Blinded by science
In 1979 two young men in Sydney invented a digital sampling synthesizer that sparked a worldwide musical revolution. It was called the Fairlight and for the first time musicians could play the sound of any instrument on a keyboard. It also allowed them to compose and perform compositions that would otherwise require a band or an orchestra to play. Those two men were 21 and their names were Kim Ryrie and Peter Vogel.
Without the Fairlight you might not have the same sounds out of Thomas Dolby; who shot to prominence in this country with his 80s hit ‘She blinded me with Science’. Dolby had a boyhood obsession with music and technology and some two decades later his innovative computer music has greatly impacted on today’s popular music, games and mobile phones.
Tonight they talk about music and technology then, now and in the future. Originally broadcast 20th Feb 2012
- Tim Ritchie
- Presenter of RN's Sound Quality
- Thomas Dolby
- Electronic musician and multimedia artist
- Peter Vogel
- Australian inventor. At 21 co-founded Fairlight with Kim Ryrie
- Paul Barclay