Roland Fantom G6 vs. X6

[Terrum]

Hi, I didn't really know where to put this, so I'm sorry if it's in the wrong place - considering this is for G and X ;)

I'm getting back into my Roland Fantom G6 now, and to this forum which i welcomed myself to over half a year ago.

But my question is, what's the main differences? Which one's more up to date? Is there anything the X has that the G doesn't? Any response highly appreciate!

[grace25]

X has better sounds and capable of expanding more expansion cards, but less FX than the G. If you spend $2,500 like me for a G6 you will regret it. That much money does not worth it if all you're going for is sound. I didn't know this at first. I bought the G because it looks nice with the screen and all that, but I don't even use it. I use pro tools instead. if you don't use the studio workstation don't even bother it unless you have good reasons for using it that will meet your needs.

[Terrum]

Thanks for the great reply. Is the X newer than the G, or the opposite? I only want the X6 for the weighted keys.

I got my G6 for £1,000, and I found an X6 for £800 which i'm surprised about.

[grace25]

That's good for you! X is older than the G. I'll take it if I were you.

[jur451c]

I disagree, I have the G and love it to bits. my advice is to try both and buy the one that gives you the best fit.

[Ghost76]

Must admit I'm quickly falling in love with my G7 but I bought this as my very first keyboard to learn to play piano/synth on (which is something I've been telling myself i'd eventually get round to doing for too many years!) and to expand it with the ARX drums card to connect it to & breathe some new life into my Roland TD4X V-Drum kit.

I guess from a professional musician's / recording studio engineer's point of view it may have it's shortcomings but I feel that these people are generally over critical (as I can be myself at times) but from a gadget-head's perspective I think this thing is brilliant, so many settings effects, tones & patches, not too mention the sampler, sequencer etc etc, this will keep me amused for a very long time.

I was also considering a Korg M3 but this G7 came up for about £1100 so I grabbed and haven't looked back, I'm very happy with my purchase and certain I made the right choice.

Don't mistake me for a Roland fanboy I can see where people are coming from when they say the default sounds although pretty damn good hooked up through a digital amp & quality speakers aren't breathtaking but hey that's the beauty of a synth like this, you don't like the patches provided, get stuck into some of those menu's & start creating your own or at least have a go at modifying the existing ones.

I can also relate to the point I've seen raised about the operating system not appearing to fully utilise the hardware it's running on and I feel Roland could add bags of extra options & features. Will we ever see the Fantom-G O/S 2.0? from what I've gathered from the info on this forum alone it's not looking very promising but hey this is still a great bit of kit imo.

Having said all that I've only been an owner for a couple of months and perhaps I'm still wearing my 'rose tinted glasses' as far as the G7 concerned perhaps some of the negative aspects that are mentioned frequently here will begin to irk me, only time will tell........

[jur451c]

@Ghost - £1100! I was desperate for a g7 but had to settle for the 6 as there were absolutely no g7 available. If you decide that that the extra octave is too much for you let me know...... ; )

[Ghost76]

@jur451c

hah no worries my man, I was itching to get my hands on a G as well & almost bought a 6 the week before but the ebay listing changed from a standard auction to buy it now for £1000 and it was gone that day. I actually paid £1180 for this but it came with a solid flight case, the dvd tutorial manual thing and 512mb ram so still a good deal.

*edit

totally off topic apologies op!

[Terrum]

Well i'm learning :)

But i'm not sure if to take it if it's older. I like my G6 too and I only want the X6 really for the weighted keys, yet i'm used to the G6 and its software etc and i like all its voices, Would it really be worth replacing it for the X6?

[jur451c]

I thought the X6 and the G6 had the same keybed?
@Ghost that was a hell of a deal! Enjoy your G7!

[fantomCK]

I have both X and G......the x has those nice SRX expansion board slots......the G has 24 track recording, 64 step LFO, an fx for every midi part, arx expansion board slots......think about a Fantom G 8 with 88 keys along with a Fantom XR sound module......the Fantom G will run the XR seeing the G has 16 part external in the sequencer.....

[vismus]

The older X and newer G series are really apples and oranges. The X, IMO was the pinnacle of the Fantom series. It pretty much got everything right, functionality wise. It had 2 predecessors and Roland took the X to the refined next level.
The G series has more bells and whistles but adds only marginal improvements. After using both for a good number of years, I find the overall sounds are very comparable. I did like the SRX cards for the X but think (and was told by Roland) that many of those sounds are under the G hood. Big plusses for the G series are the well thought out screen graphics, larger screen and long throw faders, both a studio plus. Big minus is the file handling system. The X system is logical and MUCH faster.
Either series will work well for you, particularly in a live situation. Problem is both machines are fairly deep and will take time to learn so quick comparisons are really not possible. Either way, you can't go wrong.

Tom

[grace25]

Well i'm learning :)

But i'm not sure if to take it if it's older. I like my G6 too and I only want the X6 really for the weighted keys, yet i'm used to the G6 and its software etc and i like all its voices, Would it really be worth replacing it for the X6?

If you only want the weighted keys then just get the G8. If G8 is too expensive then a cheap X would be fine. The X 88 weighted keys aren't that expensive compare to the G8.

[Terrum]

Well i'm learning :)

But i'm not sure if to take it if it's older. I like my G6 too and I only want the X6 really for the weighted keys, yet i'm used to the G6 and its software etc and i like all its voices, Would it really be worth replacing it for the X6?

If you only want the weighted keys then just get the G8. If G8 is too expensive then a cheap X would be fine. The X 88 weighted keys aren't that expensive compare to the G8.

Thanks for that. Considering I've learnt that the G series is newer than the X, i think i'll stick with my G6 and upgrade to G8 in the future. Many thanks! :)