Roland Fantom-X6 61-Key Sampling WorkstationFantom X6
Powered by Roland's Groundbreaking New Synthesis ChipThe new Fantom-X Series comes in a choice of three keyboards, but they all have one thing in common: Roland's new sound generator chip. This chip is Roland's most powerful to date, and it not only makes it possible to play expressive 4-tone Patches with 128-voice polyphony, but it also raises the Fantom-X Series' waveform capacity to approximately 1GB when fully expanded - far more memory than any other musical instrument on the market. What's more, the internal wave ROM has been doubled with quality-focused sounds that will please even the most jaded player.
Sampler or Digital Recorder?Thanks to the power afforded by the new sound generator chip, you get both. That's because the Fantom-X is the first workstation keyboard capable of handling audio on the level of a digital recorder. This means you can record either short samples for playback on the keyboard, or long, linear takes similar to a digital recorder. And with room for up to 544MB of sample RAM, there's plenty of recording time available. Samples can be slaved to tempo with realtime timestretching and edited using powerful tools like Wave Edit and Chop. Users are free to load samples in .WAV and AIFF formats and back up data to convenient PC cards with up to 1GB capacity.
Expressive New Sounds AboundWhen Roland engineers developed the Fantom-X Series, they wanted to fully exploit the potential of the new chip. That's why each keyboard comes with a brand new 128MB wave ROM loaded with quality-focused sounds like vivid new string sections, expressive and fat-sounding drums, rich nylon string guitars and an amazing 88-key split acoustic piano, which uses individual stereo multi-samples for each key and every velocity stage. Would you believe there are over 700 samples used in this single Patch? Many of the instruments were recorded in world-class studios using multiple microphones and were mixed like music into samples by renowned studio engineer Dan Blessinger (Martinsound) - resulting in a level of quality unheard of before.
The Only Workstations with Skip Back Sampling and a Dynamic Pad BankFirst introduced on the Fantom-S, Roland's Skip Back Sampling has become popular with musicians for its ability to instantly retrieve a performance and turn it into a sample. With Skip Back Sampling, your ideas never get lost because the sampler is constantly recording every note you play - be it on the keyboard or Dynamic Pad Bank - while keeping the musical bars in tact. Speaking of which, these 16 velocity- and aftertouch-sensitive pads now sport twice the polyphony and an improved feel for even more natural drum programming and sample triggering.
A True Audio/MIDI WorkstationWhether sequencing MIDI tracks, triggering samples from the Dynamic Pad Bank, or even recording audio directly to RAM, the Fantom-X Series makes putting it all together a seamless process. Lay down a drum track by combining the internal drum sounds with loops, which can automatically sync to tempo via realtime timestretch. Then record some keyboard parts as MIDI and finish your song by tracking a guitar or vocal as audio. The high-resolution sequencer boasts up to 400,000-note capacity and supports Standard MIDI File (SMF) import and export, making the Fantom-X by far the best workstation in history.
If you're ready to break out of your performance shell, get down with the new Fantom.
The Roland Fantom X is by far ONE of the most powerful synths I have ever seen. The sounds on it are breath-taking. Just the Concert Grand sound patch alone is quite magnificent, it has more of a studio CD quality sound rather than Triton Extreme's brighter, livelier/performance-ish sound quality. (Although I definitely admit the Triton X-treme is very breath-taking as well). The organs are so stellarly galactic. Control them in real time with those four assignable, versatile knobs. You can select either of the three MFX processor programs; and from there select your effects such as rotary modeling, phasing, ring-modulation. If you want to stabilize the overdrive effects or resonance modulation, go to one of the other MFX processors and tweak the 3-band compression graphic equalizer. The LCD display may not be touch-based by fingers like that found on the Triton Extreme, but you can select your options, assignable effects, and oscillation sources, and other things by using the bank keys below the screen by looking at the corresponding control settings on the screen with the key pads at the bottom. Another plus for Roland is that when when you originally select menu for preset sounds(patches), the categories of patches are listed in organized categories such as: percussion, strings, malet, acoustic pianos, E.pianos, organs, synths, etc.) From there you can pretty much figure it out. Although I did not do well at the sequencer section, the dynamic pads are inquisitively unique. The custom drum sounds on the pads are so realistic, you may want to fire your drummer,just kidding. The drums are super! If you are planning to create or compose a song/song ideas and show it to your band mates of what the song/composition is going to be like and how you're going to jam things out, the sampler, dynamic pad, and sequencer are great tools to keep great ideas instead of having to recreate those ideas in your head all over again. I do hear reviews that say the Roland Fantom X skimps out in insert effects compared to the Triton Extreme, but me being a novice keyboard player, I think these features and functions are good enough for me. The D-beam controller is like the equivalent of a ribbon controller found on the Triton. The D-beam uses hand-motion sensory in the air, whereas the ribbon controller uses physical sliding contact with your fingers. Roland has done a good job, especially with sounds and functions. If you are a novice like I am, or if you are a professional player, you're in for quite a treat. Got to check this beast out. Awesome! You'll be amazed.
I am not the best producer by any means so with that being said you know a beginner has a chance at this if you have have a little knowledge with music equipmentThe best thing about this keyboard is the sounds. Roland have the best music equipment by farthey are made sturdy, easy to use, and pro sound and thats all you need.
I will give the Fantom a 10 star rating if i could. This machine is a BEAST. it took me no longer than a 2 days to learn how to use it. I did a beat in no more than 20 min. I would reccommend it to anybody amatuer or pro.
While I am a skilled guitarist I am not a skilled keyboard player, however this X6 is not only turning me into one quickly, but it has taken my sound to a new level. I originally bought the Juno just so I could get some keyboard sounds into my recordings. Problem is I outgrew it very quickly.This is not a toy but rather a serious workstation that will allow you to become a one man band. The learning curve is not as tough as I thought it would be but you will need to build a relationship with it first, I donÆt think even by next year I will know all of itÆs advanced features. I have only scratched what this can do for me and it still amazes me with some of the things it does.I added a couple of SRX sample boards to get some more sounds into the unit (World and Ultimate Keys..highly recommended) and I couldn't be happier with it. The sounds are very professional and are the best I have ever heard from any keyboard. I wish I would have taken more time to save the money for this unit in the first place, a great investment for the price.
I owned several keyboards for the past 10 yrs. I tried Korg N364, Korg X5, Roland XP80, Roland XP30, and I can confidently recommend this Fantom X6 for Professional Musicians. I bought mine last November. The Piano patches are awesome, not to mention that it has a piano button function which will allow you to access easily, accoustic piano sounds and rhodes in real time. Sequencer mode is very easy to use, thanks to the colored monitor for ease of navigation and editing. The only disadvantage I can say is it has only one big band brass patch that i like. Same thing with string patches. XP Series has a better Rhodes sounds. Thats why when I use this keyboard on a live performance, I use it together with my XP30. These two will be a good combination. I think Fantom X6 is not enough without another keyboard, but another option is to try SRX expansion boards to add some more flavors on brass patches, strings, and Electric Piano or Rhodes. Sampler is very easy to use and very powerful. Roland Fantom X6 is a great choice!!!!
