DIY Fairlight CMI? The Degenerator 2

US Plus FREE QasarBeach software emulation 22/07/25

The iconic sound of the Fairlight CMI; it has an almost unparalleled presence, known also for it's unparalleled price tag and size! It was hugely ahead of it's time and paved the way for home/studio sampling, which must have seemed like magic on it's release. Here we have a fantastic DIY project called the Degenerator 2, which is a lovingly-crafted Polyphonic DIY Synth & Sampler made by Rolf Degen.

The entire project is listed on Rolf's blog (in German) and we have a couple of excerpts here to whet your appetite:

From 2021...

Hello everyone..
In 2011, I started developing my first monophonic sampler/synthesizer. The project was later renamed " Degenerator " here in the forum.
The degenerator was based on Atmel's most powerful 8-bit MCU at the time, the ATXMEGA128A1, clocked at 32 MHz.

It's now 2024, and it's time for a comeback, but with a bit more power. Based on a Teensy 4.1 MCU running at 600 MHz and 16 megabytes of sampler RAM, I'm planning a polyphonic (8-voice) sampler/synthesizer.
The "Degenerator II" project has already completed its first steps (see video). However, it will feature more controls and a 3.2" touchscreen display (as in the video).

And in July 2025...

Next steps.. I'm now working on the file system so that patches and samples can be loaded...

I'm now starting to work on the file system to save and load patch and sample data to the SD card.
I have to keep a few things in mind. The SD card contains a folder for the patch data and a second folder for the sample library.
If I create a new patch with a sample from the library and later save the patch to the SD card,
a copy of the sample is saved in the patch folder. This ensures that the patch still works even
if the sample library is modified, e.g., by deleting or renaming samples.

Read the full details on sequencer.de <-- here

If you're not handy with a soldering iron, then perhaps QASARBEACH by Adam Strange is more up your street:

This is a complete recreation of the Fairlight CMI IIx.

This has all the features of the original Fairlight CMI including 16 stereo voices, full voice editing and realtime control, harmonic additive synthesis, full Page R sequencer and much more.

Launched 1 year ago the 1.29g is the biggest update. which focusses on much better IIx import of voices, songs and instruments. Better III multisample .vc support. III style button bar and lots of UI improvements throughout. A new internal song system that matches the IIx, plus individual output mixing. New Midi keyboard allocation with PAGE 3, and soo much more...

QasarBeach has also gained features that were planned for the IIx but not implemented (at the time) - many thanks for help and input from the original engineers and friends!

Here's what it can do...

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