's is about twice the price at $54. Thanks so much.

I have the Pro Rec Fairlight CMI 2X CD which at the time I sampled into the Roland S750 sampler. I have to say that you end of with a pale imitation of the CMI 2X. There is nothing like playing the actual CMI 2X. The CMI 2X is like an old analog synthesizer. It has a unpredictable and random quality to the sound which is extremely pleasing to the human ear. If I were you I would try and buy the real thing however the CMI 2X seems to be going up in price not down ! Best of luck.

Regards,

James Thomson
Magic Audio Co.
London U.K.

Anyways, when I bought my IIx, I bought the Pro_Rec CD just as a back-up of the library in digital form. I also bought JJ's disk just because I think it is a neat piece of Fairlight history.

JJ's has some unique things on it that are from his library, not the official Fairlight library. Plus it has a mix of IIx and III on it.

Many official Fairlight sounds can be sampled from the web (here or at hollowsun.com) if you don't get the Pro_rec CD.

So if you can't actually get a fairlight, then I would go for JJ's disk, but if you can, I would get both. The fairlight library is quite useful (even aside from arr1 and orch5..lol). Hope it helps!

Um, no -- it's not, sadly. I basically was looking to get the general sound of the thing. A few years ago, I went through a similar obsession w/ the Mellotron, which resulted in me getting the Moody Blues guy's sample disc -- no, it didn't sound exactly the same, but the number of limitations you reveal also depends on how you record it.

: Anyways, when I bought my IIx, I bought the Pro_Rec CD just as a back-up of the library in digital form. I also bought JJ's disk just because I think it is a neat piece of Fairlight history.

: JJ's has some unique things on it that are from his library, not the official Fairlight library. Plus it has a mix of IIx and III on it.

That I didn't know.

: Many official Fairlight sounds can be sampled from the web (here or at hollowsun.com) if you don't get the Pro_rec CD.

Which I did -- it's coming in the mail.

: So if you can't actually get a fairlight, then I would go for JJ's disk, but if you can, I would get both. The fairlight library is quite useful (even aside from arr1 and orch5..lol). Hope it helps!

Thanks -- both of you.