Re: Yet more about the Fairlight

[Dances With Voles <jondr@sco.COM>]

Yo! katefans@chinet.chi.il.us (Chris n Vickie) raps:
>   I didn't say it did it in real time, Mr. Person. The Fairlight captured
>one sample in ram at 8-bit quality (allowing for a quick playback to check)
>and then used a Fast Fourier Transform (which took no little time). FFT
>breaks a complex waveform into its simple component waveforms. The freqs.
>of the component waveforms, and their relationships was the only information
>stored.

Yes, thanks, I know all about FFT.  You are talking about the synthesis
section of the Fairlight, not the sampling part, which is what made it
famous.  The orchestra stab on the Art Of Noise was not stored in its
component harmonics, believe you me.  I suppose you have forgotten about the
Fairlight's streamer tape add-on.  Re: countless interviews with Yello, Art
Of Noise, etc...

>  I'm writing from memory of a three-part series on the Fairlight in
>Keyboard, so I might be a tiny bit shakey on some details, but I'm quite
>sure of the basic operation. One piece of proof is the fact that the
>Series II stored multiple sounds on 8" floppy disks, one of the most
>inefficient data storage mediums known to human-kind. CP/M formatted
>8-inchers were 128k, for Kate's sake!

You are more than a tiny bit shaky on the details.  I suggest you go re-read
your Keyboards.

>   Besides, what does "some guy from Sequential" know, anyway?

Considerably more than you, it appears.  I know the argument by authority is
a logical fallacy, but I trust his knowledge of the electronic music
industry more than yours.  Sorry.

-- 
Jon Drukman (pure acid hell)                    uunet!sco!jondr   jondr@sco.com
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With hungered flesh obscurely, he mutely craved to adore.