Keyboard Action on Roland Fantom7

[simajanpa]

Sorry haven't been in the keyboard world for a few years now but was considering a Roland Fantom7.

 

My only question about this particular synth is the keyboard action. Some say it's one of the best synth actions now on the market.

 

Since I can't get to any music stores that have one to try, I am hoping some owners of said board could shed some light on their experience.

 

I remember the actions on most of my Korg synths (M1, M3, T3, Triton Studio, Triton EX7) being quite nice to play and not flimsy like a lot of the lesser priced boards available today.

 

I would be looking for similar action on the Fantom7, I do realize that this is a person preference question, but still like to get some thoughts on the matter.

 

Thanks

Paul

[marczellm]

I have no experience with it but based on the price range it's supposed to be one of the nicer ones.

[aellison62]

I had a Fantom 7 for a month. The action is VERY nice. The best I've played. Roland created this new keybed for the Fantom 6 & 7 and for the Jupiter X. You will love it. Previously I owned a Korg M3-73 and thought that action was very nice as well. The new Roland keybed is even a little better than the M3

[aellison62]

However, the aftertouch is awful on the new Fantoms and the Jupiter X. It's not very responsive at all. It works but it's either 100% or 0% with very little in between attainable/useful. But the keybed is SWEET

[konaboy]

i played it during the launch event and was impressed. I was even honoured to meet with the lead engineer flown over from Japan who was very passionate about the work they had put into designing their best ever synth action. he was especially keen to point out how long the keys are to the pivot, showing me on the case the distance that they extended back. i agree with him, the keys felt great to play further back and was impressed to see Roland paying attention to this.

 

it was a noisy venue( abbey road studio 2!) but the keys felt exceptionally smooth and nice to play.

 

looking forward to my next opportunity to play one!

[Devnor]

F7 action is fantastic. I like it more than Fantom G7/V Synth GT actions. AT is quite useless...

[jeffincltnc]

I had a Fantom 7 for a few weeks and traded it for a Fantom 8 for my needs, but I have the same action on my Jupiter X. They are incredibly nice. I really love this synth action from Roland and could play it all day. It is my personal favorite above the actions on the Montage and Kronos flagships and I would say I prefer it by a much wider margin above the Fatar synth actions that so many use (Nord, Novation, Sequential, etc.).

 

Your mileage may vary, I'm just one opinion on the question you asked based on what I like.

[pawelsz]

F7 action is fantastic. I like it more than Fantom G7/V Synth GT actions. AT is quite useless...

 

Fantom S/X/G semi-weighted action was just the best semi-weighted I've played. If the new Fantom is even better in this regard, it should be excellent!!!

[CEB]

It doesn"t suck.

[simajanpa]

That's exactly the feedback I want to hear.

Thanks

[Motif88]

What about the aftertouch on the 88 key Fantom 8?

[simajanpa]

So I thought I would give a small update on my findings of the Fantom 7 action.

I was able to play one in the flesh yesterday and was very enamored with the action. As someone mentioned here, it is even nicer than the Korg M3, and I agree.

 

The bad news is that it froze up twice on me while testing it out. Now I realize that it was NOT new and probably did not have the new OS installed. Since I wasn't well versed with this instrument, hey maybe it was my fault.

Anyway, I just wanted to feel the action and wasn't that concerned about it's sonic ability. But that being said, as much as I did love the action, it didn't have the sounds that I've come to know and love in my Stage 3......read B3 organs, Whirly and Rhodes.

 

The EPs probably could be had in the Fantom, but the organs I would think not ever as good and controllable as the Nord.

 

So long story short, I would need both to satisfy my ears, or get the Fantom 7 and at least add a MoJo or Viscount table top module.

 

Cheers

Paul

[AnotherScott]

read B3 organs, Whirly and Rhodes.

I'm not surprised... I've never heard a decent Roland B3 emulation outside of a model with drawbars and the associated dedicated sound engine, and I don't think I've ever heard an impressive Rhodes or Wurli out or a Roland, period. The SuperNATURAL EPs are (I think) supposed to be their best, and they don't do it for me. A Gemini module would make a really nice companion to a Fantom, I think.

[Mighty Motif Max]

read B3 organs, Whirly and Rhodes.

...I don't think I've ever heard an impressive Rhodes or Wurli out or a Roland, period. The SuperNATURAL EPs are (I think) supposed to be their best, and they don't do it for me...

 

I've been kind of impressed with the SRX-012 Rhodes demos. The later ARX board was actually SuperNatural, right? I'm also not fond of their SuperNatural EPs. I find it interesting that after all these years they're going back to more or less ROM playback in ZenCore. They had something good going with the Fantom X and G; it's too bad they insisted on keeping the XV-5080 soundset in their newer boards instead.

[simajanpa]

Yes I did think about the Gemini Module for organ+ sounds, and I know drawbar settings could be mapped to the Fantom, but I'm too used to "real" drawbars to not have that feature in an organ module.

 

Guess I'll have to wait a while and save up more $$$ to be able to keep my Stage3 and still purchase a Fantom.

[AnotherScott]

I've been kind of impressed with the SRX-012 Rhodes demos. The later ARX board was actually SuperNatural, right? I'm also not fond of their SuperNatural EPs. I find it interesting that after all these years they're going back to more or less ROM playback in ZenCore. They had something good going with the Fantom X and G; it's too bad they insisted on keeping the XV-5080 soundset in their newer boards instead.

The Integra has the SuperNATURAL EPs and also the SRX-012 EPs (and also the XV-5080 EPs), nothing wowed me.

 

Yeah, it is kind of unfortunate that they seem to be sticking with the XV-5080 as their "legacy" sound set, it's in the Integra, FA, Jupiter X, and new Fantom. The later Fantom S/X/G library is largely unavailable... the only current board based on those Fantom sounds is the Juno DS, which does have a significant subset of them. I understand, there is a desire for that XV-5080 sound set as well... in fact, the Fantom S and X (IIRC) and the similarly Fantom-based Juno DS have optional downloads to give them the XV-5080 sound set too (with some wave substitutions, since not all the original XV-5080 waves were present in the Fantom). I don't doubt that people want it, it was used in a lot of classic stuff. But especially with the substantial expansion capabilities of the new Fantom and essentially unlimied expansion capabilities of Zenology, it would be nice if they made those Fantom libraries available as well. (Not that I've heard great EPs out of any of those Fantom boards either! Though I never played the G.)

[U.Honey]

My only experience with new Fantom is from trying it out at Guitar Center but I remember my first impression was that the action felt really good.

[bennyray]

I really like the action on the Fantom 7 good enough for playing piano or synth.

 

And I am sorta picky on piano action and the semi-weighted is pretty good.

[John64]

What about the aftertouch on the 88 key Fantom 8?

Unusable.

They might as well have left it out.

[ABECK]

However, the aftertouch is awful on the new Fantoms and the Jupiter X. It's not very responsive at all. It works but it's either 100% or 0% with very little in between attainable/useful. But the keybed is SWEET

 

Sounds like the aftertouch on my Jupiter 80. I had actually forgotten it even has aftertouch because of this.

[Stephen Fortner]

The Fantom 6/7 action is very fast and smooth. I agree with other posters about the aftertouch being an all-or-nothing affair, and my only other ding against it is that if you're playing hard the keys do hit bottom with a bit of a thunk. But the overall feel, velocity response, and quickness screams quality.

 

SF