Fairlight Auction 1989 - watch and weep.

[Rhythmattica]

@therealblis

Very Very Cutting Remark... So True..

[kotep777]

shit i shoulda bought 5 CVI's

but i was 11 soo......

[ChrisSousa9]

I would have bought everything if i could.

[marcstrat]

I think the company has last for over 10 years.

Just time had to catch up sometime in this business,if you look now these days,a small computer and the right program realy does the same job,and faster.

This is just the way it goes in those days.

[plasmavox]

woa this video is pure nostalgia!

[lumenradio]

Why did they go broke. I would love to know the full story. That is why a world transforming technology supported by so many high profile figures went to the wall. Was it simply because new chip technologies superseded the Fairlight or was it lack of government venture capital? A kind of Technology Tragedy. Someone explain please. I've read dom stuff on the net but I does not make this clear.

[dontillman]

Quick spin. They saturated the market already. Anyone willing to pay tens of thousands of dollars for a musical workstation had already done so. Fairlight was also investing and doing R&D on DSP technology. Well ahead of their time. Of course in the past few years, ALL digital musical workstations use MASSIVE DSP's. The other killer was that computers were becoming more and more powerful, such as the Macintosh.

[evthurobred]

I didn't see not one any Fairlight CMI in there going cheap.

[OFR]

Those soldering irons are still as useful today as they were when they were new! SOME technology never gets replaced!

[sleat]

Haha, that's me in a previous life! Blonde guy at 1:10 and 4:33. Got the second prototype III, which was also my work CMI when I worked there. WooHoo. What a day! Now I remember that filming, who'd have thunk! - Joe

[faunflynn]

Fairlight v.4 is still up and running...well it depends how you count what counts as bankruptcy so it's either v.4 or v.5

[jaibobro]

no wonder they broke , this cmi was sold for 100 thousand

[PhuckHue2]

Fairlights changed music forever. Just listen to Cupid & Psyche 85.

[Z3bra]

anyone know what these guys are up to these days ? :)

[Hiro139]

LOL @ 3:23! look at that cell phone!

[Keijz74]

B U L K Y

[PureSynthesis]

HORROR

[Meteotrance]

Very sad day ... but like a lot of many hightech and internet company, it's the rule of this infamous world of buisness.

[foxnhound33]

just so everyone knows, they did this 3 times. whenever they ran out of money, they just bancrupted and then did this. And Synclaviers are a bit higher fidelity and certainly break less. However, nothing will ever replace or make the same sound as a CMI, ever.

[Coasterdude02149]

Syncalvier was nothing more than a glorified DX7 that could sample. Fairlight sounded better, was more compact and far easier to use. I will NEVER get rid of my CMI III...and it still works great.

[sgtbigdoguk]

just a note to agree this is an awful video to watch as a techhy synth player what a sad day indeed ,however let it be known that every bit of music software/hardware out there today owes it's life to this fabulouos company. To all involved in Fairlight CMI I salute you all,thankyou for tthe wondeful egacy you have left us .

[Davethemagichaddock]

'every bit of music software/hardware out there today owes it's life to this fabulouos company' - ??? that patently is not the case.

[funkybassplaya]

The 80s were a truly revolutionary time in music technology. Many bands wouldn't even exist without the cmi being developed. I doubt we'll ever see another company this groundbreaking again. This is a sad day in history for many people. Next time you sit down in front of your motif or triton, take a minute and think about where it all came from and who made it possible!

[Davethemagichaddock]

The Fairlight did have a strong influence on the sound of the 80's but it's not really 'where it all came from', Fairlight didn't invent sampling. Harry Nyquist in 1928, and the advance of computing technology is where it came from. The Synclavier sampler was contemporary with the Fairlight after all. Fairlight could only have remained in business if technology had stopped. They were weren't big enough to do the R&D to keep up. It's a shame, but it was an inevitable demise.

[GoodNewsFromStars]

Yep !!,

Fourier Joseph (french mathematician, 1768 - 1830) worked on the basic math formalism (Fourier's Transformation.. FFT in french jargon) wich is applicated today in all numerical stuff (spectroscopy, optical, electronic and so on..).

"Nysquist's criterium" is an empiric law based on integral analysis and implemented in electronics stuff to get sampling.

cheers.

[GoodNewsFromStars]

Sorry for my bad English (:>).

In 2 words :

"FFT" permits to store analog signals as a frequency dependant numerical function and "inverse FFT" permits to find back initial analog signal.

"Nyquist's Criterium" postulates that sampling frequency must be the double of max initial signal frequency to get back analogic signal.

Both are well known by worldwide students.

cheers !!.

[Paardekut]

Wow, there's footage of Fairlight's liquidation auction. Who would ever have thought of seeing that? Thanks for sharing!

That's Kim Ryrie on the phone.

[thomasearnest]

made me cry!

[KRAFTWERK2K6]

made me cry seeing the equipment placed in a row for selling...

I wonder what the guys are doing today? Would there be a new Fairlight sometimes again?

[PConz]

Jeez. I feel like crying! That should NEVER happen to an innovative company that changed the world forever!!!

[totaltwit]

This is what happens so many times. A small innovative company implodes under their own success. Once good products start selling it take huge resources to keep it going. Enter the Japanese.

[juno6]

This is fuc*ing sad!

[DavidFairlight]

Kim & Peter are true electronics pioneers!

[jbfairlight]

excellent !