World's first "Giga-Workstation" keyboard, giving musicians nearly 1GB of wave memory when fully expanded and powerful 128-voice polyphony.
Item: ROLFANTOMX8
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171 People rated this product : 8 out of 10
11 People wrote reviews









6 out of 10
Feature:
The skip back sampling was nice, but resetting factory settings to do so was a real pain. The layering was god, up to sixteen different patches. If I may itterate to persons seeking to buy this, it's not really a performance board. But it's not much like you'd want to lug this to gigs. The thing is solid metal, so I don't really want to pull it out of the studio.
As for Dbeam, the synth engine it is hooked up to for leads is terrible. The sound generators on Garageband outdo that. No ocatve shift, poor synthesis, and the sound is always louder than the rest of the board.
Quality:
Made like a tank. Knobs get a little loose after a while. Heavey. Let's say that. Keys feel rather cheesey, much like many of Roland's keyboards, making expressiveness difficult. The touch pads are whack. You hit it hard and you barely get a sound, Hit it again softer and you get an overtone.
Value:
This board is not worth $3K. Even with all it's bells and whistles, you could buy a Korg TR 88, an Mbox 2, and a MIDI to USB/MIDI patchbay and have more power for less than this board.
Desirability:
Looks nice. Shiny aluminum. Flashy orange buttons. Color screen.
Sound:
First, let me state that I used this keyboard extensively through a friend for about a year.
Pianos- I do not much appreciate the piano samples. There are about three regular piano samples that are lacking in realism. They sound like GM sounds from the '90's. All the other piano samples are masked behind a curtain of overpowering pads and strings.
EP's, Keyboards- These are okay, still a lot of worthless samples, but some fairly nice ones.It takes time to get a good vintage sounding Rhoades piano sound from this, of which you could simply get a cheap USB MIDI controller and run it through a free VSTI to get the same sound.
Accoustic Instruments/Guitars- These are fairly nice. Nice flutes, reasonable guitars, okay amp simulations, mild strings. Probably the best part about this board, but really, for the money it costs you could buy a MOTIF or Triton for less money and more power.
Synth Patches- There are tons of synth patches. Many are fairly nice, some are really unusable, many seem just like the others, or just seem poorly made. Many of the pads are whacky, overpowering, or too bold and don't blend or accent, but cut through your music in a ugly barrage of gruff saws. Some of Pulsating Patches, or Arp Patches, are fairly nice, but need cleaning up. Once again, I do not believe this board is worth the money.
Organs- All but about two of the samples are terrible. The only real good one is the VK 4 Speed patch, which is actually exceptionsal, but I wish there were a way to control the rotor speed.
Ease of Use:
Um, let's just say that the software is NOT user friendly. The manuel is not much help either.
Support:
Never needed it, but Roland's support lines are very reliable.
Overall:
Not satisfied. Looks sleek, performs meek. Totally not worth it's price in my opinion.Cheap keys, poor samples, anything but user friendly.
Submitted: 5/19/2008
Style of Music: Classic Rock,









10 out of 10
Feature:
qauntizing on this machine is cake... i feel roland has one of the best qauntization, because it hits pretty close on realtime. also the mixing thru audio and midi is a breeze. although one of the kickbacks on this board is that it doesnt come with alot of onboard memory. though it is upgradeble to 1gb... but its perfect if your running it thru an mv-8 that has a dif-at24 thru it then basically your fully set to make hot music!!!
Quality:
product is durable... its like its a metal tank.
Value:
id say its worth the money... you actually get what you paid for. i had the motif and the triton ... id compare prices to the motif xs this board has its run for the money... but roland edges it by overall features.
Desirability:
i have the fantom-s and i love the sounds and the set up of it... but when the x series came out i wasnt to impress then i started playing with it, took me 5 mins to make a 4 bar sequence. i was amazed of the color screen .. the sample mode improved so its alot easier to chop and truncate wav.i also love the patches on this thing... its incredible sound.
Sound:
sound on this this machine is incredible... synth on this machine is easy to manipulate... also the there are a few new patches that they didnt put on the fantom-s that they have on this machine. for all the RnB and hiphop heads... this is the board to get. musiq soulchild has the fantom on a couple of his tracks. also great for trance,dance, and classical... great choice of symphony patches.
Ease of Use:
id say this machine has a slight more learning curve... but if you mess with it long enough this machine is easy... took me bout a week till i got this machine down... once youve used this machine... every other roland you use will come natural and quick.
Support:
dont know never had to call.
Overall:
this is a board that i would keep part of my collection... this would be a great vintage board 20 years from now.even if we upgrade here and there, but this workstation is considered classic!!!if i could search for another product , it would be in the v-synth... if ive ever lost this board , i would buy the same one... or if the upgrade is ever out by that time id most likely get that....
Submitted: 8/3/2007
Style of Music: RnB, Jazz, Hip Hop, classical guitar intrumentals
Purchase a new Roland Fantom X8 from Mar. 1st, 2008 to Jun. 30th, 2008 and receive $400 back from Roland! See PDF Offer for full details.
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