NEW FANTOM-G, PLEASE TALK HERE

[Still Learning]

All right Artemio, my FTP connection has just reported that all 16 original uncompressed video files have been transferred, here is the list:

Fantom G closeup.MOV 4,293KB
Perfect Patch switching.MOV 24,670KB
Rocky Mountain Way 1.AVI 15,864KB
Teenage wasteland on the G8.AVI 72,619KB
MV8800 and SonicCell.AVI 3,515KB
Perfect Effects rolloff.AVI 15,415KB
Roland Booth overview.AVI 9,920KB
SH201 and VsynthGT.AVI 4,254KB
Hendrix on the G8.AVI 39,401KB
Cool G8 Features and Bass.AVI 13,961KB
Fantom G closeup 1.AVI 1,910KB
New EPs on the G8.AVI 16,535KB
The Police on the G8.AVI 20,775KB
More Police on the G8.AVI 6,690KB
Still more Police on the G8.AVI 6,521KB
Warren Harris says Hi to Artemio.AVI36,223KB

Let me know if you've successfully received them all.

Life is short, take care,
Dan

[Artemiy]

Great, Dan, thanks so much! I will be converting them when I wake up.

[PauloF]

Smurf,
a few corrections to the comparison list:

- Assignable Switch x 2 ---- > No XLR Mic. input or Phantom power on Fantom X.
- RPS Sets 32 ---- >> 32 Mute Groups, 100 Patterns on Fantom X..

Cheers,
PF

[SRUT, BUT...]

@ solitary man wrote:
what I want to know is when I will be able to download the user manual and have a really good look at what it can do.


It's very unlikely to have the manual as a download before Roland has finished the G, esp. the software. So, I for one expect the manual as a d/l not before march.

[The Audacity Works]

When I saw the Fantom-G on Thursday, it was in the little theater Roland had made (between shows). Still noisy in there, but WAY more quiet than on the floor. Even with headphones, it's nearly impossible to really judge the G's sound quality when on the tradeshow floor. Today was a good day for follow-up questions, as NAMM was less crowded, but I didn't get to go into the theater this time.

More FAQs/Observations (again, PRELIMINARY INFORMATION)

Does Roland know about your HC thread?
Yes; they actually seemed a bit amused by it. "Oh! We were wondering 'Who in the world is this guy?'" And they corrected some bad information. Details to follow.

Are the audio tracks part of the 128 or on top?
I thought 128 included the 24 audio tracks. Nope, 128 MIDI tracks plus 24 audio tracks.

Will throwing a 1GB RAM chip hurt anything?
No, and there's nothing keeping one from trying it (other than wasting money). It just might not work and might not display the correct amount of memory (even though it may still be accessible). Roland said "what we officially support and what's doable aren't necessarily the same thing." Indeed, I seem to remember some people getting the MV-8000 to see 1GB of RAM as well.

Can I assign multiple MFX processors to single patches or single parts?
Right now, it doesn't look like it. In fact, I couldn't get parts within Live Sets (where the FX switching is seamless) to assign to the two extra MFX processors at all. Things might change, but right now, it seems to be one MFX per part, with the two extra MFX processors (plus reverb plus chorus/delay plus input MFX) for the audio tracks.

What's the sequencer resolution?
I didn't have a chance to check this out. I'm guessing it's still 480ppq. However, I did notice that the tempo has a .01 BPM resolution now (it was single BPM in the X). Cool.

Is the color the same?
I didn't see any Fantom-Xes lying around to compare, but from what I remember the X looking like, yeah. They look to be the same shade of silver. I really wish they would've gone V-Synth black. The V is sexy as hell.

How many tracks are there in pattern mode?
I couldn't access pattern mode. I did notice the term "phrase" a lot, and it appeared one could select a MIDI object, save it as a phrase, and then paste/insert it onto other tracks in other locations.

Can you still record multiple channels worth of data on a single track?
Don't know; the event list wasn't fully functional on the particular model I was checking out.

Do the ARX boards really add polyphony? If so, how much?
The ARX boards are processors/synths themselves, so they add polyphony and multitimbrality to the rest of the G. As for how much, I was told "it depends on the ARX board and what's currently running". One thing I noticed was a little DSP meter for the electric piano card that certainly reacted to my playing, but it didn't seem related to how many notes I played at all. In fact, it would jump around a bit even when holding one note.

Can you tell us a bit more about how SuperNatural works? What kind of synthesis is it?
Roland was a bit tight-lipped about this one. Presumably, each card is a bit different, but the Electric Piano appears to at least use some sort of modeling technology, as you can change preamps and cabinets. You can even choose the age/condition of the Rhodes (from 1 to 5, whatever that means). I wanted to hear the complete lack of velocity switching on the drum card, but the floor was way too noisy to confirm this, even on headphones.

How are parts organized?
In the Fantom-X, if you wanted a part to, say control a Virus, you'd have to set it to either external or both. With the G, you get sixteen dedicated external parts on top of the sixteen internal parts and two ARX parts. Each external part gets its own volume, pan, and program/bank changes. So it's way easier to incorporate external modules now.

One thing was weird, though—The mixer for the audio tracks takes up the entire screen, yet each ARX board gets its own screen, with one tiny fader way off to the left and a huge blank space to the right. I asked if this implied that future ARX boards might offer multitimbral stuff, but the Roland guys either didn't know or weren't talking.

The interface is actually a bit stark for my tastes. There seems to be a lot of empty real estate on the screen, as if they didn't know what to fill it up with. And I noticed a couple legacy icons, like the Fantom-X's metronome. Not sure how different the release model's UI will look.

I also noticed a few interface inconsistencies, like switching between internal/external/ARX1/ARX2 pages in one mode requires F keys with left/right arrows, but in another mode, there are dedicated F keys for each page. This might change as well.

Did you find anything else that was cool?
Hell yes! Check this out—In the patch finder, you can click on this little icon up in the right-hand corner and a QWERTY keyboard appears on the screen. As you type (well, click letters with the mouse), the patch list instantly updates to reflect only patches starting with those letters. It's all done in realtime, as fast as Spotlight in OSX.

I don't know how much it's needed, because when you're in the patch finder, the 4th knob quickly scrolls through all patch categories, and fader 8 quickly scrolls through all patches within the category. I found this to be way faster, as it's kind of annoying to type with a mouse.

For me, workflow is king, and one little thing caught my eye—When accessing any menu or submenu, the Fantom-G remembers which page you were last on. For example, if you press MENU, go down to SYSTEM, page down to MIDI, and then exit out and mess around a bit, to get back to the same MIDI system page, just press MENU, ENTER, and you're there. I didn't check to see if the clipboard remembered system submenus this time around.

My dad's Fantom-S88 doesn't have Live Setting Edit mode, and he almost upgraded to the X for that alone. Live Setting lets you assign any patch, performance, or song to an F key below the screen. But because the F keys do other stuff, there are two modes in the X: Live Setting Edit and Live Setting Play. It was kind of confusing. In the G, since the pads are now switching Single patches/Live Sets/Studio Sets/songs, there's only one mode. In fact, they finally got rid of the redundant "Favorites" mode and now Live Setting Edit/Play is known as "Favorites". There's a dedicated button for it too.

Is it really shipping in April?
I asked "So if anything, it'll probably be the last day in April." And the Roland guy said something like "Yeah, probably. Some products have been late in the past, and we don't want a repeat of that. It should actually be here in late April or early May."

Are you buying one, Audacity?
Nope, but my dad probably is (to replace his Fantom-S88). He asked me to get literature and a bit more information, and I ended up writing a doctorate thesis on the thing.

P.S. My favorite product at NAMM was actually this:

Euphonix MC Control

http://www.sweetwater.com/images/items/ ... ontrol.jpg

You can create custom buttons on the touchscreen, size them however you want, color them however you want, name them whatever you want, and assign a key command macro of nearly unlimited length to it. Its software is very similar to that of its $125,000 big brother:

http://aes.harmony-central.com/117AES/C ... -MC-sm.jpg

[The Audacity Works]

Tom T said: "Rather than share and create a huge debate like the whole audio side of the Fantom G, I would suggest you wait and listen for yourself when it comes out. Sounds are subjective and you might disagree but I seriously doubt it. In terms of sounds, I am disappointed from what I heard at NAMM over the past few days."

I doubt you heard much at the NAMM show—It's a zoo in there. The only way I could write that earlier review was to pull some favors and hear it in the Roland theater, which is way quieter. I don't think too many other non-Roland people got to actually play it, except for maybe dealers.

[Mauro Rosati]

I have a question, what are the assignable switches used for?

[Quinnx.]

The Audacity Works:
Since this seems more like the place for Q&A I will post my list of Q`s here

here are a few questions

did they fix the bugs

1) double notes when using rps in pattern record

2) can you enter the Sampler page without having to stop playing your sequencer to do so.

3) do all rps patterns still stop when you scroll up or down in pattern editor

4) does switching between song mode and pattern mode stop all current rps patterns

5) can you enter the rps page without having to stop the sequencer.

6) does the sequencer in song mode record rps performances exactly as they are performed or does it still just copy the data from each pattern and ignore the performance as it was played.

7) can you enter record mode in the sequencer without having to stop it playing.

8) when in the sample page and you are sampling what is being played, does the sequencer still stop when you stop sampling.

9) Overall how much more access (if any) do you have to all other pages while in play/record mode, or is there the same limitations as the X?

10) Have a Guess? (FS)

[Arjan]

Audacity,

How are parts organized?
In the Fantom-X, if you wanted a part to, say control a Virus, you'd have to set it to either external or both. With the G, you get sixteen dedicated external parts on top of the sixteen internal parts and two ARX parts. Each external part gets its own volume, pan, and program/bank changes. So it's way easier to incorporate external modules now.

Would this new part organization allow for an easy and quick way to define the key range that a part will respond to when played from an external keyboard. With the Fantom X I actually have to edit the frickin PATCH to accomplish that as the key range only applies to what the 'keyboard' sends, not what the part receives. So does it make it easier to incorporate external MIDI keyboard too (ie allow you to create a split on an external keyboard playing the Fantoms sound engine without having to program the split on the external keyboard itself?)

[thekeymaster]

Audacity,thanks again for this great info,invaluable.

Can I assign multiple MFX processors to single patches or single parts?
Right now, it doesn't look like it. In fact, I couldn't get parts within Live Sets (where the FX switching is seamless) to assign to the two extra MFX processors at all. Things might change, but right now, it seems to be one MFX per part, with the two extra MFX processors (plus reverb plus chorus/delay plus input MFX) for the audio tracks.

See now this is where Roland really should look at themselves.I really appreciate the fact that they provide us with 16 effx for each part but they always have to have a compromise and they never really tell it has it is.
In the specs they should state its 1 EFX per part and thats your lot.I wish they would incorporate Korg's routing structures,its far more flexible.Having said that though I'm still liking what I see,just wish they would be more open about true effx routing capabilities.

My dad's Fantom-S88 doesn't have Live Setting Edit mode, and he almost upgraded to the X for that alone. Live Setting lets you assign any patch, performance, or song to an F key below the screen. But because the F keys do other stuff, there are two modes in the X: Live Setting Edit and Live Setting Play. It was kind of confusing. In the G, since the pads are now switching Single patches/Live Sets/Studio Sets/songs, there's only one mode. In fact, they finally got rid of the redundant "Favorites" mode and now Live Setting Edit/Play is known as "Favorites". There's a dedicated button for it too.


I have a question about the Live/Edit set up you talked about.On the Fantom X in this mode you can access any song,all songs stored are in a list and you can pick any to form a set list in batches of 16.Does this still apply in the G or are you limited to the 50 songs per project?If that is the case thats a pain in the arse for me.I like the way this part of the Fantom X's file structure worked,I hope they havent ditched it.Can you give any comments on this?

Thanks.

Neil.

[geppastro]

Thanks Audacity!
But: "Can I assign multiple MFX processors to single patches or single parts? Right now, it doesn't look like it. In fact, I couldn't get parts within Live Sets (where the FX switching is seamless) to assign to the two extra MFX processors at all. Things might change, but right now, it seems to be one MFX per part, with the two extra MFX processors (plus reverb plus chorus/delay plus input MFX) for the audio tracks."

Sorry but I hope I didn't understand what you wrote: does that mean no reverb sends for the parts within live sets? That would be silly!

[thekeymaster]

I agree with the above remark,that cant be right surely......if it is that really needs addressing....

[Tiger Fleetwood]

It seems like the Fantom and the Mv-8800 had a child. Wonder why no SRX slots, and what exactly is arx. ARX= extra patches,sounds, DSP...what?

[V-CeeOh]

As I've said previously I'm now locking this thread.

Please follow at the FANTOM-G THREAD #2.
Thank you