Is the Fantom a best seller? is still alive?

[neomad]

Folks, what do you think? is the fantom a best seller?

If yes, how come there is nothing new in the horizon? (no updates, no new sounds, no expansions, etc.)
If no, why Roland is not pushing to sell more with new features?

Just checking into Roland Cloud Manager, the Fantom-0 series have more sounds and expansions than the flagship model... what's going on?

[xp30]

Folks, what do you think? is the fantom a best seller?

If yes, how come there is nothing new in the horizon? (no updates, no new sounds, no expansions, etc.)
If no, why Roland is not pushing to sell more with new features?

I guess regarding sales, the Roland Fantom is performing similar to the Yamaha Montage.

The second part sounds like a question about Roland's business strategy, and without having access to detailed internal numbers, I am not sure what the point of speculation is.

Can you rephrase the question from a user perspective? Are you wondering if Roland will soon release an update that will significantly increase the value of the Fantom?

[neomad]

Fair point. But Montage has been on the road far more, so if Fantom managed to sell as Montage in only 3 years, that's massive.

About user perspective:

1- Why the Fantom-0 have more expansions available than the Fantom in the Roland Cloud, and why those sounds can't be loaded into the big Fantom, if both share Zen-Core engine?

2- Even though I am overall happy with my Fantom, why there's no further news/releases of sound expansions, updates since a while?

I do not expect anyone's answer, but just trying to understand what's next move, if any.

[mostinif]

Hi neomad

....
1- Why the Fantom-0 have more expansions available than the Fantom in the Roland Cloud, and why those sounds can't be loaded into the big Fantom, if both share Zen-Core engine?

2- Even though I am overall happy with my Fantom, why there's no further news/releases of sound expansions, updates since a while?

I do not expect anyone's answer, but just trying to understand what's next move, if any.

1 - This seems strange to me. In fact, there are expansions - n/zyme to name one - that only run on the Fantom 6/7/8 series. All expansions for 06/07/08 series can, should and are available for the "mayor" Fantom family.

2 - Fantom software updates it's awaited for all community. There are some features/whish-list well requested in this forum (User arpeggiator, etc. etc.) In the case of sounds, recently Roland released via Cloud Manager two new sets, and seems it will continue, SuperNatural pianos 3 was released not too much time ago, and, as a tiny light in the dark, Roland released a new vPiano expansion (german piano) for the RD-2000 series....

Best regards,
Flavio

[xp30]

1- Why the Fantom-0 have more expansions available than the Fantom in the Roland Cloud, and why those sounds can't be loaded into the big Fantom, if both share Zen-Core engine?

I am not a big Roland Cloud user. I assumed that Roland offers basically the same expansions/sound packs for the Fantom and Fantom-0. I took a quick look, and the lists look similar at first glace. However, I noticed that about 10 out of 122 sounds packs are free for the Fantom-0, whereas they cost 4.99 USD for the Fantom. OTOH, the model expansions are free for the Fantom.

What other expansions/sounds packs are not available for the Fantom?

[neomad]

Hi folks,

As far as I know, N-zyme can't run in Fantom-0. Not enough power inside for it. Fantom-0 can run the expansions JP, SH, JU, etc., but you need to pay for each one (free for big Fantom)

However, if you go to Roland Cloud, you will see that Fantom-0 have some free sound collections that are not available for Fantom, just to name a few:

SDZ084: lush plucks and pads
SDZ080: world instruments 2
SDZ048: LA Synths
SDZ046: Vocal Injections
SDZ040: Analog polysynhts

Question then, should these SDZs be available for Fantom? I tried, but are not recognized by the big bro

[xp30]

However, if you go to Roland Cloud, you will see that Fantom-0 have some free sound collections that are not available for Fantom, just to name a few:

SDZ084: lush plucks and pads
SDZ080: world instruments 2
SDZ048: LA Synths
SDZ046: Vocal Injections
SDZ040: Analog polysynhts

Question then, should these SDZs be available for Fantom? I tried, but are not recognized by the big bro

They are available for Fantom, however, for Fantom they cost 4.99 USD each. They have implemented DRM in such a way that they are able to do that. That means although the sound packs are identical, the downloaded package is associated with your account and the model, and the devices check if account and model match.

I do not find it strange, and I do not care, because I am not really interested in these sound packs. Roland certainly has numbers about how many of the above sound packs they have sold for Fantom. I guess they occasionally look at these numbers, and they have decided that the additional revenue is worth the potential effects on user experience.

[xp30]

2- Even though I am overall happy with my Fantom, why there's no further news/releases of sound expansions, updates since a while?

About firmware updates: I do not expect another major firmware update. I expect a few small updates. Maybe 1 per year. Including bug fixes and changes that improve the interoperability with other Roland gear. An example for the latter would be reverb types: The Juno-X contains all the reverb types of the Fantom, plus one additional reverb type (Gated Reverb). The SH-4b contains yet another new reverb type (Shimmer Reverb). I would not be surprised if these reverb types will also be released for the Fantom and Fantom-0.

[neomad]

Agree, I do not expect a major update as well. I would be happier if at least the things available in other/similar products are available for the Fantom, for instance, class compliant audio/midi (as Roland did with the MC707), an editor/librarian (as we have today with the Jupiter X), etc.

[deswind]

Editor/librarian should be on top of Roland's list!

[neomad]

Also, Clip Save function, introduced in the MCs as well: a scene will also contain adjustment to each one of the parts, without the need of saving a new version of the individual patch.

As you see, I am trying to be reasonable: no need to innovate, but just bring the functionalities available in the same line/range of products (zencore grooveboxes or Jupiter) to our beloved Fantom

[FGM]

Long live, Fantom.

Welcome, REAPER.

No way back.

I have upgraded everything and the new available computers offer staggering performance.

Unlimited projects, thousands of instruments, no digging into the numbers of the partials, no way to run out of slots (I have installed two M.2 8TB SSDs).
Once a track is to our liking it can be stored as a template with everything it might have: several instruments, delays, range of notes, velocities, loudness, effects, anything. And is ready to be used anytime we might need it.

Unlimited linear recording...

Lovely.

This morning highest CPU load was reported as BELOW 1.8% while playing 49 tracks simultaneously from my Fantom 8 onto REAPER.

Mmmmm...but the screen is non touch.

Anyway...

😀😀😀😀
🎹🎹🎹🎹

[neomad]

Thanks for the offtopic FGM. We all know that is your first synth, that you are in love with it, but we are not talking about screens, linear sequencing nor quantity of instruments. What you do is doable with any synth, and in my case, I do it with Logic fully integrated with Fantom. I have been using DAWs since around 30 years :-), I am an old SOB

We are talking about a few things that would enhance our user experience with the Fantom, and those things are already available in 'siblings' products.

[FGM]

Thanks for the offtopic FGM. We all know that is your first synth, that you are in love with it, but we are not talking about screens, linear sequencing nor quantity of instruments. What you do is doable with any synth, and in my case, I do it with Logic fully integrated with Fantom. I have been using DAWs since around 30 years :-), I am an old SOB

We are talking about a few things that would enhance our user experience with the Fantom, and those things are already available in 'siblings' products.

And REAPER my first DAW...!!!

The list of requirements is quite long and remain unanswered by Roland, and since it's been a full year and a bit more without releasing any update, the users go asking if it is still alive...

And longer linear recording, although already enhanced from 32 to 64 measures after we waited for a while, is still there, in the list that would further enhance our user experience.

[JOHN G]

this is a beast of a keyboard, with almost unlimited potential....considering the amount of time to learn it properly, I almost wouldn't want too many updates, as to be overwhelmed.....