Soft synths on the Fan X

[joyof60]

Just an old has-been piano player here, with a dumb question. Yes there are such things as dumb questions but in my experience they are usually the easiest to answer! I've got a Fantom X8, that sounds wonderful. Heavy and hardly portable but sounds great! As an old has been road musician long since retired, I have recently embraced the wonderful world of MIDI. Still new to the concept but I recently was able to play a note on my X and actually get a soft synth to sound! (Thought I would die!!) I have since discovered some absolutely amazing voices from many soft synths. My question. Is there a way to incorporate the soft synths 'into' the Fantom via card or other means for non computer linked live performance? To be able to pull them up or maybe just select voices from the synths and save them on the Fantom to access live? Thanks for any advice or input here!

[rcraven]

There are cards that will add different sounds (SRX cards)
Have you got into the layering of sounds in performance mode? This stacking of real and synth sounds might be enough for you.

Can you load a softsynth in the the FanX... No

There are 'boxes' that will load soft synths and the you just treat them like an extra hardware synth.
Usually expensive.
Often unreliable.

You can get started with live softsynths on the cheap by getting a secondhand laptop that runs XP.
You will need a Midi interface but you can get an USB audio Interface that has Midi.
There is usually a built in audio interface in a laptop, but there are rarely very good.

Set up the FanX as normal
Connect the outputs on the laptop audio interface into the inputs on the FanX (that way you won't have to buy a mixer.
Connect the Midi out on the FanX into the Midi In on the laptop interface.
Run the softsynth on the laptop and you should be good to go.

It is a common set up these days.

All the best
Royce

[LA Keys]

My question. Is there a way to incorporate the soft synths 'into' the Fantom via card or other means for non computer linked live performance? To be able to pull them up or maybe just select voices from the synths and save them on the Fantom to access live?

If I correctly understand your question the answer is ... YES, somehow you can!

I think what you're looking for could be done with sampling. The Fantom X is an excellent sampler, you will need to read the manual and try by yourself a few times before you get it just right since it not really easy to do "perfect" samples.

Sampling allows you to "record" any sound produced by just about anything (even spoken words) and play it on the fantom X. The beauty of this is that you don't need to sample every single note as the sampler inside the fantom x is able to change the pitch according to the note you play.

The procedure is explained in the fantom x manual under "Sampling", starting at page 141. I also suggest that you download the "Fantom X Worshop" #6 (FWS06) still available on the roland website.

There's also some pre-made samples available for the fantom X a few places on the internet, but I strongly suggest that you make your own.


LA

[joyof60]

Thanks guys, that answered my question two different ways. Very cool! Rcraven, the laptop was what I was trying to do without, but I can see where it could be feasible. I'm still very much in the learning stage. Thanks LAKeys for the direction on resources. I called myself reading the manuel but I'm sure you know from answering so many questions here that when it starts to get a bit thick we tend to skip to the next page or in my case, fall asleep! I will indeed check into the 'workshop' and see where that leads. I was only thinking, as its all just software, maybe a simple file conversion would work, but there I am trying to take the easy way out. I'm trying to embrace the Editor for layering patches to come up with some really nice stuff, I just wish the file arrangement in the Fantom wasn't so confusing. Presets, GM, user, performance, live playing, I don't think I'll ever get it all straight in my head! I do appreciate your time guys! Thank you so much!!!

[LA Keys]

I'm still very much in the learning stage. Thanks LAKeys for the direction on resources. I called myself reading the manuel but I'm sure you know from answering so many questions here that when it starts to get a bit thick we tend to skip to the next page or in my case, fall asleep

Ok, let's make simple in this case...

Maybe you can do much more with the fantom x than what you think, maybe even without any samples and complicated things like that. You also said than you like softsynth sounds...

I then strongly suggest that you download the "Andromeda extended" soundset from J.Leyton here:

http://www.synthdesign.de/roland.htm

No sample, no fuss. Just some new sounds made from the internal waves of the Fantom x. You just need to copy the soundset to a PC card (memory card) and load it into the fantom X. Yes you need to learn how to load new banks in the Fantom x but believe me this is something important if you want to expand your sound arsenal.

Also, the andromeda soundset was made by a guy into trance music but those sounds are fantastic if your into 70s sound and could be used for a much wider genre of music. It also comes with performance presets, and I personally love some of the layering he did. Best of all: It's free!!

LA

[joyof60]

Wow! Thanks again! It's worth the learning curve I'm sure, free is cheap at twice the price! I'm going through the workbooks now, thanks to you, and finding all sorts of things I had given up on, (ya gotta press the shift key with the correlating F key to store patches in favorites...who'd a thunk it? I'm embarrassed to say but I had been storing my favorites and edited patches to my card cuz I couldn't figger it out) I really appreciate all the direction, just goes to show, we may not ever be to old to learn! And the Fantom has been a blast so far! Thanks again so much!

[Credo]

Opinion:

Yes, there are a few software products on the market that can attempt to convert and/or resample softsyth patches into a Fantom patch/sample.

ChickenSystems is known for having a suite of products designed to port various sound formats. http://www.chickensys.com/ Mileage may vary on how well things are ported without pretty much rebuilding most of the patch anyway. There might also be some limits as to what can be done with encrypted or otherwise protected softsynth soundsets. These products are mainly aimed at people who have invested a LOT in really large sample libraries, and who are ready and willing to fine tune the maps and secondary synth parameters to tailor the sounds for specific needs.

Is it worth it to spend a bunch of time trying to port alien libraries into a Fantom? That all depends I suppose, but if time and learning curve are much of an issue for you, I'd suggest just building a good portable PC to run your softsynths. If you're interested in getting into sound-design from the ground up....go for it, you'll learn a lot in the porting process and maybe have fun doing it. Otherwise, just invest in a nice PC to play it in native form. If it needs to be portable, you can go with a laptop or cram it all in a trunk or a rack.

It's also possible to do your own sampling and such to create a new Fantom patch based on whatever your softsynths are doing. That'll cost you nothing but time to experiment with. In this case, just take it one patch at a time and learn the art of sound-design with a Fantom :)

[joyof60]

Thanks Credo, I like your plan! I appreciate the input!