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Posted: Thu Jan 17, 2008 2:37 pm
by Lorenzo
still 128 polyphony... When will someone think to create a 256, 512 polyphony rompler!?
Posted: Thu Jan 17, 2008 3:04 pm
by synthguy
@ Lorenzo,
128 voice polyphony is actually pretty big. I'm with you in wanting more like 172-256 voices, but that requires some pretty high quality DACs to give your output any kind of spaciousness. I guess the Oasys is king in that respect. The Big Four - Yamaha, Roland, Korg and Kurzweil - are giving good converters to their boards, so maybe in a couple more years we'll see that.
Now I have to run over to the Roland site to see if I'll be wanting a G over a Motif XS.

Posted: Thu Jan 17, 2008 10:04 pm
by Synthia
The new Fantom G looks to be an interesting piece of kit.Now I'm stuck.I was going to buy the Motif XS next month but I'm not sure now.
Now it's a toss up between XS and G.
Posted: Thu Jan 17, 2008 10:07 pm
by GregC
hi there, you definitely should wait
Posted: Thu Jan 17, 2008 11:53 pm
by thekeymaster
I agree with Greg, Synthia,hold fire until you can compare the two.It means waiting a few months but you may love the way the "G" does certain things.It also comes mainly down to sound,what do you prefer Roland or Yamaha.I'm very intrigued by the Roland though,I already use the Fan X8 and was ready to get rid of as I cant gig with it anymore,too much weight.I was gonna get a X6 or 7.The G7 looks inviting to me......it will compliment my O76 very nicely.
Its nice when new products are released,feels like an extended Xmas.

Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2008 12:17 am
by Vadim
Fantom-G's sequencer is Definatly OASYS Killer!!!
As usual, Roland waits for Korg to release something, than they copy it and make it somehow better...
IMO, even XS is better than OASYS...
Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2008 12:20 am
by Voltan
you mean in terms of sequencing only? or in general? :>
Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2008 12:33 am
by thekeymaster
Vadim wrote:Fantom-G's sequencer is Definatly OASYS Killer!!!
As usual, Roland waits for Korg to release something, than they copy it and make it somehow better...
IMO, even XS is better than OASYS...
Well I wont disagree with the Seq part of your comment but as for a killer I still think Yamaha and Roland have not got near the OASYS sonically, yet.I will reserve judgement on the S&S capabilities but the HD-1 does not have artifacts,so the Roland had better be pretty dam clean.The Yam has them,still but they have got some lovely sounds.
Plus OASYS has so much more than standard engines and no matter what Yam do with Arps they are not KARMA but i'm not gonna sit here and defend a product,I'm just gonna say competition is good and I will give the Fan G my attention.
Life would be boring without opinions.
Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2008 1:03 am
by Synthia
Hi keymaster and greg,
You are right there,I should wait for the Fantom G to hit the stores but I hate waiting
I already have the Fantom S and V-Synth but no Yamaha board at all apart from the old DX7.So really I need a Yammy board in my set up.The Motif XS has some very nice sounds and it does sound different from the Rolands and Korgs.
Saying that the G does look sooo tempting.

Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2008 1:07 am
by synthguy
Well..... now I'm not sure.
I have a Fantom-X and it's fine and dandy with just it's basic effects, since the SRX cards along with that 128meg rom are outstanding. I don't need killer filters since I have a Karma plus MOSS, along with a Kurzweil K2000, Motif Rack and a few other goodies.
However... a Fantom-X with 16 insert effects... and that's even before considering possibly better filters, and whatever synth madness Roland is going to unleash with ARX boards. I might have to think about this.
Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2008 1:17 am
by Voltan
OK... it looks like the new Fantom features a "LIVE MODE" which basically lets you cylce through setups without any sound iterruption. Now that's a cool feature.
Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2008 1:36 am
by vEddY
Voltan wrote:OK... it looks like the new Fantom features a "LIVE MODE" which basically lets you cylce through setups without any sound iterruption. Now that's a cool feature.
.... and something that's completely possible with K2500/K2600 and OASYS for a couple of years now

But what's even more neat, OASYS's way of doing this is by far the best, by using KARMA... Absolutely awesome, I kind of worship that feature, can't say enough nice words for it...

Oasys vs Fantom
Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2008 1:39 am
by darwiniandude
I guess I can understand a previous posters opinion that some other workstations IN SOME areas beat the Oasys...
I have neither, but have used both a lot. I love the Oasys, and I want one. However there are some minuses vs the Roland. So for an all in one workstation, the Fantoms do have some benefits over the much better Oasys.
Sequencer, no audio track view like fantom.
Sequencer, no piano roll view like fantom.
Load boot time due to all 'rom' sounds being loaded into ram from hard disk.
size, weight.
But I'd still rather have an Oasys.
Korg could easily fix all those issues in a software update anyway, shoudl they choose. I was just suprised when I sat in front of the 10" Oasys Screen that there was still only an event list for midi data.
EDIT: this is just a comment, based on my use of the Oasys and Fantom X, not Fantom G. Still no touch screen... atleast the drum pads can be used for Numeric entry now. I can't believe the Fantom S and Fantom X had NO ability to quickly 'dial up' a sound on a number pad a la Korg. Nuts!
Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2008 1:42 am
by Voltan
vEddY wrote:.... and something that's completely possible with K2500/K2600 and OASYS for a couple of years now
But not on Motif XS (I think) or M3 so it's still cool

I don't know how much this new Fantom will cost but I believe OASYS will still be a league of it's own (in both features and prices

)
Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2008 2:41 am
by vEddY
Voltan wrote:
But not on Motif XS (I think) or M3 so it's still cool

I don't know how much this new Fantom will cost but I believe OASYS will still be a league of it's own (in both features and prices

)
I think that you're right about the XS, but wrong about the M3. From what I remember, I tried to make a COMBI with KARMA-ified sound switching (OASYS-style) and after a couple of U-turns because we were damn blind, it worked. I remember getting frustrated that October afternoon trying to make it happen, but I think we pulled it off the next day. Hmmm...