![]() But the most famous is the sound of breaking glass that punctuates the first song, ‘Babooshka’. The album features the sounds of footsteps on stairs, buzzing insects, and cocking rifles. Inspired by Peter Gabriel’s experiments with everyday objects, the singer started to use sampling in Never for Ever (1980), assisted by Richard Burgess. You can actually control any sound that you want by sampling it and then playing it.” This opportunity was what attracted Kate Bush the most: “What really gets me about the Fairlight is that any sound becomes music. In addition to the reproduction of acoustic instruments, in fact, the Fairlight allowed musicians to incorporate any type of sound into their music: it officially began the era of digital sampling. The Fairlight was also presented as a compositional tool, a technology to allow you to explore your creativity and ideas well beyond what was possible before. A very famous noise: the music of breaking glass However, the Fairlight’s capability went far beyond the reproduction of acoustic instruments there was another feature that transformed this synthesizer in a mainstay of electronic music. Musicians at the time were concerned about being replaced, but in the end they needn’t have worried: the sound quality was good, but not enough to replace the real thing. -Giles Dawson, New Scientist magazine, 1983 “Insert a systems disc in the left-hand drive, a library disc in the right, and you can explore a world of sound limited only by your imagination” The Fairlight did indeed out a wide range of pre-recorded sounds of acoustic instruments at your fingertips: an ‘orchestra for sale’, according to the first sales slogan. Initially, he was assisted by Peter Vogel, one of the Fairlight’s designers, who was primarily interested in the use of digital synthesis to reproduce the sounds of acoustic instruments. Peter Gabriel owned the first Fairlight CMI in the UK, and was the first musician here to release an album featuring its sounds. It’s a sound produced by a Fairlight CMI. An entire orchestra at your fingertipsĬan you hear this sweet sound at the beginning of ‘San Jacinto’? It’s not a real marimba. “It’s one of the stars of my collection, and always creates a lot of interest.” 2. “I have been fascinated by the Fairlight from the first time I saw it on television,” says Annie Jamieson, Curator of Sound Technologies. Interestingly, Robin’s Fairlight CMI Series III is one of the first objects specifically acquired for the museum’s new Sound Technologies collection, started in 2016. And so I realised that the best place for the Fairlight was the National Science and Media Museum.” I thought it was a good example of this transition and it could be brought back to life. The best home would be somewhere where people could share its history… The Fairlight is a marker, it marks a seminal moment in the history of electronic music, and technological advances in music in general. ![]() “I just thought: there must be a home for this machine. Robin was the founder of music project M, best known for the 1979 hit ‘Pop Muzik’, but he also experimented with the Fairlight on his solo albums.ĭuring an event at the museum last year, he explained his decision to donate his Fairlight: The National Science and Media Museum’s Fairlight was acquired in 2017, and was kindly donated by musician and producer Robin Scott. Back to life again: the story of a museum object New genres like techno and sample-based hip hop were born this way.īut how did the Fairlight work? Was it designed to replace orchestras? To create sound they couldn’t? Was it intended as disruptive tech or as a leisure machine? This exclusive playlist will help you discover one of the most influential musical innovations of the 20th century by listening to the music it helped create. This game-changer opened completely new scenarios of exploration for new and experienced musicians alike. The Fairlight CMI was the first commercially available digital synthesizer with a sampling function, a technology able to digitally reproduce acoustic instruments and sample any sound in the world. In 1979 a new machine hit the music scene-an instrument that claimed to contain all others. Discover its history and influence on pop music through this video playlist. An example of the Fairlight CMI, a groundbreaking synthesizer, is part of our Sound Technologies collection.
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