Page R sequencer

The original Fairlight CMI Series I brought sampling to the well-to-do musician, but sampling wasn’t the only Fairlight feature to dominate the airwaves of the 1980s. 1982 saw the release of the Fairlight CMI Series II and with it the introduction of the legendary Page R sequencer. Replacing the clunky Music Composition Language of the earlier incarnation, Page R looked remarkably similar to the software sequencers and trackers that would come to dominate desktop music studios a decade later. Eight tracks – each capable of playing different instruments – were arranged in a vertical column along the left and a horizontal timeline that displayed notes occupied most of the screen. You’d be forgiven for thinking little has changed since.

Notes and other commands could be entered and edited with the Fairlight’s light pen – this was the pre-mouse era – and both pattern looping and quantization were supported, making it possible for even untrained musicians to have a go – and rest assured, in the post-punk era of MTV-ready pop st stars, there were plent plenty of

’em around!