NEW FANTOM-G, PLEASE TALK HERE

[V-CeeOh]

Ahahah, now that one just made my day.
I'm over and out for today. Thank you

[wodeh]

I have unofficial UK pricing from Roland UK.

The projected prices for the G series Synths are as follows:

£1999 for the G8
£1699 for the G7
£1399 for the G6

They seem almost too good to be true, but it's important to note that the G series will have competition not only from Yamaha and Korg but from the X series Fantoms also.

£1999 is a very sensible price point for the G8, I will surely be gunning for one and am already trying to sell my Fantom X8 with the 3 SRX boards I'll no longer be able to use.

[shakil]

V-CeeOh

Yes, OASYS, or Triton 2, or the $999 Alesis Fusion.....

[smurf]

I think what we have here is similar to what Yamaha instigated with the release of the Motif XS. Many of the Motif ES owners didn't feel compelled to upgrade to the Motif XS because of the similar analogy: that it didn't seem that Yamaha had done enough to the XS to warrant an upgrade from their current Motif ES. It might be hard for Roland to convince current Fantom X owners to do the same but I think Roland has hit a gold mine regarding those who don't currently own a Fantom X or other high-end workstations like the Korg M3 or Yamaha Motif XS, etc. It is also too soon to tell whether the improved?? sound quality on the Fantom G will be the incentive needed to cause current Fantom X owners to make the switch, let alone any of the other features and improvements added to the Fantom G which some seem to be evolutionary in nature and with others almost a regression when you consider the advancements in current technology. I too like the big LCD screen and the Live Mode feature and the 8 faders (but why not "9" faders and be able to use them as drawbars for the Organs?) - was that an oversight on Roland's part or a premeditated engineering decision to just go with "8"?

But with the same amount of polyphony as the X yet the G having more advanced features requiring additional polyphony "needs" in my opinion, it is almost like taking a half step backward in that area. The one consolation of course is that the ARX cards add their own polyphony and don't take away from the G's 128 but the $64,000 question is "how much extra polyphony do the ARX cards bring to the table?" There has been no word from Roland mentioning how much polyphony each current ARX card has. Yamaha added up to 64 note polyphony on a few of their abandoned platform PLG cards. I hope Roland has done the same or better with the ARX cards. I may be just dreaming though. I'm dreading that it might be as little as 16 or even 8, in which case there won't be really any substantial benefit in my opinion.

So in conclusion: I think Roland did a great job introducing the Fantom G at the price point they did. It has a bunch of innovative new features that, in my opinion, tip the scale in Rolands favor over the Korg M3, Yamaha Motif XS, or Kurzweil PC3, etc.. Although, needless to say, the "sounds" are going to be the most definitive deciding factor as to whether the Fantom G will be a verifiable hit for Roland with the public, and with current Fantom X owners, or not. The sounds are what make or brake a keyboard; not the features per se. And at this stage in the game it is too early to tell which way the scale will utimately tip: either in Rolands favor, or conversely, not in their favor; depending on how much of an improvement there are in the sounds of the Fantom G. But what I've heard so far from the video demo on Roland's web site and the pictures being released, and also the specs I've read on it and what I've observed from the NAMM reports, it does look very intriguing to say the least.

[Diametro]

Not sure how I'm going to avoid upgrading ... too many necessary workflow and feature enhancements to the already great X ...

the big question will be the sound quality question ... Many people are saying IT IS in fact much better than the Fan-X ...

There's no way I'm going to buy one though until I can test it, though ... in the meantime, I need a digital mixer/audio interface/mixer control surface for a DAW ... ANY SUGGESTIONS?

[acoustictones]

Is it just the price that is holding you back from say a Digi003 ($2200) or are there features here that I missed. It's a very good unit.

Here's a link:
http://www.americanmusical.com/item--i- ... B-PAK.html

And the M-Audio Mix I/O for around $1250 is a great looking unit (almost the same really).

Here's a link to that: http://www.americanmusical.com/item--i- ... CTIO.html#

Pic from top:
http://www.americanmusical.com/images/b/p35083b.jpg

An angle shot:
http://www.americanmusical.com/images/g/p35083g.jpg

And from the back:
http://www.americanmusical.com/images/r/p35083r.jpg

I guess those are some of the directions I would be looking.

[Artemiy]

Guys, please stay on topic, otherwise this thread will simply explode

[acoustictones]

Have I mentioned how much I LOVE the new Fantom G

[SRUT, BUT...]

Have I mentioned how much I LOVE the new Fantom G


Yes, in more than one forum!

Peace!

PS - Me luv G, 2!

[Artemiy]

Oh, that's better!

[SRUT, BUT...]

@ Art:

Where have you been the last days?

What's your opinion 'bout the G?

Do you already had your hands on it?

I bet, you're glad Roland hasn't change its workstation range name, aren't you?

[acoustictones]

Yeah Artemio...have your finger already graced the new beast...and if so, how long ago did you FIRST get to see this baby...come on, give us a little insiders scoop

[howardS]

Go on Art, your secret is safe with us

[canefire]

Hi, If the OS is still being worked on then one addition I can think of is to allow for the wave form to be seen and for it to scroll by in real time.
On the roland digital recorders you tend to get these rectangular blocks and then you can zoom in to them and see a sound wave. However the sound wave does not move across the screen smoothly in real time. On computer DAW systems like (Sonar, etc.) the wave moves and it makes for editing that is faster and good for visual thinkers. If you are a listener then the process may not be too bad.
Hopefully that could be implemented. Though I realize that a keyboard that does many things is likely not going to be great at all the specifics and minute details.
Again I am intrigued and think Roland made a great board.
cheers,
Ian

[wodeh]

What I want to know is: "Where's the internal hard drive!?"