Developed in Australia during the ’70s and ’80s, the Fairlight CMI (Computer Musical Instrument) was the first commercial sampler and screen-based rhythm sequencer. Today every sampler, digital synthesizer, sequencer and audio workstation can trace its lineage back to this legendary machine. Now you can have, in your pocket or on your iPad, a piece of history developed by Fairlight staff who worked on the CMI in the ’80s.
You can Buy and download the Pro App from the App Store, or if you are not sure you want the Pro features, you can get the Player App and play original Fairlight CMI sounds and sequences straight away. Then if you want to create your own masterpieces you can use the in-app upgrade process to get all the Pro features listed in the Features page.
You can find an audio montage of CMI App sounds, made by a Fairlight customer, on SoundCloud.
Video Guide 1
Features OverviewVideo Guide 2
Player vs. ProVideo Guide 3
Voice Sampling
Accepts input from Core MIDI devices as well as from the Line 6 MIDI Mobilizer and Akai SynthStation.
A great way to get quality audio into the new sampling feature in version 1.1 is via iRig Mic, and the perfect support for your iPad is iKlip.
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Great Value Guys Thanks!!!
Seems to be a lot of users want it as a plugin. I don’t see the point in a DAW inside a DAW. Just hook it up with midi to your sequencer and record audio. It couldn’t be any easier! Its what they did in the 80′s. That way you get the real retro experience.
Graham, thanks for the positive feedback. Yes, that was our thinking. The iOS music space is best served by small independent modules, each doing their own job well, that can work together using technologies such as Audiobus.
This new upgrade is still pants this app has become a total frustration. Screen keeps going black with just keyboard at bottom so can only ever use for about 2 or 3 minutes. Can not get any sound on page R although I can put in notes. This was a lot of money as I upgraded to the pro version now totally unusable for making music. Have left appropriate feedback on app store.
Just to let others know, we have been investigating this unusual problem with Kirk’s help, but so far have not found the cause, nor why it only happens for him.
This “app” is a shame. A pile of bugs. I spent over 2 hours sampling (oftentimes no waveform was recorded, it was recorded and played back by the Audiobus button in other app, when switching to your “app” wave data were missing), suddenly your “app” was asking if I wanted to subscribe to your newsletter, I pressed “later” and then it went BLACK (black screen). I had to restart it only to see that just the first 2 of all voices I had sampled still were there. What a total shame this poorly made software is. It is not about the price, but getting such a shabby product makes me angry. I make apps myself and I do so with great care.
a.n, sorry you are having problems. We haven’t seen this problem, nor have our beta testers, and you are the first customer to report it. We will investigate, but so far have not been able to reproduce it.
Could you please confirm that you tapped “Save Voice” for each recording you wanted to save? Unless you do this, each recording simply makes a new temporary recording.
The newsletter alert only happens when the App is first launched, which means it crashed before that. Please send the crash logs.
Pitch setting is not reflected in playback.
both iPhone and iPad, iOS6.
When setting pitch by sliding up/down, it plays ok, but when playing the sequence alone or part of song, the pitch is unchanged. The price of the app suggests that it works as advertised, this seems like an annoying bug.
This bug is fixed in version 1.5.2, which will be released soon. Sorry about that.
Just upgraded to Pro version. Loving it so far! A lot of stuff to learn about a piece of equipment I’ve loved since I was a kid.
-IPhone 4S, IOS 6.1.2
Hello,
in order to enter the CMI on the bus competition, is it possible to make a song using a mobile DAW (eg. Cubasis) with the CMI App integrated in one ore more tracks via Audiobus?
Thx.
Yes, as long as the video shows how the CMI App was used to do it.
Hello,
Version 1.5 of the app. Ipad 3 with retina display. Ios 6.1. In the Page R, I tap in the track list and the song enters the edit mode. I can change the three parameters (pitch, vel..) but I can’t find any way to exit the “edit mode” and return back to the screen in which I can see the track list in green. Am I missing something? I’ve tried with two fingers and with a double tap, but without success. The only way is to close the app, restart and reload the Page R for the song I’m composing.
Antonio, the list of voice names is just a placeholder until you enter edit mode. Once in edit mode, you stay in edit mode until a different song is selected. But you don’t need to quit the App, just change songs and back if you really want to see the voice names again.
BTW, tap on the right of the screen to hide the note adjust tumblers.
OK, thanks for the info. Is it possible to vote a way to go back in the next releases? For example using a double tap, it’s not so usable in this way because it appears natural to try to escape the edit mode. Furthermore I’m experimenting a strange behaviour: I hear no sounds in edit mode if I enter notes and tap play. The notes are heard If I select the repeat mode from the upside button. Thanks.
Antonio, I’ll log your feature request for edit mode exit.
If you mean you don’t hear Page R when playing unless in pattern mode, please refer to the FAQ bug list for a workaround. Version 1.5.1 has a fix and will be released soon.
OK, thx. I’ve performed some other tests: it seams that you can’t hear only the notes you edit. The other notes seem to play correctly. I don’t if it can help.
Thx.
Antonio, I can’t reproduce this problem. If you can find a process that repeatably causes this problem, please submit a bug report with this process on the support page.
Ok I’ll do it. I’ll try to be more precise regarding the steps to perform.
Thanks.
Antonio, good news. Version 1.5.1 now allows a double-tap on the left to go back to the voice list.
Glad to know it! The a lot. When it will be released?
Before upgrading to pro 1.5 I could play the app through iRig Midi without any problems, but could not control it from another app. Now it is the other way around: I can control it from another app through MidiBridge, but controlling it externally does not work any more. Any advice?
Peter, we haven’t had any problems controlling the App using any Core MIDI device. Try quitting Midi Bridge, try various combinations of connecting the device and launching the App.
Hello Fairlight Team,
It would be great if we could adjust de frequency of the sampling in the Cmi App. In my IIx , I loved to record at 20-30 khz . Perhaps sampling at 96khz could be cool too .
Are there any way to export the Cmi app sounds in the S3 ? I use cmios9 from kmi software to convert sound between a pc and my S3/mfx2
keep the good job
I’ve added your vote for sampling quality options. A few others have also asked for this.
I’ll see what I can find about the S III.
I forgot to ask for mono sampling and in 8 bit also
Thank you Thomas
James, the App already samples in mono. 8-bit is one part of the sampling quality options we’d like to add in a future version.
Recording via audiobus is always stereo , i can’ t set to mono …
That’s because Audiobus is stereo. It doesn’t take any more CPU to record stereo, so we left it like that. When we implement mono as a sampling option, of course that will apply to all sample sources including Audiobus.
Is there any chance you will add the capabilty to control the CMI App from another app on the same iPad (for instance via MidiBridge) in the near future? Controlling the app via external MIDI works fine, but I would really like to control the app via another app like it is possible with many other music apps. Or maybe I am missing something?
Peter, virtual MIDI is high on the long list of features we’d like to add in a future release. I’ve added your vote for this.
Love the app! I would love to see waveform drawing.
Kevin, waveform drawing is high on the list of features we’d like to add in a future release. I’ve added your vote.
I’d vote for waveform drawing – it’s still pretty far out today!
Yes. Please!!!!
Any chance of an Android release?
John, please see the previous discussions on this topic. The short answer is that it’s extremely unlikely.
Latest version, as of Feb. 5,2013, not working with iOS 6.1 on ipad 2 and iPhone 4. Crashes on start after displaying the first page for a few seconds.
Christian, have you tried quitting other memory-hungry apps? If you have, please send your crash logs.
Version 1.5, due soon, uses much less memory and shouldn’t suffer from this problem.
This app is missing live live recording and audio copy. I need to export wave files. I want to up load my music on to SoundCloud! How can I do that?
Brent, because the CMI output is synthesised in real time in the eight virtual channel cards, the only way to record at the moment is to use the audio out and record on another device. But we plan to have a feature soon that will make it possible.