My comments on the new Fantom-G series

20 Jan 2008, 05:47

Hello all!

Being "the man" here, I wanted to jump in and comment on the new Fantom-G series a bit.

Of course it is better than the Fantom-X series in all ways, and like usual, Roland built it as an evolution and included everything the X had, which is wonderful.

These are the most prominent improvements:

- The screen is just gorgeous, really. Not only the size lets fit so much information at a time, but the colors are vivid, and most importantly the view angles are surprisingly wide, way better than the previous quarter-VGA screens (even better than the one on the GT which already was great).

- The pads feel different from those on the Fantom-X keyboards, definitely to the better side. But what makes them shine is they also serve as functional buttons, much like those on the Juno-G and on older XP series - you can use them to select/switch patch tones, select/mute parts and so on, you select one of the 16 working modes with the PAD MODE button.

- It sounds notably more transparent and punchy than the X series, and yes the DACs are now 24/96 KHz so no wonder.

- Indeed one MFX per part/patch is just stunning! The mixes you will get are just so lush, and no more compromise to the sound ever. Plus in the mixer each patch MFX unit is routed in before the channel strip, so you can pan the part even if it's fed through a mono MFX algorithm.

- As for the factory ROM waves, you can easily get lost (in a good way

), there is so much of them. The Fantom-X waves are all there as I saw, plus a lot of sounds from the SRX boards - notably it seemed as the whole "ultimate keys" board was there. There are also new gorgeous grand pianos, with more detailed sound. Lots of other stuff, and surprising tons of preset patches to work with.

- It is very good there is no hard drive inside, because this increases the durability of the board, you do not have to worry when transporting it. However, since there is a USB 2.0 host port, you can connect and external hard drive. I think a 8 GB or 16 GB flash drive will work best, but we need either Roland or first users to tell us what is the limit.

Re: My comments on the new Fantom-G series

20 Jan 2008, 06:09

Okay...I'm convinced...I'm buying...

Septimo ,'^)
X6
XT
MV-8800!!!!!!!

Re: My comments on the new Fantom-G series

20 Jan 2008, 06:10

Art, seems you could have a look at the patches.

My main concern here is that I need a first class Rhodes to use a workstation at all. Do you know or can you find out if there are any SRX-12 Rhodes and perhaps Clav sounds on board (the Wurly on that board is pure trash anyway)?

Re: My comments on the new Fantom-G series

20 Jan 2008, 06:44

I know Audacity remarked on this in his excellent review/FAQ but I dont suppose you have more info on the File Management.

I know its project based but I would like to know more details.I quite like the fact that you have a full list of songs on the Fantom X and any of those can be placed in a live set up,does something similar happen on the G. I assume it does.

Neil says..."Cake,you need Cake."

Re: My comments on the new Fantom-G series

20 Jan 2008, 06:50

Ok... im just curious. So are you saying there is not one thing that is negative about the new G. ? I appreciate the positives ... the PROS....but are there any CONS in your feedback? Me personally , i just like to know both sides.

Re: My comments on the new Fantom-G series

20 Jan 2008, 07:17

Septimo:

Okay...I'm convinced...I'm buying...

LOL

Jimknopf:

Art, seems you could have a look at the patches.

Not much, but there is a huge lot of fantastic Wurlitzer and Rhodes waveforms and patches in there. These should be from SRX boards like Roland says, but I don't know from which board(s) since I never ever tried them in person.

Doug Crazy:

So are you saying there is not one thing that is negative about the new G. ?

I did not have a chance to try out the G in all respects, but since the X was almost perfect, as to me, and they fixed even those imperfections (like more MFX, true patch remain, project-based setup, etc.) and added some more goodies, the G is definitely the greatest Roland board ever. Plus I assumed the price will be higher, it's not expensive for what it does.

Re: My comments on the new Fantom-G series

20 Jan 2008, 09:06

but since the X was almost perfect, as to me, and they fixed even those imperfections (like more MFX, true patch remain, project-based setup, etc.) and added some more goodies, the G is definitely the greatest Roland board ever. Plus I assumed the price will be higher, it's not expensive for what it does.

exactly what I think. As a workstation fantom X was almost perfect
to me too, sound wise not so good as yamahas but thanks to ARX and all these effects maybe now will have even that covered.
This is definitely the best independent workstation on the market now.

Re: My comments on the new Fantom-G series

20 Jan 2008, 09:50

^^^ Those are my thoughts also..the x6 (7 8) is the best board out and has been out for a long time and still is dynamic ( 4 expansin bay's ect)

I can feels rolands pain in trying to top it..lol..

I will get it and prob ..stay cool for years intill they make a super leap ..which really i don't think can be done ..

BTW the arp ( whatever ) expansion bay cards will b sick ..watch ..

I'm excited ..I believe that this will be out way before april ..from what have heard .. ( again though I am not in the """ LOOP ..lol)

Re: My comments on the new Fantom-G series

20 Jan 2008, 10:19

This new G model is going to clearly shake things up for Korg and Yamaha. Guys (for those of us who have not been lucky enough to play this beautiful synth yet).., I think it's a little nuts to speculate so much on the sound quality of this synth considering it's not even out yet.

It's no secret, Roland's strong sounds aren't in their synths, but their expansion boards. Roland did this for a reason. They give you a good sound set within the synth, and if you want stellar voices ya gotta invest in the sound cards. Do I agree with this practice they've had over the years..? Well I don't, but this is how Roland has made their money in this area. The SRX boards are quite popular.

If you look at the overview for this new G line you'll see that voices were taken directly from the SRX line and added to the new Fantom G along with new waveforms. With the new G they're giving you sounds from the SRX boards and all new sounds too. I think that's a great move by Roland. We shouldn't expect a entirely new soundset either. All the companies recycle sounds.

Yamaha is a great example of that. Actually Yamaha is so sneaky that they took top voices from their arranger line of keyboards, added them to the synths and re-named them. This new Xpanded Articulation on the XS is nothing more than the Super Articulation voices taken from the Yamaha Tyros 2 (their top arranger), and all they did was add a tad more user control over nuances. Funny thing is that so many people say the SA voices sound better on the Tyros than they do on the XS

Bottom line is that Roland has raised the bar with this new Fantom. The screen, mouse input, and new recording can't be ignored. Has anyone noticed the rebates Korgs offering now?????? They knew Roland was about to blow the synth market up with this new G, and now they have rebates in the hundreds on their synths, and free stuff with them.

I say GO ROLAND!

Re: My comments on the new Fantom-G series

20 Jan 2008, 10:25

squeak_D:

I won't agree with your saying that the stock sounds are not as good as SRX sounds. The thing is with stock sounds they have a broader selection of sounds, they need the board to have the widest variety of sounds and styles covered. But if you need more sounds in a certain category, then the SRX boards offer more, and thanks to the fact that each board is dedicated to certain types of sounds and takes 64 MB for 10 times less sounds compared to the same 64 MB stock, of course there can be some greater details and better quality.

Re: My comments on the new Fantom-G series

20 Jan 2008, 10:29

Agree ^

If yamaha and korg dont reduce the price and if Fantom-G has same price tag as Motif XS and Korg M3, they are going to lose the race.

The thing i hate most about forum is the fact that some morons have some long signature that is wasting my time reading.

Re: My comments on the new Fantom-G series

20 Jan 2008, 10:34

Art, don't get me wrong. I think the Fantoms internal sounds are quite good. Of course the internal sound set is to cover a wider range of sounds for general use, but I've always felt the better sounds in more "specific" areas were in the SRX boards.

I can't wait to see how many new boards they come out with now seeing there are now two new ones for the G line.

Re: My comments on the new Fantom-G series

20 Jan 2008, 10:37

ahfei, I could have sworn I waw somewhere that the estimated price of the 61 key model is going to be around the current price of a Motif XS. I thought I saw somewhere here on the site that a price of abot $2500 was to be expected. If that's true then the G is going to put a dent in Yammie and Korg.

Re: My comments on the new Fantom-G series

20 Jan 2008, 10:51

Artemio, I agree that not every stock sound is a bad sound. Some or some more of them don't require longer or better samples and are ok (not more, but ok) as they are.

Nevertheless taking all the old sounds over to the G can be understood as means to keep some backward compatibility for people who want to use old sounds.
But it can also be understood as the chepest way to fill up the doubled ROM.

I can only state that for anyone making music like I do this is the wrong choice nevertheless. Concerning this I prefer quality at the cost of quantity in 90 % of the cases. A good example from the SRX-07 ultimate Keys are the clavs: *Loads* of really crappy clavs, and you can hardly use any of them without the feeling you play a 50$ Casio keyboard instead of a workstation. I would anytime trade 3-4 useable ones against the whole bunch of trash waves they provided here. And then I would still prefer the real quaility clavs from SRX-12.

In most cases by far, backward compatibility does not interest me even a little a bit. Let's say I used a certain bass for certain purposes, for example a fretless. Now it isn't there any longer. So what? No problem at all! If instead of 12 more o less useless low quality fretless sounds I get two new better ones: I'm just glad to exchange them in my arrangements.

So once more: I would gladly sacrifice several hundred patches from the ~1500, if the rest would be up to certain quality standards. I can hardly appreciate their decision to keep *all* the old FantomX sounds (or *all*/*most* of SRX 07), with the loads of useles, cheap and crappy wave material in there: third class organs, third class Rhodes, third class clavs, fifth class plastic synth sounds etc etc.
They really can't be serious still keeping stuff which was already crap in the nineties...

Re: My comments on the new Fantom-G series

20 Jan 2008, 10:57

Bottom line is that Roland has raised the bar with this new Fantom.

not sure about that, because right now there is actually no competitors for fantom G. Both korg and yamaha don't give a damn about on board sequencing/sampling anymore leaving it to computer.