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Roland set to unveil new workstation for 2012: Fantom AS


suitandtieguy

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let's face it, Roland is getting it's pants handed to them by Korg, Kurzweil, and M-Audio in the workstation game right now. they're going to spend the next year crapping their aforementioned pants and coming up with an immediate competition product but without the help of all that groundwork everyone else has done.

 

i think it will be like a current Fantom but with a Gaia, V-Synth, and VK-8 built in and with MPC style pads in the far right side of the panel. it will have 4 different displays to accommodate the 4 different and incompatible processors and platforms under the hood (i cite reference code JV-1000), and feature 127 buttons, 9 drawbars, 28 knobs, 4 D-Beams, and a Time Trip pad.

 

the upper half of the keyboard will be waterfall keys in a similar fashion to a VK-8, but the lower half of the keyboard will be the patented "prone-to-break" weighted action of the RD series. this will may confuse people but trust them they know what they're doing.

 

preset number 1 will be a piano sound. preset number 2 will be an V-Accordian/D-50 "Digital Native Dance" performance split. preset number 3 will be a 9-layer RPS patch with prog rock drums, synth bass, and organ to show off all of the primary synth engines in the left hand and a right hand split part that uses VariOS tech to sing "RO-LAND FAN-TOM-AS" over top of it in 13/8 time against RPS's native 4/4 metre. preset number 4 will be a piano/string layer.

 

there will also be a dedicated reverb knob.

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It isn't that Roland is suffering from competition; they have had no reason to change anything. The Fantom has been selling well. There was no incentive to release a new workstation during the recession. Now that the recession is officially is over and that competitors have released their upgraded workstations, Roland can release whatever comes after the the Fantom G. The company is not worried about anything as you claim. A revised product is actually years in the making, not just a simple quick design and dump.

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they have had no reason to change anything

 

 

how about pride? They haven't sold a synth or workstation in a long time that would be considered groundbreaking or even on par with their peers.

 

PRIDE IN NOT HAVING A {censored}TY PRODUCT SHOULD BE ENOUGH.

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It isn't that Roland is suffering from competition; they have had no reason to change anything. The Fantom has been selling well.

 

 

For the first sentence, you should take a look over at the rolandclan forum. I can't remember any workstation in the last twenty years that created so much frustration as the Fantom G.

 

When it comes to the selling numbers, they can be achieved on some seller websites. One big german seller lists the Fantom G as being on number 33 on a sales chart, while the Motif XF (as a newcomer) is on first place and the now replaced M3 on number 11. This is certainly not a worldwide fact, but it tells you a lot.

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I still maintain the Fantom was a better workstation than either the M3 or Motif XS. Easier to use, faster to navigate, better specs, way better production ability, WAY better controller features...

 

Historically, the big three release their flagships three years apart (Fantom-S to Fantom-X notwithstanding). This year was Yamaha and Korg; Roland's turn is Winter NAMM 2012.

 

Yes, I'm sure Roland is worried their Fantom-G sales will plummet even further with the Kronos. I'm worried more about Yamaha, who has another 2-3 years before they can even pretend to compete with Korg.

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For the first sentence, you should take a look over at the rolandclan forum. I can't remember any workstation in the last twenty years that created so much frustration as the Fantom G.

The same frustration can be found on other boards for other products. Visit Motifator.com for example. It never ends. The biggest fans are also the biggest critics because they always want more. You will never get an objective evaluation by reading comments at their dedicated websites.

 

 

When it comes to the selling numbers, they can be achieved on some seller websites. One big german seller lists the Fantom G as being on number 33 on a sales chart, while the Motif XF (as a newcomer) is on first place and the now replaced M3 on number 11. This is certainly not a worldwide fact, but it tells you a lot.

 

That is exactly what one should expect -- newer products sell better than older products. Then the older products get upgraded, they receive more attention, and the cycle starts over.

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I see the future will someday be a software VST driven workstation like the

Liontracs but better. Maybe go with Mac OS and design a workstions with all the

knobs, sliders etc and screen which could be touch but also have Multi monitor ouput

for mutidisplays or go to one large screen and split it up etc.

Someday that will be the future Im sure of it. It needs a good OS and plenty of controls

to access voices quickly. Liontrac has the right idea but need a better OS and

system layout design keyboard panel.

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software VST driven workstation... go with Mac OS.

 

 

Never happen. Apple simply will not allow MacOS to run on any hardware Apple doesn't make. (Just ask Pystar). That's because Apple uses its OS to sell its overpriced hardware.

 

Actually, what would be great is for a major music manufacturer (ie, Korg, Yamaha, or Roland) to take Linux, develop a finely tuned version a la Android (but mated with a particular hardware workstation), and use its industry clout to get major Windows VST devs to port their VST software to this workstation. I'm not talking a hack like the MUSE receptor, which tries to run Windows software under Linux. I'm talking about a major music company spearheading native Linux VST development. It actually wouldn't take much to get that going. But it would take a company with marketing clout to get the ball rolling.

 

Although there are some rough spots with Linux (and I won't go into particulars here), the OS itself is no better or worse than MacOS (which itself is a Unix deriviative) or Windows. Of course, one thing any OS doesn't do so great is run software written for an entirely different OS. And that's unfortunately what companies like MUSE try to do with it. That isn't what I'm talking about.

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"Hi, we're Korg/Roland/Yamaha/Kurzweil. We've spent decades perfecting the hardware synth engine, but ya' know what? Let's throw all that work away and instead, license ten or twelve top libraries at great cost which'll destroy our already dwindling margin, and then try to convince people that yes, it's totally okay to wait four minutes to load a violin patch only to realize that it's not quite the right sound. And let's hire ten new product managers and twenty new firmware engineers who do nothing but wrangle third-party soft synth developers to make sure their obscure VST works perfectly on our engine, because we couldn't possibly alienate the one guy who absolutely must load twenty instances of AcmeLoops Rectasynth Extreme for their dubstep wubwubwubwubWUBWUBWUBWUB epic."

 

VSTs in a workstation is a bad idea. I rue the day the first of the big four try it (and it'll eventually happen), because it'll then be table stakes and everyone will expect it. Just like everyone assumes guitar processors must load custom impulse responses because Digitech did it. It's retarded. Let the big four do what they do best; if you want VSTs, use a computer. Or buy a Receptor and be done with it.

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let's face it, Roland is getting it's pants handed to them by Korg, Kurzweil, and M-Audio in the workstation game right now. they're going to spend the next year crapping their aforementioned pants and coming up with an immediate competition product but without the help of all that groundwork everyone else has done.


i think it will be like a current Fantom but with a Gaia, V-Synth, and VK-8 built in and with MPC style pads in the far right side of the panel. it will have 4 different displays to accommodate the 4 different and incompatible processors and platforms under the hood (i cite reference code JV-1000), and feature 127 buttons, 9 drawbars, 28 knobs, 4 D-Beams, and a Time Trip pad.


the upper half of the keyboard will be waterfall keys in a similar fashion to a VK-8, but the lower half of the keyboard will be the patented "prone-to-break" weighted action of the RD series. this will may confuse people but trust them they know what they're doing.


preset number 1 will be a piano sound. preset number 2 will be an V-Accordian/D-50 "Digital Native Dance" performance split. preset number 3 will be a 9-layer RPS patch with prog rock drums, synth bass, and organ to show off all of the primary synth engines in the left hand and a right hand split part that uses VariOS tech to sing "RO-LAND FAN-TOM-AS" over top of it in 13/8 time against RPS's native 4/4 metre. preset number 4 will be a piano/string layer.


there will also be a dedicated reverb knob.

 

I suppose you are making this up

:lol:

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I would suggest, modernize MIDI, make it 128 channels standard, revive MIDI as a centerpiece of the composition, and things will be simpler to build a modern workstation. With such processing power as today, it would be a breeze.

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But the problem for music manufacturers is that the software-based solutions are sounding better and better (ie, better than the workstations), cheaper and more versatile/upgradeable (ie, you don't have to buy new hardware to get new sounds), and more and more people are turning to "PC instruments" both in the studio and live.

Agreed

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The whole point of a hardware synth is its consistency, predictability, reliability, negligible latency, and instant recall. Adding VSTs to the mix undermine all of that and would be a bad experience for everyone involved. And worse, it wouldn't sell, because your average MI consumer will look at the price tag and bitch "WHAT! Why would I spend that kind of money when I can just use my laptop and a controller?"

 

Actually, some will say, "WHAT? I can just buy a $99 controller and get all the free (pirated) software I want online."

 

:rolleyes:

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