What do you love about the Fantom G?

[Moewwonone]

I'm a new kid on the block. My G8 is about a month old and it's my first keyboard, ever, and I'm trying to learn as I go along. Besides the retrieve project error (rendering the save function useless), I can't get enough of it. So I was curious about other Fantom G owners:

What's your favorite thing about the Fantom G?

[L56]

The sound, else I would not have bought it!

[Artemiy]

Besides the retrieve project error (rendering the save function useless)

You should try a different USB drive (Kingston so far has the best rating, as I see) - some drives may cause project save errors.

What's your favorite thing about the Fantom G?

I like the fact that even though it has all these bells and whistles it still has that classic beefy and clear Roland sound and is very easy to get around with if you're coming from their previous models.

[jstorms]

I love that keybed! Those ivory feel keys are superb.
Phrase based song creation is great. The sound is superior- (i know that's a subjective issue but i run the G side by side with a Motif ES rack and a Korg M3m so that just my opinion soley based on what I hear)
One of the best features of the G is it mixes so well with other sound generators & modules. (I even love all those bell & whistles, Art!) Lots to love about the G.

[Diametro]

Yeah ... I think G88 is the one to have ... It's just so FREAKING HUGE ... How would you ever gig with that? And how could you leave it home if you gigged?

I'd end up ruining my back ...

Obviously, LIVE MODE must be wonderful ... sometimes I'd think I'd just be switching from one live mode to another every 25 seconds ...

..............

But Fan-G still needs more insert effects and a bigger, better "Best of SRX" soundset ...

ARX? Honestly, unless Roland has some serious long-term plans for this format — which I wouldn't count on and we'll never know anyway — this NAMM could be make or break for it.

[en76]

I agree D
Make it or break it namm style! Happy new year everyone and Aloha!

[Audio96]

The big screen and the multiple FXs has to be my favorite. Creating new patches is very easy, once you spend a little time with the keyboard.

I also like all of the inputs you can use to sample.
Skipback sampling is SO nice. It's really allowed me to be creative and capture ideas that would have otherwise be lost. USB is great to store information and interface with the PC.

Sure, the Fantom has some "issues", but there are work-arounds. The updating of the OS is very easy, and I know the Fantom G will "mature" in time. We tend to spend more time looking for the "Silver Bullet" than to appreciate what we got. My first keyboard was a Roland Juno-2 back in 1986. We've come a long way since then. I've been able to replace a whole bunch of gear with my Fantom.

Not too sure why old style RAM was used to create a new keyboard, but there must be a reason. The way I see it, max out the RAM while you can still find it.

Overall, the more time I spend with the Fantom the easier things get and the more productive I am.

[Atziluth]

I like the big screen, the finish of this workstation, the now added better sampling capacities......

I am also waiting NAMM 09 for the new ARX and/or OS updates and make an decision then (make or break).

One of the next ARX cards will be THE (GRAND) PIANO! my two cents the classic!

[Quinnx.]

Thats a waste of an arx card to house a single instrument..
and use up the only 2 slots you have and as usual it will be expensive.
If that happend and it was the only card I would have to conclude ARX is dead as far as the fantom goes and is a kin to having the D-Beam on every instrument.. (its there just because they can put it there)

Same with ARX, I realy see it as just an advanced srx because they are including it in all newer instruments
and want to be able to produce more basic entry level platforms for the cheapest price possible but offering the potential of major sound expansion later on but at a cost.
Which means whatever they produce will have to be backwards compatible with event he most basic platform that has an ARX slot.
So if you have a piano based keyboard with little or no interphase it will have to be as basic as possible.
With that in mind a V-synth or fantom style ARX is not going to be backwards compatible with other ARX enabled instruments and roland is in the business of getting the most out of all its technology, so with that in mind, I would say ARX will analogous to being a chain of cards but only as strong as its weakest link.

Anyway..
If I was to pick something that makes the G useful it would be the USB Audio.

[madAhorn]

Favorites with Live Switching
Pad Modes
Faders
EP's
Piano's
"People love the way I sound live"

[jessej]

What I love most about the Fantom G is that it is 'powerful enough' and that its sound engine sounds really clear, real and transparent!

I also love the deep editing possibilities. The user has really awesome options and control over patch editing.

The G6 is a really compact has-it-all machine. Even though I would like to see a lot of updates and improvements here and there in the software, I really think it is the first machine with what one could produce and record an full album with and export stereo masters on to an USB stick. I wouldn't want to do that, but it could be done... but I rather incorporate a DAW than Prozac.

[Diametro]

I don't think I'd ever even considering doing an album on ANY fantom until Roland upgrades the sampler section ... Too much loss of fidelity for me compared with say even KP3 sampler or one on Alesis Fusion ... In fact, it may be one of the biggest reasons why I never go Fan-G and maybe wait for the next generation ... But I'm willing to overlook that if the rest of the package comes together ... With only two audio inputs, it's not really the best platform anyway ... That said, I've still done some nice recordings on Fan-X and despite its limitations, possibly my favorite way to work ... I think I'm really starting to come to terms that I HATE my Logic + MOTU 828 mkii recording setup despite its great sound quality and power and nearly infinite possibilities ...

[kenchan]

i like the ivoryfeel and action of my G8, the expressiveness
of the instrument.

when my first unit had problems and had to be exchanged
the music store asked if i wanted to go with another unit
say a G7 or a motif cause they didn't have a replacement
in stock at the time.

i said it's the G8 or nothing. i have other keyboards
and setup that can help me compose music, but none of
them feel as nice as the G8's keyboard.

[Spo Elman]

I will get my FG7 next week but I already know i like the sound and the live-possibilities of this board over all the others I tried (and I tried a lot).
The Motif XS has some great sounds, great organs/acoustic guitars, but cheaper other sounds. This is also the thing with Korg M3 (I hate its piano). In functionality for live-playing the FG wins in 9 of the 10 cases for me (splitting/layering/switching etc). The FG is quick/easy/commercial/etc. Every board has bugs, but the FG bugs bother me the least..

And boy do I hope there will be a B3 ARX-card..

[EX]

I love EXTERNAL !!!