One of the two digital synthesizers used by Brad Fiedel to score James Cameron’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day has been restored and is now for sale. The Fairlight CMI Series III synthesizer, sampler and DAW (digital audio workstation) is iconic among Terminator Fans as it allowed legendary composer Brad Fiedel to fully realize his memorable and iconic score for one of the most successful movie sequels of all time.
Restorer Andrei Kudryavtsev of DeftAudio explains:
“It’s the legendary Fairlight owned by Brad Fiedel and used on T2 score. It took me over a year to finish this build. It arrived to me with a mess of previous repair over last 35 years. Failed parts were replaced by other boards not following versioning and compatibility. It required extensive work to get it up to date to Rev 9 standards which means the final CMI functionality. It’s running OS9.34 with all required hardware changes, with 16 voices 32MB sample memory, with SCSI2SD replacing original hard drive, USB2CMI replacing original Preh keyboard, and a VGA monitor. It has fully repainted the CMI mainframe, music keyboard.
Power supply section is brand new. Old switching PSU has been replaced with three modern PSUs, driving clear power rails and dedicated power rail for fans. Cooling section is brand new, replaced all fans with server grade fans and new fan speed controller with a separate zone management and thermal sensors.”
Andrei Kudryavtsev
Andrei from DeftAudio told TheTerminatorFans.com that Brad’s Fairlight was obtained several years ago and that it has been in storage until now.
Restored Fairlight CMI Series III Which Was Used To Score Terminator 2: Judgment Day
In his video talking about the restoration process of the unit, Andrei explains that Brad Fiedel’s T2 sound files, libraries and compositions were recovered still inside of the machine, but respects the likelihood that Mr. Fiedel may not want these sold, or distributed, to just anyone. These files have been removed but the core default sounds of the Fairlight CMI Series III are present and anyone with enough knowledge or musical talent should be able to make some Terminator sounds.
“A special note regarding the sound libraries. You’ll receive everything that normal Fairlight user has access to, full factory set and extra libraries. You’ll not receive any Brad Fiedel sounds, sequencer files, etc which is a part of his IP. However, this data is restored from the original media and can only be provided with written permission of Mr. Fiedel. I respect NDA for all users I’m working with and this one is not the exception. Please, don’t ask.”
Andrei Kudryavtsev
Brad Fiedel’s restored Fairlight CMI Series III will cost you $19,900 + $800 Shipping, but this is a piece of cinematic history and one for the serious collector, or hardcore musician, wanting to re-evoke the classic sounds of Judgment Day.
You can buy Brad Fiedel’s Fairlight CMI Series III here.