The "G" First Impressions THREAD ...

[jessej]

and now I got a 128Mb DIMM working.. damn ancient technology...

[MichaelJHuman]

The Roland MC-808 and Yamaha Motif XS use PC 100/133.

I suspect cost was a factor here; cost of the memory controller. Or the processors they are using have a built in memory controller that works with that type of RAM.

Also, there products were likely in development for years.

[jessej]

Yes, probably like the 'north bridges' on PC motherboards that Roland bought in batches years ago... and now we pay for that Roland saving decision.

I must say I'd rather had paid 50€ more for a G with a modern memory controller than pay 50€ for 512Mb of ancient memory and spend a lot of time hunting something like that down..

[Pharlopez]

Hi! First of all: i'm a new fantomized guy since last monday, when my G7 arrived, but i've been reading you (and learning, and laughing...) for about four months ago, when i decided to have a look to the X/G. I want to thank you for all the help I had given and for the one that is to come...sure!

I come from Madrid, Spain, and my english is not as good as i would like it to be, so please be patient with me.

Well, i'm not a professional keyboardist, just a home one, and used to play electro and minimal with Live, a couple of very good virt synths and a little help of my old MC505. 'Little' is enough for me with that expensive-boxy-toy wich made me very very angry with Roland in the past...

...but for now...WOW!!! That Beast simply ROCKS!!! I love that sound guys, even thinking that some of the patches are not as good as they supposed to be in a state-of-art workstation, they are just this: only presets. With the quality and quantity of waveforms it has, the effects and a little help of you for tweakin'em , the possibilities are simply ENDLESS!!! And the sequencer...sweeeeeet for a software-based guy like me...gone laptop, no more reboots and Gate's BSOD at parties!!! That been said, i cannot compare it with a Fantom X, i never had one, but i could listen the differences (in sound) between both at the store and...nothing to say, i've spent my bucks very very well and now i'm a new man who took four days without sleep!! lol!

Only two things (without taking into account bugs and missing features) i don't like at all:

*The manual sadly reminds me the MC505's one, hard to read and understand, brief, all the features are very concentrated in few pages, many of them seems to be like if you were reading the same thing, no examples...and it's english only

*The Pads...what the hell are those bricks??? yesterday i almost break two of my fingers trying to make the samples sound, even tweaking the sensitivity. Not happy with this: the same (brute) force doesn't give you the same velocity from one hit to another, that's frustrating. If they're only valid for settings, mutes and launching patterns, why use these? why not simple (but easy to play with) buttons? Of course, i prefer pads to buttons but only if they perform as they're expected to. Perhaps this is due to my OS version (1.02) and this could be fine-tuned in future revisions: don't know.

The bugs and misfunctions are normal during the earlier stages, so i'm not very worried...let's see what happens.

For now, like Jimknopf said somewhere, i prefer to enjoy The Beast that waiting sat to see how she becomes a Beauty. All i can say imho is that the G is a very good and user friendly workstation, even at 75%...just my point of view, we'll have to wait a little? more...but in the meantime...LET ME PLAY TECHNO ALL NIGHT LONG.

Again, thanks for help me to make this great decision. Hope that in the future i can help you in any way.

Greetings from Madrid!

[barrail]

Welcome in the clan Pharlopez

Don't worry for the manual, all ones wich was included in the first shipment were in english. I received today my french manual while I have my G for almost 15 days. I hope for you that the translation will be good... (not really the case for french one).
For the pads, it's a new feature : making music and finger strength all together !!!

Have fun with your G

[Pharlopez]

Thanks barrail! yes, i know what these translations are...

...and yes, whithin a couple of months i'll be ready to perform the powerful 'PAD GATTACK' with my fingers over the neck of my enemies (probably X/MOTIF users? lol). Hey, be careful!!!

Until then, peace brothers, peace and love

[Jan_nl]

I bought my Fantom G8 from http://www.playback-europe.com, good service, low price, fast delivery (I ordered it last week, and yesterday, six days later, the package arrived).

First of all, it’s heavy!
I think it’s even heavier than my old Korg T1 which was built to withstand a nuclear blast.

Secondly, the G8 is a dream for piano players: what a wonderful keybed!
I understand that the RD700GX has the same keybed, plus the escapism mechanism, but even without that mechanism the keyboard of the G8 is a dream to play.

The broad color display is a joy to work with, leaving me wondering how I could ever do without such a beautiful screen.

I also bought additional PC133 RAM, 512 MB Kingston KVR133X64C2/512, and the Fantom did not give any problems after I installed the RAM.
Installing the RAM was not as easy as I expected it to be, because I had to press and wriggle in order to get the memory strip installed, and since the board in the Fantom bent a little bit on the right side I did not dare to press too hard for fear of breaking the board. But, after moving it a bit to and fro it fitted nicely.

Thusfar I only had the time to try out the patches, and I was not disappointed.
I had no unrealistic expectations about the workstation, such as that it might be able to emulate an orchestra on the same level as VSL or EWQLSO (after all, no workstation on the market can rival the top software instruments, what can you expect for less than 0.5 GB for a huge variety of sample-based instruments?).
I expected the workstation to offer me a user friendly platform with intuitive operation control, offering me inspiring sounds to work with, where I expected the keyboard/synth section to sound good and inspiring, and the Fantom G8 delivers with flying colors.
It's not that the emulations of natural instruments sound bad; only, when you play with a real sax player or you listen to a live oud player then the workstation emulations cannot possibly produce the same nuances, and the use of samples of such instruments in any workstation is very limited if realism is your goal.

Browsing through the patches I noticed that the soft layer of the patch Concert Piano in the higher register does not sound, probably a programming oversight. I have yet to read the manual to get into the programming part.

The live-mode (which I understand to be similar to the Combi mode of Korg) also produces some stellar sounds, very inspiring.

The instrument design is excellent, and I really have to give a big plus to Roland for making the backside of the instrument slanted so that I do not have to bend my head all the way over to the back to find out where I should stick the pedal jack or the MIDI cable. Smart thinking!

The amount of patches is overwhelming; I also would have been satisfied with fewer variations on one sound, for example the piano. But, I’m not complaining.

There are some wishes, such as multi-sampling, perhaps audio streaming instead of recording audio to the limited RAM.
I don’t know which of these wishes can be realized with a possible future OS update, but I hope that Roland will monitor these forums and take note of the users’ wishes.

As you may have noticed, I am very enthusiastic about this workstation, which is my first Roland workstation. I'll say it again: the feel of the keybed on this instrument is absolutely marvelous.

The design team at Roland did a wonderful job, and I am very happy that I bought the Fantom. It has so much to offer that it will take me a long time to get to know all the possibilities of this instrument.

[jstorms]

Have to agree with Jan_nl. The G keybed is a pianists dream come true. And yes, it weighs a ton. I am just now into auditioning patches and pushing buttons and turning knobs. The ability to find just about any sound required is in this board. I have yet to upgrade the Dimm but have the module just waiting for some time to install it. The screen is such a joy to have. It's stunning to say the least.
i have decided to keep the X to compliment the G. Just can't see giving it up at this point. Good thing these boards don't run on gas. But the bright side is, now there's a reason to stay home and play instead of running the roads at almost four dollars a gallon. The sound is heavenly.
Even with the OS as it is, it's a beauty of a keyboard. Roland has turned out a worthy workstation. j

[Igglethorpe]

Very very very happy with my new Fantom G7. This time around, I opted not to go 88 key as I know I'll be doing live work in very short order and weekly. No way in hell I want to carry that much weight around.

Sequencer: Love it absolutely and without question. An undo will be helpful, but that is my only complaint so far.

Live Mode: Hah! Nuff said. Seriously. Incredible capability with patch switching and versatility.

Single Mode: The new piano button. Simply press single, select a piano and go. Very very very nice patch editing which I've also tried with a mouse.

I think I'm going to go into a corner and whimper... So glad to be working on hardware again. I will never ever take the full software path again.

[Pokey]

I played the G8 this week. It's a wonderful workstation. The new display is beautiful, and the new keys are wonderful. It sounds good, but so does the X. Nevertheless, I will continue to use my original Fantom.

[junoguy]

I agree with Synthfreak comparing G with Motif XS. G has more punch and clarity, MOtif XS sounds natural so its really good for acoustic stuff, but most of the synthy stuff sounds very plasticky and crappy.

But I think Korg M3 sounds even bigger than Roland for really phat synth sounds. (But Korg sounds fatter than Virus too for synth sounds - Virus sounds sharp, cold and digital).

I think Roland has the vintage synth character which Korg lacks, so here's my selection:

Yamaha Motif XS: anything acoustic
Korg M3: futuristic synth sounds
Roland Fantom-G: vintage synth, pianos, etc

[rezfactor]

Just traded in my Fantom-X8 for a new Fantom-G8 today! When I got the box home, I was ecstatic. I pulled it out onto the floor and just looked at it for awhile. Modern, gorgeous, sleek . . . beautiful.

The Good:

1. It's gorgeous!
2. "Ivory feel" keys feel great.
3. Sounds great! The G seems noticably deeper, punchier, brighter than my X.
4. Much-improved, more powerful audio tracks recorder.
5. Easy sample management—FINALLY, the "load all/save all samples" nightmare is over!
6. Much faster sample load/saves and start-up.
7. USB storage support, sharing the same media as the V-Synth GT.
8. USB audio/VST plug-in support (like a VirusTI).
9. Orchestral live sets! Holy cow! Great job, Roland!

The Bad:

1. The $200 1GB DIMM from my X doesn't work in the G. Had to run out and buy a 512MB Patriot DIMM for $69 at Fry's.
2. The ARX buttons are in a dumb place—would much rather have had the "exit" and "enter" buttons there, instead.
3. Roland wasted a lot of screen real estate with bordering and ancillary graphics. Yeah, it's a big screen, but they often only use 90% of it.
4. Mouse tracking "iffy." Would have much preferred a touchscreen like the V-Synth GT has.
5. The G is missing a HUGE PILE of my favorite Fantom-X patches.
6. Multiple, immediately noticable bugs in the OS are glaringly evident.
7. No fader automation? (this was one of the HUGE reasons I decided to buy a G!)
8. Hey! What happened to the rhythm button?
9. Last, but not least . . . the mix-in pot is now on the back of the synth. Way dumb.

The Overall:

Wow! I'm really, really pleased with this Roland product. My X' OS always felt unfinished. Certainly, the G's OS is also unfinished, but getting rid of that "load all samples" nightmare is a dream come true.

Also, I either mis-asked or mis-interpreted some of the replies I received to my pre-purchase questions I posted just before picking up the G today. I thought the G had fader automation. But now, I'm not sure if it does or not. Fader automation was a big selling point for me, since that would allow me to avoid setting up a DAW even further into the future.

In the workstation market, I think the G just about pwns everything else out there now, even the mighty Oasys, for its overall functionality, sound quality, and bang for the buck. I had a Motif ES and returned it for the X. Motifs are nice. Pretty-sounding. But I would only own a Motif as a module in a DAW-based set-up. Fantoms sound different from Motifs. I like Fantoms. As for Korg, I never cared much for the M3 for whatever reason, though I do agree it has great, phat synthy pads. On the other hand, I sure do love my Korg Radias. For those shopping for a hugely functional, and easy-to-use workstation, I don't think there's really any other choice anymore.

The bottom line is . . . I love my new G!

[youngjboy]

Well, yesterday I got to play a G8 at the Guitar Center. My first impression was that it sounded really clean, but as a Fantom XR owner, I could not see me needing it. I must admit I just bought a motif XS for christmas so I am not in the market as much.

To me, the X Ultimate Grand sounds better than the G grand, and I think that the X had some good accoustic guitars that did not make their way over. One area that Roland must have been reading this board and taking note is that the G actually has some good sounding B3's. I dare say it might have my Motif XS beat in that department. Synth bass wise, i think my Old Korg Karma may have the G and my XS beat

[delirium]

why they removed piano button???
it was so stupid to do so....

[madAhorn]

With the new favorites set up, you can intantly access any number of piano sounds you put in favorites in bank 1 just by pressing one of the pads.

This mode, once set up in the settings, is on at all times and is better than the piano button for me.