Fairlight

MIX Magazine - WITNESS Fundraiser in Las Vegas

2007-10-25T07:13:00Z

Mar 20, 2006

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A fundraising effort to help WITNESS ( www.witness.org) alert the world to human rights abuses around the globe will take place on Tuesday, April 25, 2006 at 6:30 p.m. at Simon Kitchen and Bar at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

Artists who participate in WITNESS’ fundraising efforts include Alan Parsons, Annie Lennox, Barry Gibb, Billy Gibbons, Boris Blank, David Gilmour, David Hirschfelder, Hans Zimmer, Herbie Hancock, Ivar Davies, Jan Hammer, Jean Michel Jarre, JJ Jeczalik/Art of Noise, John Paul Jones, Kate Bush, Keith Emerson, Laurie Anderson, Lindsey Buckingham, Midge Ure, Mike Oldfield, Mike Rutherford, Nick Rhodes, Steve Winwood, Stewart Copeland, Thomas Dolby, Todd Rundgren, Trevor Horn, Brian Eno, Bono, Howard Jones, Roland Orzabal, Mark Mothersbaugh, Devo, Elvis Costello, Sir George Martin, Brian Wilson, Mark Knoplfer and Joni Mitchell, as well as digital mixer manufacturer Fairlight.

Each artist has signed one of 43 keys of a vintage Fairlight CMI keyboard that will be auctioned later this year in aid of the charity. The completed keyboard with special messages of hope and encouragement from the artists will be on display at a unique showing at a special reception Fairlight will host at the upcoming NAB show in April.

Chaired by Peter Gabriel and supported by pro audio and music industry members, WITNESS brings often unseen images, untold stories and seldom heard voices to the attention of key decision makers, the media, and the general public. Current projects where WITNESS is making considerable progress include: internal displacement and forced labor in Burma, challenging the use of child soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo, assistance for landmine victims in Senegal, truth and reconciliation in Sierra Leone and mental disability rights in Paraguay.

John Lancken, CEO of Fairlight, has been encouraged by the high level of interest among the artist community and looks forward to similar excitement from potential buyers of the autographed CMI. “For those of us whose human rights are never impinged, it’s easy to ignore the human rights abuses and suffering that take place around the world,” Lancken said. “Witness helps ensures that the world is made aware of these abuses, that the perpetrators of abuse are held accountable and that the victims get relief. We are honored to join with the pro audio and music communities in supporting this worthy cause and we look forward to a very successful auction later this year.”

Witness is embarking on new initiatives in Mexico, Burma, Brazil, Uganda, Darfur and in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

For more information, visit www.witness.org, www.fairlightau.com, www.simonkitchen.com and www.hardrockhotel.com.

MIX Magazine Feature article on Anthem by Ed Cherney

2007-10-25T07:11:00Z

Apr 1, 2006

SPLIT, INLINE, POST—THREE CONSOLES IN ONE

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At last year's AES show in New York City, I stumbled across the Fairlight booth and saw the Anthem Dream, the company's new digital console. Yeah, just what the world needs, another digital board.

You could consider me old-school. I grew up on large-format analog consoles — Neves, APIs, Trident A Range, even SSLs. I love the sound and functionality of these beasts, and I've had a fair amount of success on them. I love their sonic personalities; I can't say I ever could get that with a digital console. Yes, I have made the transition to the brave new world. I have built a personal studio based around a digital console and a digital audio workstation. I resisted, of course, but now I'm fully committed to working this way. I even think that I have gotten my system to sound pretty decent.

There have been many digital consoles, though I can't think of many that actually thrived, or survived. The designs have not been the most user-friendly, I can't say that they sounded very good — or had that sonic personality — and at least for me, the learning curves have been steep. Many of these boards seemed to have been designed by teams that were clueless as to what engineers actually do — designers that never recorded or mixed anything or even attended a recording session. At least it seems that way to me.

I spent some time at the New York AES show with Fairlight president John Lancken and his chief software designer, Tino Fibaek. Fairlight's new board looked cool and seemed intuitive and functional, but on the show floor, I couldn't tell what it sounded like. The mixer could set it up as an inline or split console, so perhaps it could be set up the way I like, rather than making me work in the way some designers imagine engineers work. Anyway, I was intrigued, and John invited me to come to Sydney (where Fairlight is based) and try mixing something on it.

LEAVIN' ON A JET PLANE
It's a 14-hour flight from L.A. to Sydney, which is not too bad if you have the proper medication. If you leave L.A. on a Friday, you'll arrive in Sydney on Monday — talk about messing up your internal clock!

When I got there, John insisted I should stay up, so we had dinner at a former dunny (that's a public restroom) that's now a very nice restaurant in the shadow of the Sydney Opera House. So I forced myself to stay awake and do some sightseeing and woke up the next morning feeling relatively okay. Of course, having been a recording engineer for so many years, I get used to feeling jet-lagged most of the time.

I showed up at the Fairlight headquarters the next day and went into the control room where the Anthem was set up. I brought a song I had recorded live for a famous octogenarian rock band. The track needed some work and would be a good test for putting the console through its paces. I had plenty of time and nobody to criticize the results, yet I was nervous, thinking back to the times when I had to complete a project in a new and strange room with equipment that I wasn't intimately familiar with.

In the room with me to hold my hand while I became familiar with the console was Joe Hammer, a former first-call drummer from Texas who has lived in Paris for the past 25 years. The designers were also in the room, anxious to see how I work.

THE ROCKY ROAD TO ROCK
I figured the best way was to just dive in, get my tracks up to the desk and start mixing — and figure out how to use the console as I went along. First up: Can I get the drums to rock? I brought this particular recording because I knew that it needed some help. I pushed the faders up, flat, no effects, and I tried to get a balance and just see what I needed to do to get it to fill the speakers.

Hmmm. the kick drum wassn't really popping. I needed to find the fundamental and peak it, get rid of the muddy 150 to 400Hz stuff and boosted at 4 or 5 kHz to get some definition and snap. I sharpened up the Q and started boosting and sweeping the low end to find the fundamental, but I couldn't seem to find it. There didn't seem to be enough gain on the EQ to dig it out.

I tried to clear up the overheads to get the snare to speak, but I was having a heck of a time digging this stuff out. I cranked up the monitors to help find it, but I just couldn't get the tracks to stand up like I needed them to. Oh man, I was hating my life just then. I was also hating this console — another case of a digital desk just not having the oomph I need to get a track rocking. I thought, now what do I do? I really like these Fairlight guys. They have been treating me like a million bucks, so how can I tell them this thing doesn't cut it?

Maybe I could sneak a cab to the airport and go home, change my phone number or — better yet — just move. Whenever I start a project, I get worried that maybe this time I won't be able to pull it off, and I'll be exposed as a fraud and a slug. So I was worried, and even a bit angry that — because of the economics of our business — I was being forced to find a new way to work.

I excused myself and took a little walk, had a smoke and took a couple deep breaths. There were some beautiful birds hanging around, so I shared a snack with them and calmed down.

I told Joe and the designers the difficulty I was having, and that the EQ — as it was set up now — wasn't cutting it. It didn't have the sound I was looking for, and I didn't feel I'd be able to get this track sounding right. The Q needed to be sharper. I told them where the frequencies needed to be centered — especially on the low end — and that I needed more headroom and gain. They scribbled some notes, probably thinking I was a world-class jerk. I spent the rest of the day exploring Sydney, and we planned to reconvene the next morning to continue feeding my frustration at my inability to get these tracks to rock.

FEELIN' ALRIGHT
The next day, we went back at it. I hit Play and thought, ‘Am I going crazy?’ The drum tracks were rocking; the kick was filling the speaker; I was hearing the harmonics and body on the snare that I couldn't get the day before; and the bass guitar was full and clear. I wondered, ‘What's going on here?’ Yesterday, I couldn't get the EQ right, and today it's working. Well, the designers had stayed up and written a different EQ algorithm. I couldn't believe it. I was beginning to feel better.

Cherny with Fairlight's Joe Hammer

I started by trying to balance some music. But first, I needed to check out the onboard compressors. I thought, this electric guitar was a good candidate; let's see if I can get it to stand up while leaving a little room for some other instruments. Whoops: bad knee, not a lot of elegance. It was either smacking too hard — or not enough. How about a better variable soft knee, so I could hit the threshold where I wanted it and it wouldn't hit too hard — unless I needed it to, of course. Next day, there it was. I was floored. All right!

I finally felt I was getting this thing to pop. I figured out the aux sends, which are pretty straightforward. You can put real-time VST plugs-ins on the inserts, so all of my favorite plug-in reverbs, EQs, compressors and effects were right there. I was starting to feel at home. As I continued working, I became more familiar, comfortable and confident, but mentioned that I would have preferred the board's center section to be right in front of me, and felt the graphics should switch to what I was working on. Next morning, the console layout was just as I had requested. This thing was starting to feel like it was mine.

IMPRESSIONS, IMPRESSIONS
Routing was straightforward: It's easy and convenient to do grouping and traditional VCA-type groups, and you can quickly group many channels and tweak all the parameters of those channels. For example, you can compress/EQ all of the drum tracks — or even smash them and mix them back into the unsmashed drums.

The Anthem has the best and easiest automation I've used. Especially with digital consoles, many automation systems force you to work their way, not yours. On this board, you can easily and quickly automate any parameter without having anything else automated. With the touch of two buttons, I can automate an echo send, panpot or EQ parameter without anything else being affected. I wish that all automation systems worked like this one — additive and not global.

Everything is totally recallable. I could easily switch between sessions, so I could work on a few things at once. The console can be used in the traditional-style split mode (separate monitor section) or in-line, which I prefer for mixing. It has lots of echo sends and signal paths. And if you really have to, it's easy to do simultaneous surround and stereo mixes. Surround panning, busing and monitoring are well thought out and easy to use. It's easy to pan anything to anywhere.

I was knocked out by being able to design my own console in a matter of hours and implement those changes. After only six hours, I could really do great work on this desk. I could quickly configure Anthem's control surface to suit my tastes, relocating the controls I needed to the middle of the sweet spot.

Anthem offers everything I need in a console, including sounding really good. I tried to overload the stereo bus, but could hardly do it. I felt that I could get “personality” out of it — something that's always a struggle for me to do with digital gear. I ended up really loving this desk, and by the end of my trip, I felt that I had a desk built just for me.

I forgot to mention that Anthem contains a 96-track disk recorder. I really didn't get into its features, only to transfer the tracks that I brought and use it for playback. I'll get into that on my next trip.

Fairlight, (+61) 29975-1777, www.fairlightau.com.

Paul Mac Editor Audio Media Magazine – CC-1 Review

2007-10-25T06:28:00Z

A company’s history is a traditional and convenient device to start a product profile such as this. But in the case of Fairlight, we’d need the rest of the magazine to do that job. The company has been at the cutting edge of digital audio technology since, well, in my case when I first got to select Page R with a slightly worn light-pen. I can’t swear to it, but I’m sure the phrase ‘you could buy a house for that’ came into it somewhere. Things have changed.

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

The company makes no secret of its target – to dent the domination of Digidesign in the audio post production marketplace with a new piece of technology that cannot fail to impress – CC-1.

It’s worth briefly explaining CC-1 technology for those who have missed the explosion of discussion around this little power-house. It’s a processing core based around FPGA technology – a type of chip that requires a very different approach to development than is currently practised in the world of DSP. For those brave enough to make the jump, the rewards are super-fast and superpowerful.

Think of an FPGA as something that doesn’t so much read instructions and act on them, but rather is both the instruction and the process combined. In a strange twist of imagery, traditional DSP is like reading a recipe, gathering the ingredients, combining, mixing, and then cooking, whereas FPGA technology is like reaching into an enormous oven where every kind of cake you require is always available to be picked out.

It sounds like the perfect solution, but it is a specialist one. Development is more time consuming, and while most plug-ins, for example, are easily adaptable to most DSP architectures, developing a plug-in to run natively on an FPGA is a much bigger job. Fairlight has spent three years getting from the drawing board to the studio with a solution that has already been one of the biggest draws on the trade show floors of recent times.

Whys And Wherefores

Now a steady stream of CC-1-based Fairlight systems are leaving the factory for studios around the world. The UK distributor, Tekcare, has already upped its demo stock to cope with the demand for hands-on experience. But surely what’s inside doesn’t matter so much as what it does? After all, the machine room is down the hall isn’t it?

What if you could put an extra edit suite where the machine room is because you’ve got rid of the towering processing racks and replaced it all with a single off-the-shelf PC and a PCIe card? Better still, you could now afford the gear for that suite because you’ve just bought a very large mixing and editing system for the price of a small one.

A single CC-1 PCIe card is a 230-channel console with 72 busses. Each channel has eight-band EQ and three stages of dynamics. You can edit, process, mix, and master to your heart’s content, throw plug-ins at it, run multiple, multi-format outputs, play tracks from different sources, in different formats, at different rates, without conversion or import complications. Want more than 230 channels? Add another CC-1 card and double that. Heck, add another two and run over 100 channels of 384kHz for a very special project.

Amongst the Fairlight family of products is every component you’ll need for your HD ready audio post-production room, including integrated video, all based around a CC-1 core:

The range of surfaces from Fairlight starts with the SatelliteAV, the most compact of the range and one geared mainly towards the editing environment. While it does still offer full control, most of the real estate is taken up with a single LCD, the central Binnacle jog wheel/and control area, and other dedicated edit, selection, and control buttons.

The next step up is the StationPlus. This option adds more control – more buttons, more displays, a fader, and so on. Both the SatelliteAV and StationPlus can handle fader side-cars, with up to 24 faders for the StationPlus.

Up from this is the Constellation, an altogether more comprehensive solution that, at its most basic, has the central editing area and the Channel Switch Panel, a motorised, touch-sensitive fader panel, plus a control panel. There are two of those available: the CAP (Channel Assign Panel – an exploded channel strip), and the In Line Panel (a large bank of assignable encoders for everything from input levels to plug-in control, supported by the high-resolution OLED displays for graphic and numeric feedback). Larger Constellation systems can be built up using these components, as required.

Lastly, and the most recent development in the Fairlight suite of surfaces, is Anthem. This is very different as it is aimed at a customer whose remit extends beyond post production and into the realm of music recording and mixing. The console can actually work in three modes: in-line, split, and Constellation. The first two mimic the two main variations in analogue mixing console configurations, while the Constellation mode presents the systems’ more post-specific tools (clip-based automation, multi channel panning) and options ( post/video networking) in a convention Fairlight way.

Once you’ve decided on a surface, there’s I/O to consider. Currently there are two basic I/O options for the CC-1-based Fairlight family, the SX-20, and the SX-48. The SX-20 is standard issue with Fairlight systems and brings the basic sync requirements (tri-level sync, video sync, wordclock), plus a ‘starter pack of I/O (two mic/instrument inputs, two balanced line inputs, 12 balanced analogue outputs, four digital inputs, and eight digital outputs). The SX-48 is a modular I/O device with I/O installed in six, eight-channel blocks, plus all the sync options and an Ethernet based control interface. You can connect up to one SX-48s to a single CC-1 card via MADI, or up to four SX-48s with the optional CMI (Crystal MADI Interface card) which brings it up to a maximum of 192 channels of SX-48 I/O per CC-1. plus that provided by the SX20.

*** XHEAD **

My time in front of a Fairlight product was in the demo room at Tekcare in the UK, with a Constellation system and dual screens. The two screens, while not compulsory, seem to be the best way to go. The Fairlight system works in two distinct modes – Edit and Track – and with one screen dedicated to each, it was a lot easier to see what was going on.

Switching between edit and track modes is taken care of by the software – all you need to know is that when you touch an edit control you’re in edit mode, and when you touch a track control, you’re in track mode. The distinction is your focus of operation. When editing, you’re working in a clipbased environment. You can even apply clip-based EQ here, so everywhere the clip goes, the EQ curve goes as well.

If you’re used to ‘standard’, mouse-intensive DAW editing facilities, then you should be prepared to move past that narrow band of low expectation. Watching a practised operator in front of the Binnacle control hub is an impressive thing. Clip-based cuts, moves, duplications and more are only a couple of button presses away. When you have a clip to move and you hit play, the clip gets dragged along by the play cursor, ready for you to drop where it’s needed.

Once into track mode, everything goes track-wise. Track select and arming comes alive, as does the second screen. The screen and the surface interact very smoothly, and every parameter on a channel is accessible through the Channel Assign Panel, and/or the In-Line panel – all available to the automation system.

It was during this playtime that we examined the CPU meter. With everything at idle, it reached around 15 percent (a basic Dell 390 was the host). Then we put 96 tracks into play, all with EQ and dynamics. The CPU meter couldn’t quite make it to 20 percent – and most of this increase you could probably attribute to the graphics, as we also had all 96 tracks showing on screen. Thus the case was proved for the CC-1 card: very impressive.

Plug The Gap Even better, there is something you can do with the spare 80 percent. You can run plug-ins – though I should qualify this with an explanation. You see, the CC-1 card is quite capable of running plug-ins, and lots of them. It already has a fair showing of effects in-built. However, you may recall the bit about the extended and more specialist R&D that’s required to bring plug-ins to this platform – this means that one of Fairlight’s current preoccupations is encouraging third-party plug-in developers to join the party. There are two levels of partnership with Fairlight. You can be a Platinum Partner (you’re committed to bringing CC-1-native plug-ins to market), or a ‘Gold Partner’.

The Gold Partner programme pulls developers together in a spirit of co-operation, bringing gifts of VST compatible plugs. Yes, there is a VST bridge built into the CC-1 system so you’re not limited by the Platinum offerings. Though this does come at a small cost, as once host-based processing and virtual instruments (ReWire is also supported) come into play, you are at the mercy of the host’s latency. Granted, there’s nothing else going on (no native mix-engine and so on to be concerned with) so the impact of this is much less than you might expect; but with an amazing fixed latency through the CC-1 engine of just 0.5mS there is a price.

Current Platinum partners include two of the staples – Synchro Arts (VocAlign) and Serato (Pitch n Time). Gold partners, at the time of writing, include Native Instruments, Ableton, Waves, IK Multimedia, and more.

Frills Fairlight has made many steps forward in developing the CC-1 system and the editing/mixing software that goes with it. One might be the sheer speed of set-up. I witnessed the basic assembly (from scratch) of a session with three 5.1 sub-busses, one stereo-bus, multiformat main outputs, plus track assignments to all of those. This took around a minute and a half, from the control surface. Another might be the inclusion of the AudioBase 3 facility – a networked sound effects library that will even bring in iTunes-based effects libraries – a carrier that is becoming increasingly popular in the post halls. Fairlight has declared itself on a mission to deal with every major sound, video, and metadata format around – from .wav to OMF, thru AES31 and on to AAF/MXF and XML. You can drag and drop just about anything onto the timeline and within a heartbeat (or so...), it will play.

These are all good, but I think that the package as a whole speaks more about the Fairlight ethos than any part. You can work with a DREAM II system without ever feeling that you’re dragging a plough behind you. It does seem to find all this audio stuff very easy, and given half a chance it would probably be off somewhere doing some really hard sums, very fast. So it may alarm you (and others) to know that the CC-1 card currently only uses half of its FPGA. What to do with the other half is apparently under discussion – full-on HD video capability, more channels, or self awareness?

Lastly, let’s hear it for the price. You can set yourself up with a CC-1 based system for less than a system from ‘a major competitor’. Affordable is not something you may have thought of Fairlight before, so if that was the rumour putting you off getting a demo, then let it be dispelled.

Conclusion

Your reservations might justifiably lie in ‘bleeding edge’ technology, or a desire not to be the first one in the pool. It might be client pressure to conform (not in that way) that is causing you angst. However, I’m pretty sure that a demo will help clear up much of that. I’m also sure you’ll see benefits in the Fairlight way... once you’ve had a Fairlight come and stay.

Magazine Editor Quotes on Fairlight's CC-1 Engine

2007-10-25T02:48:00Z

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

F airlight, 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.”

Plug-Ins and Partners

2007-10-25T02:34:00Z

This Paper provides detailed information on:

Using PlugIns on our systems and …

Some precise information about our Fairlight Partner Program.

CC-1 Technology offers users expanded creative opportunities with dedicated ReWire implementation to provide access to sound design tools and an Audio bridge with to up to 64 simultaneous VST PlugIns. The PC-based architecture of CC-1, whilst delivering a new industry benchmark for performance, also enables a level of independence and modularity never before available to audio professionals.

Fairlight has created IP cores implementing many of the software standards by which devices exchange data within the PC environment. These include ReWire and ASIO, the latter interfacing to a standard VST environment running in the FPGA. This can self-instantiate VST PlugIns from hard disk, organize channel I/O in ASIO format, and run a huge number of calculation-intensive programs. Using any these interfaces opens the way for two-way traffic between processes in the PC environment, with third-party products either using CC-1 as an off-board accelerator, or providing host-based processes which CC-1-based products can access. The best of both worlds !

Let’s first talk about VSTs and VSTi …

VST (Virtual Studio Technology) is an audio PlugIn standard created by Steinberg. The VST PlugIn standard is certainly the most widespread PlugIn standard in use today, with thousands of available PlugIns. A VST effect is a type of VST PlugIn that is used to process audio. A VST Instrument is typically used to synthesize sound or play back sampled audio.

Using VST Effects on Fairlight systems.

Some typical scenarios include:

• Insert a VST Compressor or EQ PlugIn directly on a track or live input, busses, and Auxes.

• Patch an Aux Output to a Live Input, then insert an VST Reverb or Flanger on the Live input.

Now all channels feeding the Aux will be routed through the VST Effect.

Please note that Fairlight supports VST effects from Mono to 5.1 - and beyond. These can be inserted on mono channels or on Link Groups.

Link groups are designed for controlling groups of feeds in multi-channel formats. Link groups simplify many tasks associated with working in surround formats and share many of the operational features of surround format buses. Link groups can include up to eight members. The simplest link group has two members and fulfils the function of a stereo channel.

If a stereo VST Effect is inserted on a LCR, LCRS or 5.1 Link Group, the left and right channels will be allocated to left and right Link Group channels automatically.

Alternatively, a Link Group can be “opened up” and a PlugIn can be applied to specific member(s) of the link group as desired. If mono channels are used, the PlugIn is inserted in the first mono channel and each adjacent mono channel until all PlugIn channels have been allocated.

Using VST Instruments on a Fairlight

While Dream II does not include a MIDI sequencer, VST Instruments can still be played “live” through the system.

This can be useful for:

• Foley, using a VSTi sampler

• Live musical performance

• Tuning vocals with a VSTi sampler and MIDI controller with pitch wheel

• Live effects triggering with a VSTi sampler

VSTi’s can easily be recorded to tracks or inserted on Lives depending on your needs.

Let’s give one example of how to set up a VST on a channel, let’s say … On a Constellation equipped with a CAP (Control assignment Panel)

1) Call a particular channel using the <Call> soft key on a fader strip.

2) Now, on the top of the CAP panel, Hit the softkey <Insert>

3) Now, on the main LCD display, Hit the softkey <Add PlugIn>

4) The main LCD display will switch into a new mode, and by using the Jog Wheel … you can quickly scroll through all the PlugIns installed on the system.

There are 177 different VST PlugIns available to choose from, and I have chosen N° 2, which is Amplitude 2 from IK Multimedia.

5) Now all that is required is to hit the <Add> softkey in order to place this PlugIn

on the “called” channel.

** Please note ** that you can also use the <Add To Fav> softkey, to place this PlugIn in a preferential list that can be later called by using the <Fave> softkey.

6) What will happen next is that the PlugIn will quickly “pop-up” on the screen. If desired, you can immediately start using a mouse or the trackball to control all parameters.

7) What is even better is that PlugIn control is also automatically mapped to the fader surface.

We use what we call ‘Fleximap’ files, which simply map VST PlugIn controls to the Fader Panel's surface, providing real-time and even Automated control over PlugIn parameters. Faders, Pan-Pots, and switches can all be used to control and write Automation. Our systems ship with quite a few Fleximaps for popular PlugIns, and in all cases a Fleximap file is automatically generated on a fresh PlugIn load. You can even edit your own Fleximaps.

You can also use the <PlugIns> softkey on the CAP panel to toggle between fader control and your current “mix based” fader set.

Clip Based PlugIns

Need a compressor on just a single clip? This time, let’s do this on the Xynergi controller … just hit the <Wave> key to go into the Wave menu.

Now hit the <Render PlugIn> softkey under the main display window.

You can now use the Jog-Wheel to search for a desired PlugIn to be used on this clip.

Now hit the <Edit> Softkey and this will bring up the PlugIn. Park the timeline on the clip that you would like to process and hit the <Preview> softkey. The clip will automatically start looping and you can now adjust all parameters in real time.

Once that you have what is desired … hit the <Render> soft key. And this will directly render your PlugIn processing directly to the clip.

In addition … you have not lost anything because the original clip is still there! It sitting

underneath as a layer so that you can quickly go back and process the original recording if required.

All good stuff ! Last but not least … Do not forget that:

With CC-1 … You get full processing on every channel including EQ (8 bands), Dynamics (3 stages), 3D surround panning, 32 mix busses access to 12 multi-format auxiliary sends, insert send and return on every channel (Note: for PlugIn calculations….that’s 968 EQ bands, 288 stages of Dynamics, 96 surround panners, 96 channels of insert send and returns.)

Not to mention !

· Real time – Clip/Range based EQ.

· Real time – Clip/Range based level.

· and - Clip based gate.

ReWire is a software protocol jointly developed by Propellerhead and Steinberg. ReWire

enables remote control and data transfer among digital audio editing and related software.

The ReWire protocol is designed to allow a number of ReWire Clients to communicate with a single ReWire Mixer. Only one ReWire mixer can be active at a time. Fairlight is always the ReWire Mixer. The ReWire Mixer can accept up to 256 inputs from each of the connected ReWire clients. Fairlight systems currently supports 96 of these ReWire inputs. When a ReWire Mixer and ReWire Client are connected together, transport controls and position information are automatically transmitted in both directions between the Mixer and Client(s).

Running ReWire Session

ReWire opens Fairlight to a long list of powerful third-party tools, including sequencing software like Reason and Ableton Live, and sound design tools like Celemony Melodyne and even software samplers like Tascam Gigastudio.

Rewire inputs can be instantly patched to any channel using the Patch I/O page

A composer might show up to a session with a MIDI sequence composed in Ableton

Live. The entire composition could be routed to Fairlight inputs via ReWire during a mix to picture session, giving the composer complete flexibility to make adjustments to the score “on the fly” based on feedback from the client.

A music session might feature drum loops and synth bass that have been sequenced in Reason. The Fairlight can be used to record live guitar and vocal tracks, with the Reason tracks fed as ReWire sources via Live Inputs to the cue system for the artists.

FAIRLIGHT PARTNER PROGRAM

About the Partner Program

The Fairlight (Manufacturer) Partner Program streamlines the integration of third-party software applications into the open architecture of its CC-1-powered family of products offering greater system versatility, functionality and control. Select manufacturers from around the world can apply for the Fairlight Partner Program. Partners are divided into two categories. “GOLD Partners” are able to connect their products via industry-standard Virtual Studio Technology (VST) or ReWire interfaces, while “PLATINUM Partners” can integrate their software more directly with Fairlight products.

Here are two examples of our current Platinum Partners, who provide powerful offline and integrated processing PlugIns:

· New Zealand based Serato Research, with Pitch ‘n Time FE.

· UK Based Synchro Arts, with VocAlign Project.

Serato Pitch ‘n Time FE ( Fairlight Edition ) provides excellent time compression and expansion. Change length without changing pitch, or pitch without changing length, and hear the result in real time as you jump from clip to clip. Pitch ‘n Time FE is fully integrated into Fairlight Systems, allowing for fast, intuitive operation.

Step 1 To enter the Wave Menu, press the WAVE key.

Step 2 Press the Pitch ‘N Time softkey. The Pitch ‘N Time FE popup appears.

Use the keyboard and mouse to adjust parameters: --- Select an Algorithm

Polyphonic – best suited for music
Vocal – best suited for voice
Varispeed – varispeed mode

- Press the preview soft key or “Preview” button to audition your settings in real time.

- Tempo changes speed without changing pitch. Use the tempo slider to set the desired

tempo or press the fit range soft key to capture the current range length or press the edit

soft key to edit the output duration or type a value in the “Output” box.

- Pitch changes pitch without changing tempo. Use the pitch slider to set the desired pitch.

** Note: Pitch ’n Time FE requires an iLok USB Security Key and a valid license. Licenses can be purchased at http://www.serato.com

Synchro Arts Vocalign

VocAlign is the unique audio software solution for music and audio post that will adjust the timing of one audio signal to match the timing of another. Align Lead vocal doubles, Backing vocals , Instrumental tracks, ADR (replacement dialogue tracks), Foreign language dialogue or Sound effects. VocALign is a great tool, which seriously reduces the time taken to re-record dialog or vocals, saving money by drastically reducing production and studio time.

VocAlign is fully integrated into the Fairlight environment, and is extremely simple to use:

Step 1 To enter the Wave Menu, press the WAVE key.

Step 2 Select two tracks for VocAlign Processing. The first selected track serves as the guide

track. VocAlign will attempt to match the second track to the guide track. Note that

VocAlign cannot process clips longer than 120 seconds.

Step 3 Press the {VocAlign} soft key. The VocAlign popup will appear.

Step 4 Adjust VocAlign parameters or use defaults … Hit <Render> as seen above.

Done !

** Note: Vocalign Project can be purchased at http://www.synchroarts.co.uk/.

We are constantly talking to developers and manufacturers and are very open and supportive to collaborate with others! Every collaboration helps us grow and above all offer more and more productive audio and video tools for you, the end user to use and appreciate. Bring it on!

Here is the current list of our current Platinum partners:

New Zealand owned and operated, Serato Audio Research
Synchro Arts
Dark Matter Digital who offers a range of popular file interchange software. For more information visit http://www.darkmatterdigital.com/
Creative Network Design, Inc., a leading provider of cross-platform media asset management solutions, including audio and video management software solutions for the professional audio and video industries. For more information visit http://www.netmixpro.com

IK Multimedia - is the developer of Amplitube, T-RackS, Classik Studio Reverb and many

other popular VST PlugIns. http://www.ikmultimedia.com/

Waves - is the world’s leading developer of audio processors and PlugIns, with limiters, compressors, equalizers, reverb, Ultramaximizers, maxxbass®. http://www.waves.com/

Ableton - Ableton is an AG company who produces music software including Ableton Live and Ableton Operator. These are used for track editing in real-time. http://www.ableton.com/

Bias Sound Creative - Award-winning audio editing, processing & mastering tools.

http://www.bias-inc.com/

Magix - The creators of samplitude and sequoia, audio editing, mastering and media authoring software. http://www.samplitude.com/eng/seq/

Algorithmix - Algorithmix develops digital audio software and hardware for quality conscious third parties all over the world. State-of-the-art PlugIns for sound mastering, restoration, and forensic audio. http://www.algorithmix.com/

AudioEase - develops highly regarded professional audio software tools. Their flagship product is the convolution reverb – Altiverb. http://www.audioease.com/

One last announce for collaboration … OpenCube Technologies. OpenCube is a pioneer in the field of video/IT technology integration. We are working very closely with their professional high-performance software tools for efficiently managing the emerging MXF file format ! http://www.mxftk.com/

And the list will grow!

The PC-based architecture of CC-1, whilst delivering a new industry benchmark for performance, enables a level of independence and modularity never before available to audio professionals. Why should a craftsman not make use of all of these tools if they will promote a greater communication and expressiveness? This is our goal … To give you the tools that you need to express your own uniqueness.