Namm new products - nothing for the FG !

Forum for Fantom-G6/7/8
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SammyJames
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Re: Namm new products - nothing for the FG !

Post by SammyJames »

For $3,000 I could buy an incredible PC with 1 TB of storage, all of Korg's VST synths, a GREAT DAW (like Cubase 6) and Komplete 7, and have enough money left over for a really nice keyboard MIDI controller. And I would be able to produce some great-sounding music, and...

Wait a second -- that is (almost EXACTLY) what I have already DONE, albeit with older technology.

:)

Kudos to me for beating the workstation-upsmanship at its own game.

- Sammy

P.S. Okay -- seriously now. I do understand that the Kronos isn't truly that expensive. $3,000 sounds about right for what it can do. I'm personally not that turned on by it, but hey -- if it fits your musical needs, then it seems like a good product.
apex
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Re: Namm new products - nothing for the FG !

Post by apex »

yeah but could you take that incredible PC on the road with you.... to gigs...etc? probably not... and if you could, would you trust it COMPLETELY in a gig session?
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SammyJames
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Re: Namm new products - nothing for the FG !

Post by SammyJames »

No, I wouldn't, and this is why I wrote my postscript.

But for me personally, I don't care -- because I only play behind closed doors.

- Sammy
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SammyJames
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Re: Namm new products - nothing for the FG !

Post by SammyJames »

And I'm getting mighty sick of having the system double-post me just because I hit Enter twice...

Grrrrrr...

:)

- Sammy
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Flumpster
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Re: Namm new products - nothing for the FG !

Post by Flumpster »

If you only play behind closed doors you might have been better off with the new cactus synth in the other thread and saved yourself 2995 dollars ;)
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SammyJames
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Re: Namm new products - nothing for the FG !

Post by SammyJames »

*Sigh* I know. Ain't THAT the truth...

There isn't a day that goes by that I don't spend at least a fleeting moment staring at this lump of plastic and metal in one corner of my room, thinking.. "you represent food, clothes, and a girlfriend. Why did I buy you again...?"

- Sammy
Deckard007
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Re: Namm new products - nothing for the FG !

Post by Deckard007 »

I have to be honest guys, ever since I saw The Human League using Roland synths on TV in the early 80's, they've always been my first synth of choice.SH-101,Juno 60,Super JX10,XP-80 and currently Fantom X7. I didn't have the money to upgrade to the G7, and now it's discontinued i'm sadly happy (if that makes sense!) to wait for the (hopefully) next Roland Worksatation. I do a fair bit of gigging so a workstation is my best option. Hopefully they'll respond to the Korg/Yamaha challenge.

Sorry, but for all their faults, I LOVE Roland Synths!
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EX
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Re: Namm new products - nothing for the FG !

Post by EX »

jhashe
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Re: Namm new products - nothing for the FG !

Post by jhashe »

Unfortunately, my annonces, a few hours before the opening of Namm, were exact ! I really expected to be wrong...

I'm owner of a FG8 and I like (love ?) it as it is, and I waited for nothing. But I must admit that I hoped inwardly something new. The previous serie (FX) had received a hudge upgrade with the capability to manage audio tracks.

It was, I think, the last chance to obtain such a evolution. Now, the FG is 3 years old, and if Roland wants to go on being present on the workstations market, it's urgent they work on a new model. The last Motif and Kronos seem to really be superior to the actual FG.

The FG concepts are great, but the implementation is so..incomplete.

Sequencer
With its mouse and its big screen, FG has one of the best interfaces for a workstation. But it misses some basic functions (split/merge, cut/glue, piano roll vue...) which make it inefficient for a serious work

DAW integration
With its build-in USB audio and MIDI interface, the integration within DAW could have been fabulous, but it has some incomprehensive gap: you can't use its contol buttons to send MMC commands (so you need an external MIDI controler for a real use); can't use it a full-duplex sound card (for exemple recording Mic input while playing other backtracks), so you nned another audio interface. And so, why to use FG with DAW ???

Arpegiator
Only a gadget, compare to Karma (on now both Korg and Motif XF), or event compare to the "traditionnal" arpegiator of the Motif XS/XF

And the sounds !!!
Many years ago, I owned a SC55. It was the first Sound Canvas model. This unexpensive and small expander was my first Roland experience. Of course, the FG sound quality is far superior of my old SC55, but I found the "spirit" is the same. It's very boring, with no real identity, compare to actual materials (and I don't speak about most VSTi). Where are the "best of SRX" ??? English is not my natural language and maybe, I didn't understand what they said...

So... now I stop speaking and go back playing music.
FG was my first workstation. I think it'll be my last one too.
alex-f.s
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Re: Namm new products - nothing for the FG !

Post by alex-f.s »

> The Fantom G series is dead and gone!

> It's over!

The new Roland gear for 2011, states Roland's commitment to the professional live keyboard player using a Fantom G. Well done. After all I am not surprised at all!

I will do a test drive with the Korg Kronos for sure, when it is available ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azSRy832NfU

Bye bye Guys ...

Take care!
conradk
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Re: Namm new products - nothing for the FG !

Post by conradk »

My guess is that we'll see something later this year. There weren't really any competitive releases vs. the Fantom, so Roland is probably in no competitive hurry. And there were some big announcements outside of NAMM in 2010, so not sure that show is really what it used to be.

And what I mean by "competitive" is that the Kronos is going to be expensive, and there weren't any announcements in the same category from Yamaha.
Deckard007
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Re: Namm new products - nothing for the FG !

Post by Deckard007 »

One of the earlier posts has a link to a price for all 3 Kronos (Kronii?!) models, and the 73 note version is pretty much in line with the G7, so it seems to be competitive that way. Don't like the look of the sliders though, seem a bit flimsy. The screen pics of the acoustic piano presets seem reminiscent of a certain 'piano mode' too!
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SammyJames
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Re: Namm new products - nothing for the FG !

Post by SammyJames »

HA! Yeah -- I agree on the "piano mode" thing. My dad owns the big Roland KR 777 or whatever the heck it is (the big Roland baby grand) and it has that same piano lid thing on its screen. Too funny.

- Sammy

P.S. In reading all of the other comments about the Kronos, I'm given to believe that the real reason why people are freaking out over this is that it is anomalous. Right now, there is NOTHING new and exciting going on. It feels (almost) like it felt back in '83 with the Yamaha DX-7 -- except that back then, the big deal really WAS -- MIDI had just been invented.

Can you just imagine? I mean, hell -- I was alive and aware back then. I felt the hair stand up on the back of my neck when I found out what Yamaha had done -- it brought to me the realization of years of wishing and hoping that I might be able to do what I had wanted to do for -- well -- about two years to that point in my life (I was 11 -- and had wanted to play synths desperately since age 9....)

:)

But you get the idea. This Kronos thing is NOT a "big deal." It only feels like one, because there are lots of other "tiny little insignificant" deals happening around it. I mean, think about it -- how "groundbreaking" is this thing? Did Korg invent FM synthesis? Did they invent the touch screen, or 16 audio tracks being used in a keyboard workstation (okay -- I'll give 'em that one -- but they did that TEN YEARS AGO.)

And seriously -- they didn't invent ANY of the technologies that exist in this product. They coalesced a bunch of existing technologies, bringing them all together -- and the damned thing is gonna be obsolete in three MONTHS when SSD and ARM and Atom dual-core and every other kind of technology on the planet goes through the friggin' ROOF. So calm down, take a breath, drink some tea, and play your Fantom and SHUT UP about it already...!!!!!

:D
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Flumpster
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Re: Namm new products - nothing for the FG !

Post by Flumpster »

Considering you aint interested in the Kronos at all that's all I seem to have read from you today in every single thread.

I think there's some in Juno-G you missed.. quick ;)
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SammyJames
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Re: Namm new products - nothing for the FG !

Post by SammyJames »

Hah! Yeah -- I like the Juno G a lot, actually. I typicaly do prefer Korg sounds, but I also REALLY prefer the Roland UI. And I love certain Roland sounds above all else -- like their incredible super saws and 909 sounds...

- Sammy
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