Roland fantom XR vs Sonic Cell

[Tommy Eide]

I have a hammond xk33c an plans to mount s sound module inside to be programmed with the preset keys.

 

What do you think of the sonic cell vs xr?

[AnotherScott]

XR holds more SRX cards and can also hold a memory card of custom additional samples. Patch selection is a bit of a bear with the SC's scroll wheel, I thought that was the weakest thing about it, but that wouldn't be an issue if you're sending preset recall commands from another device.

[Tommy Eide]

And sound quality wise? I see that the xr is from 2004, and sonic cell from 2007 guess that makea difference?

 

I will have this module inside my hammond xk33c, and recall patches with my reverse keys.

 

So i wont even se the display.

[Analogaddict]

Having owned both, I'd say they're very similar sonically. If you need multiple outputs or If you need more than two SRX-cards, you'll want the Xr, but if you're fine with stereo out the SonicCell is much lighter and has drivers that work on newer versions of OSX (I don't know anything about windows).

 

I had an Xr for a couple of years, loved it but didn't use more of it than the SonicCell also could do, so I kept the SC.

[Craig MacDonald]

I owned a Sonic Cell for several years and used it with my Nord C1 and C2 organs.. it worked very well, was relatively easy to program combinations and set layers and hi/low keyboard range etc. etc.. the sound quality of the pianos leave a bit to be desired.. I loaded one of the piano srx cards and it wasn't fantastic either.. but it did the job very well. It has a very comprehensive sound library and it's quite versatile. I had no problem using the rotary dial..

 

I sat the Sonic Cell on top of my Nord C1/C2 (held on with Velcro) and manually selected the presets.. it was absolutely no problem whatsoever to do this.. the Nords had very little room for name/descriptions of the presets, so I just selected the presets manually sing the dial in the Sonic Cell. It was a breeze.

 

Ken Hall is selling one right now (he is a list member here but I forget his user ID). PM me and I'll give you his email.

[Tusker]

[OT] I've been looking for a module to do orchestrations within a live context. (layered pads and brass, mellotron, a mix of electronic and acoustic sounds and lines). Back in the day the Roland synths had this feature, that when you are in a multitimbral performance, you could toggle specific parts off and on. Can I do this with either sonic cell or Fantom XR, or will I have to get a keyboard version with the 8 part buttons ...?

 

For example:

 

Say you have User performance #1. You might set up parts 1-4 to be triggered by the left hand side of the keybed, parts 5-8 to be triggered by the right hand side. Say you put low strings in part 1 and high strings in part 5. Then french horns in part 2 and woodwinds in part 6. Then activate parts 1 and 5 and save. Now, when you play, you start with high and low strings, but if you press buttons 1&2 simultaneously, the celli (low strings) toggle off and are replaced by french horns. Press just button 6 and woodwinds are added to strings. Press buttons 1 and 5 and the celli come back in while the violins leave. etc ....

 

Is it possible to do something like this using buttons or midi messages in the module versions of the synths?

[Craig MacDonald]

Tusker.. it's pretty easy to set up the "parts".. (basic splits and layers".. however setting up a switch to mute certain parts may or may not be possible.. this is something I never tried.. The Sonic Cell does have a screen that shows all 16 parts and you can move the cursor to any midi channel and mute it with the rotary control, but I doubt that this is something you'd want to do in a live performance.. That said, this suggests that the individual parts/channels are mutable.. so it's quite possible.. I don't have a sonic cell any more so you might want to download the manual and see if you can figure out whether or not it's possible to assign controls to mute particular channels via midi. Sorry I can't be of more help.

[cgiles]

I have a 'as new' SonicCell as well, if anyone is interested. I have other Roland gear that will cover all of the SC's sounds. PM me if interested. Anyone know what the going rate is for a used SC in 'mint' condition?

 

chas

[Tusker]

Thanks Craig. Yes, the "cursor dependent clicking" is something I wouldn't want to do live, but it's good to hear that it's easy to set up the performances. I'll look into the manuals.

[Craig MacDonald]

chas i think around $500 depending on condition and what srx cards it has, maybe a bit more or a bit less depending on where you are, and the condition... the sound is very good, and its a very versatile device.. btw this is just a guess because i haven't been shopping around for one but i think i sold mine for $550 with two srx cards, and i think the buyer (who's a forum member) felt he got a good deal.