Fairlight CMI-30A (2011)
The CMI-30A is both a vintage instrument and not vintage at all. Unveiled as a working production prototype at NAMM in January 2011, it's a limited 30th-anniversary reissue of the original Fairlight CMI, overseen by co-creator Peter Vogel. The Google Arts & Culture listing calls it a “contemporary redesign of the original Fairlight CMI,” sold in a limited edition to mark three decades since the Series I launched in 1979.
It isn't just a nostalgia piece in a fancy box. The CMI-30A combines features from both the Series IIX and the Series III, and in its initial form it replicates the functionality of those earlier machines - right down to the light pen and monochrome screen interaction. MusicRadar (2011) noted that the new model emulates the Series II and III CMIs, even down to the light-pen-and-monochrome-screen interface. Under the hood it's a modern machine. The mainframe is free-standing and rack-mountable, with a 750GB SATA hard drive, DVD R/W drive, and USB ports. All the original Fairlight sound libraries from the IIX and III were to be included, plus a large selection of samples collected over the prior 30 years.
The projected price was around US $17,000, with the optional music keyboard another US $2,000 - figures reported by Synthtopia (August 2009). The keyboard was a separate add-on, which struck some observers as odd for a “complete” instrument. One forum commenter on Gearspace was blunt: “Another bullshit aimed at collectors.” Others were more playful. Deadmau5 joked on the Vintage Synth Explorer forums about buying one to sample his own track “Ghosts'n'Stuff” and holding down the C3 key.
Documentation on the CMI-30A is thin. There are no production numbers, no confirmed final retail price, and no detailed technical specs beyond the provisional hardware list from August 2009. Whether it was ever sold in any quantity, or remained a prototype, is not clearly recorded in the available sources.
Known specs (provisional, as at 13 August 2009):
- Free-standing mainframe, adaptable to rack mount
- 750GB SATA hard drive
- DVD R/W drive
- USB ports
- Light pen and monochrome screen interface
- Includes original CMI-IIX and III sound libraries
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