Fairlight - CMI KeithEmerson

[@steamer1112]

Keith Emerson and Rick Wakeman had HUGE influences on my musical tastes growing up and to this day. The first time I heard a synth was co-incidentally also the first time I got stoned way back in the "dark" ages of 1973. My older brother played two different albums that immediately and permanently imprinted themselves on my brain: Yessongs by Yes and Welcome Back My Friends To The Show That Never Ends by ELP. Rick Wakeman and Keith Emerson became my keyboard Gods and my love for Prog Rock has never wavered in all these years.

[@BioSoftStudios]

R.i.p keith emerson :(

[@djcoolcliff]

Wow! I recorded my first industry record for Kobe Bryant for Columbia records back in 2000 at the Village Recording studios! My beloved uncle Wah Wah Watson came out to support me! RIP to Wah Wah and Kobe!!!!

[@KRAFTWERK2K6]

Seriously, the Fairlight Computer Music Instrument was a radical game-changer and completely re-defined the way Music would be made from that moment on. It was the first Music Workstation that combined everything in ONE unit. Synthesizer, Sampler, notation, drum-machine, multitracking and so on. Sure there was also the NED Synclavier but that was a bit of a different beast with Sampling only added later to it. However given the fact that this was Late 70s and early 80s digital technology, it was insanely expensive and if you weren't one super wealthy producer, you couldn't afford one. Thankfully that slowly changed over the years with home computers like the C64 or Atari ST or Amiga and later with the PC and soundcards / audio interfaces. It became a lot more affordable to record and produce music on a computer. Not just the samples and notes but even entire audio tracks. And that's why the Fairlight CMI should never be under-estimated because it REALLY was what liberated the musician and created an entirely new way of how to make music.

[@securityrobot]

The ‘insane expense’ was off set by being able to part exchange the older model for the next model directly with the manufacturer, so there was a bit of a benefit for purchasers.

[@datatwo7405]

Yes, if I remember right, it was running about $125,000 dollars by the mid 80s. In today's money that would be around $350,000 to $380,000. Although, on Wiki they're saying it was sold for considerably less, which I wonder if it was or not after all these years. Not something your average garage band could even think of touching. And compared to today, it's sampling rate was very low. Today, when listening to recordings from songs made with it back then, you can hear. But, that orch hit was sooooo damn popular.

[@Mark-OutWest]

And it still sounds dreadful and like a synth and not real instruments.

[@ozboomer_au]

Go Oz... with the Fairlight CMI being developed and built in Australia... quite an innovation at the time, instead of an electronic musical instrument being produced in Europe, the USA or Japan...

[@Klandelion]

2:12 the same loop used by Jean Michel Jarre in the piece Wooloomooloo (Zoolook album 1983)

[@hanssipkes8179]

It is from "best revenge" a movie where Keith did the score for with some help of Brad Delp (boston) and Levon Helm (The Band) great piece of music imo

[@johnnicholls5344]

Fairlight.. An Australian invention... My friends Peter Farleigh and John Hopkins worked at Fairlight in Sydney back in the early 1980s.

[@turquoiseblue228]

Aahhh, Keith Emerson!.... Any time you want....

[@tomking8286]

Interviewer:"Can you give us a *sample*?" I see what you did there, even if you didn't.

[@rodrigolumi]

This video is a unique historical record. Thanks 😊.

[@pecovgfx]

No Fairlight-CMI has ever seen a 1st class keyboard player till then. Most were toying with sounds while using its digital capabilities, Keith's playing skills was faaarr beyond 99,999% of those who touched those new music tech of the era.

[@eficer04]

Depends on when this was because Kate Bush could play like crazy, not to mention Herbie Hancock

[@conradquek]

@@eficer04 and Peter Gabriel Even as a fan of Keith's, in my opinion, I'd say he's far more well-known for his use of the Hammond organ, the Moog synthesiser, and the Yamaha GX-1 (later on)

[@eficer04]

@@conradquek agreed.

[@torccchaser6712]

TY for posting it ..remember the live show.

[@kawsakiTV]

This is so great

[@jeffl4482]

Legitimately seems to be unaware that he is speaking to a musician, much less a prog rock legend.

[@ImVengeance_22]

Wow.. just wow

[@asteroido]

Reminds me 16 bits sounds from fzero... Precious footage!

[@alphabeets]

Jane Pauly was a doll!

[@CybernautZero]

"iS MuSiC sTiLL mUsIc iF iTs PlAyEd bY a CoMpuTeR" That irritating, tired old argument. Yes, yes it is music. Someone still composed the piece of music, someone is still behind how the sounds you're hearing sound. Someone still applied human creativity to the creation of the piece, yes, it is music. This shouldn't even be a question you ask.

[@alanshewitt]

“this typewriter” lol

[@BaddaBigBoom]

That was the common term back then!

[@stoneofabitch]

Pioneers !

[@stevendunn7928]

The part about correspondents' being replaced by computers may not be so far in the future anymore.

[@martiansurgery]

The strength of a sampled instrument really depends on the player who was playing it when it was sampled

[@PianoMan-hx3ev]

I wonder what the sample rate is?

[@justgivemethetruth]

Yeah, this actually sounds pretty bad.

[@nohandleleft]

@@justgivemethetruth That's because it was broadcast over the air, captured on an early video recorder, and eventually digitized and uploaded to youtube where you were watching it probably through a crappy phone speaker. Count the digitization and conversion steps in that mess! These things sampled 16bit words at 100kHz - in the 1980's! The samples were indistinguishable from the actual source.

[@Mr_A_Mia]

Awesome

[@evetsnitram8866]

For just $50k you too can have a small portion of the General Midi sound set that will be available for free on smartphones in the next century!

[@hanssipkes8179]

Song is "THE RUNNER"

[@marcvsmcmlxxiii]

¡Gracias!

[@pschroeter1]

Just a few snippets of the intro to Fanfare for the Common Man.

[@evydaemon]

I only knew the name from the warez cracking group

[@thepianoplayer416]

0:26 interesting that a computer keyboard was referred to as "this typewriter". Today the word typewriter is obsolete except when referring to an antique. Taking sound sample from an acoustic instruments and reproducing it accurately is quite advanced even 20 years ago. Today we get all sorts of sounds from keyboards and they are like special effects than an imitation of real instruments. Digital pianos that reproduce the sound of an acoustic piano have accurate sound samples but the touch response and the sustain is still not 100% like the way someone would play a real piano. No demo how a score is reproduced whether in some sort of sound pitch diagram or in standard notation.

[@DariusSarrafi]

I was studying computer engineering in 1976 and we always called a keyboard "a keyboard" when we were coding (Fortran 66, and Pascal) on punchcards!!! This dodo didn't do his research!

[@vittoriobacchiega9118]

Could be a misunderstanding confuse the input/output peripheral (keyboard input into same cabinet of ball-rolling printer output device) from a single input device like a keyboard.

[@aler8343]

Maestro

[@jamiemiles1979]

S Must’ve been a Series IIX Fairlight Keith was playing in the studios

[@TheVickersDoorter]

I had the IIx and the Series III many years ago. It's certainly not the latter. Sampling time on the IIx was incredibly limited, but the quality of the D to A section gave it an amazing sound.

[@johnrauner2515]

Keith Emerson was hot

[@Atarimetal]

"A typewriter". This dude must have still used a butter churn

[@dirkvandermeyden395]

3:50 What is the name of that tune?

[@hanssipkes8179]

Dutch? The song is called the runner, it,s from the movie best revenge witch Keith wrote the score for you can find this track on a triple cd box called Keith Emerson at the movies enjoy

[@amperafamily4085]

Davinci Resolve ver 0.02

[@theanswer2730]

How does he have a touch screen monitor??

[@sharkheadism]

He's using a light pen

[@LeonTrimble]

4 people don't know about page R

[@SEKTR7]

XD

[@tomahzo]

"This typewriter"??? ;D

[@Jlipnicki]

Unless there is a musical imagination using a complex machine is a barrier. As initially with the piano they were made to be sold and make money.

[@datatwo7405]

There were and still are many ways to trigger a synthesizer's tones. But, musically, it was found that using a piano keyboard was the easiest and most suited. That does not mean that a synth is in any way a piano. It is a tone generator with the capacity to modulate tone in as many ways it's other contributing components will allow. There is nothing more boring than a pianist sitting at a synth, and playing it like it actually was a piano - regardless of the tone he or she chooses. No imagination there. But someone who can develop a tone, discover a way to play it as if it were an actually existing instrument in its own right, then you have someone with a head for sound creation and implementation. Cross that with someone with strong songwriting skills, patience, inquisitiveness, creativity, and more patience, well then you have as worthy an instrumentalist as any other instrument player. Remember, even the piano, which has not been around very long, was once thought of as a cheap easy way out. It's all relative, my dear watson.

[@Jlipnicki]

@@datatwo7405 I have used keyboard operated synths and used guitar triggering sometimes splitting the guitar output to amp and synth. The keyboard does impose a scale that comes from the piano, an oscillator is an audible tone but has no specific fixed pitch or timbre, that is the unique nature of the instrument. Pianos were never cheap and neither were synths. I used a Yamaha CS 15 and CS 30. Originally at 14 I made an oscillator from a kit and added a simple array of resistors that were operated by keys to alter the pitch.

[@justgivemethetruth]

Poor Keith .... he must have gone through hell.

[@bruth6138]

I miss this stuff. When you could watch something and be truly amazed. Not a better person to show this off than Keith. Now you can fart into a microphone and make is sound like the William Tell Overture

[@bentheg9793]

Tbf, you could also fart into a Fairlight

[@Noone-of-your-Business]

Information?? Like, *original air date?*

[@cornfilledscreamer614]

You were wrong about many people wanting to see live, actual music, Keith (RIP). Sadly, there are millions and millions of sad sheep who will go and see a DJ play tunes.

[@inyokutse]

If that's what you think, then you don't understand why the people go. It's not to marvel at musicianship..it's simply to have fun.

[@cornfilledscreamer614]

@@inyokutse You can have fun picking your nose as opposed to listening to unintelligent, talent-free horses*$t. Sorry you had to find out this way.

[@LFOVCF]

@@cornfilledscreamer614 people go to listen to orchestral music all the time. Millions flock to see Andre Rieu, to name one. What now?

[@cornfilledscreamer614]

@@LFOVCF I'm talking about mainly rap and EDM. That's usually what DJ's play.

[@Jlipnicki]

@@cornfilledscreamer614 I began using a drum machine when recording alone for practical reasons and there are things they can do which a real drummer cannot. That was early 80s Later I was astonished to hear that people were making tracks which were simply basic drum machine patterns, with almost no other musical elements, and this was being lapped up as dance / techno. People were listening to a simple machine generated rhythm.

[@soepil]

"In the past few years, computers have radically altered our lives ..." - yeah, sure. Have you heard about the Internet and Social Media? :)

[@chloedevereaux1801]

this typewriter..... LOLOLOLOLOLOL

[@LucVanAcker]

NO DEVOTION!!!

[@tobiasjohansson3912]

Why didn't he integrate the touch-screen in his keyboard? LoL. ;)

[@j.j.c.s2802]

At 240p I can only assume it's Keith Emerson. FFS! LOL!

[@rr7firefly]

Honestly, those sounds do not sound exactly like actual musical instruments. Close, but no cigar. Perhaps the sax sounds closest.

[@Heaven-dy9lj]

Yeah he didn't seem so sure'that sounds real doesn't it? '

[@Jlipnicki]

No matter how accurate the sample it is removed from the source and then being played by a different method via a keyboard. So it cannot have the same qualities as playing the actual source instrument.

[@0patience4flz]

Its cheaper than an orchestra ....it sure sounds cheaper.

[@datatwo7405]

The Fairlight became available in the late 70s and by the 80s was a tool that at the time was awe-inspiring. Put it in context. This argument has been going on for a long time, even with almost every modern electronic/chip based gadget you can think of. Think camera's. At that time, the idea of photography being "real" art was the argument of the day... Then when camera's became autofocus, that became the point of contention. Fast-forward twenty or more years later. Suddenly, traditional photography was accepted as an art form, selling for hundreds of thousands of dollars and even millions, but now the target was placed on digital photography and how that was not art. Blah Blah Blah. My point is, Art in whatever manner it is produced is not always about the materials used to produce it. It is about the success of the final creation at evoking whatever message in whatever way the artist is intending. Don't get stuck on the process, because there are many so-called guitar or piano technical geniuses out there that can't write a note of captivating music to save their lives. BUT, they can sure shred the hell out of an instrument, read every note exactly and play it as intended, then repeat that process over and over and over... But, tell them to sit down and come up with a song that someone, anyone, once hearing it won't be able to stop humming its melody over and over just after hearing it just once. A typist may be able to type 120 words per minute with little to no errors, but may not be able to write a short essay of any worth. The same goes for any instrument one learns to play. The real talent is in the ability to create. The real talent is in the ability to persist until you achieve the effect or message you are aiming for. Everything else is nothing but technical skill and fast fingering.

[@0patience4flz]

@@datatwo7405 Thanks. I agree. Its the creation..the architect that matters more than the carpenter. The musician here Keith Emerson was a supreme technician..not really creative as the talent he copied.

[@KrystofDreamJourney]

@@datatwo7405 Completely agree !

[@playonkorg]

' the people wanne hear always a real sound " ------> we landed in today's plastic Bieber vocoder

[@Stadsjaap]

LOL... "typewriter"!

[@Cosmicprog2012]

KeithEmerson, a great musician playing always nothing but absolutely pomp silly things, "prog routines" coming from a very simple mind, unfortunately.

[@jackal59]

Not entirely, but, yes, a lot of it was. I think he was best on the piano; the "second impression" of Karn Evil 9 is a genuinely nice, jazzy piece of work.

[@Cosmicprog2012]

​@@collenflarity7856 sold out - special edition, 100 euros each.

[@RyanHannaMusic]

0:50 ... duplicate? i believer you mean imitate? Mom, can we have brass? mom - theres brass at home - 1:20 this shitty idea that real instruments and their players could be reproduced with any sort of quality back then has only translated for me to the present as problematic, where people believe the live music they are hearing is an imitation - because both the 'live music' they are used to hearing doesnt tend to actually be live because of the environments they frequent and the media they consume, and due to the fat that since the invention of the microchip, the human ear has been slowly conditioned to accept some pretty poor sounds and tones. from primitive electronic game music to the beeping tones on your microwave, our first instance was to bawk at the god awful tone, but accepted its functionality, and, lets be honest, we used to turn the music off on our game boys because it was fucking terrible, only keeping gaming sounds as a form of having feedback from the buttons we just pushed - roll on thirty years and im downloading an NES emulator plugin and learning the mario theme and sampling drum sounds just like that song you thought that 'grew on you'... it didnt, much like shitty chip tones, youve been conditioned onto accepting it through environmental influence, positive association and a need to be in control - or to have the illusion to have control...its why the close door button on US elevators doesnt actually do anything - thank keith fucin emerson