George Petersen, Editor Mix – October 2006

“With the unveiling of its new Dream II series, Fairlight may have come closer to the ideal DAW.  We have heard that one before, but this one’s different – very different.  Based on the company’s new CC-1 (Crystal Core technology) card, the Dream II Series uses a large-scale Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) rather than the traditional ASIC or CPU/DSP-based approach.  The CC-1 architecture is implemented on a new-generation FPGA chip manufactured by Altera Corporation(ww.altera.com).”

Frank Moldstad www.broadcastnewsroom.com October 2006

There were also some interesting new recording systems, such as a PCI recording interface called the CC-1 debuted by Fairlight Audio, which dovetails with a Fairlight work surface to form a complete system with hundreds of I/Os and powerful DSP capabilities.

Alan Watts – Bob Humid’s Sonic Weapony October 2006

Fairlight, the inventor of the Fairlight CMI and the one and only company that feverishly insists on pushing the envelope regarding the development and manufacturing of high-end digital mxing consoles that could easily win any set decoration award for Sci-Fi Movies has (drrrrrumroll) ...well, pushed the envelope again. But this time its not about the looks, the sexy knobs and pulsating buttons or slick sliding futuristic foxy faders. No! Its about the heart of (your PC) machine and about making your CPU jealous as a jellyfish envying the strength of aerogel.

Craig  Anderton – Pro Sound News “The Anderton Awards” November 2006

The I Challenge Thee, Pro Tools, with DSP At 20 Paces Award goes to Fairlight, for its surprise introductions of the CC-1 DSP card. OK, so it only works with Fairlight hardware… for now. But just wait.

Dave Robinson, Editor Pro Sound News Europe – November 2006

DAW developer makes radical and historic shift to FPGA technology. “Fairlight CEO John Lancken, had reason to be brazen, as the Australian company introduced its patent-pending Crystal Core (CC-1) audio production engine on the eve of AES San Francisco.  This multimedia-engine-on-a-chip, manufactured by Altera Corporation, marks the work of 15 man-years of development, an investment of A$4m since 2004, and a huge leap into the strange world of Field Programmable Gate Arrays, or FPGAs……..

An oft-used phrase at the AES press conference to describe the arrival of CC-1 was ‘disruptive technology’.”

Dave Robinson, Editor Pro Sound News Europe – November 2006

I asked John Lancken CEO of Fairlight, “What’s so bad about FPGA? And he was struggling to answer. I can understand why: it’s a very convincing technology that we should all be looking at lot more closely. “I sat where you are now and thought this sounds too good to be true,” Lancken told me. It seems the only issue is a lack of skilled FPGA programmers in the world 10:1 is the ratio of DSPers to FPGA-heads, apparently.

Andy Stewart, Editor Audio Technology – November 2006 – AES Unwrapped

“Then there was Fairlight’s new Crystal Core technology (CC-1); a ground-up hardware/software development that abandons DSP and host-based processing for a faster and vastly more powerful field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA).  The long and the short of this departure from conventional DSP is that the new Fairlight’s will be searingly fast, sport vast amounts of I/O, have virtually no latency (0.5ms) and will be physically much smaller than previous-generation Fairlight hardware components.  One CC-1 card, it is claimed, will run 230 high-res audio channels, each of which carry eight bands of fully parametric EQ and dynamics (as well as a host of other facilities) without batting an eyelid!  There will be no ‘maxing out’ the system, as is often the case with current-generation DAWs, and latency … what latency?  It may just be that Fairlight is about to give the world of digital audio a damn good kick in the pants with this new product.  Keep your eyes out for it in coming issues of AT (or visit www.fairlightau.com).”

Paul Mac, Editor Audio Media - December 2006 – commenting on Fairlight CC

 “Without a doubt, this was the highlight of the recent San Francisco AES.  The Fairlight stand was busy with potential customers, potential partners, and competitors with notebooks.  The ‘console on a card’ is now a reality – everyone else, beware.”

Paul Mac, Editor Audio Media – April 2007 – article on Fairlight Dream II

“It’s fitting that Fairlight should be at the forefront still, in that respect it may have found it’s proper place in the audio technology once more – a leading light in the development of high-technology for the good of us all.”

Tim Goodyer, Editor Pro Audio Asia – November-December 2006 – AES

Fairlight’s Crystal Core CC-1 audio production engine.  Based on the latest Field Programmable Gate Array technology from Altera, this was promised to ‘immediately and comprehensively obsolete DSP/time-slice bus architectures and deliver quantum performance gains by shrinking hardware into a single purpose-built media processing chip’.  Sure enough, Fairlight’s John Lancken was able to show the chip and make claims on its behalf that silenced its doubters and ensured the avid attention of certain other workstation developers for the duration of the show.  The first sale of the technology was also confirmed as a CC-1 powered five-bay Constellation XT console destined for Berlin-based television production company Cine-Impuls.”

Phil Sandberg, Editor Content & Technology – November/December 2006

“In an industry where phrases like ‘revolutionary’, ‘paradigm-shift’ and ‘groundbreaking’ are used often (and lightly), it seems that Australia’s own Fairlight may have achieved something matching all those terms with the release of its new FPGA-powered Crystal Core CC-1 multimedia-engine-on-a-chip at the recent AES 2006 shows in San Francisco.”

Michael Kunkes, Contributing Writer - Editors Guild – Nov/Dec 2006

“In a new technology rollout, Fairlight simultaneously announced the introduction and shipping of the CC-1 Crystal Core, the world’s first all-FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), silicon technology-based audio acceleration platform and production engine.  The patent-pending Crystal Core promises exponential performance gains by shrinking hardware into a single, purposed media-processing chip.  With the programming flexibility of the FPGA chip, a single CC-1 card is capable of 200 channels or recording, editing, mixing and plug-ins, a wide choice of I/Os in analogue, digital and MADI (multiplexed audio digital interface), an extremely low latency of 0.5 millisecond and full processing capability on each channel, with eight-band EQ and three stages of dynamics on each channel.  The first realization of the Crystal Core engine will be on all new Fairlight Dream II consoles, with free upgrades for current owners.

According to Fairlight CEO John Lancken, FPGA technology is not new, having been used in military technology, complex physics engines and some production applications (including Avid’s DNA family), but never before to this extent.  ‘You can put the equivalent of 64 DSP chips on a single FPGA,’ he says.  ‘DSP engines take years to build.  A huge advantage to FPGA is the speed with which you can turn around a design, and everything in this first generation chip will go automatically into the next one – with no rewiring.  Also, this one card takes the guesswork completely out of managing DSP resources.  We call that guaranteed performance’.”

Jeff Klopmeyer GC Pro – AES San 2006  (Online)

One of the big buzzes at AES was the triumphant return of Fairlight... not that they've gone anywhere, but this was the first event in recent memory that they've grabbed a lot of attention. What's all the hubbub about? Their new CC-1 audio production engine. The press release on this bad boy makes it clear that Fairlight is making a strong attempt to "comprehensively obsolete DSP/Time Slice Bus architectures". Hmmm, I wonder who they mean? In any case, on paper, the CC-1 (based on Fairlight's new Crystal Core technology) delivers insane specs. According to the company, the first audio production products based on the Crystal Core engine will be capable of delivering 230 channel paths; each with eight bands of EQ, 3 stage dynamics processing, floating insert point with return, onboard Pyxis HD video, 12 auxiliary sends and up-to 72 user definable mix busses: all on a single CC-1 card! For the time being, let's just say... stay tuned!

By the Mix Staff – Mix On Line – 12 October 2006

 “Fairlight’s DREAM II production systems may have changed all the rules of DAW/digital console design.  The groundbreaking Crystal Core system used in DREAM II employs cutting-edge FGPA (Field-Programmable Gate Array) technology to redefine the price/performance ratio of digital production.  A single CC-1 PCI card can handle 230 audio channels (each with eight bands of EQ and full dynamics control), 72 user-definable mix buses (mono to 7.1), 192-track recording, integrated HD video and up to 220 physical I/Os.  Said to be eight times faster than high-end DSP-based DAWs, DREAM II drew packed crowds throughout the show.”

David McGee, Editor AES Daily – October, 2006

 “In a groundbreaking introduction that radically alters the world of audio technology, bringing with it massive gains in system performance, form factor design and cost effectiveness, Fairlight is introducing its patent-pending Crystal Core (CC-1) audio production engine based on Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) silicon technology.  Crystal Core technology immediately and comprehensively obsoletes DSP/Time Slice Bus architectures and promises quantum performance gains by shrinking hardware into a purpose-built media-processing chip.  In doing so, Crystal Core technology delivers improved quality, unparalleled flexibility, scalability, enlarged system scope and never before seen price performance affordability.”

Special to the AES Daily by Mel Lambert – 7 October 2006

 “Quite literally, Fairlight’s new and truly stunning FPGA-based Crystal Core Engine has moved the decimal point in the cost/performance ratio.  Not to mention packing more low-latency, ReWire compatible processing power onto a single PC than I can get my head around.  A remarkable breakthrough.”

Mix Special Report, AES 2006 Day 1 (couldn’t find this one to get author’s name)

 “Fairlight’s groundbreaking Crystal Core system uses cutting-edge FPGA technology to redefine the price performance ratio of digital production…this technology proposes to obsolete all other established processing paradigms.”

Mix Special Report, AES (Couldn’t find this one to get author’s name)

 “And then there are the real innovations, like Fairlight’s introduction of Crystal Core 1, making the move away from DSP-based architecture toward Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA).  It’s a quantum leap forward in terms of speed and power available on a single chip – up to 230 fully featured channels with full dynamics, EQ etc on every one.”