What's with the lack of REALLY good Reverb?

[St8kout]

This is not really a complaint but an observation. So just a heads up to Roland if you're listening to user feedback.

I've always been a bit of a reverb addict when playing, the sound of playing in a large concert hall. It's just more soothing to my ears. So I was playing with the reverb settings on the Fantom for piano, and it's really kind of weak. I maxed it out on the dial but can't really tell much of a difference between min and max. It's not at all like the reverb you find on say, a guitar amp, where if you turn it all the way up it sort of self-oscillates into a jumble of sound. Had the same problem on an old Yamaha MOX8. Not sure what it is with workstations that they really limit this. On the other hand I have a Yamaha digital piano that gives me more than I'll ever need. Luckily, I have a Big Sky reverb stomp box from way back, to satisfy my addiction. More cables to run, but oh, it sounds so sweet.

Way back in my college years at LSU, I used to sneak into the Music Building early in the morning and play on their beautiful Steinway in the auditorium. They opened the building everyday for music students to practice (but I wasn't taking any music classes.) They had dozens of grand pianos in individual rooms, but once I heard that Steinway in the auditorium I was hooked on that sound. I later found out that NOBODY was supposed to be playing it without special permission, and they started locking the auditorium. The other grands were still available but it just wasn't the same.

[Per]

The FX in general could do with some love. Both their interfaces and names which aren’t always intuitive and the actual sound quality which seems quite dated and basic. I’d sooner have fewer higher quality FX that you can use everywhere than many that aren’t so useable.

[FGM]

The other grands were still available but it just wasn't the same.

I understand you very well.
First time I heard a Steinway I got trapped into its magic and not even Orfeo himself could possibly ever bring me back.

So I was playing with the reverb settings on the Fantom for piano, and it's really kind of weak. I maxed it out on the dial but can't really tell much of a difference between min and max.

Be aware than many partials OUTPUT are set to DRY.
The other setting available is MFX.
Tone edit....Pro.... OUTPUT....choose DRY/MFX.

If the reverb applied is the one affecting all zones, that is, per scene, there are six different types of reverb (INTEGRA-7, Warm Hall, Hall, GS Reverb, SRV-2000&SRV-2000 NON-LINEAR, GM2 Reverb) and adding to their own settings (type, time, density, diffusion, spread, tone...) the effect won’t be obtained if the send level to that effect is set at 0.
Then, even if the send levels to the effect is set above 0, the effect won’t be applied if the multi-effect level, or reverb level are set to 0.
See this picture with Reverb Level at 88 and Send Level at 77.

Reverb Level@88 Reverb Send Level@77.jpg (2.01 MiB) Viewed 2468 times

Also, for SuperNATURAL Acoustic Pianos/E.Pianos, the Reverb Send Level (0–127) specifies the depth of reverb that does not pass through MFX. If you want to add the reverb effect, set it above zero.

Finally, S1–3 Switch Assign can be set as REVERB SW, then REVERB on/off is assigned. Many scenes default S3 to Latch and Reverb SW. And then, each zone SHOULD be affected or not by S3 depending on the settings of the zone via S1S2S3 CTRL under Zone edit.... although with Reverb it seems to be bypassed...!!!! Yes, regardless of the S3 being ON/OFF in the zone S1S2S3 CTRL , the zone will indeed have reverb or not depending only on S3 being activated or deactivated.

Scene S3@Reverb.jpg (1.53 MiB) Viewed 2466 times

And if after all that the Reverb is finally going on (properly set LF Damp and HF Damp Freq and their corresponding gains) check Reverb Output Assign, since it can be via MAIN or SUB1, SUB2.

By tweeking some adjustments slightly I can hear a piano really dry or as in a basement and revoltingly in a basement.
And further yet, by applying proper EQ I can have a dry piano except when moving close to A4, giving that area of the music certain degree of "angelical" pose. Yes, all the baddies will be singing dry when asked to sing and the angelical soprano will be "angelical", but of course.
Hey, look: Soprano (soubrette) and Reverb kissing each other in the basement !!!!
Let's see what Chorus might be planning....

Yes, it is a Roland Fantom 8 !!!!

[bomdabba]

Great reply FGM

Have you had any luck programming a so called 'ambience' reverb setting on the Fantom? Not one for ambient music but that sort of 'barely there' reverb.

I've tried intently a couple of times, got nowhere near the first time and almost was on my way there the last time but tweaked my way to failure.

I was using the SRV algorithm with either the longest room setting or small hall (H24 iirc). It's not the nicest to tweak in list format. I was struggling in particular with the eq setting.

Cheers

[TokyoScarab]

I honestly just bought an Empress Effects ZOIA to go along with my Fantom and use the SUB1 audio output and the audio inputs to feed back in. So if I have anything I want running through a custom effects chain or just a more lush and vibrant reverb, I just route it out into the ZOIA and back into the device.