Your input on Fantom G

Forum for Fantom-G6/7/8
DaveC
Posts: 30
Joined: 06:00, 11 April 2008
Location: Tampa Bay

Re: Your input on Fantom G

Post by DaveC »

i have a G8 ... the aftertouch is hard to activate ... i have it set on Light , but it still feels heavy ..!! i understand the afterswitch statement ... the aftertouch on my M3 61 is much easier to use ..

i ran across several Orch hits , but i don't use them , so i didn't dwell on them ..

it does switch pretty seamlessly between changes ... notes and fx hang on .. i think some planning would make it work perfect for a live situation ... mine will stay in the studio ...
the G8 is to darn heavy to cart around ..!

i see 8 patches layered in Live mode ... Studio has 16 , but it looks to be more for recording than live ... all have their own fx ...

i haven't had any Roland gear for a half dozen years .. lastly was A90ex & xv5080 w/srx cards ...

the pianos have possibilties .... the Live mode should give the possiblilty to build a comfortable playing piano to suit one's playing style ... i traded in my Yamaha S90ES in on my G8 , so i need to replace those , pretty good , piano sounds ... the keybed action plays much better ...
junoguy
Posts: 153
Joined: 03:33, 9 July 2007

Re: Your input on Fantom G

Post by junoguy »

If you want DAMPERS, get yamaha motif xs or the xs rack...realistic sounds are heard to beat on those! yamaha is a whole class above anyother brand when it comes to realism (and this includes gigasampler, no kidding). 1000gb of samples don't mean anything. 375 well implemented MBs are better than 25GB of crap.

anyway, get motif xs keyboard or rack if you want the yamaha realism. yamaha motif xs pianos are still the best in any workstation and out of this world
Jimknopf
Posts: 1494
Joined: 16:55, 10 March 2007

Re: Your input on Fantom G

Post by Jimknopf »

yamaha is a whole class above anyother brand when it comes to realism
For my ears that is only true for certain sounds.
As I already said, I do *not* prefer the Yamaha XS pianos over some from the G. That seems to be a matter of taste though. But Yamaha is for example clearly less realistic with it's Rhodes sounds than the G, just to name one example where it is the other way round.

So while I find some Yamaha sounds quite natural and realistic, I wouldn't agree to a general statement like the above.
pbk
Posts: 48
Joined: 06:30, 21 April 2008

Re: Your input on Fantom G

Post by pbk »

Hello folks.

When today I arrived home from work, my new G7 was waiting for me. ;-) What can I say. It was worth the wait! I have been fiddling with the beast for around 4 hours now and I really like it. It has exceeded my expectations. Although there are limitations and bugs, the pros outweighs the cons. I found the interface pretty intuitive and the big screen makes things far more simple than any other hard synth I have used before. The keys felt a bit strange at first (the last synth without hammer keys I used was a Triton), but after a couple of minutes I got used to them and now I find them comfortable. At first sight, the different operation modes seem logical, same for the arrangement of buttons and their functionality.

The VST interface is sleek, however it takes some seconds to establish communications when the plugin is loaded for first time. It seems to give access to all the parameters of the Fantom G, and it is very easy to access and program the hundreds of available patches (wow, 1664 presets!). The USB audio IO is working flawlessly with FL Studio. I also connected my VG-99 and used my guitar to control it (there is even a VG-99 'duo' patch named there --there is a funny guy/gal at Roland :-) ). Haven't connected the FC-300 or FV-500 to it yet. My Logitech wireless mouse doesn't work with it; the mouse cursor appears but it doesn't move. The wired mouse works without problem. I am using a Sandisk USB drive without trouble, too.

I tried to install a 1GB DIMM that was working in an X8. The synth recognizes it but doesn't allow me to record any audio or samples, including skipback. Does anyone had success installing a 1GB module?

That's all for now. Gotta move some knobs on my new girlfriend. I am going to be a zombie tomorrow at work. :-D
MINDKeys
Posts: 78
Joined: 12:18, 18 January 2008
Location: Lisboa, Portugal

Re: Your input on Fantom G

Post by MINDKeys »

Barrail said:
"On the G you've got a PFX per patch. You can assign it to the 4 tones of a patch and adjust the level of the effect for each tone. Then you have 2 MFX for all the patches. You can adjust the level of the effect per patch or swit it of. Then you have a master Reverb unit and a master Chorus unit. You can do the same as MFX with them. "

By reading the manual i came to the conclusion that this is not true in Patch or Live mode because MFX1 is always assigned to live input and MFX2 is simply unavailable!

So my conclusion seems to remain true: With 22 MFX procesors it is IMPOSSIBLE to have more than 1 MFX per patch.
This makes something that made my leads on K2661 came to life impossible: Have a lead with distortion efect followed by an wha wha effect controlled by the foot pedal.... (Without having to mimic the effects with patch programing!)

I really wanted to buy the G mostly because of live mode but it's getting harder and harder to justify it to myself:
- Most of the good patches left out because of strange Best of SRX selection (Orchestral/Choirs/Fulte/Brass/Flute is very poor), and then we have 70 diferent pianos...
- No extraordinary new Patches
- No multi sampling to overcome the lack of sounds in certain categories
- Limited effects routing
- No Vocoder, Motif XS has a basic one, Roland as always will probably came out with a vocoder ARX that we will have to pay extra
- No extra synthesis engine (trough ARX maybe but at extra cost again...)

Maybe one day i loose my mind and buy it but for now i am a bit disapointed with Roland once again, they had the chance to make something truly amazing if they joined togheter something like the Fantom - Vsynth and Vp550.
Let's wait for the new ARX to see what the future holds...
barrail
Posts: 141
Joined: 19:41, 1 March 2008

Re: Your input on Fantom G

Post by barrail »

I you thought you could chain 22 effetcs on one patch, so you're right : it's impossible !
But you can apply distortion effect on your patch (with pfx). Then you can add the wha effect (with mfx1). Mfx 2 is still avaible for example a compression effect. You have also the ability to add a reverb (or a reverb/delay) then a chorus (or a chorus phaser).
No other worksation is able to do this I think ( but I'm not expert)
For sounds missing you, I'm totaly agree with you regarding choirs, flutes, brass (i add sax & trumpet). I really find that the orchestral section (don't forget to add strings to it) is well provided.
to pay for extra features is unfortunately the principle for extra feature...
MINDKeys
Posts: 78
Joined: 12:18, 18 January 2008
Location: Lisboa, Portugal

Re: Your input on Fantom G

Post by MINDKeys »

No, in Patch or Live mode MFX1 is only assignable to the Sound Inputs and limited by the number of effects to choose and MFX2 simply cannot be used.
In these modes there is no other routing possible for effects, 1 PFX, chorus, reverb and that's it. (It's not even clear if it can use the mastering effect also or not)

Other workstation do much more with much less. (Routing related of course)

I just wanted to chain 2 effects... I guess they do this because of the seamless sound switching, they would have to have another 2 MFXs processors to be able to use MFX1 and 2... Anyway it's very limiting.
barrail
Posts: 141
Joined: 19:41, 1 March 2008

Re: Your input on Fantom G

Post by barrail »

I chain 2 effects but it's in studio mode. I don't use often live mode.
I find effect routing in studio mode very powerfull. I just miss EQ per part.
rezfactor
Posts: 494
Joined: 05:51, 21 June 2007
Location: Los Angeles, CA USA

Re: Your input on Fantom G

Post by rezfactor »

pbk:

Good to hear about the VSTi interface working well! Can't wait to try that out someday, together, with my VirusTI!

No one has yet reported a working 1GB DIMM in the G. I have a Samsung 1GB DIMM that also worked fine in my X, but does not work in my G8. I have a Patriot 512MB DIMM in the G now, and a 2GB Lexar USB thumbdrive, and both work fine. No one has reported a 4GB USB drive working yet in the G either. But, I'm REALLY hoping a future OS upgrade will support the "undocumented" 1GB capacity that the X did. Three times the audio tracks, but half the available sample memory just doesn't make sense.
mohan
Posts: 38
Joined: 01:24, 8 January 2008
Location: Sydney, Australia

Re: Your input on Fantom G

Post by mohan »

Mindkeys:From what i have seen Roland has done a good job and took special care in offering a workstation that's "LIVE READY", i just wished there was a Ribbon controller instead of the useless (for most of the people of course) D-Beam Controller but you can't have it all! ;)

I would have liked both a ribbon and the d-beam. Nonetheless, the 8 slider controllers and 4 rotary controllers are great. You can assign virtually any control to the sliders.
MINDKeys
Posts: 78
Joined: 12:18, 18 January 2008
Location: Lisboa, Portugal

Re: Your input on Fantom G

Post by MINDKeys »

You actully use the D-Beam? :)

A Ribbon can be much more expressive than a slider, the D-beam even if it is expressive is much harder to control and then it reacts diferently if you are playing in a club or in an open air festival...
jessej
Posts: 2379
Joined: 04:15, 20 March 2008
Location: Finland
Contact:

Re: Your input on Fantom G

Post by jessej »

>A Ribbon can be much more expressive than a slider, the D-beam even if it is expressive is much harder to control and then it reacts diferently if you are playing in a club or in an open air festival...

My exact thoughts about the D-beam. If you have lights blinking on the stage, it's useless. A ribbon controller can be very precise, I assign parameters to the ribbon control very often on my JP-8000 and feel the G would have benefit from one much more than from the silly D-beam.
Arjan
Posts: 892
Joined: 16:30, 29 December 2003
Location: Netherlands
Contact:

Re: Your input on Fantom G

Post by Arjan »

I prefer to use an expression pedal (EV-5) instead of the ribbon on my JP-8000. When playing solos my left hand is already pretty occupied with the pitch bender/modulation lever.
Beantown
Posts: 187
Joined: 05:43, 15 September 2007

Re: Your input on Fantom G

Post by Beantown »

I've always thought of the D-Beam as one of those cool features that's good to have, but never gets put to use. Come to think of it, the only people I've ever seen use it are the folks from those demo videos back when it first came out. A ribbon would be more practical. But the D-Beam could be a good tool in a live performance.
0kk0p3kk4
Posts: 152
Joined: 07:53, 7 May 2014

Re: Your input on Fantom G

Post by 0kk0p3kk4 »

MINDKeys wrote: The harpsichord patch i miss is the same used by Jens Johansen from Stratovarius in the song Black Diamond: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eQi1b6hRZA , no other synth i know has one like this...
The main tone sample can be found within FG - 286 Harpsi A - just by replacing some other harpsi-sounds main tone by that, its pretty close and most likely with careful tweak it should be near 100%.
Post Reply