Fantom-X Keyboards Now Shipping

Fantom-X6 (Click for a close-up)

Fantom-X6 Rear Panel (Click for a close-up)

Fantom-X7 (Click for a close-up)

Fantom-X7 Rear Panel (Click for a close-up)

Fantom-X8 (Click for a close-up)

Fantom-X8 Rear Panel (Click for a close-up)

Roland has now started shipping the Fantom-X Series of keyboard workstations, unveiled at this year's Winter NAMM show. Available with a 61-note keyboard (Fantom-X6), 76-note keyboard (Fantom-X7) or 88-note Progressive Hammer-Action Keyboard (Fantom-X8), these 128-note workstations offer capacity for nearly 1GB of wave data when fully expanded. Each model includes a brand new wave ROM with new sounds, room for 4 SRX expansions and up to 544MB of sample RAM--large enough to be used like a digital recorder--plus a new look with a color LCD screen.

Powered by Roland's new sound generator chip, the Fantom-X Series makes it possible to play 4-tone Patches with 128-voice polyphony, and can be expanded to nearly 1GB of wave data. The internal 128MB wave ROM is loaded with brand new sounds. Take the new 88-key split piano, for example, which utilizes over 700 samples to create the acoustic piano Patch.

The sampling section is also beefed up with capacity for up to 544MB of RAM using optional DIMMs. This amount of memory lets users record long samples in the fashion of a digital recorder with full wave editing capabilities (a new PC Card slot lets users store samples on cards with up to 1GB capacity). Between this "linear" recording capability and the realtime timestretch, users get total integration of audio and MIDI using the Fantom-X Series' sequencer.

The Fantom-X Series also inherit many of the features of their predecessors as well--like the Dynamic Pad Bank (with improved gel pads), Roland's "Skip Back Sampling" feature, and V-LINK technology for integrating audio and video. There are also plenty of onboard effects including COSM Guitar Amp Modeling, Lo-Fi processing, Slicer and more--plus a dedicated Mastering processor. An onboard USB port makes MIDI connections easy, as well as importing or exporting audio in .WAV/AIFF format.

Connections to the Fantom-X Series include four 1/4-inch outputs (two stereo), a stereo 1/4-inch input, S/PDIF digital I/O, MIDI In/Out/Thru, a PC Card slot and USB port.