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This is a complete recreation of the Fairlight CMI IIx.

This has all the features of the original Fairlight CMI including 16 stereo voices, full voice editing and realtime control, harmonic additive synthesis, full Page R sequencer and much more.

Launched 1 year ago the 1.29g is the biggest update. which focusses on much better IIx import of voices, songs and instruments. Better III multisample .vc support. III style button bar and lots of UI improvements throughout. A new internal song system that matches the IIx, plus individual output mixing. New Midi keyboard allocation with PAGE 3, and soo much more...

QasarBeach has also gained features that were planned for the IIx but not implemented (at the time) - many thanks for help and input from the original engineers and friends!

Here are some live video captures of QasarBeach with no overdubs or added effects:



And... Made famous by Kate Bush. here is a QasarBeach take on her:

Here with a longform drone...

and finally something more retro for you. All captured straight from QasarBeach with no additional processing, effects, etc.



Here is a quick look at harmonic additive synthesis in realtime:

You get full file support for Fairlight Series I, II, IIx, III samples,  including all loop points, filter settings, etc, plus new III multisample support. You just need to have the ORIGINAL files in .VC format.

IIx files .rs and .in are also suported

Plus you get the following  formats as pure samples, so editing may be needed, but it gives you the power to access virtually all famous sample libraries from Emu, Yamaha, Korg and more:

  • .wav / .aif .ogg / .sam
  • .afs - casio cz1 sample
  • .ksf -korg-sample-file oasis
    .msmpl_bank -korg microsampler bank
    .p3k - korg
  • .usr - ppg
    .ufs - ppg
  • .xoe, .x0v .x0a .x0s .x0w .x3v .x3a .x3s .x3w - yamaha motif
    .t01 .t02 .t03 .t04 .t05 - yamaha
  • .krz .kr1 .kr2 .kr3 .kr4 .kr5 .kr6 -kerzweil
  • .sf2 -soundfont2
  • .akai .img - akai img
  • .256 -amiga 8bit single waveforms
    .xi -amiga fasttracker 2
    .8svx .16sv .iff - amiga 8 bit / 16bit
  • .em2 .eb2 .ez2 .e4b -emulator emax 2 library
    .ebl -emulator x
    .dms -emu2
    .eii -emu2
    .em1 .eb1 -emulator 1  
    .iso -emulator iso
  • .out .s50 .w30 -roland s50
  • .bin - 8 bit binary files used by LINN and EMU for drum machine ROM

You will need to download all three files, especially the Guide which will tell you all about the very basic operations of QasarBeach.

The Fairlight CMI was a professional and complex machine, QasarBeach in no way tries to obscure this operation. So the UI is the same, the operation is the same, but there have been additions to make it a bit more user friendly.

Facebook Usergroup

There are four files:

QasarBeach.App: is the latest MacOS version

QasarBeachWIn: is the latest Windows version

QasarBeach.Tar: is the latest Linux version

Guide is the comprehensive PDF guide (shown on the right)

QasarBeach is the demo folder including  demo and library files

Cookbook is a new PDF guide giving hints and recipes for getting more out of QasarBeach


Because Ver 1.29 is such a large release with many fixes and additions I have removed the previous update lists

Ver1.46 Update 219 April 2024)

  •  added QUIT and EXIT to commands - these exit the app
  •  PAGE 0 - Spectral Drawing being added
  •  PAGE 0 - initial concept tested and working
  •  PAGE 7 - added mode 8 - 128 wavetable playback with time - need to add code to synth
  •  PAGE 0 - Rough and smooth now added
  •  PAGE 0 - time now directly linked into synth
  •  synth - MODE 8 now added. this is a 128 segment version of MODE 1, with time durations
  •  PAGE 0 - playhead added to all views


Ver1.45 Update (9 April 2024)

  •  improved CPU performance. 60% less cpu hogging
  •  font change - 1 and 7 are now thinner
  •  PAGE 2 - button bar correctly hides when set to not show
  • minor shader update to prevent crash when switching to tv mode


Ver1.44 Update (28 Jan 2024)

  • New Windows10 compile chain - no longer requires VisualStudio files 
  • PAGE 7 - added del/delete. this will delete the current voice
  •  PAGE R - fixed 16 view not going to bottom when editing values
  •  PAGE R - fixed start voice selectors not working properly
  •  PAGE R - initial UI works for section replication
  •  PAGE R - click on song position when it's a section, the section will appear below (<- quality of life)
  •  PAGE R - SECCPY added to song mode. This copies the current section
  •  PAGE R - REPLIC added to song mode. This takes a copied section and replicates  in the current section.
  •  This makes new patterns and copies the contects
  •  PAGE S - screen defaults position compacted
  •  PAGE S - added 'LR Bars' option which adds or removes left right black bars from the sides. Used in widescreen
  •  internal shader changes to support black bars
  •  Left Right black bars now fully supported with mouse correction applied
  •  phase invert has been rectified. let me know if/how this affects you
  •  PAGE 2 - double clicking on a .sy file will audo load it
  • PAGE 6 - added further position checking to prevent overdraw with buttons


Ver1.42 Update (28 Nov 2022)

  •  Series II .RS. importing of different time signatures now correctly supported
  •  Series II .IN. importing of mixed case file names now supported <- this might happen when transferring files from CMI to PC
  •  PAGE R - when loading a .rs file. the playhead is set to the first position in the song. This is what the IIx did. so Play will now start correctly
  •  PAGE R - when selecting a note with mouse or keyboard. the note now plays - similar to IIx
  •  thickening of 1 and 7 font characters


QasarBeach is feature complete, but not completely documented. It is also being actively developed.

A HUGE thank you to all the testers and commenters. with your bug lists, wish lists and more :)


If you've ever wanted to have a go at your own music and want to know how The Art Of Noise, Kate Bush, Peter Gabriel, OMD, Yes, Hans Zimmer (and many many more) accomplished this in the 80's - QasarBeach is (almost) the way they did it!


Please feel free to add comments, thoughts, suggestions, etc. Nothing is out of bounds, so don't feel you might have a question that is odd, or strange bugs.

Updated 7 days ago
StatusReleased
CategoryTool
PlatformsWindows, macOS, Linux
Rating
Rated 4.7 out of 5 stars
(28 total ratings)
AuthorAdamStrange
Tagseditor, fairlight, Music, Music Production, samples, sequencer
Average sessionA few seconds
InputsKeyboard, Mouse, MIDI controller

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Click download now to get access to the following files:

Guide.pdf.zip 6.3 MB
QasarBeach.zip 25 MB
qasarbeach118.app.zip 3.8 MB
cookbook.zip 5.2 MB
119update.zip 2.8 MB
qasarbeach129g.tar.gz 3.8 MB
Qasarbeach146app.zip 3.6 MB
qasarbeach146.zip 7.1 MB

Development log

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Viewing most recent comments 1 to 40 of 135 · Next page · Last page

Hi Adam.

I have two questions about QB.

1.Can QB change bpm in the middle of the song.

Let me know how to.

2.Is there 'Glissando'command.

King regards

(+1)

Hi Adam,

I think one of the key reasons for the exceptional sound quality of the CMI, and the Synclavier, and the Emulator-II for that matter, is that all these units tuned and modulated their sample pitches in hardware by varying the playback clock rates of a separate DAC per voice, then mixing the results analog. There's a lot of talk about how their lo-fi sampling artifacts defined their sound, but there's definitely more to the story.

That said, I think replicating that sample playback architecture in a digital emulation is exceedingly difficult due to the asynchronous sample rate conversion. Doing that with high quality requires a ton of processor resources, and doing it fast enough for something like a sampler tends to involve compromises, which affect the sound and don't exist on the real hardware units.

After playing with the QasarBeach recreation a bit, one thing I've noticed is that these artifacts appear to be quite audible. For example, I hear the levels and relative frequencies of aliasing tones change from note to note, which certainly would not happen with a hardware CMI, because all it's doing is varying the playback clock. And you can also hear the aliasing tones change dynamically when pitch modulation is applied to a sound.

I'm wondering if you've considered trying to do something innovative with the ASRC in the playback engine in order to try to approach the sound quality of the hardware units more closely.


Regards,

Dan

Hi Dan, thanks for the detailed reply.

Yep the aliasing is a result of following the Fairlight engine. They had the same issues which were solved with tracking filters in the analogue cards. I tried hard to replicate this to san extent but eventually decided to embrace this side of things :)

Hi Adam,

Not to be argumentative, but what I'm talking about did not happen on Fairlight hardware and could not possibly happen given its architecture. Aliasing actually cannot be an artifact of sample playback through a DAC. They used R2R ladder DACs to produce a zero-order hold ("stair-stepped") output, and then they had to filter out the stepping artifacts, which are all above the Nyquist limit. (Aliasing produces artifacts below that limit.) Their tracking filters removed those high-frequency artifacts (many of which are supersonic), but even those would have been the same, relative to the note pitch from note to note. What I hear in QasarBeach are artifacts that are lower in frequency and vary in intensity (and relative pitch) from note to note. The fact that they vary from note to note strongly implicates the ASRC as the culprit, which only makes sense given the limitations of a software implementation.

My question was about whether you had considered doing something innovative with the ASRC to make a better emulation of the hardware. The hardware units do not do ASRC as part of sample playback. All software emulations must. So this is a weak link in software emulations of the Fairlight.

Regards,
Dan

the simple answer is yes the Fairlights did alias. I spake at great length with the engineers at the time about this - there are also lots of stories online where this was discussed with Peter Vogel speaking about the audio tracking filters he designed.

I also want to reference ASRC. QB is completely custom code, there is no use of inbuilt audio units, ASRC or otherwise. everything is custom written c code!

Hi Adam,

I don't think what you're talking about is aliasing, though it's a similar phenomenon. Aliasing doesn't happen during playback. It happens during sampling when there are frequencies above the Nyquist limit in the signal being sampled. The sampled signal can't represent such frequencies unambiguously. (It can't "tell the difference" between that and a lower frequency alias that's within the bandwidth limit.) Once you have a sampled signal with aliasing, there is no way to remove it.

What happens during playback is similar, but not aliasing. When you take the samples and make a stairstep (zero-order hold) waveform in the DAC, that waveform contains the spectrum of the original signal along with an infinite number of copies of that spectrum above the Nyquist limit. To properly reconstruct the original signal, all frequencies above the Nyquist limit should be filtered out to get rid of these copy spectra. When you are moving the playback speed around, as the Fairlight does to change pitches, the cuttoff frequency of the filter needs to change with it. Hence tracking filters. This is the normal architecture of such systems. You can see it in, for example, the S950 as well, which uses switched-capacitor filters to track the playback clock rate.

But something to notice about these playback artifacts is that they are always there at the same levels, and always above the Nyquist limit. And they track the original signal in frequency (hence, "tracking filters" are used to remove them). Yes, some of those frequencies are present in the playback artifacts of Fairlight hardware units, and they become more audible as playback speeds get slower (on the lower notes), though the tracking filters aim to reduce them as far as possible. If the sampling rate is mathematically related to the sampled note, it's possible to get them to be in-tune harmonics, which is a pretty cool effect!

What I hear in QB playback artifacts is NOT those playback artifacts above the Nyquist limit. What I'm hearing is lower, overlapping with the audible spectrum of the sound. Without dither, I guess it could be quantizing artifacts, except that those would be the same regardless of which note you play. What I'm hearing are artifacts that change in both pitch and intensity depending on the note played and move around relative to the note when pitch modulation (e.g. vibrato or bending) is applied. The hardware Fairlights don't do that.

Cheaper systems like the Mirage, or even the DX-7, which used simple phase accumulators internally for ASRC, exhibited such artifacts. Systems like the Fairlight, Synclavier, Emulator-II, and Akai s950 avoided them by varying the clocking rates of an individual DAC per note instead, so there is no ASRC in such systems. Notes are filtered, scaled, and mixed analog. That's the main reason they sound really different than cheaper samplers (and also why they cost so much more!)

In a software emulation, there will always be ASRC. But with modern hardware and enough oversampling, it's possible to get a good emulation. Possible, but not necessarily easy :). Real-time modulated ASRC is a complicated problem even without the need to emulate specific hardware.

I mean no disrespect. What you've accomplished in QB is quite impressive, and I've enjoyed playing with it. I was just wondering whether those unwanted artifacts could be corrected.

Best Regards,
Dan

Hi :)

I am brand new to music making and I have a love for retro music! I saw your music pack but I have zero clue on how to download it and use it. I'm using windows on my laptop and I have ableton live 12 as my music program if any of that is useful. 

Hallo Adam

I‘ve the same problem like some other user here (see foto). I run the software on win10 on my Laptop but on my desktop Computer it does not work. Unable to install it. I installed OpenGL but that did not solved the problems. Did you found a solution yet?

And my congratulation for your work and this amazing Fairlight. In the nearly Future I plan to start a workshop how to use it, course I know from my work the some Fairlights are still in use in several important Studios arround the world. I think we should bring this really great and still up to Date Instrument cloeser to the user

best regards

Tom

Hi Tom. Thanks for the deatiled message and image. that gives me a direction to look into for you :)

I have a strange question: how do I place an entire song inside qasarbeach and play it with x and then save it?

(+1)

you use PAGE R to compose the song. And then use PAGE 8 (SAMPLING) set to INTERNAL. this will record the playing song. transfer the recording to a voice and then save that voice ;)

Thank you very much Adam!

(5 edits)

Hello Adam,

I’ve had Qasarbeach for a while now and it is the most fun “DAW” I’ve used! The UI is a work of art. It's great being able to customise it and I regularly switch between Green and Grey, and both Color and TV Output. The black bars are a top addition and now a permanent fixture.

These are by no means bugs, but a couple of tweaks that, for me, would really improve usability…

Text: "1" and "7" appear to be in bold. Not sure if this carries over from the Fairlight, but they really jump out which ever page they’re on.  

Page 7 Stereo Mix: possibility of setting "1" as default value. I experience phase issues (always sounds louder in right channel!) at 128 and it’s an extra parameter that needs setting every time a sample is loaded. 

Page 2: Button Menu still appears on Page 2, even when switched off in Settings.

Page R: possibility of removing “D” and “G” from Start Voice when View is set to 8. Maybe the essential channels of “1” “A” and “I” would help to simplify this part of the UI even further? Or even using the same format as “Pattern:” and “Time:” where the Voice number/letter can be entered in a box? That would give equal access to select all Voices as well as staying in keeping with the two parameters to the left. 

Appreciate some or all of these may not be possible to implement, so no worries if they can’t. 

Lastly, thank you for making Qasarbeach and keeping it updated! 😎👍

Woof

Thanks for taking the trouble with these.

1 text - sorted

2 stereo - couldn't reproduce at this end

3 button bar - sorted

4 page r - not changed

I'll roll these into a new download and get it upped later today...

Many thanks :)

Thanks for looking into these Adam - it's very much appreciated! 

Hi Adam,

Hope you’re good! 

Did those tweaks ever get rolled out? 

Tried reinstalling the latest version on a couple of occasions to see but there doesn’t seem to be much change.

Sorry - I got distracted. I'll get the fixes sorted and up today - promise :)

Looking mega! Thanks for taking the time to do these Adam 😎👍

Hello Adam I just wanted to know how many gigabytes will this take up on my Windows 7 & does it work on 32 bit? is what I most importantly would like to know, thanks Adam 🙏

the general rule is give it a try - if it works it works, etc. I am working on a new base windows 7 port, so if the current one doesn't work, then the new one when released should work...

As for size. we're talking around 20mb in total. The actual size will vary with the kind of samples you use. but in essence a few gb max?

Thanks Adam, I tried but it's not compatible with my 32bit computer, but honestly it looks spectacular so would of loved to of used it 🙏

Try qasarbeach144a, it's now an x86 build.

Hello Adam! I'm extremely interested in learning how to use this program, it seems like an excellent way to use samples for music, but I wanted to know if there are any guides on how to use it? There are some youtube tutorials but they aren't too good, so I wanted to ask!

Thank you for your work and I'm very excited to experiment with this program :))

just check all the downloads - there a very comprehensive guides and cookbooks with loads of tips ;)

(3 edits)

Hi Adam! First of all, A HUGE THANKS FOR YOUR WORK!! Some 13 years ago I was really obsessed with the CMI, and prayed that someday this would come along. Although I had never expected anyone to recreate the whole system in software. I went as far as to convert the whole IIx library to 16 bit .wav, by manually ripping each one from the .bin files, -this was before I got the tools that dumped them automatically, haha. 

Meanwhile I got my Fairlight sequencing fix from the Roland S-330 and its Director-S. Although that had some timing issues with busy patterns. In 2012 I bought an ipad mini to get the Fairlight app, and rarely have I been so disappointed in a program. I had it promptly refunded, and deleted. It is safe to say, for a CMI enthusiast, QuasarBeach is pure gold! Finally I have the original interface, Page-R, everything! And I love the stereo enhancement implemented, it really fattens stuff up and makes my output sound great. I get nice results from liberal use of the reverb type delay, but seeing as one can load samples with reverb I don't view it as essential. 

On my music laptop the program is rock solid, timing and all. But it still sees only the onboard audio "Realtek Speakers Out". I would love to be able to use WASAPI, as that yields very low latency on other programs, that or ASIO. Is that something that could be done? Sometimes, the sounds are also given a "note-off" command it seems, and the sound cuts, even though I am holding it on the midi-keyboard. It seems to occur less on the dedicated music PC, but I just wanted to mention it. 

Anyway, super grateful for this program, and your continous updating of it :)

I'll let Thomas Leer sum up the feeling I get from QuasarBeach :D

brilliant words - thank you :)

Hi 

Brillant work, very close to the real deal !

However, I have many issues:

-sound is sometimes choppy, like an undersized audio buffer (Arturia audiofuse interface or basic windows driver)

- love the resynthesis features like on the actual FAIRLIGHT but sometimes after a successful analysis, sounds become all of sudden utter garbage like a second analysis had been launched.

-or without reason sound becomes distorted

- echo and reverb sound bad, very metallic. Like a broken spring reverb

And one last thing : the soft really needs separate audio outputs for a professional use.

Thanks !

Many thanks for the feedback. I'l see what can be done :)

External usb sound devices will cause issues on windows...

This is an amazing piece of software. I am having some trouble with getting polyphony to work, however - when I try to play two notes, or one immediately after the other, the sound gets cut off.

OK. Here goes ;)

1. load a voice.

2. goto page 7.  Press alt/ctrl+x to copy. select next voice. Press alt/ctrl+v to paste this voice as a reference - do this 4 times so voices 1,2,3,4 are the same

3. goto page 3 voice. you should see the four voices. click to select the first voice. At the bottom SET NPHONY to 4 - voila you should have 4 voice polypony

Can I has 32bit windows build?

Oh sweet, an update!

For shits and giggles, I got it running in winXP x86 with some extra steps.
- exchange d3dcompiler_47.dll with compat version.
- shim kernel32.CancelIoEx(wrapped to CancelIo, maybeprobablyperhaps ok thing to do?).
- start QB as debugee in OlyDbg(must be this debugger) to prevent it from closing 2 seconds later.

My guess for last one is either that QB raises some exception that Olly handles nicely in QB's name, or that exception never happens at all when Olly is present.

Make what you will of this shenanigans.

(1 edit)

for some reason ever when i open the program appears this error, i tried to search something about it but nothing at the moment

 

(1 edit)

Same here, win 10, Ryzen 7 3700X, Radeon 5700XT. 16GB of memory. Crashes just on startup with that error message.

Same issue here on mutiple windows machines.  Previous versions worked fine.  

(+1)

That is very interesting. The previous versions had a slighty different dev chain. I'm looking into going back to this one... I'll keep you all posted :)

(+1)

any progress? I can't open the program either. I get this popup:

I'm getting this same error!

Win 10, Intel 10700K, 64GB Memory

Any chance you could relist the previous ~2 versions? I really want to try this program out, it looks so cool!

getting this error too. win 10-Ryzen 7 2700U-Radeon RX540-8 GB RAM

Hello. This software, although complex, is wonderful. The program, however, keeps switching off when using Page R. It will work for a while but eventually will shut off. I'm running v1.42 on a Mac using Ventura 13.4

(-1)

hi could you give me a bit more info. does it crash, freeze, etc. What sort of samles are you using, etc ..

Hey there - been working with the CMI for a bit and noticed that when you save sequences, with samples mapped to various voice slots etc, when the sequences are reloaded, all the sequencer parts come back intact but the voices do not. I am saving a .RS file which I assume to be a "realtime sequencer" file and then loading that file back into the CMI - is there something further one needs to do to get the voice mappings saved with the rest of the project??
 

.vc is just the current voice, .in is all the voices, .rs is just the sequence data and voice references. if the voices are in the same location as the .rs file is will load them, if they are in different locations then you will get a list of missing voices.

What you are looking for is .sy. This is the current system including voices, rs data, system setting - the entire lot :)

Ah! Very good! I will try that. Thanks very much

I love this software youve made, but i have massive timing issues when triggering via midi or using page R, i literally cant get 4 kick drum quarter note samples to play in time in a loop, this is a such a great thing but i cant actually use it, im using  a mac and ive tried this on a couple of different macs, im running on mojave mostly, ive run both versions you've made and still have the timing errors. I used to own a fairlight IIX and the sequencer was absolutely perfect, ive read on here youve had a few issues with timing some years ago, is there a platform that this software works best on ?

Thanks in advance
Chris

Hmmn. I've looked into this for you and I've found some latency with midi. another thing is to make sure the sample you are using has no lead space. even use PAGE E to cut the biginning out - let me know your thoughts :)

i used the internal sequencer without the midi but have serious timing issues, cant get a loop to work with0ut it glitching, the timing internally is an issue for me without the midi. i can take a video of it if thats any help

yep a video would help :) The internal seq shouldn't have any timing issues, so show me what you got ;)

I tried to boot it up and I got an error that said: Wonkey Runtime Error. Something about failing to compile a shader.

what os are you using? you must have opengl :)

Windows 11

Hello,

I discovered the program this evening, and I have to say that I am enjoying it quite a bit. I'm not writing to report any bugs, everything's been working very well; however, I can't seem to find any 'Attack' control on Page 7. Is there any chance that can be incorporated in future updates?

Cheers.

You need to use a function with an input of KEYTIM. Adjust the tracking to give different timings :)

When I run the software, I get a "Wonkey Runtime Error"  "SIGNAL: Memory access violation GC state=IDLE"

what os and specs please :

OS: Windows 10 Home Edition
CPU: i5-3570k
RAM: 32GB
Video: 2x Radeon RTX 480
Storage - 
OS SSD: 256GB
Program M.2: 1024GB

Awesome piece of software! but I get something similar with the latest version. I'm on Windows 11.

Wonkey Runtime Error

Failed to compile shader:O(24) : error C0105: Syntax error in

0(24) : error C0105: Syntax error in *if

Deleted post

there are manuals and other help files - look for the cookbooks ;)

(1 edit)

If one is using the original extracted 46 IMG .VC format Fairlight sample library with Qasarbeach should not the original loop points and control data be present 
in those files and is QB capable of using that data when asked to playback those samples?? Please correct my misconceptions of what that original sample data contains as I 'm getting this from forums and snippets about the original sample library of the IIx...

Also I am wondering how to get a clean sustained sound out the fairlight with the samples provided...


Thanks in advance

yes and no. the .vc format come in 2 varieties. 16k which is just the sample and 21k which is the sample plus the .co data with the loop pointsQB should read those. I'll check and get back to you  :)

(5 edits)

Ahh. Ok... So it seems I have been using .VC format samples that are 21K in length - these were gleaned from .IMG files of the original Fairlight disks... I also located a limited library of samples that have .CO control files along with the .VC formatted sample files. I have been attempting to get either of these formats to yield a clean "unloopified" output but have been unsuccessful as of yet. What I mean by "loopified" is to load up a sample of a continuous tone instrument like a piano or E.piano and be able to get the outputted audio to appear without loop glitches. The sound output even with the .CO control files are loop glitchy (albeit not as bad as without purposely loading the control data) . One thing significant about the samples that have their corresponding .CO files present, is the QB sampler will not load that data automatically. So in the effort to use the control data I have been loading the samples into voice slots twice - one time for the .VC file and another load to the same voice slot for the .CO data file. Not sure if that is how one is supposed load that data, but when using this method the .CO file does shows up on PAGE 7 with the name displayed in the ".CO field" of the interface.... Another item of note, when using the 21K .VC format files from the original Fairlight disks is there is no indication in the PAGE7 ".CO field" that control data is loaded, if that is even supposed to be an indicator..

I've checked out the files and heres the correct answer:

files come in 2 type 16k sample & 21k sample+harmonic data

the loop points are found in the corresponding .CO file - which you will need to load manually.

To do this. locate the .co file with the same filename. click the voice to load this info into (usually the same as the voice file) then click LOAD. that will load the loop points and any other data into page 7 ;)

Deleted 1 year ago
Deleted 1 year ago
(+1)

Hi,

any chance of getting an ARM-based version for Windows? Intel achitecture has an uncertain future and everything seems to be ARM-oriented now.  It would be great to have also an ARM-based Linux version (many people, including me, want to build a stand-alone CMI clone with a ARM-based computer such as the RPI... check the MiniDexed project).

I think it's time to bury the old Windows PC and move towards other modern paradigms.

This is great. I was surprised that it works on my Mac, which is a 2012 Mac Mini running a patched copy of Big Sur - it crashes with Big Sur 11.6.2 (something about a graphics problem) but works fine with 11.6.8.

My question - I know you can do envelopes with the function page, but is there an equivalent of the Release step in an ADSR envelope? The Fairlight seems to stop sounds the moment you release a key, which makes a click noise. Is there a way to have a smooth key release?

As an edit to the above the "damping" control on Page 7 adds a release tail - it works well with a value of 20 and the damping loop turned off. The help files don't seem to mention it so perhaps it was a late addition.

yep - damping is the Fairlight version of Release. Another way is to use a function with the input as KEYTIM (key time). you can then use tracking to speed up/down how fast it tracks...

I realise now it's mentioned in part four of "The Fairlight Explained" by Jim Grant, from back in 1984:

https://www.muzines.co.uk/articles/the-fairlight-explained/7947

The article points out that the London College of Furniture owned a Fairlight CMI - Jim Grant was a senior lecturer there - which is something I would never have guessed. They apparently had a well-equipped music technology school on account of the historical links between piano-making and musicians. Sound on Sound has a photo of the very same Fairlight in 1989. I wonder what happened to it?

Alas the London College of Furniture doesn't exist any more. It seems to have been absorbed by the London Metropolitan Museum.

I might have met him when I tried to get on one of their courses at that time - Electronic musical instruments..

Hi, I am wondering if it is currently possible to control QasarBeach CMI via MIDI by Logic Pro. Currently, QB sees my MIDI controller but cannot see any Logic MIDI inputs or outputs, and viceversa. I thought there must be a way to setup a virtual MIDI device that QasarBeach CMI can see and respond to. I have another similar app which is actually an IOS app and not a VST or AU (Vogel CMI) which is visible to Logic without any intervention on my part, so I was not sure if I am missing something obvious. I'm not super experienced with Mac virtual routings, etc

Thanks for your consideration

Midi with QB is a bit primitive. it only receives midi. There are 3 modes:

1. accepts midi from any channel. into the current voice (or voices if polyphony if being used)

2. accept sys ex

3. accepts 16 mono channels and routes them to each of the first 16 voices

Hi, I guess I don't understand why QB isn't accepting MIDI from Logic. I tried enabling the IAC MIDI driver which is supposed to allow Mac apps to transfer MIDI between each other, but I couldn't get it to work even though QB can see the driver and it can be assigned. I'm not sure what I'm missing. I am able to get QB audio to appear in Logic.

Thanks

This is so amazing! I remember being fascinated about the Fairlight CMI back then ... and now I have several of these machines on my Macbook. I highly recommend to take some time, read the PDFs, watch some YT videos to dive into it. It's absolutely worth it!

Hi Adam,

I’ve been using quasarbeach on my pc a while ago, I noticed the newest version so I downloaded it. But somehow it doesn’t start up. I see the program icon in the dock but the program doesn’t show at all. Can I somehow reset all preferences or something to get it back and start from scratch?

Thank you!

just download v1.36 and use that version

Thanks for your quick response!

I couldn't find version 1.36, but 1.37 has the same behaviour unfortunately

is the pc 32 or 64bit? which os?

the PC is 64 bit and running OS 10

mmm. interesting. I'll get back to you on this - QB is compiled on a windows 10 machine..

known error ;)

Hey–sorry but I'm afraid I have another problem with this.
Whenever I use the Page R Sequencer, and try adding musical notes to the sequencer, nothing happens. Am I doing something wrong?

No problem. Make sure that 'RECORD' is highlighted :)

Ah! I now think I understand! I need to have 'MIDI keyboard' switched on, and type in a note on my keyboard.That does the trick! By the way, do you know where can I find more .vc samples (more of the original ones used by the fairlight?)

Hi Adam Strange,

I have just downloaded QasarBeach. I am using a 16" M1 Max Macbook, and am using MacOS Monterey Version 12.4.

I really admire the work that went into the emulation here–everything I am looking at looks EXACTLY like the real thing, as far as I can tell.
I really would like to compose music on this...but there's one little problem. No sound whatsoever is coming out of it.

I think the Page R sequencer seems straightforward enough. But, I do not know how to get any sound to come out of it...Do I have to manually supply my own sound files for it to play back?

Also–I am someone who regularly uses Logic Pro X. Is there any way I can integrate this plugin with my DAW? It would be a great help for composing music!

you need to use PAGE 2 to load sounds first.

it's not a plugin so wont directly integrate into a daw. but you can use MIDI to control the 16 voices. 1 channel per voice

Hi Adam! 

Okay, so once I've opened Page 2, which sounds do I load? Does this software automatically come with the classic Fairlight 8-Bit samples, or do I have to manually download each one and upload each one to the Page R sequencer instead?

have you downloaded the cookbook and the guides - there is a whole lod of information and demo files including all the sounds :)

Hi AdamStrange! Thank you so much for the advice! I think I must have missed the cookbook and all the other files the first time I downloaded the app! Thank you!

hi, would this be hard for a teen to install?
aswell as can this run on windows 8.1 on an intel celeron cpu?
and does this program have the ARR1(SARARR) patch?
thanks from helen

Hello Adam simon Australia.. I Have a real question? how much money would I have to donate to encourage you to go back to the quasar beach app and open the audio outputs to be selectable individually for the likes of the sunflower 64 channel drive? or alternatively any multi channel sound card? also inclusive of this request midi clock sync so I can lock it to to a daw like Logic? this is a serious question and if I can fund this project I will.. now currently as is I do love it but for the stereo out.. midi clock is not such a big deal.. however I have the UVI dark light which is nice but nothing compared to your emulation..its not really a series 2x at all.. but still a nice piece of software.. I also have the Arturia cmi..this is nice but again no watch and most disappointing is the pattern sequencer only offer 8 patterns!! I hear of running the cmi software in MAME but haven't tried ..still though I do love all that yours offers..so yea How much? maybe everyone here can chip in to realise this request? take care simon 

i'm looking into this. ;)

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ETA??? like  know nothing of your skills or what this takes is it a mammoth monumentous task?

Oh another request for the sake of authenticity in page R the velocity value in quasar is 1-127 as well as duration.. now in the original vel was 1-8 and duration 1 - 48? I think.. now look you might not understand or recognise there was a very real reason for this by design and application of pattern creation.. might this also be addressed and afforded?I understand midi protocols being 1 - 127/8? however this would be a great reversal of design or possibly make it a default option? .. my personal experience programming the real cmi 11x I utilised with great effect and control using these limited parameters.. short of calculation the divisions of said values into 128? but in truth it actually does serve a very real purpose.. just asking cheers simon

(+1)

this looks insane!!!!.

 how do you make the ui of this tool.

(+2)

everything is custom written from scratch

Are there any forums where users can compare notes or share tips?  I have been trying to get the Linux version running, and I can get some sounds with the virtual keyboard, but it does not find my MIDI interface, so I can't use with my MIDI keyboard, and when I have JACK running it starts two JACK ports and automatically connects to system out, but I never get any audio through the JACK connection.  I also see terminal messages indicating that it was attempting to start at 44.1k even when JACK was already running at 48K (tried with jack running at 44.1k and 48k, did not get any sound out even when running at 44.1k).

I would love to try this out, it looks like a lot of fun, but playing a few notes from my computer keyboard isn't going to work, I need to find  out how to get MIDI working (and preferably JACK output so I can send the output to my DAW).

the linux development was not moved further because of the midi issues

Disappointing.  I guess that means Scottux's plan to make a stand alone system running on RPi4 is a no-go then.  I rarely use Windows, so hope you change your mind about giving up.

Any update on this? Should be easier now that Pipewire is the modern standard. hopefully

Hey ! Amazing work. I have very choppy and laggy audio on windows 10, with a RME soundcard. Any clues ?
Thanks !

(+1)

I can see what can be done for you ;)

ok thanks ! I've tested it on another device (microsoft surface) and it works well.

Hey, I'm having an issue with MIDI. I assigned my midi as a keyboard and when i press the keys it reflects down at the bottom, but when i leave that menu I cant play samples with the midi anymore, only with the computer keyboard. I tried turning off virtual keyboard but nothing is different. Im using Windows 10, an alesis VI 61 midi and 1.36 QasarBeach

can you post a video of this?

FYI - I've discovered that there is a fair amount more in your help files than can actually be displayed in the QB Help. For example, looking at the help for Page R, I can on "scroll" down about 1/3 of way... it stops at "DISPLAY USED PATTERNS:". I only discovered this while trying to grant permissions to the mic (which is not working on page 8 when selecting external). I wound up clicking "show in finder" on the qasarbeach item which took me to the package contents for the app. It was there that I discovered the text files for all the help. So, although you have a fair amount documented, it's inaccessible in the app.

Hope this helps  :)

I am having trouble with NPHONY. I've gotten it to work only a couple of times. Most of the time, when start with a single sound on channel 1, then go to page 3 and set nphony (to 4 for example), it shows the refs on the subsequent channels, and the source sample shows that it is mapped to channels 1234. But, it still only plays as a monophonic instrument. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong.

I'm running 1.35b

I'll check it out for you - what os are you using?

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Catalina 10.15.7. I'm also havng a few other issues with FX... weird audio on both delays and reverbs sounding like the high range of a flanger ... maybe a clocking issue?  Also  midi only works consistently if there is only one midi device. There are a few other things, but I think maybe they're quirks of the original system...

I'd be happy to document everything I've run into with screenshots and send you a PDF. 

On a side note, there are some functions in the various screens that I don't understand and can't seem to find much documentation online. The help for QB seems to be for the 1.2x releases and don't quite match the current release. Page 7 is a good example. There are also some screens where I can't find any docs for QB or Fairlight CMI online, so I'm totally lost...  For example, the Record and Zero functions on the Output page with the 6 slots. Are there any additional resources you can share on screens not documented in the help?

Thanks so much for your amazing work on this. I'm finding applications for it in it's current state, so I'll definitely be contributing some $.  :)

catalina does seem to have some issue.

Re the info on newer pages, etc. I'll see what I can do about documenting them :)

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On which OS and machine specs does it perform best?

I also downloaded Alias... the audio output is very glitchy/distorted. Maybe related to the issue with FX on QB?

FYI These are my machine specs:

  Model Name: MacBook Pro

  Model Identifier: MacBookPro11,5

  Processor Name: Quad-Core Intel Core i7

  Processor Speed: 2.5 GHz

  Number of Processors: 1

  Total Number of Cores: 4

  L2 Cache (per Core): 256 KB

  L3 Cache: 6 MB

  Hyper-Threading Technology: Enabled

  Memory: 16 GB

do a quick test with alias for me. run it. press space to select default audio. and then press z to m. you will get the default sound - is this distorted, dropouts, etc?

Great Software, I have enjoyed it quite a bit. I must be missing something I can load all the sounding in the normal Fairlight way through Disk Control. But the SDMX SOUNDS Along with a plethora of others in the Disk Library show but I cant load them. I looked all over my HD and they just don't appear. Am I missing something completely simple. BTW I prefer this as a standalone box BTW. ALL Other "VERSIONS" OF this sound horrific once you try and make a plug in out of them. MIDI CLOCK/MTC TO LOCK IT would be cool. The reason these sound cool is that they are not sample accurate sequencers but clock based. Once you eliminate that. The magic is gone. Its been a while my original Fairlight was destroyed. LASTLY when I enter user and the settings etc. Does it actually SAVE IT? Doesn't seem like it. Thanks DMARXX

what are SDMX SOUNDS? give me a list of the file extensions and I can see what is going on for you? :)

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