The recent obituary for composer Adrian Sutton has sparked a fascinating clarification about a pivotal piece of music technology: the Fairlight CMI. Contrary to some recollections, this revolutionary instrument was not initially a synthesiser but a sampler, and its influence reached far beyond a single institution.
The True Nature of the Fairlight
In a letter responding to Adam Sweeting's obituary, a contemporary of Sutton's set the record straight. The Fairlight, in its earliest form, was a sampler, a machine that recorded and manipulated real-world sounds. The process was painstakingly slow. Programming it to synthesise sounds was a monumental task, requiring the machine to be left running overnight just to produce a mere eight sounds, each lasting a maximum of half a second.
Beyond Goldsmiths: A Widespread UK Impact
While Goldsmiths, University of London is often associated with musical innovation, it was not the first UK university to own a Fairlight. City University acquired one in 1980, a year that marked the beginning of its diverse applications. There, the machine was used for pioneering psychology experiments. Simultaneously, graduate students, including the composer Alejandro Viñao, were pushing the Fairlight to its absolute limits in their groundbreaking electroacoustic compositions.
The Fairlight's Stage Debut at the National Theatre
The technology's reach extended dramatically into the world of theatre. In the early 1980s, the Fairlight became an integral tool for many productions at the National Theatre. This was initiated by the then head of music, Dominic Muldowney, who invited the letter's author to collaborate. Together, they used the Fairlight to create innovative music and complex sound designs, helping to shape the sonic landscape of British theatre during that era and cementing Adrian Sutton's connection to a transformative period in audio technology.
