Memory confusion

Hi Dan. Thanks for the response. I'll bear in mind your points about the difference between 'Save' and 'Save As' operations.

If I'm 'saving as' and choosing the USB memory as my destination, and include giving the project file the same name - eg, FantomG001 - as the existing project file when doing this, does that not in effect overwrite the existing project? That's what I was doing.

I'm in the UK. I googled the Geek Squad media as soon as I saw it mentioned as the USB memory that you used, but couldn't find any on sale in this country. The exact same Geek Squad brand is being used here, but the company appears to focus on technical support services here rather than hardware manufacturing. No doubt I could order their memory sticks from the US, though.

Hi Dan,
Do you have any clue for what could be happening to comradec, when he says:
**When I attempted to load the project again, though, I found I was getting the same data loss problems as previously - ie, numerous samples, phrases and songs were missing.

Going back to the previously saved FantomG001, however, and all the data miraculously loads successfully.

Puzzling. Can it really be that minor adjustments to system settings are wreaking havoc with my FG6? I'm only behaving as the manual instructs, but there does appear to be a link here. What do you think? **

Do you think that could be related to a faulty usb stick or any FG related failure ?
Thanks
Cheers
PauloF

Well, I tried a 4GB Sony MicroVault today and there was no improvement. I think I've spent enough time and money attempting to crack this problem now, so I sent the following email to Roland UK:


Hello there.

I've owned a Fantom-G6 for several months now, but only recently started putting time into it, since when I've encountered major issues when trying to save and reload project data.

When I saved a project to USB memory, I found that upon reloading/rebooting many of the samples, phrases and songs were missing. At first I assumed this was caused by a faulty or incompatible USB memory stick, so I purchased another one to see if that improved things.

Unfortunately, the problem remained and I have now tried eight different USB memory sticks from seven different manufacturers as follows:

8GB Kingston Data Traveler
4GB Kingston Data Traveler
4GB Sony MicroVault
4GB Transcend JetFlash
8GB SanDisk Cruzer Micro
8GB Lexar JumpDrive FireFly
2GB Technika
2GB PQI

The first five of the above products are ones that have been tested and recommended by experienced Fantom-G users in the Roland Clan forum (http://forums.rolandclan.info/index.php?action=show_thread&thread=30099&fid=8&page=1). Several were brand new, previously unused memory sticks. All were formated first on my PC and then on the Fantom-G, as per the instructions.

Further evidence that suggests this problem is not being caused by incompatible USB memory is the fact that the specific data missing is different every time I reload/reboot the synth, whereas if there had been a failure to save this data properly in the first place I would have expected the same samples, phrases, etc to be missing on each occasion. Instead I have observed that, for example, a saved MIDI phrase that is replaced by 'INIT PHRASE' the first time I load a project will have reappeared the second time I load it but that other phrases will have turned into 'INIT PHRASE' instead.

There is a thread on the Roland Clan forum where I (aka 'comradec') have raised this issue and discussed it with fellow Fantom-G users, including Roland US's Dan Krisher (http://forums.rolandclan.info/index.php?action=show_thread&thread=30812&fid=8&page=1).

I have reluctantly concluded, therefore, that my Fantom-G must have some sort of technical fault. Please would you advise me on how to arrange for this synth to be returned to base and repaired.

I'm a member of the Roland Registered Users Scheme, number [redacted]. I purchased the synth from Reverb in Stockton-on-Tees in December 2008.

Regards,

Steve Cooke

comradec: Man, I don't know what may be wrong.

One last guess: do you plug your USB stick directly to the USB memory port or do you use a cable to bring the connection up front? I ask this because I do this. If it is so, check the cable.

@cyclops

The USB memory is connected directly to the Fantom-G. No cables are being used for that.

It really is a shame that Roland didn't design the FG so that it could use alternative types of memory. The ability to connect directly to an external hard drive would have been very useful, for example.

A very frustrating last few days for me. I had some time off work to spend learning the FG properly and I made good progress with that - not really much else I needed to know. But I've not been able to put together any new songs using the FG because I couldn't trust they'd be saved and spent the time conducting loads of tests on different USB memory products!

comradec: I know, I've been begging for different types of USB storage (like hard disks, CD/DVD drives, or the ability to connect memory card readers for many card types as well) from day one, but to no avail. I can't see Roland doing something about this, which is a real shame.

Curiously, I've discovered that *some* (but not all) of the 900+ MIDI phrases contained in v1.30 show up as 'INIT PHRASE' on my FG but actually do still trigger a phrase if previewed. Each time I reboot I cannot be sure which phrases will show up with their proper names, which will be there but called 'INIT PHRASE' and which will have vanished altogether.

This really is bizarre behaviour by the FG.

I did a further series of tests yesterday for which I created 10 random samples by hitting a few keys and then doing a sample skipback. This was using a 'blanked' FG project - ie, one without any of the v1.30 content. To my surprise, I found that after saving the new project to USB memory all 10 of the samples were still there after several reloads and reboots.

I'm not absolutely sure about this but I do wonder if the issues I've described are only affecting the v1.30 content. That doesn't make much sense though. I can't see why that would be the case.

My beloved Fantom-G6 is on its way back to Roland UK for investigation and repair.

When it's returned to me I'll update the forum on what the problem was.

Dan you said... :" (There is a cool trick in the Fantom-G where you can edit patches in a studio set, save the studio set AND not the patch edits and still be able to recall the edited unsaved patches. It's cool.) "


Can you please share this trick???!! Is it something that's coming up in the next OS? Is it by saving the song?