Fairlight

Arthur C Clarke famously opined that “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” But when do we start to take incredible technological achievements for granted?

When it comes to history, there are typically two ways of looking at a subject. One is to examine it from an emotional...

Between the extremes of the broad brushstrokes of subtractive synthesis and the painstaking detail of additive, there have existed many hybrid styles of synthesis combining the speed of the former with the precision of the latter. Paul Wiffen traces the development of this middle ground through its successes and heroic failures.

Paul Wiffen has been introducing people to digital audio on computers in one form or another for 10 years now, but sees people falling into the same old traps time and time again. In the first part of a short series he explains the importance of making the right decisions before you buy a new system.

Norm Leete waxes lyrical about the mega-synth that introduced sampling to the world back in 1980 and went on to appear on innumerable hit singles and albums.

David Vorhaus of White Noise chats with Rob Puricelli about his early involvement with the Fairlight CMI and his Kaleidophon ribbon controller and Maniac sequencer inventions.

Fairlight CMI Owner, enthusiast and some-time restorer, Rob Puricelli (aka Failed Muso), spoke about the 40 year history...

As someone who's been hugely successful both in his native Britain and his adopted home of the USA, producer Peter Collins has a uniquely international perspective on record production.

Most modern musicians use samples, even if only in Sample & Synthesis-based keyboards or virtual instruments. But sampling itself has become something of a lost art. In the first part of a short series on rediscovering this skill, we look back at how the technique and the technology developed.