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New Roland Fantom


gino

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Why oh why does it sound soooo bad. It"s one of the only reasons I didn"t order one yet. All the standard bread and butter sounds are so terribly old and JV1080 'quality' . Really. Synth engine and filters are great, interface is great and some controller features are great, but I keep on being flabbergasted by the lack of any good quality basic sounds , like EP, Organ, Brass, Guitar, Strings you name it. Terrible. They should have just left them out altogether , leaving just the synth sounds and leave the acoustic section to your plug-ins in mainstage . And half the price of course. Can;t stand anymore recycling...
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Why oh why does it sound soooo bad. It"s one of the only reasons I didn"t order one yet. All the standard bread and butter sounds are so terribly old and JV1080 'quality' . Really. Synth engine and filters are great, interface is great and some controller features are great, but I keep on being flabbergasted by the lack of any good quality basic sounds , like EP, Organ, Brass, Guitar, Strings you name it. Terrible. They should have just left them out altogether , leaving just the synth sounds and leave the acoustic section to your plug-ins in mainstage . And half the price of course. Can;t stand anymore recycling...

 

I think many people ( myself included) are waiting for the supernatural sounds to be included hopefully early next year. The synth section is very appealing to me as well but if someone wants that alone, then perhaps the Jupiter X would suffice? I plan to hopefully play both the Fantom and Jupiter X next year when the X is released and make my decision.

 

Kurzweil Forte 7, Mojo 61, Yamaha P-125,

Kronos X61, Nautilus 73

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  • 1 month later...
Well, I took the plunge and bought a Fantom 7 during a great Sam Ash Music trade in / + 10% off sale. They have a generous 45 day love it or return policy so I am going to get to know this board over the next month or so and see if it is a keeper for me. If not, I will probably return it and go with the Jupiter X since I played the Jupiter Xm and really liked it (just not the mini keys and limited keyboard)

Kurzweil Forte 7, Mojo 61, Yamaha P-125,

Kronos X61, Nautilus 73

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I had Jupiter Xm, returned it and bought a Fantom 6. Having had that a couple weeks, I'm feeling like it's a keeper. I'm not able to tell you exactly what the Jupiter can do that the Fantom can't, but I know the synth engines are aligned to a high degree. The Fantom has the great touchscreen, the Jupiter more dedicated surface controls. For me the deciding factor was I want this keyboard to be at least minimally capable of serving as a stand alone gig rig. I was hoping the Jupiter could go there, but I decided it's too far a stretch for the Joop.

 

For my purposes what's most lacking in the current Fantom is a clonewheel engine. However, someone who isn't as organ-focused as me could probably tweak the organs that are in their now and be satisfied. EPs could be improved but they're decent as is. I believe there's more sound engines coming. OS 1.50 is further proof that Roland is serious and committed.

 

in the mean time I'm enjoying the VA synth and the brilliant interface and workflow. I'm not a workstation guy. That someone like me is digging the Fantom says a lot about it as a live instrument.

 

 

Gigging: Crumar Mojo 61, Hammond SKPro

Home: Vintage Vibe 64

 

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I used my Fantom 7 live for the first time this past weekend. I'd also downloaded and installed the beta version of 1.5, due at the end of this month. That update made a big difference with moving forward to try the Fantom live. So some positive feelings, from the gig this past Friday. Unfortunately, the onstage mix was crap' though I'll leave that boulder mostly unturned for now. It is worthy of a separate thread, though I may have either started a similar one or jumped aboard one circa 2009... Maybe the new one'll be titled, " My Onstage Mix Still Sucks; in 2020?!" :laugh:

 

Anyhow, the Fantom 7 so far:

 

Pros:

Insanely intuitive interface (with serious touchscreen real estate). Plenty of onboard programming resources, at all levels.

World-class sounds (a treasure trove of Roland history, with SN now happening as well.). Clarity and presence for miles.

Above average synth action

Built like a tank

 

Cons:

Still no TW organ (not even hinted at in Ver 1.5?!). The left front panel looks eerily like an RD-2000 (which came from the factory with a solid working TW engine.).

Support system is now largely anecdotal (though improving a little), especially since Roland canned it's primary Fantom rep.. Best resources are a collection of us scattered about on FB, MPN, Roland Forums...

Not initially supported well for live players; still playing catch-up. Design and support was weighted toward its' DAW-like capabilities...Useful to have in a single instrument for some, but there's already a plethora of software and even hardware options.

 

Neutral: Sound clarity, from the mix; even the quality DA converters in the Fantom can't perform miracles. The Fantom sounded great on stage when I could hear it clearly, which was a toss-up. Sounds like a love child between a JP-80 / FA07, and something else.. I'm anal about personal monitoring, so too much outside interference it seems. Heck, even my Nord - which I've tweaked a lot, and normally carries through well - sounded like it was in a snow storm half the time. Hopefully some issues will be ironed out before next week's gig.

 

More to come...

 

 

'Someday, we'll look back on these days and laugh; likely a maniacal laugh from our padded cells, but a laugh nonetheless' - Mr. Boffo.

 

We need a barfing cat emoticon!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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allan_evett,

 

Why not go IEMs ? Ever since I switched to IEMs I have an awesome mix (in stereo) and just the way I want it. (we use Beringer P-16Ms) It sounds so good it inspires me to play my best even if the gig is sucking for some reason

Kurzweil Forte 7, Mojo 61, Yamaha P-125,

Kronos X61, Nautilus 73

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allan_evett,

;

Why not go IEMs ? Ever since I switched to IEMs I have an awesome mix (in stereo) and just the way I want it. (we use Beringer P-16Ms) It sounds so good it inspires me to play my best even if the gig is sucking for some reason

 

Thanks! Among other things, I'm looking at returning to IEMs.

'Someday, we'll look back on these days and laugh; likely a maniacal laugh from our padded cells, but a laugh nonetheless' - Mr. Boffo.

 

We need a barfing cat emoticon!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Looks like 1.5 has been released.

 

New Features (from a look through the update manual):

  • Vocoder
  • Search by text string
  • Supernatural Tones added, with lots of editing possibilities - Categories: Ensemble Strings, Vox/Choir, Plucked/Stroke, E.Bass, Solo Strings, Solo Brass, Sax, Flute, and Wind
  • Import/Export Tones (new?)
  • New Pad Mode Functions: Pattern and Variation play
  • New Piano Roll functions: Selecting multiple notes, Drag note to copy, and E1-E6 knobs now control functions like Undo/Redo, Copy, etc.
  • Effect Edit Screen Shortcuts
  • V-Piano Editing: "In the zone edit of a zone for which a V-Piano tone is select, you can now edit Coarse Tune, Fine Tune, and Octave Shift settings."
  • AIRA Link support
  • LCD Brightness adjustment
  • Noise Suppressor Threshold and Release (Audio In)
  • Remote Keyboard Switch

 

 

Courtesy of PianoManChuck:

[video:youtube]

 

Update procedure:

[video:youtube]

 

 

Looking better. Let's add a good organ and a good sequencer.

 

 

 

 

 

Yamaha: Motif XF8, MODX7, YS200, CVP-305, CLP-130, YPG-235, PSR-295, PSS-470 | Roland: Fantom 7, JV-1000

Kurzweil: PC3-76, PC4 (88) | Hammond: SK Pro 73 | Korg: Triton LE 76, N1R, X5DR | Emu: Proteus/1 | Casio: CT-370 | Novation: Launchkey 37 MK3 | Technics: WSA1R

Former: Emu Proformance Plus & Mo'Phatt, Korg Krome 61, Roland Fantom XR & JV-1010, Yamaha MX61, Behringer CAT

Assorted electric & acoustic guitars and electric basses | Roland TD-17 KVX | Alesis SamplePad Pro | Assorted organs, accordions, other instruments

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  • 3 months later...

I have a bit of a big problem with Fantom at present as the centrepiece of a live rig.....

 

Any Zone set to "external2 does just that - controls an external bit of gear over a midi channel. Great.

 

Now comes the problem. If you want to split or layer the keybed across multiple bits of external gear, you may well need to change the pitch of that gear right? so you want a synth lead line played in the top octave of the board, and another bass line in the bottom octave, and a couple of Fantom pads and brass stuff in the middle. Not uncommon at all.

 

Well - Roland in their wisdom have made the hit and miss. To do a change, you have to set up a course (semittone) and/or fine (cent) pitch setting in the zone. OK no problem so far. However its not real time for starters. You have to save that Scene and the info is sent to the external unit when you then select that scene.

 

Bit of a pain, but OK. then it gets worse. The pitch info is sent over NRP 05 for semitones and 06 for cent. There is no standard for NRPs. Peak for instance only takes octave shifts over NRPs... on 06. It needs a 61-67 range (64 being 0 and the others being +/- 3 octaves, The Fantom sends fine info in a different range. Peak handles semitone pitch info as CCs - one for each Osc, not NRPs.....

 

I cant find any info at all on my Virus and how it responds to NRPs.

 

On the other hand an Integra, being Roland, is mapped correctly and works fine.

 

Why they didnt use the RD2000s system, where pitch offsets are the same BUT theres a keyboard tab - where you put in the range forr the zone, and apityc offset (in semitones) that is applied to the note data from the key press then the adjusted note ifo is sent over Midi. Works in real time and regardless of the external gears Midi implementation.

 

The Fantom has an "offset" page already, that has filter cutoff, resonance, attack, decay and sustain (same as the FA series). Unless there is a function I cant find it the manual, they really need to add a pitch offset here or you just cant be sure if it will work with your external sound sources or not....

Roland RD2000, FA07 (soon to be Fantom7), Legend EXP, Peak, Virus Ti2 Desktop.
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Well.... scratch what I said. I sold my FA-07 this morning for a good/fair price on Facebook Marketplace. I'm shopping for some gear again.

Yamaha U1 Upright, Roland Fantom 8, Nord Stage 4 HA73, Nord Wave 2, Korg Nautilus 73, Viscount Legend Live, Lots of Mainstage/VST Libraries

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OK, my turn to ask a question. Fantom 7 arrived today, and I had 20 mins or so just to check it was all functional ( couriers you know) - and my immediate thought is about the analogue filter....id assumed (yeh - dont do that) it would be an option in the tone design filter section - that is using it as the main/only filter for a partial (say a saw wave), but selecting it in place of the MG/P5/LPF1 etc.

 

It appears not - and its an effect. So - can I not use it as the sole filter (with associated filter/pitch/amp envelopes) as I would an analogue synth? Is it aimed at being used in another way - external inputs for instance? I did get it to sound - basically I could here the resonance peak only and couldnt here any of the actual filtering. over the core sound of the regular filter. it may be in the routing, ie wet/dry mix or something else, or it may not actually be what I thought it was. So - any help here would be great. Im not going to get to play until tomorrow, and TBH I need to crack on replicating my FA SNS patches for the bands, and this would be key information to do that.

 

Thanks.

Roland RD2000, FA07 (soon to be Fantom7), Legend EXP, Peak, Virus Ti2 Desktop.
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A read through the manual(s) seems to suggest I can route a aone (though not a partial) through the Analogue FX - but Id have to pass it through one of the other filters first.

 

It also seems theres no way to apply a filter envelope to the analogue filter. do I have this right? If so I think we need to add Analogue Filter Cutoff as a destination in the matrix - at least then you could apply the filter envelope from the partial to the analogue filter.

 

Not ideal, its not what Id thought it would be (and there not really been any youtube or forum information on the analogue filter from what I could find in advance). It will still have a use of course, but not the use Id wanted. Having said that the "modeled" filter types do seem pretty good actually, certainly a step up from the FA its replacing, so thats good.

 

Anyone confirm this is the case, and Im not missing something.

Roland RD2000, FA07 (soon to be Fantom7), Legend EXP, Peak, Virus Ti2 Desktop.
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Anyone have an RD2000 AND a Fantom 6/7/8? (preferably 7). I have a weird compatability issue (over Midi) id like someone to independantly test. Might be FW or my kit.
Roland RD2000, FA07 (soon to be Fantom7), Legend EXP, Peak, Virus Ti2 Desktop.
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OK - Problems worked around.

 

New stand in as the Fantom was too deep for my old ones middle tier. FW updated, Expansion Packs loaded. Control Scheme and Midi plan done and cabled. Template patch created, timne spend getting to know her a little. First 10 scenes donme (mostly from scratch in the synth engine)..... LONG first 24 hours (well 30 ) what with work, food and sleep as well.

 

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Roland RD2000, FA07 (soon to be Fantom7), Legend EXP, Peak, Virus Ti2 Desktop.
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Fantom 7 is back on the menu. I guess I"m not retiring .... Maybe October. Maybe the OS and all systemware will be flushed and rock solid by then.

"It doesn't have to be difficult to be cool" - Mitch Towne

 

"A great musician can bring tears to your eyes!!!

So can a auto Mechanic." - Stokes Hunt

 

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Nice. What stand is that? I haven"t considered dimensions but wonder if the Fantom7 is too big for a 2nd tier stacker for a k&m 18810, or if I would need something else if I got one for the depth. Is that a spider pro stand?

Yamaha U1 Upright, Roland Fantom 8, Nord Stage 4 HA73, Nord Wave 2, Korg Nautilus 73, Viscount Legend Live, Lots of Mainstage/VST Libraries

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I put the top manual of the XK3c on 18810 stackers.

 

The F7 is 6 inches deeper. I don"t know. If it fits then it will be tight.

"It doesn't have to be difficult to be cool" - Mitch Towne

 

"A great musician can bring tears to your eyes!!!

So can a auto Mechanic." - Stokes Hunt

 

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Nice. What stand is that? I haven"t considered dimensions but wonder if the Fantom7 is too big for a 2nd tier stacker for a k&m 18810, or if I would need something else if I got one for the depth. Is that a spider pro stand?

 

Thas is A Sppider Pro yes. Its was a K&M 18820 I have (still have) previously. It would fit if your 18810 is a single or twin tier - but if its got the third tier arns its not deep enough.

Roland RD2000, FA07 (soon to be Fantom7), Legend EXP, Peak, Virus Ti2 Desktop.
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Great - I have narrowed it down to either a Spider Pro or a K&M 18810/18820 assuming twin tier. It sounds like either would work if I don't have a third tier up.

Yamaha U1 Upright, Roland Fantom 8, Nord Stage 4 HA73, Nord Wave 2, Korg Nautilus 73, Viscount Legend Live, Lots of Mainstage/VST Libraries

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Yep.

 

As a comparison, the 18810/20 is more solid. Twin legs/feet are better than a centre collumn. The arms on the Spider are "bouncy" as there attacked at one end - the 18810/20 are much more ridgid.

 

The down side, is that the 18820 folds nicely, but doesnt if the tiers are attached, so for transport you have to take them off, which is a black bolt, nut and washer and ....not great if you drop then on a dark stage. the spider just folds up and fits in its bag (JUST with the 3rd tier).

 

So - it kind of depends. For a static set up (music room, studio) the 18810/20 is a better stand. for travel/gigging its a toss up. The bounce is off putting to start with but it is stable.

 

Just be aware, there are a LOT of boards that wouldnt fir on the 18810/20 with a 3rd tier. The legs for the the form a stop, and limits the max depth to 365mm. The Fantom 7 is 403mm - Jupiter x is 410mm. Both Kronos and Montage are also too deep. Its fine for an FA, Jupiter XM, most midi control boards. Wouldnt get most propper synths on either - Summit or DSI board, though a Hydrasynth would fit. Its worth thinking about what you MAY do int he future before committing.

 

both stands are very Pro though, and build quality it top notch actually.

Roland RD2000, FA07 (soon to be Fantom7), Legend EXP, Peak, Virus Ti2 Desktop.
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Is the Spider Pro more flexible to adapt for both stand up and sit down heights than the 18810/20? I think I will only use this stand set at home and in sit down mode, but it's good to know what boxes it checks for stage performance use. If the Spider Pro is more flexible for more ways to use it that may influence a decision as well.

Yamaha U1 Upright, Roland Fantom 8, Nord Stage 4 HA73, Nord Wave 2, Korg Nautilus 73, Viscount Legend Live, Lots of Mainstage/VST Libraries

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It is yes.

 

The 18810/20s lowest height is 62cm t the base of the board (I believe) which is lower than most go, and pretty much perfect fo me seated. It then has multiple heights that raise in approx 5cm increments to its maximum. The Spider Pro goes as low as you want - as low as about 30cm - and is infinately adustable over its whole height. So yeh, the 18810/20 is probably more adaptable than most other stands, but the spider is pretty mm adjutstable.

 

On the "bounce" issue - the further out the arms come, the more bounce (because its end mounted), so the further you can push tehm in the better. That obviouslyy depends on the depth of each board your mounting, and the vertical gap you want between each set of arms.

Roland RD2000, FA07 (soon to be Fantom7), Legend EXP, Peak, Virus Ti2 Desktop.
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  • 3 months later...
No more thoughts on V2.0?

Getting my F7 soon. I hope.

Not sure if you saw this thread or not. Not that there's much there, but: https://forums.musicplayer.com/ubbthreads.php/topics/3062936/fantom-2-0-update-released#Post3062936

Yamaha: Motif XF8, MODX7, YS200, CVP-305, CLP-130, YPG-235, PSR-295, PSS-470 | Roland: Fantom 7, JV-1000

Kurzweil: PC3-76, PC4 (88) | Hammond: SK Pro 73 | Korg: Triton LE 76, N1R, X5DR | Emu: Proteus/1 | Casio: CT-370 | Novation: Launchkey 37 MK3 | Technics: WSA1R

Former: Emu Proformance Plus & Mo'Phatt, Korg Krome 61, Roland Fantom XR & JV-1010, Yamaha MX61, Behringer CAT

Assorted electric & acoustic guitars and electric basses | Roland TD-17 KVX | Alesis SamplePad Pro | Assorted organs, accordions, other instruments

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Is the Spider Pro more flexible to adapt for both stand up and sit down heights than the 18810/20? I think I will only use this stand set at home and in sit down mode, but it's good to know what boxes it checks for stage performance use. If the Spider Pro is more flexible for more ways to use it that may influence a decision as well.[/quote

 

IMO if you are asking about a keyboard stand for a Fantom you are lucky that you can afford one obviously you are are not experienced in live situations. Not trying to be a sa but nothing like stating facts.

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Is the Spider Pro more flexible to adapt for both stand up and sit down heights than the 18810/20? I think I will only use this stand set at home and in sit down mode, but it's good to know what boxes it checks for stage performance use. If the Spider Pro is more flexible for more ways to use it that may influence a decision as well.

 

FWIW just from demoing a Fantom 7 I think it would push the top tier of the Spider Pro (which I do own) to its limits but would obviously be a breeze on the bottom tier... I fit my MODX7 on the top tier and it's solid but the Fantom 7 is a bigger and heavier beast of course. :)

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  • 8 months later...

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