Fairlight

Fairlight is a name used for several subjects, notably a suburb in Australia and a line of early digital audio instruments. The best-known references are the Sydney suburb Fairlight and the Fairlight CMI digital sampling synthesizer developed by Fairlight Instruments.

Fairlight, New South Wales, is a suburb on the Northern Beaches of Sydney, approximately 18 kilometers northeast of the city center. It sits near the coast and is adjacent to Manly and Fairlight Beach, with a residential character and access to coastal walking trails and beach amenities. The area falls within the local government area of Northern Beaches Council and is part of the broader Sydney metropolitan region.

The Fairlight CMI, short for Computer Musical Instrument, is a pioneering digital sampling synthesizer first released in 1979 by Fairlight Instruments. It was among the first commercially available systems to combine sampling, synthesis, and on-board editing, enabling musicians to record, manipulate, and playback digital sounds with multiple voices. The CMI popularized concepts such as sample-based sound creation and real-time digital editing in a compact workstation, influencing music production in the 1980s and beyond. Subsequent models expanded on memory, polyphony, and editing capabilities, and the Fairlight brand remained associated with professional audio tools and sampling technology.