Main

Roland Fantom-S 61-Note Sampling Workstation

Roland's Fantom-S workstation keyboards are a complete solution for professional music production. The 61-note Fantom-S and 88-note Fantom-S88 both feature seamless integration of audio and MIDI - plus advanced sampling with realtime timestretch, sample chop and new "Skip Back Sampling." A Dynamic Pad Bank makes it easy to arrange and trigger audio, while all-new factory sounds, an onboard mastering processor and USB file exchange give the Fantom-S the power to take your music from idea to completion. Learn More...

    • price too low to show!
Write a Review:

Overall User Ratings

Overall:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10
Features:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Quality:
* * * * * * * * * . 9 out of 10
Value:
* * * * * * * * * . 9 out of 10
I Want It:
* * * * * * * * * . 9 out of 10
Sound:
* * * * * * * * * . 9 out of 10
Support:
* * * * * * * * * . 9 out of 10

Individual User Ratings

Overall:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Features:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Quality:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Value:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
I Want It:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Sound:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Support:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10

Quality:
good quality, but i got it used and it was still awesome

Value:
price was exactly in my range and i got it right away

Sound:
The sound quality is really awesome. Nice sounds too.

Overall:
awesome board for anyone out there, better than korg and yamaha, trust me

Do You Agree? Was This Review Helpful to You?

yes

no

Overall:
* * * * * * * * * . 9 out of 10
Features:
* * * * * * * * * . 9 out of 10
Quality:
* * * * * * * * * . 9 out of 10
I Want It:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Sound:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10

Feature:
The hottest feature is the keyboard itself. The skip back sampling is awesome and you basically are a one man orchestra with this board.

Quality:
Top quality.. Tired of the over plastisized equipment.. bump it once and parts fly off.. Not this baby! Klunky is only inconvienient when you don't care about quality.

Value:
Hell.. I wish I knew about this way along time ago.. I would have bought two of them. (more than one studio) I paid $1,400 for mine. Every now and then you can catch one for about $1,200

Desirability:
All my boys drool over this board.. And mind you.. It's like ahem.. Hands of that's my baby~!

Sound:
I've worked with midi and sampled sound for quite awhile and none of the crap I've heard even touches this board.

Support:
Haven't had the need to bother them about it..

Overall:
I believe this board with all it has to offer will be part of my gear for many years to come provided it doesn't get weird mechanically on me. But even so.. If it provides me the ability to do so without constant repair.. when it does die.. I will be on the hunt for a new one asap~!

Do You Agree? Was This Review Helpful to You?

yes

no

Overall:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Features:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Quality:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Value:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
I Want It:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Sound:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Support:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10

Feature:
It's very, very powerful. Synthesis engine, sampling, effects, sequencer and controls - everything is simply great. the concept is really creative and never lets you down with anything like "damn, how can I...?". It has some very nice things that you wouldn't find in other stations.

Quality:
Gorgeous metallic cover, top-quality knobs and very high-quality printout on the panel. Excellent build - Roland has always been one of the very best here.

Value:
It is the center of my studio, thus, it is invaluable.

Desirability:
It is the most creative station out there. It looks so sexy and inspires you to write lots of nice music!

Sound:
It sounds amazing. The MFX and other effects processors are simply great - especially speaker and guitar amp simulators, phasers, 3D effects and 24-bit reverb. ROM wave set is killer. Mastering processor takes it to the top, really - a pro-quaity mix right out of line outs - "ready-to-go" as they say.

Support:
Roland support is pretty okay, but I never needed one anyway.

Overall:
Very powerful, flexible, musical and creative tool, both for sound design and music production. Easy to learn, intuitive and expressive. Can do a real lot for you.

Do You Agree? Was This Review Helpful to You?

yes

no

Overall:
* * * * * * * * * . 9 out of 10
Features:
* * * * * * * * * . 9 out of 10
Quality:
* * * * * * * * * . 9 out of 10
Value:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
I Want It:
* * * * * * * * * . 9 out of 10
Sound:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10
Support:
* * * * * * * . . . 7 out of 10

Feature:
Excellent again, Combining the best design ideas into one screaming piece of kit. It really is a full production work station. And for <$1500 ! it's a no brainer. GIANT screen.Great OS. Skip back sampling. The keyboard (61) "feels" sturdy and even more responsive than the competitors. Its basically got a drum machine on board, 3 fx processors + dedicated reverb and chorus/delay plus mastering kit. Digital out. The pads have become indespensible,(esp w/ arpeggiator (which is fully programable)) though they require a bit of tweaking. 32 megs of sample ram included with one ram slot for up to 256 additional megs of sample ram. You can even route the line input through the onboard fx proc. 16 megs of flash ram on board. Smart media, usb to computer (virtually unlimited storage). The intergration of sampling/sequencing/editing and intuitiveness of the OS set a new standard. The pitchmod/wangbar is also great. a lot of people gripe about the polyphony but with resampling it is almost a mute point.

Quality:
Its early yet but it sure as hell feels like a tank, a good looking funky assed tank.

Value:
For this price you would be hard pressed to find ANYTHING like this. Phenomenal value!

Desirability:
DESIGN DESIGN DESIGN...though some of the features are not in the most comfortable position for live play ( they are workable though), it is perfect for hashing out ideas quickly and following them through to mastering. It looks "intersting" and begs to be touched.

Sound:
some really clean sounds, COSM is incredible for guitar sounds, the flexability of sound editing is unbelievable. You can really bend this baby WAY over.

Support:
No experiance there yet but check out fantom-s info. com

Overall:
I also own the Motif-es and although it has more polyphony, some excellent waves and a kick ass arp....it always feels like "work" , the roland is just more..."fun". Would be just as much at home in the studio or the garage...definetly designed with the latter in mind.

Do You Agree? Was This Review Helpful to You?

yes

no

Overall:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Features:
* * * * * * * * * . 9 out of 10
Quality:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Value:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
I Want It:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Sound:
* * * * * * * * * . 9 out of 10
Support:
* * * * * * * * * . 9 out of 10

Feature:
skip back sampling is realy cool. i hope they will update this product so that i can record directly into sequencer without sampling. When they do it, i'll give 10+

Desirability:
it looks sooo sexy!!

Sound:
with srx boards... 10-the best!

Support:
the customer support of roland is the best. Though, i hope they will come with an os update next namm.

Do You Agree? Was This Review Helpful to You?

yes

no

Overall:
* * * * * * * * * . 9 out of 10
Features:
* * * * * * * * * . 9 out of 10
Quality:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Value:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
I Want It:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Sound:
* * * * * * * * * . 9 out of 10
Support:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10

Feature:
Nearly an all in one soloution, I love the pads, I have heard people say U have to really hit them to hear anything, just use the right velocity settings and they are as good as a rubber pad can be.

Quality:
I have owned several Roland product and not one has given me any problems, very rugged construction.

Value:
Not as expensive as the rest, but just as good.

Sound:
This is not just another jv/xp product in a pretty box, it has a new sound set,

Support:
Most anwsers to questions can be found on Rolands webb site and the exellent site Fantom-s.info

Overall:
While this board keeps forcing me to produce HITS I will have to marry it.

Do You Agree? Was This Review Helpful to You?

yes

no