Fairlight CMI IIx

In 1983, a major CMI update appeared: the Fairlight CMI IIx.
Several internal cards were modified. The two 6800 processors were replaced by 6809 processors, the random access memory changed from 64Kb to 256Kb, the control panel of the central unit was modified, a MIDI/SMPTE interface was proposed as an option, as well as a hard disk drive (one or two CMI, including Queen’s, featured the latter).

• Dual 8-bit 1 Mhz Motorola 6809 processors
• 8 channel cards with 16Kb waveform RAM = 8 voices of polyphony
• 256Kb system RAM (QDOS)
• Two 8″ floppy drives: double sides, simple/double density disk (512Kb)
• 6 octave keyboard, featuring key velocity sensitivity, with 3 sliders and 2 switch buttons assignable to various parameters (vibrato, volume, sustain… ). A second keyboard is proposed as an option (without the control buttons)
• Monochrome monitor which was used to visualise waveforms and to edit parameters: resolution was 512 x 256 pixels
• Alphanumeric keyboard
• Lightpen
• Additive synthesis with FFT (Fast Fourier Transform)
• 32Khz 8-bit sampling
• Sequencer (Page C) and graphic sequencer (Page R)
• MCL: Musical Composition Language
• MIDI/SMPTE interface card (optional)

LAYOUT ON THE CMI-25 MOTHERBOARD

ID	DESCRIPTION	SLOT
CMI-02	Master card: control of 8 channel cards, ADC sampling, timerfunctions for sequencer and MCL	1
CMI-28	General interface card: MIDI/SMPTE	2
CMI-01-A	Channel card with 16Kb waveform RAM CEM3320 (Rev 1 & 2) ou SSM2045 (Rev 3 & 4) Filter	3 to 10
CMI-07	Analog interface card (optional): 16 inputs/outputs to control analog synthesizers	11
Q256	256Kb system RAM By default, the RAM card is located in position 14 but can be installed in position 13.	13 to 14
Q014	4 port ACIA module (optional)	15
Q133	Processor control card	16
Q209	Dual 6809 processors	17
Q219	Lightpen/Graphics interface card – 16Kb Video RAM	18
QFC9	Floppy disk controller	19
Q077	Hard disk controller (optional)	20