If you're old enough you may recall the Fairlight CMI (Computer Musical Instrument) developed in Australia during the ’70s and ’80s. It was the first commercial sampler and screen-based rhythm sequencer (one of us here at Hitsquad previously worked with one of the people who developed sounds for the original!).

It's not too much of a stretch to say that most modern samplers, digital synthesizers, sequencers and audio workstations owe their heritage to the original Fairlight CMI - it was totally groundbreaking in its day!

Now the people that brought you the original have created an iOS app which you can run on your iPad.

Standard Features:

• Browse and play the entire original Fairlight CMI IIX Sounds floppy disk library - 32 disks containing 564 voices.
• Display voices graphically using the iconic Page D, and change your viewpoint by tipping your iPhone/iPad.
• Play built-in Fairlight CMI Page R compositions.
• Import and play Page R compositions and instrument collections sent to you by others.
• Authentic Fairlight CMI user interface experience, including floppy disk sounds.
• On-screen music keyboard.
• Use an external Core MIDI keyboard to play the CMI voices.

Pro Version Features (in-App upgrade for an additional $39.99):

• Gain access to the CMI III voices library.
• Create instrument sets that store settings for all 8 channels, including the voices, pitch shifts, volumes, release times etc.
• Use Page R to create songs that can be used with any instrument set.
• Use the on-screen keyboard or external MIDI keyboard to record new notes while your composition is playing (minimum iPhone 3GS, iPod Touch 3G or iPad recommended). Line6 MIDIMobilizer and Akai SynthStation are supported.
• Play back your masterpiece, essentially as it would sound on a real CMI.
• Export MIDI files from Page R, with General MIDI instruments for each channel specified by you.
• Import MIDI files into Page R, with all the notes ready to be edited.
• Import audio files to be used as voices in your instrument sets and compositions.
• Send and receive songs and instrument sets by email.

New in v1.1.7

• Fixes crash on launch in iOS 4.x

New in v1.1
Sampling capabilities have been added:

Additional updates in v1.1

• Now has a metronome tick sound which you can control via the song settings page
• Improved Page R timing engine - lower latency and note jitter
• Improved Page D performance
• Solo, mute, and selectable pan and attack, can all be applied to instrument voices
• Adjust the played start and finish segment of any voice
• Collapse music keyboard on iPad, giving more room for content
• Swipe music keyboard octave selector to start on any white key
• Edit the titles of your voices
• Edit the start and finish of any voice
• Fairlight Newsletter subscription access directly from the App
• Improvements have been made to the Settings page layout
• Sliders now have the Fairlight look

New in v1.0.1

• Player App without Pro upgrade can now:
  • edit loop settings of Fairlight voices
  • edit the default instrument (as intended - this was a bug)
• Improvement in Page R note drawing speed
• Some minor improvements to MIDI status display
• New option to disable sleeping
• Extra, more obvious, "All voices" button on Page 2
• "Player" added to the icon
• (Pro only) Able to export personal voices as .VCX (CMI extended) voice files
• (Pro only) Able to import .VC and .VCX CMI voice files