One thing in song edit I have not been able to figure out...

[howardS]

Hi spacedyevest28. I see your first question wasn't answered so I will try to answer it. I dont use the song files for backing tracks but think you can use the Insert function to insert the required number of measures into the current location of the song. Then you can record your pre-chorus to another track and then copy that track to the first track. Remember to back up your song file before trying that suggestion.

Regarding that second question. I dont think you can cycle through the parts the way you're suggesting using the control pedal jack. You can of course use RPS to turn on and off parts of a performance although that assumes you picked up a MIDI pedalboard.

Howard

[howardS]

I listened to my drums through the PA and they seemed fine. I have also seen others on this forum talk about it and not heard of any clipping issues associated with the drum sounds on the X per se. Obviously, everyone has their opinion on the drum sounds themselves but assuming you like the sound then you should be ok with the levels/clipping.

[howardS]

I'm happy to help, specedyevest28. I find that this board goes pretty deep and am happy to help others explore it. It also helps me stay on top of things and clear some of my own misconceptions about the board.

Regarding the drum sounds, you could also of course expand the sound palette by grabbing your own external drum samples and then trigger them from the board.

[howardS]

I think you may want to get your own keyboard mixer so you can control your mix and just give the person doing sound one line or two lines.

As far as the external drum samples, you may want to look at Fantom-X Workshop Series 06: Sampling on the Fantom-X from Roland to see how to start using the sampling function on the X. You can sample your own drums assuming you have the right mic and acoustics to get it all or perhaps buy some commercial samples. You can then play those into the Fantom from your laptop or see if you can convert them to Fantom sample format.

[howardS]

There are times I use a keyboard mixer but it depends on how big a rig I am using.

Regarding the drums, I dont use my own drum sounds but I have re-sampled sounds within the Fantom like a big pad sound and then triggered it by hitting individual notes. There is a learning curve but it does work. Have you watched the videos on sampling on the X posted on the Roland US site?

[howardS]

I dont think you need a mic pre-amp in a keyboard mixer. Look at your setup and see what you need to route and then decide on it. Do you want mic pre-amps in case you ever want to run some vocals through it? Do you want something with an effects send so you can perhaps route different keyboards to any external effects units? What outputs do you need? USB? Balanced TRS? Are you going to run things in stereo as your original post on this suggests? I dont do stereo live on my keyboards. Too much work trying to make sure everyone hears both channels. I could go on (I just did..lol).

Also, definitely watch those videos. They should help you understand the different types of sampling available on the Fantom.

[howardS]

Well, I think you need to decide on features first and where you want to use it. Then you would look at the available models that have that feature set. Actually, I think we should probably talk about this on another thread in the Free Zone or Other gear as this doesn't relate to the Fantom directly. Perhaps you could also get others here involved in the discussion and get more opinions on it with the right heading on the thread. While we are here though I will tell you that I have a PV8 which I use sometimes as a keyboard mixer. It has the mic inputs as well so it can be used if you are just working with a vocalist in an intimate setting and I like that it also has a pre-fader monitor send, post fader FX sends as well as insert effects on the 4 mono channels.

[howardS]

Ya, it's pretty solid, lot's of options and the price was great. I paid only $135 (Canadian) for it so it was an easy decision.

Ok, enjoy the sampling videos.

[howardS]

My concern with Behringer mixers is that there are a lot of really negative opinions out there on them and I have myself seen lots of problems myself. There are also people who love them and understand that for the price there could be some compromises. One problem I have seen is with the quality control so test everything on the board, every channel and every output during your store return period. Heck, test it in the store before taking it home if you can. If you get a good one then you should be fine at least for a while. I know some sound people who also don't like them as the moving parts such as the sliders seem to run into issues when used a lot but I suspect you will not be doing a ton of that as you would likely set everything and then leave it pretty much alone during your shows rather than be making constant adjustments.

Also, if you are gigging then make sure you get something to transport it in without causing damage the knobs and sliders.

Good luck with it.

Howard

[howardS]

20 bucks? Go crazy, my friend.

I agree that these workstations do so much. The deeper you go the more you realize how much can actually be accomplished with these workstations.

[BudX6]

Here's an answer re: Fan X-series.

View your sequenced song in "Song Edit" view.
If you want to insert a section ,say, after bar 8, for 16 bars,

you press "Insert", scroll top window to "Track All"
put in where to start insert (Track 9), put in # of new bars,
(16) , leave time sig alone, unless you go crazy with fancy music, then hit enter.
You now have a 16 bar space after bar 8, and your tune resumes, (previous bar 9) on bar 24.
You can copy and paste some part of tune, or write a new part.

Hope this helps
Bud

[howardS]

That's how I felt when I first joined, spacedyevest28. :)