discussion about the fantom-s

[uzie]

Now we have all read the negative reviews bashing the Roland Fantom-S88 sounds.

Now I have personally used the Jv1010, Xv3080 and other roland modules/keyboards. I usually like them.

Currently the 2 racks I want are the XV5080 and the Yamaha Motif Rack.

Now with the Fantom-S out, I have yet to get around to a store to demo it. But I assumed the sounds would be good. They are Roland so they usually have the best sounds on the market.

The korg triton sounds have been played to death, no matter the editing.

As of right now, I need a board with high quality sounds. I like the layout of the roland and from the video from the Namm show, and the videos on the roland site, it sounds good. But it was lot of samples, they didn't really show the onboard sounds.

So for those of you who have the Fantom-S... Is the difference of quality in sounds between XV3080/5080/ that drastic compared to the Fantom-S?

These reviews are heavilly trashing the fantom-s sounds, while most reviewers love the xv sound set which is confusing.

Now I'm wondering if I should get a Motif/Triton as my workstation, and a XV module... Or should I get a Fantom-S with a motif rack.

Another thing I have heard the sample pads are not that good, you have to hit them really hard to get the sounds loud enough, on the roland videos, it doesn't seem that way. What's the truth?

Also to those who have edited the preset sounds from the fantom and made them "better" (subjectively) to the "motif/triton/etc" type sound modules, will you post what effects/edits you did to achieve this?

If the presets really suck without effects, i'm sure this whole forum can help create the edits to make a nice set of new "presets", that may help convince people that the fantom-s is good.

Sorry for the long rant... just blabbing on.

[amosaic4u]

i had a trinity..then 2 tritons and a motif...so i have been all over the map on this...I still am not convinced to drop 2000.00 on any workstation YET!
Ok.. so none will be perfect of course but here i what i strive for...
yamahas soundset is excellent and the drums are very sweet...add tritons or fantom-s large colorful interface and ease of sampling with full akai reading as well as analog onboard(va) and expansions galore interms of ram and FLASH ROM..and some kind of expansion boards..put this in a 76 key model and i will buy it..

[Artemiy]

If you're used to your workstation and don't see any radical new features for you in Fantom-S - why get it? Every instrument is only for those who NEED it.

As about the engine - Fantom-S sounds pretty similar, if not identical, to previous FA-76 and XV-series - dense, clean, spacious and punchy sound.

[tdm71]

In my eyes the Motif/Triton combo can not be touched. The Fantom DOES NOT sound the same or nearly as good as the XV soundset. I demoed them both side by side and they are not nearly as creative, unique or dynamic. You are right about the demo's, they use a LOT of samples and fail to really mention that to others. Plus it has less presets, less users spaces, a sampler that does not even read the most popular sample libraries (is this a joke??) and its 64 voice with dull sounds? Just to give you an example, I have over 700 mb of Triton sounds that I have been dl'ed for FREE and they are incredible. I have all the space to assign them anywhere too! The Motif sounds smack the piss out of the Fantom in EVERY single way. However, I do LOVE the XV sounds and the Roland sound as well. You HAVE to listen to the Fantom cause it seems those are justifying purchasing it just because of its features which can be far exceeded with seperate more affordable units.