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Fairlight CMI IIx

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Fairlight CMI IIx
Fairlight CMI IIx (example)

The Fairlight CMI is a digital workstation used by Prince in the mid 1980s. It was one of the first workstations, combining synthesis, sampling and sequencing into a single unit. Although the Fairlight had many sampling and sequencing capabilities, Prince mostly stuck to the presets, using it as a keyboard and drum machine.

Prince first used a IIx model on the Parade album. Prince asked his engineer “Cubby” Colby to acquire the $70,000 keyboard for the sessions. It was first used for overdubbing the opening suite on the album (“Christopher Tracy’s Parade”, “New Position”, “I Wonder U”, “Under The Cherry Moon”). During these sessions, Prince experimented with the Fairlight further, tracking the outtakes “Others Here With Us” and “Tibet”. The first song released to use the Fairlight was the b-side to “Pop Life”, “Hello”, released almost a year before Parade.

The Fairlight became Prince’s primary keyboard on the Sign O The Times album.

It can be heard on the following songs:

  • Hello (“Tibet”)
  • Christoper Tracy's Parade (orchestral patches, “Bizarre”)
  • New Position (orchestral patches, steel drums)
  • I Wonder U (orchestral patches, “Arr1”)
  • Under The Cherry Moon (orchestral patches)
  • Mountains (“Sitar”)
  • All My Dreams (“Bizarre”)
  • Others Here With Us (“Humans2,” “Screams5,” “Laf3”, “Tibet”)
  • Tibet (“Tibet”)
  • Sign Of The Times (percussion)
  • Play In The Sunshine
  • Housequake (claps, bass)
  • It (percussion, “Orch5”)
  • Starfish and Coffee
  • U Got The Look
  • If I Was Your Girlfriend
  • Strange Relationship (“Sitar” and wood flute)
  • The Cross (“Sitar”)
  • Adore (“Sitar”)
  • Crucial (“Sitar”)
  • Big Tall Wall (“Sitar”)
  • Witness 4 The Prosecution (Intro sample)
  • A Place In Heaven (bells, tympani, harpsichord)
  • Train (“Train”)
  • Rebirth of the Flesh
  • Cosmic Day
  • Le Grind
  • Bob George (“Arr1”, effects)
  • Rockhard In A Funky Place
  • Joy In Repetition

Prince took the Fairlight on the road, with Lisa using a Fairlight on the Parade tour and Dr Fink using one on the Sign O The Times and Lovesexy tours. The Fairlight proved difficult to use live, so Dr Fink sampled Prince's favorite sounds into an E-mu Emax. Prince continued using this sample set into the early 1990s. In 1996, Prince had his Fairlights repaired although they didn't appear on any records. The two Fairlights are currently in the collection at Paisley Park.

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