Fairlight MFX-2 (1992)
A $70,000-and-up hard-disk post-production workstation that put Fairlight's sampling pedigree behind a video-sync engine. It very nearly saved the company.
Overview
The MFX-2 is a 24-track disk-based digital audio workstation built for film and video post. Sources put the system at $70,000 and up. That tells you what Fairlight thought it had: not a sampling keyboard for the studio floor, but a room-filling post rig aimed at facilities cutting sound effects to picture. Mix (1992, p.115) described it as an upgrade of the original MFX, a 24-track hard-disk recording and editing system developed specifically for film and video post applications. Studio Sound (February 1993, p.33) dates the MFX2's launch to April 1992. That same piece bluntly notes it came after the CMI's success had given way to a period in which Fairlight failed, so the MFX2 was a return move rather than an encore.
The core pitch was throughput. Fairlight's own advertising billed the MFX2 as a "quantum leap in speed, capacity and value," claiming the proprietary Turbo SCSI disk interface could play 16 continuous tracks from a single drive - twice what rival disk recorders managed at the time. That claim is marketing copy, not an independent verdict, but the architecture behind it is real enough. Up to six 1,200Mbyte hard disk drives could be connected to create more than 20 track-hours of online storage, and replay channels could be extended to 16 via 2-channel modules. RAM could be pushed to 32Mbytes, and 16 cues could be replayed simultaneously.
Recording and editing happen on the same screen, and cues can be edited across all tracks. Fairlight claimed to have pioneered multichannel scrolling waveforms as part of the MFX2's development. Waveforms are calculated on the fly during playback or recording, so there's no dead time after a take waiting for the display to catch up, and recording can resume immediately. Twenty-four track meters appear whenever needed. The scale can be adjusted so the loudest part of the range is shown in more detail, or set so the red zone triggers at a user-chosen operating level. The patching screen appears automatically when inputs are assigned to tracks, showing the full input-and-track setup including levels and analog-or-digital format.
There are two recording modes. In New mode, recording is entirely nondestructive. New material layers on top of existing material, so performances can be built up and later compiled, and nothing is accidentally lost. In Tape mode, existing material is replaced, with short crossfades generated automatically wherever audio is swapped to avoid clicks at the discontinuities. Replacement is destructive, but it saves disk space and keeps a simple structure with nothing hidden on layers underneath. A special grouping command lets multiple inputs be patched to multiple tracks, multiple times, with a single command. The unit stores up to 999 timecode memory locations for instant access, the first 48 reachable through the Track Select keys.
For audio-for-video work, synchronization is the headline. Integrated video transport control and an "Audio Freeze Frame" feature let the system sync sound effects to picture and play a single audio frame at normal pitch down to zero speed. External VTRs can be scrubbed simultaneously with MFX audio. Sync includes MTC and FTC. Integrated sampling, cue list, and music sequencing are available from Fairlight's Series III package, and an optional MOD allows simultaneous stereo recording/playback and instant sound archiving access. On the software side, the EDL Package was jointly developed with video-editing software specialist Digiteyes, authors of Shotlister, and can command the MFX2 to capture off-line video edit information. Shotlister then loads EDLs from disk, sorts them into reels and chronological order, and conforms them through a series of edits into most on-line standards.
Reception was warm on usability and cooler on market reach. Studio Sound (February 1993, p.33) framed the machine as an astute move for a company rebuilding after the CMI era. The on-line observations gathered in the trade press say that even first-time users are effective with the MFX2, the learning incline isn't too steep, and timecode numbers rarely need to be entered because cue points are placed visually on the screen. One facility quoted in the same coverage explained the purchase simply: they had already invested in a Fairlight CMI Series III and wanted to preserve that investment, with no regrets. The criticisms are just as concrete. The MFX2 had little North American penetration despite presence in 15 countries. Sound-clip location was "managed" by dedicating certain tracks to certain effects (track two for small-arms fire, and so on), and until recently the system couldn't track which clip was where without listening to or viewing a track until the desired sound rolled by. A text-entry search librarian was finished or nearly finished, and the advice was to see that function in person before committing.
Fairlight worked the high ground of sampling technology, and few sampling keyboards ever sounded better. By the MFX2 era the company had struggled, and the bet was that the heritage of those pioneer machines would combine with high-speed editing and a strong user interface to reinvigorate its market position. The MFX2 was, by the trade press's own framing, that bet. Buyers were facilities with Series III consoles already in the building, cutting effects to picture and valuing speed over novelty.
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