The Roland FANTOM is a powerful, impressive synthesizer workstation with sequencer, sampler, audio interface and extensive synthesizer functions. In the extensively dimensioned and expandable sound memory Roland has literally immortalized a best-of from 40 years of own synthesizer history and integrated its high-quality V-Piano for all keyboard virtuosos. In addition to several synthesis technologies that can be used simultaneously, you can keep in mind that the analogue multimode filter in the FANTOM might be the icing on the cake for some sounds. The sequencer offers realtime, TR/step sequencing and clip sequencer. OneShots and loops can be triggered playfully via pads in the sampler and integrated into your own creations.
Another highlight of the FANTOM are the scene memories, which are organized in four banks of 128 memory locations each. These act as quick creative memories and hold everything you're working on. Whether it's a handful of patterns, a song you've started, a sound you're still creating, various settings linked to your current project in the DAW, or all of the above at once, handwritten notes and "it has to stay on because I can't save" are definitely a thing of the past.
Anyone who has already worked with Roland instruments will quickly notice that the operation has been rethought and leads to faster results not only thanks to the tidy interface and above all very intuitive menu navigation in the Fantom.
Roland has gone all out with the FANTOM, equipping its flagship with over 3500 sounds and over 90 drum kits, as well as the cutting-edge and top-notch V-Piano. Strings, organ, piano, guitar, brass, choir, wind instruments and more; the selection in the FANTOM is sheer remarkable!
The typical Roland sound architecture has been retained in that each sound can still consist of up to four Parts. However, the Parts in FANTOM correspond to a complete, extensive synthesizer voice with its own oscillator and filter models, envelopes, modulation assignments and, of course, its own volume and pan settings. There is also a double LFO for each of the four parts, which not only has the usual waveforms, with and without BPM synchronization, but you can also create your own waveforms by hand. We calculate: 16 tracks with up to 8 LFOs per sound; 128 LFOs simultaneously! If you like to create new sounds from scratch, this is the source of all modulation ideas.
The new and above all extended architecture allows you to create sounds according to the modular principle: take the SuperSaw Oscillator (known from the JP-8000) for example and combine it with the Juno Filter; what was reserved for modularists so far, you get here in a storable way! Different synthesis technologies can be set for each sound and part, so nothing stands in the way of a layered sound consisting of a roaring organ, bells wrapped in delays and a crunchy bass.
A whole 90 multi-effects are just waiting to change and refine the sounds created, individually or in parallel, respectively serially, per part. The selection of delay, reverb, chorus, flanger, distortion, real uniques with wow-character, should leave nothing to be desired. Moreover, the Fantom has enough power to calculate elaborate effect chains for each of the 16 tracks without running out of breath. In addition, each part has its own equalizer. The master compressor is located above the main output. A special position is given to the analogue filter, which offers four different filter types (LPF, BPF, HPF & PKG) including drive. The filter can be assigned to individual tracks, the main output, a return from the DAW or the analog inputs. Thus, it is not only an extended part of the sound generation, but also an independent effect to give sounds the final touch in the right place.
The Fantom's sequencer has been thoroughly reworked and now offers parallel recording and composing concepts that perfectly support the "genre-typical" recording methods. Instead of recording all tracks in one pattern "like before", the Fantom offers the possibility to combine the 16 tracks freely and to use them independently. Songs can be arranged in a classic linear way or in the clip sequencer (comparable to Ableton Live). The TR/step sequencer, which is also capable of substepping and ratcheting, is ideal for programming rhythms. The perfectly played piano or the funky organ can be recorded in real time, optionally with or without note quantization. The same applies to the 16 pads, which fire off individual sounds from the internal sound generation, or their own samples. This way of working of the pads is known from Akai's MPC series. Behind the pads is also the sampler; with eightfold polyphony, four banks of 16 pads each can be assigned. Sounds and loops can be up to 2GB in size, time stretching is of course also offered for loops. A comprehensive
The FANTOM can be fully integrated into the workflow of a DAW (e.g. Apple Logic Pro, GarageBand, MainStage). Thanks to the USB audio interface, 16 stereo tracks can be recorded, edited and, above all, processed in parallel in the computer. Three stereo tracks are addressable from the DAW into the FANTOM; be it for editing a track with the analog filter or as audio output from the DAW to the main mixer. Plug-ins loaded in the DAW can be conveniently operated and edited from the FANTOM, including song position pointers and the entire DAW transport field. The DAW and plug-in controls are also stored in the scenes and can be recalled in seconds, provided that the computer is connected and the DAW is open. Otherwise, this data is not taken into account when loading.
Thanks to several USB ports, it is of course possible to connect other devices in addition to a computer and an external storage medium such as a USB stick. For example, you can connect a second keyboard for double-manual play, a Breath controller or a fader box.
Highlight of the new OS 2.1 are the four expansion slots, which can be equipped with model expansions of popular as well as historical Roland synthesizers. The four timeless classics Jupiter-8, Juno-106, SH-101 and JX-8P make the beginning of the continuously developed series. Best of all, the update, which includes a number of bug fixes and improvements, is available free of charge to all Fantom 6/7/8 owners, along with the four cult synths!
The instruments themselves can be combined in the usual way with the cutting-edge Zen Core synthesis, V-Piano sounds or eg. your own multisamples. Also, each of the four synthesizers is presented with its own interface and of course with the controls of the originals matching. Thanks to the Zenology platform, you have access to this enormous variety of sounds everywhere.
Since its introduction in September 2019, the Fantom 6/7/8 series has been continuously improved and enhanced with new features. The update history should give you an overview of the versions:
New features from version 2.10
New functions starting with version 2.00
New functions from version 1.60
New features from version 1.50
New features in version 1.11