A system that can match/top the editing speed of Fairlight?

[charlie]

I work at a studio that is outfitted with Fairlight systems. Expensive buggers, aren't they?

For anyone out there who has had the pleasure to edit audio on a Fairlight, the advantages are clear: ergonomics and speed! What I want to know is this: why hasn't a competitive (and perhaps less pricey) product been introduced into the marketplace? Perhaps I am unaware - if so, feel free to enlighten me.

Please don't respond to this if you have never worked on a Fairlight.

Thanks!
Charlie

[silversound]

Please don't respond to this if you have never worked on a Fairlight.

Good luck!

[@?,*???&?]

The Fairlight Dream Station has many post production facilities drooling right now- most of these facilities have PC equipped rooms. I challenge them to bring in a Macintosh G5- the worlds fastest computer with 64-bit processing- and remain pleased with what they have. What you have in Fairlight right now is a company that just came out of Bankruptcy (for the second time) and is awfully thin on support. That may change, but why not go with the accepted norm and get the Pro Tools rig- made by the same company that makes the Avid system that all Post production facilities deem as the standard?

[charlie]

Again - is there a system out there that can match the editing speed and ergonomics of the Fairlight?

I just want to know if I'm not aware of something similar.

Charlie



P.s. - A Digidesign rep came and demo'd ProTools 6 and the Pro Control, etc. The system crashed, right when he clicked on the demo session file. It was finally rebooted and opened, only to crash when he tossed ONE plugin on a track. Throughout the day there were numerous and similarly embarassing reboots. We haven't heard back from them since.

[Sherman Stax]

i use fairlight mfx3s and protools hd so have been able to compare them. the main advantage of fairlight i think is the jogger wheel and dedicated editing etc. keys. it is definitely faster for advertising/voiceover work etc and seems to me to be basically a souped up digital tape machine. however protools is a different beast altogether, in that the range of plugins make creative sound design etc a lot easier than on the fairlight (i haven't tried the dream). with hd you can also get the stickers to put on your keys that turn them into dedicated function keys, like the fairlight. not as elegant i guess but once you learn them they do the trick. the jog wheel does rock though!

[silversound]

P.s. - A Digidesign rep came and demo'd ProTools 6 and the Pro Control, etc. The system crashed, right when he clicked on the demo session file. It was finally rebooted and opened, only to crash when he tossed ONE plugin on a track. Throughout the day there were numerous and similarly embarassing reboots. We haven't heard back from them since.

Off topic sorry, but I have seen this same thing happen at a few Profools release demos! However I would bet a lot of companies have had similar problems.

[Sherman Stax]

heh heh profools...

[Mr. Dipity]

That may change, but why not go with the accepted norm and get the Pro Tools rig- made by the same company that makes the Avid system that all Post production facilities deem as the standard?

The world's slowest and user unfriendly audio workstation system.

[leigh]

the main advantage of fairlight i think is the jogger wheel and dedicated editing etc. keys... with hd you can also get the stickers to put on your keys that turn them into dedicated function keys, like the fairlight. not as elegant i guess but once you learn them they do the trick. the jog wheel does rock though!

What if you added a Contour ShuttlePRO to a Pro Tools system (~$100) ? Would the shuttle/jog control and dedicated editing keys make Pro Tools as facile as the Fairlight?

Leigh

[Mr. Dipity]

however protools is a different beast altogether, in that the range of plugins make creative sound design etc a lot easier than on the fairlight (i haven't tried the dream).

If you need effects processing, you are much better of with a pc based native system. The number and variety of high fidelity plugins available are an order of magnitude greater than those on TDM and AS. I know that you protools users will find this hard to beleive, but you can even find effects that >aren't< a plastic software emulation of some 1960 vintage box... :>

[E-Rock]

ProTools is a super fast editing machine if you know what your doing.
I used to think it wasn't, but now that I've been doing post work with it for about 6 months, I've learned ALOT of shortcuts (many that are not listed anywhere in the manual). Belive me, I'm not super into ProTools, but it can be REALLY fast.
Fairlights are fast, and probably more stable, but I wouldn't sink any money into one. Let's face it, Digi is kinda like the Borg.
I'm such a dork

[Mr. Dipity]

ProTools is a super fast editing machine if you know what your doing.

Compared to what? Compared to Sound forge/Vegas? I started out on Digi (like everyone else) but found the Sonic Foundry stuff light years faster to use.

The last studio I worked at started out with TDMs and Toolboxes, and eventually purchased Sonic Foundry suites for everyone.

[silversound]

I'll get the gasoline!

[cgarges]

P.s. - A Digidesign rep came and demo'd ProTools 6 and the Pro Control, etc. The system crashed, right when he clicked on the demo session file. It was finally rebooted and opened, only to crash when he tossed ONE plugin on a track. Throughout the day there were numerous and similarly embarassing reboots. We haven't heard back from them since.

Well I'll be! It's Charlie Pratt, everyone! Hey Charlie!

What Charlie isn't telling you is just how loud the sound of the Pro Tools rep's jaw hitting the floor was once he saw someone actually de-breath a V.O. session in a ten-year old Fairlight.

The thing about the Fairlight is that it takes no time to process whatever edits you're doing. I'm not saying it's fast, I'm saying it takes NO DISCERNABLE TIME. Once you're used to the control surface, it's amazing how quickly you can get things done. By the way, the Pro Tools rep did bring in his own G5 for the demo.

Jeff, as usual, responded with a very intelligent answer, but it still seems as if no one except Sherman has actually had a chance to compare the two. Really, if you haven't seen it in action, you can't legitemately respond to Charlie's post. I personally, still perfer the RADAR 24 system, but you won't catch me saying that the Fairlight is not the fastest and one of the most stable formats available. By the way, even though you can't use conventional plug-ins with the Fairlight, you can internally gate, EQ, and even pitch shift individual regions of individual tracks, even with the older Fairlight systems. The guys at the studio where Charlie works don't even de-ess anything. They just apply corrective EQ (in the Fairlights) to the specific regions (ie "syllables") that need it. Nothing more.

You really have to see these things at work to appreciate them.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[charlie]

Oh yes, one detail from the Digidesign debacle I had forgotten (perhaps repressed is a better word). It took two hours for them to get ANY audio from their machine out to the monitors.

I'm thinking of starting a new post entitled "Follies, Foibles, F**ups, and Failed File Format Filanderings of the First name in Failure: Digidesign." And yes, I know you spell philanderings with a "p." I just didn't want to give FroTools the fleasure.
~~~~~


I was amazed when I first began to work on the Fairlight a few years ago. At first glance, the old girl needed a makeover. The machine was upwards of ten years old and had a graphical interface that was reminiscent of an earlier time - the carefree, Halcyon days of professional audio recording. The first time I fired 'er up, I could almost hear the Copeland-esque frontierland music whisking me digitally away from the tape machines and into the brave new world of Ones and Zeroes.

It took about two seconds to be completely sold on the technology. Like Chris said above, it takes NO DISCERNABLE TIME. That's a great way to put it. The word "render", "bounce," and (the most heinous of them of all) "process" are foreign phrases to the Fairlight. Its downright stupefying.

All programs, systems, daws, and outboard gear have their uses. Any piece of audio gear "processes" sound in its own way. We can preamp through an API module, throw a SansAmp on a drum track, or Ben-Folds a piano sound via Marshall stacks - the possibilities are both endless and valid. But in the world of hack-and-slap editing, there seems to be little competition for the Fairlight system.

Charlie