No linear sequencer

[anotherscott]

" It's always best to buy for what a board does today, rather than hoping for something that may or may not come in the future. If you need something a board doesn't do, buy a different board."

You're right and ... you may be wrong:

You buy a board with sequencer, based on what you know about sequencers and Roland. I can live with the pattern-way but I think it is normal to expect having a tempo track and the possibility to have different time signatures in a same song.

You can read the manual before purchase. Though sometimes, even then, you may not realize it won't do what you need until after you get your hands on it and work with it a bit. That's where buying from someplace with a good return policy comes in helpful!

As I see it, though, that just reinforces my point... if you need something a board doesn't do, buy a different board.

It also reinforces the other thing I said, that even IF Roland said they were working on an improved sequencer, even IF they told you when to expect it, it's still possible that you wouldn't be able to be sure it would really do what you need until you got your hands on it. So again, yeah, buy for what a board does today, rather than hoping for something that may or may not come in the future.

I'm curious, to read what you wrote, are you from Roland or do you have great relations with them ?

Seriously? How many Roland employees do you think are likely to suggest--by specific model, yet--alternatives from Kurzweil, Korg, Casio, and Yamaha? To the second question, I don't even know anyone there.

[franc.weber]

To me it is far simpler.

I am a lifetime Roland fan, started with a JX-3P, never left Roland and probably never will. I’m a sucker for the ‘Roland round sound’ as I call it. I simply see an opportunity to further extend the newest machine with an extra feature, a linear option for the sequencer. Of course I get that modern music is mainly pattern based and I accept that as it is. My life would just be easier with the linear option. No more, no less, that’s it. An unlimited pattern length would already do do the trick for me. It would make the Fantom more versatile. I think that is not a bad idea in the synth marked as is.

[anotherscott]

I see, franc. And the request/desire is certainly not unreasonable! I'm just saying I wouldn't expect an answer from Roland, and it also wouldn't be all that helpful if you got one. So if you're looking for an answer, as you put it, "So we will know what to do with our keyboard," I think the answer is that either you use the board as is without expecting more (if the additional functionality someday comes, it's a bonus!), or if that doesn't suffice for your needs, you either swap the board out for something else, OR supplement it with something else, whether hardware or perhaps software running on your computer (or an iPad, whatever).

Really, for many of us, there's never a single board that does everything we need. Everything is missing something. It's one reason many of us have multiple boards!

[FGM]

Still, we the keyboardists are placing our best hopes on those great brands...Time will tell.
My 120 years diet ends next 2081.
Hurry, Roland !!!!

[vespina]

Totally agree with you... that's exactly why is so a shame that the new Fantom-0 does not include a class-complaint audio interface.

I see, franc. And the request/desire is certainly not unreasonable! I'm just saying I wouldn't expect an answer from Roland, and it also wouldn't be all that helpful if you got one. So if you're looking for an answer, as you put it, "So we will know what to do with our keyboard," I think the answer is that either you use the board as is without expecting more (if the additional functionality someday comes, it's a bonus!), or if that doesn't suffice for your needs, you either swap the board out for something else, OR supplement it with something else, whether hardware or perhaps software running on your computer (or an iPad, whatever).

Really, for many of us, there's never a single board that does everything we need. Everything is missing something. It's one reason many of us have multiple boards!

[sl23]

An unlimited pattern length would already do do the trick for me.

+1

The MC-909 was capable of patterns up to 999 measures, which should cover most users needs. Adding that to the fantom range can't be difficult and wouldn't increase memory consumption as its pure data that is saved, not audio.

[epu]

I picked up an ancient Roland MC80 for this very reason.

Why are the heavyweights ignoring the linear sequencer market?

Imagine an MC90 with bluetooth mouse input, one of those 320x240 displays and an SD card slot!

[Klink]

Sorry, check my next post (can’t delete this one)!

[Klink]

Hi everybody,
No linear sequencer, I could live with it if we could have a tempo track and the possibility to insert different time signature ...

The only way to change time signature for the time being and for recording externally is assigning NEXT SCENE to S1, S2 (and S3 if Fantom, not Fantom 0) or to a pedal.

Increase and decrease also will work if under a scene chain and will move to the adjacent scene regardless of name or number.

I use this technique when the orchestration overcomes the zones and partials capabilities...

😀😀😀😀

Hi FGM, can you explain this in more detail (I have 06)? Do you mean you can record say a 4/4 song in 1 scene then your method lets you switch to another scene which has a song with a few bars of say 2/4, then maybe switch to another 4/4 song in a 3rd scene etc? And all while continuously playing a song with no gaps?

Doesn’t song play stop when you switch scenes?