Episode

Fairlight CMI - the sound you've never heard of

Podcast
ABC Rewind
Published
Jun 12, 2026
Processing state
not_requested
Canonical source
https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/abc-rewind/abc-rewind/106722936
Audio
https://mediacore-live-production.akamaized.net/audio/02/lf/Z/fl.mp3
JSON
/v1/public/podcasts/abc-rewind-1131217/episodes/fairlight-cmi-the-sound-you-ve-never-heard-of
Markdown
/podcast/abc-rewind-1131217/fairlight-cmi-the-sound-you-ve-never-heard-of.md

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Summary

The Australian instrument that shaped the sound of the 1980s and forever changed how popular music was made. At the start of the 1980s the Fairlight caught the eye of synthesiser pioneers likes Stevie Wonder, Herbie Hancock, Kate Bush and Peter Gabriel. By the end of the 1980s it had caught the ear of millions of people around the world, even if they didn't know it.