The Fairlight CMI was the world’s first polyphonic digital sampling synthesizer, invented in 1979 by Peter Vogel and Kim Ryrie, based on a dual-6800 microprocessor created by Tony Furse in Sydney. The Fairlight grew to become one of the most widely-used synthesizers in music, being used by musicians from Kate Bush to Brian Eno, and film and television composers such as Peter Best.
Fairlight samples became ubiquitous in 1980s pop music
The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia acknowledges Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we work and live and gives respect to their Elders both past and present.