NEW Fantom MKS-20 Library In the Works

[DarylWise]

Hello Roland Clan forum members!

Excited to finally be able to post on here!

Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Daryl Wise and I own VGSG Music which is a sample library company where I make Yamaha MOTIF Series keyboard libraries and now I'm diving into the Roland FANTOM Series.

I have a library for the Yamaha MOTIF ES, XS, XF, MOXF, Montage and MODX called VGSG's MOTIF Gospel Sound Pack.
The quality of my sounds blew people away and it's become my number one best seller with my customers wanting me to port the library to other keyboards.
You can listen to it here to get a feel of what I'm talking about:
Customer Review Collection Super Cut Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlD2ZAL7it0

Official Montage/MODX Overview Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90iMdyEIcMc&t=969s

So with the help of Roland themself, and Chicken Systems Inc. thanks to their Translator and Fantom Creator software, I am in the testing phase nearing the release of my FANTOM Gospel Sound Pack available for the FANTOM X, FANTOM G, and for the first time ever as the market's first ever 3rd Party Sample Pack for the NEW FANTOM!


One thing you will know about me seeing any of my products is that I do not skimp on quality. For years, I actually stayed on Native Instruments' Kontakt 5/6 because I HATE being bound by older hardware keyboard limitations. It took me a long time to finally be able to get my samples to a semi-reasonable state where I was satisfied.

So with that being said, included from the classic Roland MKS-20 Piano Module are Piano 1 & EP 2 Chorus sampled in stereo with 4 velocity layers. As an added bonus, make your MOTIF owning friends mad with the inclusion of the classic "Gospel Grand." The classic Grand that had "Power" first heard in the original classic MOTIF also sampled in stereo at 4 velocity layers.

What's Different Between this Library and Just Using Roland's SF2 to SVZ Sample Converter Myself?
If you're asking that question, the answer is the work. I mentioned Chicken Systems Inc. and they have made leaps and bounds working on an update for both the Translator and Fantom Creator software that will FULLY support the NEW Roland FANTOM. Without getting into the techincal parts of it, the "SVZ Converter" is honestly junk for sounds more complex with more than just 1 velocity layer and a few samples. Finding out by myself and also from Chicken Systems, the converter does NOT support loop points, certain sample rates and bit depths, more than 1 velocity layer, and much more.
Trying to convert my sounds from SF2 to SVZ was a nightmare. With Chicken Systems' new update, it will be a one-click translate with ALL parameters transferring over. So these classic MKS-20 sounds will sound amazing and expressive with it's 100+ stereo samples at 4 velocity layers!

Knowing this is primarily for the musicians in the Gospel genre, they have made it clear this will be their primary User sample set. So knowing this, quality was not skimped on and this library so far will require 1GB of DIMM RAM installed in both the FANTOM X and FANTOM G.
More info on the specifications for the NEW Roland FANTOM at a later date.

While my customer base has no problem with that, I wanted to highlight that as I know it's 2022 now, the older FANTOMs are still stuck in the early 2000s. So it still might be the norm for some people to have libraries around 50MB-200MB. I will never sacrifice quality so this library will squeeze every kilobyte out of the FANTOMs it can for a decent, high quality and expressive sound.

**BETA TESTERS NEEDED**
I have recruited some of my customers to help with me simply testing this library, but if there are any users on this forum with a FANTOM X, XR, G or the NEW FANTOM, the latest firmware for either board and most importantly 1GB of RAM installed for the older FANTOMS who are willing to help please send me a message!

[FGM]

Thanks very much.
As I am not a professional musician I am willing to but far from being capable of providing any help...

[DarylWise]

Thanks very much.
As I am not a professional musician I am willing to but far from being capable of providing any help...

Thanks! We are still working with Chicken System in regards to the software update to get the file created.
But once it's ready I will contact you!

[EdGe]

[snip] Finding out by myself and also from Chicken Systems, the converter does NOT support loop points,[snip]

That's odd, because the SF2 files I converted did carry the loop points of the samples. I think Chicken Sys be mistaken on that fact.

However, it is true the SVZ converter is really nothing more than a wave file converter. When I read about this capability of the new Fantom, I believed the SVZ tool would actually convert an SF2 - samples AND mapping! It doesn't. Which then begs, what's the point of the tool? Did it exist before the Fantom could import user samples?

I have also heard Chicken Sys is working on a method to actually import samples and mapping. I eagerly await this feature to improve the Fantom's sampling handling.

Currently, even with user wave import and multisamples (which is even more tedious), the looping system on the Fantom is horrible as it does not offer any crossfade treatment, or alternative looping like FWD-BAK (BOTH OF WHICH ROLAND HAD IN THEIR SAMPLERS 30 YEARS AGO - WTF? WAS CROSSFADING A FAD??!!). That's why I ended up experimenting with SF2 but then found sadly, the mapping of the SF2 is ignored.

[DarylWise]

[snip] Finding out by myself and also from Chicken Systems, the converter does NOT support loop points,[snip]

That's odd, because the SF2 files I converted did carry the loop points of the samples. I think Chicken Sys be mistaken on that fact.

However, it is true the SVZ converter is really nothing more than a wave file converter. When I read about this capability of the new Fantom, I believed the SVZ tool would actually convert an SF2 - samples AND mapping! It doesn't. Which then begs, what's the point of the tool? Did it exist before the Fantom could import user samples?

I have also heard Chicken Sys is working on a method to actually import samples and mapping. I eagerly await this feature to improve the Fantom's sampling handling.

Currently, even with user wave import and multisamples (which is even more tedious), the looping system on the Fantom is horrible as it does not offer any crossfade treatment, or alternative looping like FWD-BAK (BOTH OF WHICH ROLAND HAD IN THEIR SAMPLERS 30 YEARS AGO - WTF? WAS CROSSFADING A FAD??!!). That's why I ended up experimenting with SF2 but then found sadly, the mapping of the SF2 is ignored.

I've read reports on this very forum and also from my own experience that loop points were ignored. Didn't so much get that info from Chicken Systems but rather my own testing and reports on various forums.