I empathize with all of you who own a Fantom X and feel that Roland hasn't substantially taken action on your bug concerns. Verifiable bugs (and there are a few on the X) should be dealt with in a swift and effective manner in my opinion. But alas, Roland is releasing a new workstation in a couple months (maybe
) and my fear is that Roland will abandon any further OS revisions on the X as a result. I would like to feel differently about it but Roland has shown a general lack of interest in resolving these issues with the X in my opinion and with the new Fantom G waiting in the wings it doesn't look good for Fantom X owners so far as Roland putting any more R&D in to fixing any of the current Fantom X issues, bugs, etc.
I don't think it has anything to do with Roland U.S. personnel either. I have called Roland Tech a few times and each time the guys I spoke with were very helpful and supportive and also pleasant in their attitude and demeanor. I can say the same thing about Yammie support also. Owning both Yamaha and Roland gear I can unequivocally attest to the fact that both Roland and Yamaha U.S. offer very decent and supportive help.
Unfortunately, the problem lies squarely on the shoulders of the owners of the two companies that are headquartered on a small island in the western Pacific half way around the world i.e. Japan.
Let's face it. The engineers and those in authority at Roland Japan have the final say about anything getting done.. period. We hope they would see our plight and take some form of pity on us, and the truth is, we are at their mercy to support the products that they market to us consumers. If they won't hear our pleas and resolve the problem(s) there is nothing we, or anyone else, can do.. period! I've experienced the same frustration with Yamaha also. My $3,000 dollar keyboard got left in the dust the moment (actually about 16 months or so prior
to the release of the successor to my keyboard. I've come to the conclusion that it is buyer beware and therefore we can't assume that any company who sells updatable products will actually follow through and update them, at least to the degree that we expect anyway.
So if you can't live with what Roland delivers fresh from the factory don't assume they will fix any (let alone every)
'verifiable' bug encountered. You hope they do and you plead your case to them but afterwards it is in their hands and you just hope they take action and continue to support their products and live up to your expectations. If they don't you are left with two choices. Make do with what you have or sell it to some unsuspecting person.
lol And if you aren't satisfied, there are a host of other companies out there that are beckoning for your business. >> Just make sure you pick one that has a relatively good track record on supporting and updating their products, and that do it on an ongoing, consistent basis - even when the product is considered "archival".
BTW, I am in no way trying to portray Roland in a negative way. They are a great company who make equally great musical gear. I am thrilled with my Roland Sonic Cell PRO and I am looking forward to Roland fully supporting it in the foreseeable future. I also expect the Fantom G to be a smash hit and I look at the delay in Fantom G sound demos as similar to what Yamaha encountered with the Motif XS. The OS on the Motif XS was not complete when they released it at last years winter NAMM and there was a few weeks delay in getting sound demos posted, especially solo instrument demos. But when Yamaha finally delivered they didn't disappoint.
I expect the same result with the upcoming Fantom G demos also.
Time will tell...
