Anyone Use New Roland Fantom with Kronos?

[Kevbo]

I think I have lost hope of Korg ever creating another workstation. With that being said, has anyone splurged on the new Fantom to work alongside their Kronos?

Thinking that with a Kronos 88, pairing that with a Roland 7 for the synth action would be a nice setup. Not really sure. I've heard the older Roland Fantom G series packs a much better punch then the new Roland. I know this is a Korg forum, but I know a lot of you have a lot of different gear.

Thanks.

[theescapist]

I have a Fantom 8 and a Kronos 6 and some limited experience working with the two together (mostly controlling the Kronos from the Fantom at this point). What are you looking to get out of the Fantom?

[GregC]

I think I have lost hope of Korg ever creating another workstation. With that being said, has anyone splurged on the new Fantom to work alongside their Kronos?

Thanks.

are their sounds , or categories of sound where kronos is lacking/fallng short, and the new fantom fills any such gaps ?

note I am not bringing up the usual stuff, like display, controls, etc etc etc.

for me, its 95% about sound quality and the high level programming behind the sound quality.

[theescapist]

I think I have lost hope of Korg ever creating another workstation. With that being said, has anyone splurged on the new Fantom to work alongside their Kronos?

Thanks.

are their sounds , or categories of sound where kronos is lacking/fallng short, and the new fantom fills any such gaps ?

note I am not bringing up the usual stuff, like display, controls, etc etc etc.

for me, its 95% about sound quality and the high level programming behind the sound quality.

My take is almost any acoustic sound is going to be better on the Kronos other than maybe piano - I enjoy playing the V-piano on the Fantom, though playing the Kronos’ Italian Grand from my Fantom is pretty magical too. Basically anything acoustic that is not Supernatural on the Fantom is going to be pretty disappointing out of the box. I greatly prefer every strings sound on the Kronos (solo instruments, orchestra, pizzicato, etc) but there’s a few decent Fantom options in the Supernatural categories.

The Fantom may be easier to program if you’re into making synth sounds. It will sound different from the Kronos synth engines, not better/worse. Lots and lots of pretty cool synth leads/pads/etc in the factory patches too.

I find drum kits easier to edit on the Fantom as well, but I don’t like any of the preset acoustic kits. Electronic ones are pretty good. With the latest update you can create your own easily by importing and selecting your own samples.

[GregC]

I think I have lost hope of Korg ever creating another workstation. With that being said, has anyone splurged on the new Fantom to work alongside their Kronos?

Thanks.

are their sounds , or categories of sound where kronos is lacking/fallng short, and the new fantom fills any such gaps ?

note I am not bringing up the usual stuff, like display, controls, etc etc etc.

for me, its 95% about sound quality and the high level programming behind the sound quality.

My take is almost any acoustic sound is going to be better on the Kronos other than maybe piano - I enjoy playing the V-piano on the Fantom, though playing the Kronos’ Italian Grand from my Fantom is pretty magical too. Basically anything acoustic that is not Supernatural on the Fantom is going to be pretty disappointing out of the box. I greatly prefer every strings sound on the Kronos (solo instruments, orchestra, pizzicato, etc) but there’s a few decent Fantom options in the Supernatural categories.

The Fantom may be easier to program if you’re into making synth sounds. It will sound different from the Kronos synth engines, not better/worse. Lots and lots of pretty cool synth leads/pads/etc in the factory patches too.

I find drum kits easier to edit on the Fantom as well, but I don’t like any of the preset acoustic kits. Electronic ones are pretty good. With the latest update you can create your own easily by importing and selecting your own samples.

thank you for the post and your experience. Even though I don't own Fantom, I spent an hour on it, carefully reviewing acoustic instruments. Using a variety of acoustic instruments is a priority with my original material.

I was disappointed that Roland loaded it with the usual 5080/XV or similar 'classics' that are well represented in the FA series. IOW, I wanted the best of Integra. Or all of it.

For $3500, I expect the ' best ' right now. Not a promise of maybe later.

I have a great time with Kronos drums. This rhythm section quality/variety is the foundation of my production/material.

[theescapist]

thank you for the post and your experience. Even though I don't own Fantom, I spent an hour on it, carefully reviewing acoustic instruments. Using a variety of acoustic instruments is a priority with my original material.

I was disappointed that Roland loaded it with the usual 5080/XV or similar 'classics' that are well represented in the FA series. IOW, I wanted the best of Integra. Or all of it.

For $3500, I expect the ' best ' right now. Not a promise of maybe later.

I have a great time with Kronos drums. This rhythm section quality/variety is the foundation of my production/material.

Yeah, I've listened to some Integra demos and I wish they would add all of its Supernatural instruments to the Fantom - they sound far better in the demos than the regular sampled sounds in the Fantom.

For drums - I agree, I find the Kronos more flexible for storing and recalling patterns for reuse later - e.g. you can actually create your own, while as of v2.0, with the Fantom you only have a number of preset grooves to use with.

Actual drum programming is infinitely easier with the Fantom using a combination of TR-REC and piano roll for input or editing, at least with my subpar skills, but AFAICT you're limited to recording them to patterns in 1 scene (which is like a Kronos combi/seq mode combined) with no obvious way to share between scenes as of right now.

[black953mj]

I also have both, a Fantom 6 and the Kronos 2 88. I agree that the acoustic sounds are much better on the Fantom. Another consideration is that the Fantom lacks a Tonewheel organ emulation and the samples on the Fantom are so-so at best.

For programming most synth sounds the workflow on the Fantom is generally quicker than the Kronos in my opinion.

In the end this may tell the whole story; I have had the Fantom for a year and the Kronos for 5 years.... I am currently in the process of selling the Fantom.