DISTINCTIONS between the Series III Fairlight and PPG's Realizer can be drawn quite easily. Whereas the new CMI represents the refinement of well established techniques, the upgrading of a machine already accepted and respected by the industry it serves, the Realizer is a ground-breaker, an innovation made up not of tried and tested building blocks, but of many smaller innovations.

That does nothing to detract from the Series III. For thousands of committed Fairlight users the world over, it will have no competition. Indeed, it's a little foolish to assume the two systems are competitors at all, since although their musical goals are similar, their ways of achieving those goals are almost entirely different.

Technologically, the Realizer's biggest leap forward is its independence of electronic hardware. For although it requires a fair chunk of digital memory and considerable processing power to carry out its tasks, all those tasks are carried out in software — including the sound-creation process itself. The Realizer has no oscillators or filters in the conventional sense, and little in the way of recognisable synthesiser hardware. Each sound is produced using eight software-controlled signal processors, and outputted via 16-bit digital-to-analogue convertors.

PPG's transition into software has been made for the excellent and rather obvious reason that, if a machine's capabilities are defined by the software that controls it, those capabilities can be altered and extended at any time simply by writing new programs. The Realizer, then, is the first computer musical instrument that truly deserves to be called open-ended. No hardware upgrades should ever be required once the basic system has been purchased, unless you suddenly decide you want more memory space or processing power.

The Realizer's functions can be divided conveniently into three groups. The first of these covers sound-creation, an exclusively digital process which, as we've seen, is dependent entirely on the software programmed into the system. Theoretically, it should be possible to configure the sound-creating section in any way you choose — established or otherwise. Altering details of each configuration is something that can be performed directly from the Realizer's control panel (see later), but initiating new systems requires both a detailed knowledge of the arithmetical principles involved, and the programming technique necessary to stir the PPG's 68000-based signal-processing hardware into action in a musically useful way.

Thus far, the Germans have written software for two sound-generating configurations, one a carbon copy of the Minimoog's synth section, the other an FM system loosely based on that used by the Yamaha DX series.

The Realizer also has facilities for digital real-time sound modulation. Its software-controlled effects processors are capable theoretically of modulating any sound source that can be converted into digital form and fed into the system, and again, the section benefits hugely from being based in software. Traditional effects like reverb, repeat echo, phasing, flanging, chorus and so on make only a small part of what the Realizer is capable of doing to a digital signal, though it should be pointed out that PPG's software writers have yet to tackle the modulation side of things in any great depth.

Third and last on the list of Realizer possibilities is digital recording. With the help of its built-in hard disk unit (more later), the Realizer can store 12 minutes of music in mono, six in stereo, and three in four-track format, all at a sampling rate of 40kHz. All recordings can be synchronised with the integrated PPG MIDI Multitrack Sequencer.



MORE exciting than these sections individually, however, is the way their building blocks can be combined and routed in any order you wish. A typical configuration employing the capabilities of all three sections could involve two Minimoog voices, a single FM voice, a couple of PPG Wave voices and three sampled sounds, routed through a complex modulation section, and sent out on separate MIDI channels. The vast array of routing permutations conjures up visions of FM voices being routed through analogue synth filters, repeat echoes being modulated by different rates of chorus effects, and guitar samples being played through distortion modules set up to simulate (and improve upon) the action of a traditional valve amp.

Externally, the Realizer is made up of two self-contained units. The first of these is a 6U-high rackmounting module, which houses all the sound-generating electronics and has an 85Mbyte hard disk unit (derived from PPG's new HDU storage system) built in.

The second unit, illustrated here, is the Realizer board, best described as the system's remote control module. The board looks unconventional, but for a good reason: unlike almost every remote controller currently marketed, the Realizer unit incorporates a wide selection of analogue controls that enable the system's software to be manipulated in a manner most musicians, engineers and producers are already familiar with.

The unit is dominated by a 14-inch, 16-colour monitor of high resolution, on which all the Realizer's possible processing configurations can be displayed. Surrounding the screen are no fewer than 37 analogue controllers (six sliders, 31 rotaries), all user-programmable to perform different functions, depending on the software currently in use. A separate numeric keypad caters for other specific programming requirements, and a graphic pad controller provides a precise means of controlling system configurations direct from the screen display.

The best thing about the Realizer's control unit is that, as long as the software is sympathetically written, it isn't too far removed from analogue front panel designs. Indeed, PPG's Minimoog software package includes a screen display that is the exact equivalent of the original synth front panel, with each control represented on screen and parameters adjusted using the sliders and rotary pots. FM configurations look less inviting, but they're still a big improvement on the almost total lack of visual feedback offered by most modern digital instruments, and like everything else on the Realizer, they benefit enormously from being represented in colour.

The present state of the Realizer is nothing like as finished as that of the new Fairlight. PPG say most of the hardware is complete, leaving software writing as the main area for further development before the system is ready to go on sale. When it does become available, the Realizer is expected to sell at something in the region of £30,000-£40,000. Not cheap, I grant you, but considering the amount of R&D that must already have gone into developing the Realizer, and the fact that any updates will be software-based and therefore quite affordable, the system looks conspicuously good value.



UNLIKE the new Fairlight, the Realizer is intended as an all-singing, all-dancing music production system that will effectively take the place of most other hi-tech musical instruments, not to mention quite a few outboard signal processors. It will be MIDI-compatible, however, so that you'll be able to control Realizer voices from a dynamic keyboard — with just about any split/layer arrangement you can think of. Not unnaturally, PPG suggest their own PRK as the ideal black-and-white partner.

Other outside-world connections include sockets for footpedals (software-assignable to any parameter), and external audio inputs for those heathens interested in using the Realizer to modulate 'ordinary' music signals such as those from an electric guitar or mic input.

No external storage facilities are deemed necessary, since the Realizer's hard disk unit is capable of storing not just sequencer and digital recording data, but also sound patches, routing configurations, and complete operating systems.

The mere idea of a central, sophisticated music production system capable of doing the job of many smaller units is certainly appealing. Especially when that system is as open-ended as the Realizer. It's difficult to envisage many users writing much of their own software, let alone designing entire sound-creation systems derived from complex arithmetical formulae. But the potential is there, and if the Germans can develop software quickly and sympathetically enough, there should be no shortage of takers for each new package.

Yet PPG's real achievement lies not with developing a highly flexible, software-based computer music system. That has been done before, and the principle is now being adopted by a number of mass-market companies for use in much less ambitious machinery — witness Akai's range of systems disks for their forthcoming S900 sampler, and Yamaha's software-inspired manipulation of delay technology in the SPX90 multi-effects processor.

What's surprising, and at the same time extremely welcome, is the extent to which the Realizer's designers have pursued the concept of user-friendliness. Gone are the unwieldy programming languages, the tedious digital parameter access systems, and the uncommunicative screen displays that have prevented so many computer music systems — at all price levels — from being really straightforward and 'natural' to use. In their place is a set of controls familiar to anybody who's meddled with an old monosynth or spent time behind a mixer, coupled with the most appealing set of screen graphics this writer has ever seen.

At a single stroke, the Realizer takes the flexibility of old patchbay-style synths, adds the modern technological benefits of digital signal processing and sampling and supreme 16-bit sound quality, and puts the whole lot in a package that's more accessible than most current budget poly-synths. Or, as PPG put it so charmingly in their own literature, 'there is no discrepancy between what you touch, see and hear — it is just one harmonious whole.'

Hear, hear.

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