ARX SuperNATURAL expansion bay. First-class “Ivory Feel” weighted keys. Large 8.5 inch wide color LCD screen.
Item: ROLFANTOMG8
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10 People rated this product : 8 out of 10
2 People wrote reviews









9 out of 10
Feature:
Considering the X series was pretty damn good, I imagine the G series will come in and take the cake. I'm giving them a 9, because the X series definitely had some bugs, which I hope they've worked out in the G series ahead of time.
Even the bugs that existed weren't impossible to fix, apparently they just never got around to it. Hopefully the G series will come out more stable right out the box, and any issues can be handled with an OS upgrade.
Quality:
Roland never skimps. The X series was built like a tank and I imagine so will this one.
Value:
If you want the best, you have to pony up the dollars to do it. Roland is amazing, and I would never compromise the quality they bring for anything.
Desirability:
As long as the on-board mouse pans out, I'm super excited. Surely the sounds are better, so I'm still interested in hearing it in my studio, however that will be the determining factor whether it stays or not.
Sound:
Well, let's take into account how truly amazing the X series sounded. I've personally never heard a better board, and have become a pure Roland addict. I can only imagine with the new stuff they've put in, the sounds will even be more intense. I can't wait!
Ease of Use:
I basically built my own fantom G using Apple's Logic Pro and USB-midi to the Mac. It's worked great, and there really is a lot of flexibility with the current setup I have. I'm interested to see how the on-board mouse capability works, and how they have setup the use of the sequencer.
Support:
I've actually never dealt with Roland support.
Overall:
Roland has always done me right.
Submitted: 4/22/2008
Style of Music: Acoustic, Rock, Hip-hop









5 out of 10
Feature:
Great if you want to have studio-in-a-box approach. I don't, I usually use my workstation sequencer for ideas and move to DAW later.
Quality:
Looks strong and has a lot of Fantom-X design which is built like a tank.
Value:
If Roland cleans its acts up and more supportive in fixing its issues, this would be higher.
Desirability:
Nope, I'm happy with my Motif XS8 and its Cubase/DAW integration which I bought after I sold my Fantom-X (I did try Korg M3-88 briefly but returned it, it was good but I couldn't stand its piano sound and velocity curve issue).
Sound:
Since I haven't tested it, I predict synth stuffs will be great but the acoustic sounds will be 'eh' (prove me wrong, Roland :-)
Ease of Use:
Big screen and mouse would help a lot. It'll be a lot of straining though if you put the mouse on top of the keyboard :P
Support:
I used to own Fantom X8 and there are quite some bugs in Fantom-X that weren't addressed in *two* OS upgrades. Fantom-G being a more complex keyboard with its big screen, mouse integration, new ARX system; I'm leery how many more bugs will be there and whether it would be addressed or Roland just comes up with new product and deserts previous users?
Remember original Fantom which was a flop and within short period they release Fantom-S? Similar thing happen with Fantom-S to Fantom-X. Of course Fantom-X being a more mature products from 2 flops, they milk it for 4 years (without fixing the bugs) and comes up with Fantom-G.
So I guess Roland just look at the sales of its board, if it's not good, don' fix it via OS, just create new ones and screw the current users.
Overall:
If you want to buy this, I'd suggest you wait until the initial pain and dust settle, see if it's indeed a quality board (OS bugwise). There will be some issues in the beginning of course but hopefully it'll be alot cleaner compared to its predecessor.
I'd wait until the second OS release if I were to buy. Don't get me wrong, Roland is a great and innovative company, I owned their gears and I'm not a certain product fan-boi. I just found Roland's customer support lacking compared to the others which takes its toll on us as customers.
Submitted: 1/24/2008
Style of Music: Jazz, Drum and Bass, Praise & Worship
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