Roland FA-06/08 specifications, audio tracks?

[Solitary man]

I am very excited about the new FA series of Roland workstations and I realize it's early days but does anyone know what the specifications are of these new boards?

I have a Fantom X, love it but certain things drive me up the wall, mainly the load times of samples. Looking at the new FA synth this problem has been overcome with the added flash memory. So what I'd like to know is;

Can I record full song length vocals into the FA via sampling, using any internal effects, as it doesn't appear to have a dedicated 8 track recorder like the Fantom X?

With the new synth engine can I now get true PWM and oscillator sync( controlled via envelopes or mod/pitch stick)?

Will the filters eliminate the horrible feedback problems that appear in the Fantom X? BTW the filters are nice in the X but you cannot push them too hard

What size is the internal wave memory?

What will be the largest SD card that will work with the FA?

Will it have sounds from the SRX-07 board, primarily VP choirs and mellotron choirs, strings, flutes etc?

What does the fully weighted FA-08 feel like to play?

Will it come with Sonar LE and maybe a patch editor for windows/mac?

Cheers,
Sol

[synthguy99]

Can I record full song length vocals into the FA via sampling, using any internal effects, as it doesn't appear to have a dedicated 8 track recorder like the Fantom X?

Apparently, the stereo sampling time is very long. If you couldn't record a vocal track the entire length of the song, it could be broken up into sections, verses, chorus etc, and assigned to the pads.

With the new synth engine can I now get true PWM and oscillator sync( controlled via envelopes or mod/pitch stick)?

Waveshaping provides PWM on square/pulse waves in the SN synth engine, and other effects on other waves which is very cool. No OSC sync, but I did hear a sound in an old Jupiter demo which was similar using waveshaping. And no, not the sampled sync sound, which is pretty cool.

Will the filters eliminate the horrible feedback problems that appear in the Fantom X? BTW the filters are nice in the X but you cannot push them too hard

The filters are much better in the Jupiter/Integra engine used in the FAs. The Fantom filters are okay, but I find them to be difficult to make sound like an analog filter in a synth or VA. The Jp/I filters are modeled on the Moog, Jupiter, Prophet and one other, or may be a unique filter. But they sound juicy and rich like a good VA should.

What size is the internal wave memory?

Still have to learn this, but seeing as it can apparently hold two SRX card's worth, it may be 512KB or a gigabyte, depending on how Roland structures flash rom data.

What will be the largest SD card that will work with the FA?

According to the demo reps, 32GB.

Will it have sounds from the SRX-07 board, primarily VP choirs and mellotron choirs, strings, flutes etc?

I heard a brief Mellotron string sound, so I assume the vintage key sounds are there. They're supposed to have the Integra sample set and can use the Integra patches at the Axial site. And with 2000 of the best sounds from the Integra included, I'm thinking it has the Synth Legends sounds too. The Integra has SO many patches in all categories, I got tired of scrolling through them, but most of the ones I auditioned were superb and musically useful, so you may not have to program any patches of your own on the FA.

What does the fully weighted FA-08 feel like to play?

It's supposed to have the RD action, which makes sense, why produce a whole other keybed?

Will it come with Sonar LE and maybe a patch editor for windows/mac?

No on both, but having seen the edit screens in the Sonic State demo, it's going to be easy to program from the screen. Roland sold Cakewalk to Gibson, so no Sonar for the FAs, but the sequencer looks to be like the old school ones from the XP series, and with easy looping functions for playing and recording short or long sections. Easy to get into, easy to set up, easy to use. This is the sequencer Roland should have had from the start on the Fantoms.

Hopefully this answers your questions. For the most part. ;P

[Solitary man]

synthguy99
Thanks for the heads up, it is much appreciated. I have been looking to upgrade from my Fantom X for a few months now and had the Korg Krome 88 or the Yammy MOXF8 in mind.

I demoed the Korg Krome and whilst the sonic capability is there the keybed is nothing to write home about. I am seriously considering the MOXF8 though, that is until I've demo the FA-08 ;-)

Sol.

[specialplant]

What size is the internal wave memory?
(...)
Will it have sounds from the SRX-07 board, primarily VP choirs and mellotron choirs, strings, flutes etc?
(...)
Will it come with Sonar LE and maybe a patch editor for windows/mac?

Roland doesn't state the waveROM size any more since the SuperNatural Acoustic sounds are used, as it would give a wrong idea about the sound quality due to the modeling algorithm. One can only say that the PCM part consisting of the XV 5080 sounds has 64 MB (half of the Fantom X waveROM size).

I own an Integra; Roland generally doesn't make the really special samples of SRX boards available as part of the standard WaveROM. I'm quite sure that the melloton strings and flutes of the SRX 07 are NOT part of the standard sounds. There are probably melloton strings, but not based on the very special sample of the SRX 07.

As Roland just sold Cakewalk a few months ago, I'm not at all sure that Sonar continues to be sold with Roland products.

[jimmy]

All the SRX's will be available as downloads for the FA, so it will get the SRX-07 sounds eventually, no news on the entire release schedule of the SRX files though.

[Solitary man]

All the SRX's will be available as downloads for the FA, so it will get the SRX-07 sounds eventually, no news on the entire release schedule of the SRX files though.

That's interesting. So I take it the waveforms for those sounds will be loaded into the FA as well as the patches?

Roland doesn't state the waveROM size any more since the SuperNatural Acoustic sounds are used, as it would give a wrong idea about the sound quality due to the modeling algorithm. One can only say that the PCM part consisting of the XV 5080 sounds has 64 MB (half of the Fantom X waveROM size).

How does this work? Surely the Supernatural Sounds still need wave Rom as building blocks for patches?

[specialplant]

All the SRX's will be available as downloads for the FA, so it will get the SRX-07 sounds eventually, no news on the entire release schedule of the SRX files though.

Yes, but you will probably only be able to load 2 SRX boards, so it might be a tough decision if the SRX 07 should be one of them.

[specialplant]

That's interesting. So I take it the waveforms for those sounds will be loaded into the FA as well as the patches?
(...)
How does this work? Surely the Supernatural Sounds still need wave Rom as building blocks for patches?

The expansion slots will definitely store the waveforms of the SRX board selected. I don't know whether the patches themselves (or called tones in the FA) will be stored in the expansion storage or maybe as user tones in the general storage, no information about that yet.

Regarding the SN-A tones, yes, they are based on sample waveROM, but unlike PCM tones there is a processor which 'calculates' how the timbre changes smoothly between e.g. a piano and a forte waveROM layer. In the conventional PCM tones, it jumped from layer to layer abruptly.

[Solitary man]

That's interesting. So I take it the waveforms for those sounds will be loaded into the FA as well as the patches?
(...)
How does this work? Surely the Supernatural Sounds still need wave Rom as building blocks for patches?

The expansion slots will definitely store the waveforms of the SRX board selected. I don't know whether the patches themselves (or called tones in the FA) will be stored in the expansion storage or maybe as user tones in the general storage, no information about that yet.

Regarding the SN-A tones, yes, they are based on sample waveROM, but unlike PCM tones there is a processor which 'calculates' how the timbre changes smoothly between e.g. a piano and a forte waveROM layer. In the conventional PCM tones, it jumped from layer to layer abruptly.

Arh I see? ;-)

Will I be able to import my old Fantom X songs into the FA? I mean does it use the same file system as the X with the same file types?

[cello]

My immediate reaction is no, it won't import such files. But we won't know for sure until the manuals/docs are released.

[Solitary man]

Damn I wish Roland etc wouldn't do this.....Bring out a new synth and not release the user manuals. I feel I learn so much more by downloading the user guide than any demo on youtube.

[JunoJohn]

With the new synth engine can I now get true PWM and oscillator sync( controlled via envelopes or mod/pitch stick)?

On the Integra-7, PWM is controlled only by the main LFO. You don't have any envelope or mod lever modulation.

[JunoJohn]

As Synthguy99 mentioned, you can emulate oscillator sync with "Wave Shape."

In that case, you would sweep the pitch of Partial 2 with the Pitch Env, the main LFO, and/or the MOD LFO. The last option is controlled by the modulation lever.

[synthguy99]

Will I be able to import my old Fantom X songs into the FA? I mean does it use the same file system as the X with the same file types?

If they won't import directly, you can still import sequences from any workstation or DAW if you save them in Standard MIDI Format. SMF files work in almost everything.

If you don't have your Fantom anymore, maybe you could bum one, or email your sequences to a nice person who would convert them for you.

[Solitary man]

OK so if I save all my songs as SMF then the only thing I would need to do is find the sounds I need to play back the songs?

Do SMF files include all effects, volume, expression changes?