Roland Fantom EX

[MaikyPii]

Good to see the forum is back online :)

So, let´s talk about the Fantom EX update. I really love it! Think it´s totally worth the money and hope many bought it so Roland will continue to update the Fantom some more months/years. And if not, I´m still very happy with what the Fantom now is. The best thing is all the model expansions, especially those with the new GUI, because now the Fantom is way more than just one instrument. I now have a SH 101, a JD800 etc. in my Fantom for little money, how cool is that?? It´s so much fun and inspirating to create new sounds and playing with all the sliders and knobs. And I´m a fan of the shimmer reverb, got it assigned to my second expression pedal (the first cares about the cutoff filter) - awesome! All in all, so happy with my Fantom (there´s still a lot potential to improve some stuff, however, it´s quite an enjoyable peace of instrument!)

[muso7]

+100 !!!!

😀

[ChrisDuncan]

I would be interested in hearing opinions about the expansion models that shipped with the Fantom versus their new ACB counterparts on the EX.

Throughout the years Roland tends to re-release their major synths over and over again in different packages / hardware, along with whatever improvements in tone the latest hardware can offer. I have no doubt that the ACB version of the Jupiter 8 would have some improvements over the current Fantom Jupiter 8 model. However, I'm not sure how much I would really feel the difference once the keys are mixed into the overall song.

You guys who updated to the EX, is the difference between these two model architectures massive or just a nice incremental improvement?

[sepi]

Does Aftertouch work on the new EX models?

[muso7]

Read this topic (towards the end) - aftertouch does work!!!!
http://forums.rolandclan.com/viewtopic. ... 42#p343742
😀

[osflaa]

I would be interested in hearing opinions about the expansion models that shipped with the Fantom versus their new ACB counterparts on the EX.

Throughout the years Roland tends to re-release their major synths over and over again in different packages / hardware, along with whatever improvements in tone the latest hardware can offer. I have no doubt that the ACB version of the Jupiter 8 would have some improvements over the current Fantom Jupiter 8 model. However, I'm not sure how much I would really feel the difference once the keys are mixed into the overall song.

You guys who updated to the EX, is the difference between these two model architectures massive or just a nice incremental improvement?

I believe this video will give you some useful information: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsTW3NnpO7Q

It seems like the difference is noticable when you take things (resonance, modulation) to the extreme. One major disadvantage with the ACB-model is that it can only be used on zone 1, which means only one instance per scene. And since V-piano can also only be used on zone 1, it is not possible to use both V-piano and ACB in the same scene. Because of these limitations I mostly use the JP8 model instead of the ACB version.

[ChrisDuncan]

Thanks for the link, I do enjoy his videos.

Honestly, beyond the extreme boundary stuff I agree with him - you'd be hard pressed to pick out the differences in a mix.

Roland has a history of selling the same synths over and over again, just wrapped in a different package. And I'm happy about that because the Fantom gives me all these synths. That said, if the Zencore expansions in the standard Fantom were poor then buying these synths yet again for a substantial improvement in quality might make sense. But the Zencore stuff is very good. And while I know there are differences in specs / on paper, what I'm hearing in the ACB just isn't OMG better. If you can hear much of a difference at all.

And that's really the heart of my question. If we pretend for a moment that the $200 update didn't include a $200 plugin (Nzyme), and you were just spending the money for the update itself, how much does it really bring to the party? Are there other things about the EX update that make a substantive difference, something that you feel is worth $200?

[osflaa]

I agree with you about the sound of JP8 zencore vs ACB. The zencore model works perfectly fine for me. And I'm done watching tons of videos where random Youtubers compare sounds. I have decided to spend that time on making music instead.

I want my Fantom to have as wide a range of sound possibilities and as good a workflow as possible to eliminate/reduce the need for other synths. So I bought the EX upgrade to add more tools to my toolbox, not because I needed anything of it right now. For me, the n/Zyme synth module and shimmer/modulation reverb are probably the most valuable. I can imagine that the ACB modules are inspiring to experiment with, and will probably do so at some point. But I don't think they add completely new possibilities to the synth. I would rather have a dedicated FM engine :-)

Edit:
Many Fantom-owners know that the EX-upgrade includes ACB models (Jupiter-8, SH-101 and JX-3P), JD-800, n/zyme, V-piano German concert, Acoustic Piano 3 and shimmer/mod reverbs. But perhaps not as many are aware of the small system/GUI-upgrades. For some, including me, they are useful, for others they may be completely irrelevant. If there are more updates to firmware 3.02, perhaps these changes will be implemented there as well..?

Anyway, this video explains these small changes:
https://youtu.be/uhrl6vnuMHk?si=wAkpN-zMQn60EGLt&t=206

[ChrisDuncan]

The thing I'm less than thrilled about is the fact that they included Cubase support in the EX update. It's the only thing in the update that I actually cared about.

DAW support is free for Logic and Ableton. I don't think it's a fair shake that I have to pay $200 to get it for Cubase. It has nothing to do with ACB or EX sound engine updates.

If they're going to call the EX a new product line (and clearly they are), then they should fork the updates so that EX can have all the new ACB whiz bang stuff and the standard Fantom can still get system / GUI updates and bug fixes that don't require the EX engine.

I sent Roland a support ticket a week ago Sunday asking about this, but got no response from them beyond an auto responder.