Connect 2010 nothing new for fantom G! Why????

years ago i was happy to play ROLAND instruments because the sounds were brilliant, authentic and the top of what you could reach with a sound rom. but things have changed. the vst-insturments and plug ins spoiled our ears and reached a level of authenticity that was hardly to get with a synth.
i think in these times it is wrong to build a sound engine that assembles sounds only with four different tones. for me the fantom sequencer and the audio integration are superb. but the sound engine should offer more than it does, especially in the bread and butter categories like pianos, organs, guitars, strings and brass.
don't take me wrong - this is not the usual: from-now-on-i-will-never-buy-ROLAND-gear-again-song.
but the release of the fantom G was a real mistake and it was halfhearted. the first OS was some sort of crude, and until now - and you can read it in every line in this forum with every new announcement without any FANTOM-stuff - too little proceedings were made.
and if FANTOM-users see how other companies improve their workstation-product line you feel aggrieved as a ROLAND-user.
yesterday i read a offended comment of Dan Krishker in this forum. from his point of view the many accusations are hardly tolerable - i understand that. but for me these accusations are the consequence of years of development without listening to the costumers and professional musicians wishlists.

"And for the record, can we stop with these Juno model updates. Juno D, Juno G, Juno Stage, Juno Di, Juno Gi. Give me a break! "
Wait for the next ARX.

ARX-04 The best of Juno!

Whatever...

Ok here's the situation with Roland Corp.

They saw a decline in synth sales for last year because of the American stock market decline but, the decline affected them more than other companies in the synth only area because of the release of the Fanom G. Yamaha wasn't affected in sales from the decline. Their Motifs continue to sell very well. Because they were SIGNIFICANT upgrades from their previous Motif ES models. Period. Elementary reasoning.

Roland on the other hand tried to slip a fast on it's Fantom buyer base with no siginificant upgrade at all. When I went to NAMM the year the FG was first released the Roland guy himself un-enthusiastically told me it's the same old Fantom synth as the X models. I was looking to upgrade but after he told me that I saved my money kept my Fantom X and bought something else.

Roland themselves should have known that the Fantom G wasn't gonna sell well or as well as the X model. You can't sell the exact same product twice to people at those kind of prices plus in an economic downturn era.

If Roland would have made the G a new revamped innovative synthesizer with significant new features they wouldn't be singing the blues right now about fewer people buying their flagship.

Roland needs to go back to the drawing board redesign the Fantom synth cutout the RDAC compression scheme that warps the stereo field on the outputs of the synthesizer. Resample some of the Fantom synthesizers sounds altogether to upgrade the sound quality to make the Bass sounds be thick and beefy like on Motif synths. Allow easier multi-sampling of samples and maybe add some Flash Rom to compete. And maybe a synth card option along with other card options to catch back up.

Because right now the Motif XF is about to kill the synth sales market again because it's new, innovative and there are really no new competitors to be found for buyers with cash to spend.

Korg may come out with something and capture some of the synth sales market but Roland only have their old stuff and the new Juno Gi or whatever the heck that is and that is not enough to compete.

Roland may introduce their next flagship at Namm 2012 .

They will never stop making flagship synths maybe just scaled down Juno versions for a year or two.

kday. I was a FX8 owner before I bought the FG7 and I can tell you that we have some nice new features on FG and also worse "features" than in the predecessor.

Can you believe that you can found things worse? I learned this when I bought the FG.

I still wait to be enchanted by a vst thingie... even when working in a studio there's a quicker way to do stuff by using a workstation. On stage, don't even think about it. How about 2 x SonicCells + 4 SRX cards, 384 Mb wave ROM, 256 polyphony? Tell me about one or more vst's that offer the same stable results in a performance environment, AT THE SAME PRICE (please include hardware in total price). Can you name it (them)? I don't think so.

Roland does not need to release a new flagship. They already have 2 (!!!) of them (namely the X and the G) competing with each other. You judge G sales but you rule out X sales. Yes, there might have been some financial losses but don't blame the design department for (lack of) sales. Roland needs a viable marketing strategy because they're always cornered by Yamaha and her loyal henchman, Korg. Big enterprise bussiness is "dog eat dog", they need to adapt and survive. Yamaha is selling too many types of products to care about a flagship workstation not selling well. Korg got help all over the years from Yamaha so they can survive too. I'm not too sure about Roland - Yamaha relationship but I don't think it differs much from the "dog eat dog" mindset. Since Roland mainly offers musical products they really need to shine in order to remain on the market. And I still think they do. They don't quite shine in marketing and sales At least the Gi is a right step. They should have released a Juno Stage Mk II eons ago - with aftertouch and AC inlet (powersupply included in the board).

one of the nicest things on the x was being able to select a list of samples and in one key press they where all assigned accross the keyboard instantly.
now you have to do it manualy on the G which is suppose to be the more advanced workstation..
Hmmm... where does this make sense to make procedures more difficult on the so called more advanced model??
Okay so you have the a list of what they made more difficult on the g that was easier on the X and then to realy screw with your head they then give you what was needed in an upgrade..
The G for people who never owned the X is going to be one of the best workstations available but for those who invested in the x it is always going to tear them apart.
even update 1.50 did things backwards or worse that what was on the x..
its hard to understand rolands mental philosophy towards its customers.

Right now the G has the potential be alot more than it is but if sales have gone down or started to taper off we just wont see that potential realized in the current model and will just have to settle for what we already got.

But as i said before
Making music has nothing to do with the technology
its the person behind it that is the true artist.
If you need technology to solve your creativity crisis you have a real problem.

(Now where did I put that MAKE A SMASH HIT! magic button?)

looks like the flagship turned into a boat-anchor

Quinnx.:

now you have to do it manualy on the G which is suppose to be the more advanced workstation..
Hmmm... where does this make sense to make procedures more difficult on the so called more advanced model??

There is an answer for that too: The Fantom-G is directed towards power-users only, or towards people with much much time to spare!

The Fantom-G is directed towards power-users only, or towards people with much much time to spare!

Which unfortunately for the G and it's users, aint that many types of users to keep the flagship floating..

And more and more advanced users are directed outside the Clan (can you spell b-a-n ???), because their "moaning" or "bitching" or "whining" hurts so bad the sales of this flagship workstation.

So, when all "moaners" are finally banned, all questions will be answered from "non-moaners", mods and the admin.
I quess this will be too convenient to Roland, won't it?

Lol how did you ever get to 2000 posts then?

Twice today I have actualy asked for your opinions on things, and you have completely missed my posts, I think this tells me you ain't seeing straight.

MeNotU:

Twice today I have actualy asked for your opinions on things, and you have completely missed my posts, I think this tells me you ain't seeing straight.

I'm sorry for that. I happen to write in many threads concerning the new big pleasanat surprise from Roland. Once I locate your questions, I'll respond to them.