Hi! I don't remember if this was posted in here, but I don't believe it has been. Back when the 2.0 update came out, Gattobus tossed a video up on youtube. At the very end of the video he showed each major firmware update the fantom has had and what it included. At the final seconds of the video, he included a stinger that has kept me curious for months. Here are the screenshots so you don't have to go pull them up yourself. These images are cropped in the forum view, so you might have to drag them to a new tab to fully view them =/
I don't know if Gattobus actually knows this for certain and it's an intentional little "easter egg" or if he's just speculating that the next one will be in January. Gattobus has worked on other things for Roland before and including the fantom in various ways. So it would lend credence that he would know about it. On the other hand, there does seem to be a pattern to the months that these updates have come out in: Sept '19, Nov '19, Jan '20, Apr '20, Sept '20. The 2.0 update came in late September and there hasn't been anything since then as far as adding features. Now that January 2021 is here, I can't help but think about it more and more.
What all do you think would be in the next big update (either speculate or secretly hope)? Personally for me, I've really been waiting on the Model Expansions for quite some time. That and I honestly would love to see either a V-Drum type engine or emulated EPs. Outside of that, I'm not sure of what else it might be or could be. It's just fun to speculate on in general and I'm just curious of what everyone's thoughts on this are. :D
2...Scene lock, only keyboard and screen operational.
3...No partial selected in yellow. Currently at least one must be selected.
4...Chain play for songs.
5...Selection of active zone for each keyboard group.
6...Pads configured with sounds of zones but for each scene.
7...Arpeggio per zone.
8...More recording measures...50...64? or even linear recording.
9...More tuning range (now 415.3–466 .2).
At least 392 for Versaiiles pitch and 485 for Bag pipes?
10...Initial scenes listed on a separate window when saving a scene
or same list as now but highlighting initial scenes... yellowish?
11...HOLD-KEY-OFF-NORMAL and HOLD-KEY-OFF-DECAY, same as
current KEY-OFF-NORMAL and KEY-OFF-DECAY but requesting a HOLD
time to be triggered...almost replacing aftertouch.
In fact I think all current delay modes should have a HOLD TO TRIGGER time, except NORMAL. With NORMAL the sound will play after the delay currently available; but with HOLD, a HOLD TO TRIGGER should be required and then accomplished after the delay time already available. Currently the sound is produced immediately after the delay is done, ruining creativity, so to speak. The same goes for the other two remaining, KEY-OFF-NORMAL and KEY-OFF-DECAY.
Having all this available will allow to sound four partials separated just by playing one single key: the sound NORMAL after a delay; the sound HOLD after a HOLD TO TRIGGER and a delay; the sound after releasing the key and a delay; and finally the sound after releasing the key and a delay IF a HOLD TO TRIGGER was accomplished.
12...Selection of starting chain (currently starting scene is available).
13... Moving through keyboard switch groups by S1, S2, S3...a pedal.
14... Outward keyboard range selection (D5-D3 will play below and up to D3, also above D5 including D5. Within D3 and D5 no sounding. Montage has this already,
15...Assignments to S1,S2,S3 should change values stopping also at the initial
settings. If you have a setting of 15, operating them now will go to -64,
then to +63. It should make -64 then 15, then +64, then 15, then -64...and
so on.
16... Operating manuals available from system settings to be seen on the screen.
17...Fixing the glissando issue. Not working when portamento is selected until
we go out from and back to glissando.
18...Scene names are too short. Memo helps, but it is also too short. Complex
scenes would benefit from a whole sheet [Scene sheet] explaining how
should be performed [D6 triggers arpeggio that will stop holding D5 down
more than 500...and things like that, easily remembered when building the
scene but forgotten after a month].
19...I think perhaps VALVES should be used when configuring VELOCITY.
Often I use many instruments that are call in on the basis of velocity....but if I happen to fail in using the required velocity after a while [my little finger, so to speak, becoming weak] some zones or some partials will not sound.
So selecting a VALVE as active will make any sound previously triggered to keep sounding while its keyboard range is played.
Think of it as a check valve.
Could it be placed after the velocity upper range selector....?
Valve on, valve off....Lovely.
A further step will allow S1,S2,S3 to reset that valves to the start position in order to do the very same from the very beginning....if you wish so.
20...Ability to connect to an external touch screen.
21...I think perhaps it might be a good idea to place a red asterisk when changes have taken place along the playing of a scene.
That way one will be warned the original performance has been changed before proceeding any further, such as saving the scene or even playing it again.
Same way as you are already shown the yellow asterisk...
22...Copy/paste zones.
23...More signatures.
24... Variable tempo.
January 20th ? Only 15 days away...There is a great big beautiful tomorrow, shinning at the end of every day...
ZT was posting some comments (here? GS? My memory is pandemic-shot) about an encounter with Roland, in which he shared some details about upcoming stuff. It seems certain an update is coming, and January has been mentioned since that Gattobus video.
Model expansions remain the biggest wish, I think, but now that FGM mentions it, what the hell is up with the character limits on scene names? It's almost 8.3, and, the more I think about it, deeply weird.
I think they would want something to coincide with winter NAMM because it’s good to show new stuff at a trade show. But that has been replaced with a virtual thing this year so it may be if they had such plans they might be out a little bit.
I also suspect that gattobus is just teasing his own projection rather than anything official.
Imo the update should focus on "fixing" things, like
*Tonewheel organ should Come, as Scott Tibbs referred to the functionality on first videos when fantom was announced.
*adding various time signatures on sequencer
*enabling the editability on Supernatural sounds where its lacking, compared to other devices that have the "Normal full sn" editability.
Supernatural edit-ability would be nice. I did notice you can change to 3/4, but yea, multiple time signatures would be incredibly handy if not a must. Was the tonewheel organ draw bars ever a thing?
Agreed! I never use it in my F8 because I feel like I'm gonna break something with how hard I have to push to get it to trigger as well as it just snaps to 100% strength. They said they partially fixed this in a previous patch but I honestly didn't notice any difference.
The fact that, over a year after the launch of the Fantom, Roland have been unable to remedy the aftertouch issue in firmware updates suggests to me that it is a limitation of the hardware of the keybed.
If that is the case, no amount of code tweaking is going to fix it. Is it likely that Roland would ever offer to repair of replace the keybed in customers' Fantoms to fix this problem?
Isn't this true across the entire FANTOM line? I can do aftertouch with my F6, but am also afraid of tearing something up because of how hard I have to press to get it to activate.
It makes me think that the devs have one of those single key demo mechanisms where you can see the whole escapement and are using that to calibrate their AT rather than working with the full keybed. Either than or whomever is doing it is obstreperously ignoring all the feedback because “I’m right and all the customers are wrong”, maybe the only way forward is with a class action.
I would most certainly welcome an FM engine instead of the pseudo FM that is currently onboard. If we can get model expansions, then I think that would set the framework for just having multiple VA emulation models or synthesis types. We already have a general subtractive VA engine in the Fantom as it is. So it would seem it's entirely possible to implement, but not sure if they'll actually bother. I don't know if Roland has ever really tried dipping their toes in the FM pool.
Having just faffed about with an iPad and Fantom for a while this evening, I’m reminded that class compliance seems like a no-brained to ask to be added. A third driver option in addition to generic/vendor that is class-compliant midi -and- audio over USB would be most welcome.
