Why scrap SRX?

SRX is just waverom and patches- nothing more. With the ARX- they can now go into modular synthesis and cover way more bases (and still cover standard waveroms if they wanted to). It's kind of like going from ISA to PCI express.
Who knows- maybe there is space enough to make an ARX SRX adapter to let you install 2 SRX cards in a single ARX slot.

Not sure. SRX is almost ten-year-old, albeit still relevant technology.

Someone mentioned how ARX boards generate a lot of heat (which is likely why there are only two slots), and maybe SRX boards would just add to that? A few of the XV devices were transitional; that is, they had both SRX and JV-80 slots, but if the heat's too great for both ARX and SRX, Roland had to make a decision.

And who knows? ARX boards are synths in their own right. Perhaps Roland could create a huge 256MB ROM board on a chip. Or a 4-voice VA. I'd greatly prefer that over SRX any day, especially considering how quite a few SRX patches are already built in.


But the biggest reason I see is this: If you already have a synth that takes SRX boards, the stock sounds won't automatically appear in the G, so you'll need to keep it to recreate old songs anyway. If you don't have a synth that takes SRX boards, you won't know what you're missing.

I think it was a mistake as well ... (although it would have been tricky implementing on Fan-G with ARX slots and from a marketing perspective as well ... )

I find it amusing that Roland's new flagship workstation has less wave ROM capacity (128 megs worth) than the former model AND there's no customization ...

You could argue the 64 mb size is outdated (and it is) ... but not so when the total wave ROM is only 256 megs ...

Which leads me to believe that Roland will be releasing another Fantom with more wav rom that — when some of its initial Fan-G investment is paid for — will better represent the "Best of SRX" approach that really isn't so on the Fan-G ...

Because SRX would overlap with ARX...

It's clear Roland is using rompler part for baseline sounds (it's most economic way to do so) and still offering SRX could eat into sales of ARX expansions. Now if you want a Fantom-G's extra capabilities you are forced to use better (and more expensive) ARX boards for customization.

how long did you expect roland to stick with SRX??? i know they sounded good but it cant go on forever. Otherwise we would be typing on a black screen the had green letters because some people's favorite color is green. i along with you wish they would have put the entire soundset from the X + SRX + new sounds - all the redundancy of some patches (Wishful thinking i know) but I cannot fault a company who has consistently put out good products to make a decision to make a little more money via ARX. Roland has heard this before when they switched from the jv series to the SRX. btw no other hardware synth has the capability of what the ARX 01 and 02 boards can do. I think Roland knows what they are doing and the G has plenty of headroom to do it... and who knows, they made the JV series of sounds available as a free download for the X, they might do the same for the for the G and offer all of the JV, X, and the rest of SRX for us to choose from (maybe??? HEY ROLAND ARE YOU LISTENING?!?!?) there are 512 live set user spaces on the G compared to 128 on the X and 512 Single user spaces (that headroom thing i talked about). so let's be patient... you see what they did in a month with the OS give it a year and they we can bombard and cuss Roland for real... Honestly if they only came out with 1 or 2 more OS updates and some ARX boards i will be pissed too, but since they wowed us with the JV, XP, and fantoms, i'm willing to give this company a chance to make this board THE STANDARD

tick, tick, tick, tick, tick...

Chicks, ARX as they are at the moment are bloody boring to say the least. A synth to remain a synth needs stuff to drive imagination, not have 1000s of snares & EPs

Diametro:

I find it amusing that Roland's new flagship workstation has less wave ROM capacity (128 megs worth) than the former model AND there's no customization...

We don't know that yet. If you count the base model, the G has twice the sound ROM. If you count fully loaded models... ARX boards could conceivably hold a ton of stuff—256MB each? So that'd be 712MB.

I think the G as a workstation has lost its way..
It should have been the killer workstation and has the potential to be..
Now the purpose of a workstation for me is just what it says..
a workstation, that means i can do 90% of everything right there..

Sequencer manipulation is realy non existent at a lower level and not being able to hear your other parts when editing a phrase is just so baadd.
ARX.. well i suppose they had to cobble something together to show what it was.. but they dont show half what its really capable of... so yes its BORING..
The G has the potential the be a real center piece but its not going to grab people attention or imagination as it should be as long as the software is in its current state..
What needs to quickly happen is the sequencer needs to be fixed.
whats the point of a workstation if you cant manipulate your music? This sequencers should have been 10 times better than the X and had FULL mouse manipulation just like cubase.
Instead we get the illusion that its just as advance until you try to use it an realize its not even close.
I cant remember the last time i powered up a roland synth and was inspired by its presets..
I think the D50/20/10 was the last one and before that the Juno 106
after that, roland synths/workstations have pretty much used the same methodology while at the same time choping off the bits that made the previous models what they where and they keep doing.. as we have seen withe the release of the G.

This has been said before, but the G should have had 512mb of internal rom at least to get the best of the SRX.
Then go from there...

At least the sequencer can be fixed by updates(hopefully).
The missing sounds, not such an easy fix.

I still love it and am using it, but I can't get rid of my XR or X yet for that matter because of missing sounds and functionality.

ARX 3 Brass(with sax and flute included) would help a lot, but they should have included sounds from the SRX-10 as promised from the beginning and updated the sax and flutes internally IMHO.

I also agree with those frustrated with lack of FX routing for Live mode for linking Distortion to Leslie for Organ use, etc.

Audacity ... Could you show me something that indicates Roland is going in this direction?

Anybody who buys a G hoping for an ARX wav expansion is most likely going to be disappointed ...

In fact, what HAS Roland stated EXPLICITY about their ARX plans ... ???

And since each ARX seems able to focus on only one area — while SRX cards provided many different areas within the same ROM — the "expansion" possibilities with ARX seem even less ...

I think Roland miscalculated the need of gigging musicians (the primary audience for the Fan-G) and their need to endlessly tweak sounds ...

... if the Fan-G was more suited for studio work — which the next version WILL, my guess — ARX would make more sense ...

Regarding the SRX issue:
The bothersome bit for me in upgrading a ROMpler workstation is the possibility of "orphan patches". If I don't have ALL of the waves of what ever SRX cards I have installed, then I will effectively LOSE capability if any of my favorite patches cannot be ported over to the new box.

It doesn't matter what Roland thinks are good samples or not ... the worst piece of crap sample could be the basis of someone's "I gotta have it" noise. I know for a fact that I have a couple of patches that probably fit that description, lol

So - if you are going to ditch SRX cards - you really only have one viable alternative in a board with only 2 expansion slots: The entire SRX library should have been standard ROM on the FantomG.

I am tremendously disappointed, and it makes what should have been a slam-dunk purchasing decisions more and more unlikely.

From a consumer standpoint, it would have been a great idea to include the entire SRX sound set in the Fantom-G. But from a business standpoint, this could potentially cripple company sales. Right now, the best way to incorporate the SRX sound is to buy an XR to go along with the G. And this would still only give you 6 SRX's. Still 6 more to go.... Maybe some people will buy 2 XR's and get the whole SRX collection. Either way means more sales for Roland.

Thankfully, one XR will be enough for most of us.

Some will get by with a 2fer like the Sample Cell.

The Sequencing Functionality, however, is a BIG must fix.