Fantom external storage.

[ioish]

Hey!
I hope you all are having an amazing day! I just got a fantom 8 about a month ago and I am almost out of internal memory for sample storage. This is my first ever roland product and I have to say that they have the worse customer support system I've ever come across. I wrote to them the day I got it and saw that the expansions were taking more than half the internal memory but I havent heard from anyone. It is really annoying for me to move on to explore the full potential of this I just have 200mb of space left on my storage. Is there a way to store everything on an external usb drive? 2gb is a joke, I would have never gotten this if I knew this was the case. It says that the memory is expandable but I cant seem to figure out how as whenever I sample something, or even import it from a usb drive, it gets stored to the internal memory while importing. Is there a way to make this work? how do I get an external drive to be the main memory for my fantom. Please let me know,
Thanks in advance

PS- you can have custom wallpapers on a 2gb internal memory whilst running out of space to store sounds. Is this for real?

[Perplextor]

Where did you read that the memory is expandable. If you want more sample memory you have to deinstall some expansions. I deleted all preset samples from the pads with everything installed I have 600 mb free space for all scenes. That’s the same amount you have within the mpc for a single project.

[FGM]

Regardless of any amount of memory Roland might put into Fantom, it will never be enough neither for you nor for me. New tones, new scenes, new ideas, new versions of those new ideas... a never ending story.

So an external USB device can be used to backup and recover all that terrific amount of growing data.

There is almost no limit to the number of USB sticks one can have in a box, and if any, there is no limit to the number of boxes one can have...

I am currently using a SanDisk Ultra Fit 128 GB (114.5 GB once formatted) and after 18 months and much use it has 83.1 GB available (31.4 GB used).

Still, rumors say a person just can properly handle up to 150 people into one's agenda...

[ioish]

Where did you read that the memory is expandable. If you want more sample memory you have to deinstall some expansions. I deleted all preset samples from the pads with everything installed I have 600 mb free space for all scenes. That’s the same amount you have within the mpc for a single project.

Hey! if you go to this link, https://www.roland.com/us/products/fantom_series/specs/ you can see it says external storage, usb drive. Maybe I made the mistake and took the external drive as an expandable one. Do you do a lot of sampling? or use the storage for other things? I did delete a lot of unwanted patches to make some space but then again, more the merrier.

[ioish]

Regardless of any amount of memory Roland might put into Fantom, it will never be enough neither for you nor for me. New tones, new scenes, new ideas, new versions of those new ideas... a never ending story.

So an external USB device can be used to backup and recover all that terrific amount of growing data.

There is almost no limit to the number of USB sticks one can have in a box, and if any, there is no limit to the number of boxes one can have...

I am currently using a SanDisk Ultra Fit 128 GB (114.5 GB once formatted) and after 18 months and much use it has 83.1 GB available (31.4 GB used).

Still, rumors say a person just can properly handle up to 150 people into one's agenda...

Thank you for the reply. I totally understand that it wont ever be enough, as someone who owns an 8 tb nvme for my studio pc I understand how quick everything gets filled, but 2gb? I tried it with a loop yesterday which was 10 seconds long and took about 20mb off the internal memory even when I unchecked the "store to int. memory" option before using it in the sampler. Can you please tell me more about your work flow? I think it could help me alot! I am using a a 64gb drive but I cant save anything to it or maybe I am the one who is not understanding how the storage works, could you please tell me more about how you manage everything? I am literally losing my mind due to lack of support. Where do you keep all your expansions? what about the samples? How much memory do you have left on board? do export presets to the flashdrive everytime you make a new patch and import it when needed? what do you use the external memory option for apart from copying and pasting stuff from a pc? if you can clear these points for me things will be much easier and I wont mind the 2 gb internal memory at all.

[ioish]

Also, thanks a lot for your replies, @Perplextor @FGM. I did find a way with the help of some indicators in your responses by exporting the files I dont need at the moment and just deleting and reimporting them if needed. Tad bit tedious but it works perfectly so I cant complain. I am lucky I just happen to stumble upon these forums yesterday or else I would have literally had a breakdown haha. It would be really great if you guys could help me manage the storage by letting me know more about your ideas and flow.
Cheers.

[FGM]

I appreciate your efforts asking, but this is my first synthesizer and after 18 months am still learning...
Far from being capable of any lessons, just telling my own experience on the same issues others are suffering just like me.

Lots of things to be tried...

I spend most of the time composing and having lots of good time and, sincerely, I think I am just using barely a 30-40% of what this outstanding keyboard does offer. Might be a mere 15%...

Went Fantom because thought Montage would be too hard for me, and see Fantom is also very deep, indeed.

I think it is a bit like the Circle of Fifths...You try to walk it all around but get stuck as lots of music comes almost by its own using barely the very basic basics on the first scales tried...

Sampling...? Nice to have, but I have lots of tones already here...
Super Natural voices...? Well, I find ZenCore tones easier to adjust to my needs...
Meantone tuning...? Thank you, but my ears are Equal tempered...
Virtual pianos...? Mmmmm....I will adjust any other and I will place it on the zone suiting me best, not on Zone 1 as a must.
Keyboard Switch Groups...? Mmmm...Fun but with limitations, I use another scene, and another...and another. Yupiiii.
32 measures and nothing but 32 measures ? Relax: laptop audio recording.

And thanks, God, for this keyboard !!!!


As for Roland Support, I think it is second to none. They have answered any questions I have made in a record ten minutes or a couple of days at the latest.
Of course, if one goes asking for the name of the clown that programmed all these, there hardly be any answer...

[ioish]

I appreciate your efforts asking, but this is my first synthesizer and after 18 months am still learning...
Far from being capable of any lessons, just telling my own experience on the same issues others are suffering just like me.

Lots of things to be tried...

I spend most of the time composing and having lots of good time and, sincerely, I think I am just using barely a 30-40% of what this outstanding keyboard does offer.

Went Fantom because thought Montage would be too hard for me, and see Fantom is also very deep, indeed.

I think it is a bit like the Circle of Fifths...You try to walk it all around but get stuck as lots of music comes almost by its own using barely the very basic basics on the first scales tried...

Sampling...? Nice to have, but I have lots of tones already here...
Super Natural voices...? Well, I find ZenCore tones easier to adjust to my needs...
Meantone tuning...? Thank you, but my ears are Equal tempered...
Virtual pianos...? Mmmmm....I will adjust any other and I will place it on the zone suiting me best, not on Zone 1 as a must.
Keyboard Switch Groups...? Mmmm...Fun but with limitations, I use another scene, and another...and another. Yupiiii.
32 measures and nothing but 32 measures ? Relax: laptop audio recording.


As for Roland Support, I think it is second to none. They have answered any questions I have made in a record ten minutes or a couple of days at the latest.

Got you. I think I got overwhelmed and then frustrated because I couldnt figure out what I wanted as I was expecting it to be which it obviously was not. As per the support, you have to be the chosen one to get a reply. Even sites like trustpilot have a low rating for the site and support since 2020, the phone lines at least in my country are not valid. Oh well maybe I had to go through this :). Thanks for your help though it means a lot you saved me from going insane, much love.

[FGM]

I access Roland Support exclusively via email, via the Roland website, and after registering Fantom.

[ioish]

I access Roland Support exclusively via email, via the Roland website, and after registering Fantom.

Thats what I did, and then went for the phone lines once I didnt get a reply. Maybe its a regional thing? are you from the EU or US? I am from Asia, India to be specific and no one here has enough knowledge about the unit, not even the official dealer I bought it from. I think past few days was the most angry I have ever been!

[FGM]

I am in Europe: Segovia, Spain. 40.948097,-4.118019
Very sunny.
Come and enjoy the Acueducto, made by the Roman Empire some good 2000 years ago (they forgot the hot water, but still is truly majestic).

Acueducto de Segovia.jpg (2.75 MiB) Viewed 2625 times

Do you seriously think a seller will master a keyboard like this and then all the incoming updates...?

[ioish]

Oh my! look at that, I could just sit there and play forever! I wish I could show you a picture of the chaos I live in, you would understand the frustration,
I got a mail from roland today it said,

Thank you for contacting the United States distributor for Roland and BOSS products – we provide support for Roland and BOSS users in the United States. In order to efficiently manage the high volume of support inquiries for Roland and BOSS products, Roland Distributors around the world each provide support within their own assigned regions

what a god damn joke, who does that? I pay for their services like the cloud in USD so why cant they help me out? Even the in app support option sends mail to them so how would I know whom to contact if the app is sending the mail to them? I dont understand this company. I have never experienced this. Even Apple doesn't do this and I thought they were the worst company ever. Roland just won. I dont think I need to contact the support now but its kind of funny how they messaged me the day I figured stuff out.

PS the number they gave me is "not valid for incoming calls"

[mostinif]

I am in Europe: Segovia, Spain. 40.948097,-4.118019
Very sunny.
Come and enjoy the Acueducto, made by the Roman Empire some good 2000 years ago (they forgot the hot water, but still is truly majestic).

Wanderful place! ¿Cerca del Restaurante El Meson de Candido?
Agua a la boca.
Saludos
FLavio

[FGM]

A 700 metros.
Gracias.
Saludos.