doubts about fantom

Hi advrel,

When it comes to creating songs, I believe the Fantom G is the best around. It's easy to use and the workflow is amazing if you quickly want to record something using different instruments.

I'm no expert on genres, but I play a lot of different genres myself (mainly pop, jazz and fusion) and the G can handle them all. Can you describe the covers a bit more, please? Give us some examples of what songs you play, and I'm sure a bunch of people here can help you and say if the G suits that kind of music. I'm pretty sure it will, but I don't play much rock.

FatBrass

In a cover band you probably need access to fast, easy and seamless soundswitching. The Fantom G is simply the best workstation for this purpose (Live mode, Favourites).

Concerning the presets there's good news and bad news:
- bad news: overall, they are not programmed as careful as in some other workstations, though there are many good or even great ones among them. You will soon want to tweak many of them to get user patches fitting your needs better.
There are many areas where the G shines, and some where it is weak (brass, B3 organs due to bad Leslie effects, and some smaller areas like Mellotron sounds etc.)
- good news: no other workstation is as easily accessible and at the same time powerful for sound shaping as the Fantom is. Soon as you get used to that (and it won't take you too long to get there) you will probably have no problem getting more or less exactly what you want and need for your sets for most sounds.

If then you still miss some sounds you can either fill the holes by sample sets (1Gb of samples and multisamples with fast loading times let you cover anything you want and need) or use one or two of the hopefully soon more ARX boards (ARX03 delivers expressive, really playable brass while the G brass sounds are not breathtaking).

So in the end it depends on you: if you are willing to do some sound shaping for your purposes, the G might be the best choice available. If you rely completely on presets and don't want/need the great live features of the Fantom, there's other choices.

Especially for live-playing the fantom G is the best and the worst keyboard I ever had.

best:
- After tweaking the sounds, it´s the best sounding keyboard
- Big sampler
- Seamless sound-switching
- Favorite mode ist perfect!

worst:
- You can´t store a full playable sounds, when you need the tempo and controller-settings on a special part. So seemless switching is sometimes useless because you have to adjust the active part and the tempo everytime you change a sound.

- You can´t swap Live-Sets and multisample-patches with other persons without losing your own sounds. So you have to do everything on your own. I wish i could swap more easily sounds with other users. I know a keyboarder who has the same Keyboard (FG) and has a lot of Live-Sets with multisamples, that I want to have. But I can´t have them without losing my own work! (Having Sounds for one gig in 3 Projects is not an option for me!)

- The fantom is not able copy a patch 100% in a live set (including all FX). The fantom is not able to copy a live set into a studio set (when You need more than 8 parts). In that cases you have to write down patch numbers and FX settings on a peace of paper and adjust things manually.

- You can´t adjust easyly EQ-settings for a part. (I need this sometimes for a better sound)

- When I store a live set, I have to store also the tweaked patches inside. That´s work and makes the organization of sounds more difficult.

- Weak organs

- Sounds are often not finnished. You are forced to tweak them, if you want useful controller-settings ore remove wrong-aftertouch effects.

Result:
I won´t sell my FG because I already did a lot of work. But I wouldn´t buy it again before the weak parts are fixed.

fismoll, if this is very important to you: you can manage and exchange multisample patches with the help of Yase.

But I agree that it should be possible with the G alone.

I am not willing to buy a software for 200€ and to learn it, only to have a "standard-functionality" load and save what you create with your keyboard.

Do You agree?

thanks for the answers so far.

I was only concerned after reading some negative threads on this forum.

I'v played this instrument in store and i fell in love with it, thou some sounds aren't that great.

Eg., i prefer the piano sounds on yamaha, and the organ sounds are really bad.

But i have a Hammond XK1 to solve that, so it won't be a problem.

Thx

advrel

200€ extra for load and save. I agree.

do you really need a G8 for a coverband? also if you're going to play live, G8 is a pretty monsterous keyboard to carry around.

perhaps JunoStage might be more in your genre? (?)

Truth to be said, YASE only costs 120€ (60€ if you are upgrading) and it does far more then just standard functionality. I had ver.1 for my X and Release 2 is now on top of my buy list as soon as I get some money left.

Maybe is YASE worth the money.
But I only need the standard-functioniality "save" and "load" of the own multisample. And the import of AKAI-Standard multisamples should also be a standard-functionality. It´s 2009!

But the more difficult it is to import other sounds, the more expansions will be sold.

The more weaknesses the fantom has in some important sound categorys the more expansions will be sold. (Brasses and organs are important categorys for most keyboard players).

>But the more difficult it is to import other sounds, the more expansions will be sold.

I don't think so. The more difficult it is to import samples, the less they sell of the Fantom G.

If you'll just be playing live keys rather than using the sequencer or sampler, the Fantom-G8 offers more than you need, really.

It's also extremely heavy, as are all the 88-key workstations on the market, such as Yamaha's XS8 and Korg's M3 88. If you absolutely must have the full 88 keys synth, there are lighter alternatives available if you can do without the more extensive features of a workstation synth.

As a songwriting tool, though, I think it's unbeatable. I've gone through a long period, I mean years, of creative block, pretty much starting after I got rid of my Yamaha QS300 in favour of the Motif Classic, whose convoluted operating system I found stifled my productivity. I didn't get on much better when I switched to software, starting out with Cakewalk Sonar, then Steinberg Cubase and then Ableton Live.

Since buying the Fantom-G, however, I've found music-making more fun than ever before. These things are personal, so I won't claim that my experience would be universal, but the Fantom-G has really clicked with me. It's so easy to lay down tracks quickly and most of the sounds are excellent.

Genre-wise, the Fantom-G is versatile. I'm still learning my way around it, programming material that's not really stuck in any particular style for the moment (though I lean toward trip-hop, IDM and funk), and I've found that it's capable of generating the sounds and inspiring the grooves for plenty of different styles. It's easy to program dance-style material, but it lends itself to pop-rock genres too.

Advrel, I think you will love the Fantom G and I also believe there will be an extensive update for the OS soon.

Just get it. Nothing does everything 100% and the fantom is fantastic. Hard to find a case for and hard to transport but worth it.