The "G" First Impressions THREAD ...

[Diametro]

I played one briefly for the first time tonight ... still thinking about the experience ...

it definitely doesn't suck ... THOUGHT I heard a difference in sound quality but it's really hard to ascertain how much or even how important it is at this point ...

... the screen is H-U-G-E ... I'm not sure how much I'm digging that ... since the screen is obviously THAT big because of the sequencer ... how wise a move is that when the sequencer seems needlesly crippled by not being able to record automation in even the most basic parameters (volume and panning) ... and who wants to use a mouse with a workstation ... I thought that was what we were getting away from?

for Fan-X owners with multiple SRX ... the soundset will seem VERY familiar ...

the overall quality is commendable ... on par with the Fantom-X

NO PIANO MODE BUTTON ... !!!

As for the main piano sound itself ... it didn't sound any better (than the Fan-X) to me ... in fact, possibly worse as the new one seems to have taken on some Motif qualities ...

Because of the bigger screen, everything seems crammed closer together ... the pads seem noticeably smaller and grouper tighter ...

on the improvement side, the sliders and the function buttons over the bender are welcome additions ... (didn't get a chance to try it but you can apparently select which notes you want to bend ... nice )

In all, it's a pretty desirable machine — especially if you want a way to create music away from the CPU ...

[midi]

I couldn't tell much of a difference either, nice display but thats about it...

[Bartology]

I can tell the difference. I used it with my band last friday and I think there is a MAJOR difference in soundquality. I think the sound is much more rich/bright/full and has far more punch than the X, which I used before.
The G cuts through the mix like a warm knife through butter, which I thought was only possible with my MotifES.

[Jimknopf]

Diametro,

I disagree about the Piano sounds (see other thread):

- there is some strange kind of hammering noise and some strange reverb in the first "G" piano sound, which looks quite bizarre to me, because that is their flagship sound, and they should well know about it's importance.

- *but* there is half a dozen G Pianos which sound better than *anything* on the good old X, and two or three of them sound even better than SRX 11 for my ears (SRX 11 being great, but with midrange problems). The stereo "G Grand" Live Set 005 for example sounds amazingly good!

Concerning sound I hear a *vast* superiority of the G over the X in almost all sound categories, and even some old sounds seem so sound slightly better on the G, though I don't understand why (converters alone can hardly make that difference?).

Just my impression...

[Artemiy]

Jim, it's the new sound generator chip that makes the difference, although the converters do help as well.

[ZOID]

Never had a Fantom before but I think the G sounds great. Just as good as Motif XS, just different.
My first impression of the G when I tried it the first time in the store was mixed. But the more I played it I liked it.
The only thing that bothers me is the lack of multisampling.

[Synthfreak]

"Never had a Fantom before but I think the G sounds great. Just as good as Motif XS, just different".


I agree whole heartedly with that statement. I used to have the Motif XS and it sounded great. After 5 years the Motif sound wasn't for me anymore. The Fantom G sound is punchy, warm and crystal clear. The sounds have more balls than my Motif ever could. So in my case change is good. So far!

[barrail]

Totaly agree with synthfreak and Zoid about sound quality of the fantom G. I hope that OS will be updating ( soon... )to satisfy the users of the Fantom X.

[Pharlopez]

anybody here could sell me a Fantom jelouX please???

[mobetta]

Okay, so I've had my baby for 4 days now, and I can say that this is the baddest keyboard i've owned, and I've owned ASR-10, trinity, triton, t-extreme, motif es/xs, korg m3 fantom x, Open Labs Neko and others. First off, I really can't compare this to a Fantom-X. Yeah, the sounds are some of the same, but they sound WAYYYY better on the G. Also...DO NOT listen to this board in a noisy music store as you will NOT fully appreciate the quality of sound. I didn't even want it when i heard it at GC. But when i got a chance to go through the sounds at home, this thing blows away every board on the market, PERIOD IMO. The ep's sound reaalllly good, closest to a soft synth I have heard on hardware. The ORGANS are phenominal, and i don't even like organ sounds!!! Nice guitars, good/mediocre string/brass, but the synths, basses, techno leads and SFX are by far killa! I already SOLD my M3, it just simply cannot compete with this thing soundwise. I mean the G sounds pro to me even without tweaking sounds- phat, crispy! I always said if Roland ever made their patches more warm and punchy, it would destroy the competition. Now, the screen is so crazy-it instantly motivates me to do songs just cuz it is so nice and colorful to work on and to look at!! As for functional workflow, I have been making songs in no time, I was intimidated by the sequencer at first, but i got the hang of it after staying up til 5 am messin with it. It is very tight sequencer, stuff just snapped into place! I haven't even used my MPC with it!! It has a few stupid nuances, like no UNDO, but using the phrases as tracks, it's been easy to overcome for me. Only thing i hate is it wipes out my song settings if i leave studio mode and i gotta load the song again(stupid, hope they fix this) Overall, though, this is the slickest board I have ever worked with and the sounds are overall to me a 9 out of 10. In some ways it has better sounds than my Reason 4 software. Oh, yeah and FINALLY, a workstation that sounds the same efX wise in multitimbral mode. No more, dull dry sounds to re apply efx to. I highly recommend pickin one up, you won't be dissapointed, unless you only care about features. Roland, y'all crazy for this one!!

[Phranchiz]

i got my g6 the day it come out(may 1st) at my local guiter center,i agree with all of you this board is fu..ing sweet,coming from a guy who always used software like fl and reason,hardware is where its at.

[jessej]

Got my G6 today and I agree with both post above. Bliss. Can't wait to get to know it inside out.. so much faster creation than with a PC.

[DeRockn1]

Put my Fantom X8 on Ebay look up truthrooster

[Artemiy]

mobetta, very nice review! Souds like you are deeply Fantomized already...

[jessej]

I'm on my second day with the Fantom G.

This thing is really awesome! The learning curve seems fast... (never had a Fantom X)

Now maybe 5-6 hours into the Fantom G, it's starting to feel natural and at home with switching between modes, editing the patches, making new sounds, tweaking the PFX & MFX settings land recording, editing and sequencing. I've made a few own vintage synths sounds and even managed to make a demo test song with a drumkit, bass, EP, Strings + two synths I created and some percussions.

I saved the test project on a USB drive that I formatted, resampled the whole song into a stereo file and saved it on the USB and then opened that file on my PC and uploaded it to rapidshare: http://rapidshare.com/files/113386216/j ... g-day2.mp3
The song is nothing special, just a demo showing that the learning curve is not long and one can make a song on the first or secord day on the G...

There's much to learn still, specially on the patch creation and controller side, but the effects and mixer and sequencer are alltogether quite easy and intuitive.

I am happy with the G.

...and now I will proceed with install a 512Mb DIMM...