Be carefull with Fantom X !!!!

[ruifa]

Well, this is a not good topic but is real !... Im a roland user for 20 years , i used Juno 106 ," juno 2 , D20 ,D50 , D70 , S330 ,W-30, Rd 300 ,Sc55 ,and now Xp80.
I play live eith a Setup Korg triton le , xp 80 and aKai S5000 sampler.
I was thinking about to get the Fantom X7 and i did it ....but....!!
1º --- The Fantom X7 i get was totally bad working , i play the keyboard and the sounds get randomlly distortedand like if i was using some kind of pitch shift and scary Vibrato.... really weird....so i returned it....
now i have a Fantom X6 to start programming the sounds and the setup to replace my Xp80 while i wait for another Fantom X7.....but!!!!!
Hell!! roland did the worst job i could see in many years regarding to Fantom X midi functions ...so:
There is no Tx switch on/off in the parts of each program in Performance mode....so forget if you want to use Fantom X with external sound modules and want to switch on or off the midi sounds....
you cant transpose octaves or whatever concerning to midi external sounds, you cant enable or disable hold for external sounds , you can t assign as i did for example in my xp 80 i assigned the external controler C2 to transmitt CC07 volume so i can tweak the midi volume without touch the akai sampler, you cant do it in Fantomwith any assignalble controller ....even the cc07 in any of the 4 knobs...
WEll lots of more thing to conme i presume...i only have it for 5 days and im really disapointed....a lot , i like the sounds and the specs but roland did a very poor job in Fantom X .... i hope ROland or someone who read this can pass it to someone who works for Roland and i hope this and lots of more BUGS! can be solved in future and ( urgent ) OS versions !
Sorry for my english , i appreciate all answers about Fantom X bugs and any help .
Thanks and lets hope and pray for ROland....

[FatBoyJim]

No post is so important that it is worth double posting in my opinion. If there were any changes that were made in the second post feel free to include them here on your original post.

______________________________________________________________________
Check out Lawrence's Fantom-S website: http://fantom.wilkesworld.co.uk/
Check out Artemio's other Fantom-S website: http://artemio.net/projects/fantom-s/
FatBoyJim aka SumDumGuy (both are very true but I'm working on that)

[2TIM316]

So get the rack version and run it off of a proper MIDI controller. IMO you should have checked all of that out BEFORE the purchase. It's not the Fantom's fault. Many people think it's a great instrument at what it's designed for.

[Tres Meta]

Here begins my quest for a Roland S330 UTILITY disk. I have a perfect project for using this sampler, but somehow my ultility disk is corrupted.
No Utility disk means no new samples.
If anyone can help or point me in the right direction it would be appreciated.

Contact me at ...

gnomadd@comcast.net


Meta.

[david_]

As 2TIM316 has said, you probably could go with a separate midi controller and just get the Fantom XR (rack) for sounds. That is what I did using a Novation ReMOTE controller which has assignable parameter knobs, sliders and buttons as well as an octave switch and assignable touchpad. It was also cheaper for me than buying an X6. This assumes you don't need the Fantom X sequencer as well though.

David

[VPHeatwave]

Man,

I have the S-330 utility disk...works as far as i know!

BTW,

The S-330 I have belonged to Dwayne Gottel of Skinny Puppy and appears in the 'aint it dead yet' live video. I have the original monochome monitor used by dwayne, its painted black and the casing is slightly burnt...its a really great machine, the filters are brutal, screaming, horror...

anyone interested in owning this piece of industrial music history/

lemme know...

[beyondthesedoors]

if you go to performance and go to control menu you can find many, many of the midi options including tx/rx on and offs just got to check.

Partho- BTD-
" Its not the Fall that kills you..........(thump) its the sudden stop at the end"- Vin Diesel

[DonPhilippo]

ruifa wrote:

> Be carefull with Fantom X !!!!

I am. It travels inside a luxury SKB flight case, and it is kept warm and comfy under its class A dust cover when I'm not using it. I also stroke it every now and then. During live performance I decorate it lovingly with a disco lamp and a nodding dog. My X6 seems to love my treatment since it has rewarded me with beautiful sound and a 100% reliability from the very first time I booted it up.

> 1? --- The Fantom X7 i get was totally bad working , i
> play the keyboard and the sounds get randomlly
> distortedand like if i was using some kind of pitch
> shift and scary Vibrato.... really weird....

Did you stroke your X7 on a regular basis?

> Hell!! roland did the worst job i could see in many
> years regarding to Fantom X midi functions ...so:
> There is no Tx switch on/off in the parts of each
> program in Performance mode....so forget if you
> want to use Fantom X with external sound modules
> and want to switch on or off the midi sounds....

As I stated earlier on this forum, the solution to problems of this kind can be found at the receiving end, not the transmitting one. Rx is the way. The Fantom X changed the way I thougt about MIDI: it is a bit like the internet, you'll have to "firewall" everything that is on its receiving end.

> i hope this and lots of more BUGS! can be solved in
> future and ( urgent ) OS versions !

What "more bugs"? Please elaborate. As far as I can tell there's only one serious bug in OS 2.01: RPS status is not saved with the song, which is an outrage of course.

> Thanks and lets hope and pray for ROland....

Pray for Roland? I think stroking my X6 goes far enough.

XXX, Don Philippo

[shakil]

Ruifa is right about that.

It doesn't make sense why did Roland remove those settings... What if you have a MIDI rig with lots of MIDI modules... are you going to change rx MIDI settings on EVERY module?

DonPhillippo

A good firewall has control over both incoming and outgoing traffic...

--------------------
Remember that there are only 3 MFX + 1 Reverb + 1 Chorus in Fantom-S/X and you have to share them across 16 parts (patches) in a song.

live a musical life

[DonPhilippo]

shakil wrote:

> It doesn't make sense why did Roland remove those
> settings...

In the case of the Fantom X, they didn't even put it in, so there is no removing involved here. Why Roland chose not to implement advanced Tx setting possibilities is subject to discussion though. One argument could be that the Fantom X was not meant to be a master keyboard.

> What if you have a MIDI rig with lots of MIDI modules...
> are you going to change rx MIDI settings on EVERY
> module?

Yes, there's no way around it. Except if your setup allows the Fantom to act as a slave.

> A good firewall has control over both incoming and
> outgoing traffic...

This was a poor metaphore indeed. Even I run out of ideas sometimes.

XXX, Don Philippo

[illiac]

The argument could be made that the Tx switch thing doesn't really make sense when you have more than one external module on a MIDI chain, because you must still make sure that if you send something to channel 7, that only one of the external modules responds to channel 7. You can only do this on the Rx side.

It seems to me that what you really want is two full-fledged MIDI chains, with the sound generator and keyboard able to be routed to either of them. Something like what the MV8000 or QY700 has. And at least one MIDI track for each actual MIDI channel. That's a much simpler way of isolating sound modules.

The Fantom is a "one MIDI chain" design, with a couple of hacks like tracks that can hold more than one channel, some routing control like the Rx switches, etc., but all of it doesn't add up to the simplicity of multiple MIDI chains.

-illiac

[coyote23]

The S-330 I have belonged to Dwayne Gottel of Skinny Puppy and appears in the 'aint it dead yet' live video. I have the original monochome monitor used by dwayne, its painted black and the casing is slightly burnt...its a really great machine, the filters are brutal, screaming, horror...

anyone interested in owning this piece of industrial music history/


You still have?

___________________________________
"wasted views thats all they see blue hot blood guild optic nerve with the right attitude you will succed blue self abusive recluse too late for me"

[cuborg]

buy juno-g instead...it has it all.