The Synclavier and Fairlight are much different from the keyboards of today because at the time they were introduced, there was nothing else like them ever made and there probably never will be again. Most keyboards today are variations of past technologies with a few new things thrown in, the Synclavier and Fairlight were truly ground breaking, so much so that even today these instruments are unique and very useful.

The Fairlight CMI III Rev 11 for example samples at 100 kHz, has two sequencers that can run together or separately, is 16 channel multi timbral, has 40 audio outputs, can record 24 channels of digital audio with extensive editing, does FFT synthesis, can be used to store patches from other synths/keyboards and will transmit those sounds via SysEx, has a MIDI Router with 4 MIDI INS and OUTS, can store hundreds of GB of sounds via hard disk, and has incredible sounding converters with an organic airy quality akin to the finest vintage analog synthesizers. The Fairlight CMI III's sound is absolutely huge and hasn't been equaled even by the best samplers or workstations made today. The limitations of the Fairlight are its size (its a beast), weight (160+ lbs), and the amount of sample RAM (32 MB). Don't let the small amount of RAM fool you though, the sounds the CMI III produces are some of the finest sounds you'll ever hear and most keyboards today have poorly sampled versions of the Fairlights factory sounds as their factory sound ROM. Yamaha, Roland, and especially Korg who's Triton series and Oasys share many of the CMI sounds because Stephen Kay a sound designer for Korg and the KARMA inventor was one of the main sound developers for Fairlight.

I was fortunate enough to buy a Fairlight back in the mid 1980s when they were at the "pinnacle" and continue to use my CMI to this day. In fact I have two CMI III's and they are the primary keyboards in my studio and my orchestral, drum, and percussion samplers of choice. Fairlights downfall was the cost of the unit (around $60-90K), but given their incredible build quality and the high end components used in its manufacture, making a cheaper version at the time simply wasn't possible. Few people could afford the CMI and with a finite market that Fairlight had already saturated by the early 1990s, Fairlight abandoned future development of the CMI and went into building hard disk recording workstations instead. Today Fairlight makes the finest digital audio workstations and digital mixers available that Pro Tools, Nuendo, Digital Performer, and other HDR's strive to become but fail to come close too Fairlights sound and ease of use. Once again Fairlights price limits its buying clientele but those that are willing to spend the money on one won't be disappointed. Check out the Fairlight Dream Constellation XT or Dream Suite at www.fairlightau.com and you'll get a better understanding of Fairlights incredible products. Sorry to sound like an ad for Fairlight but its because I love their products!