Fantom polyphony problems

Wow, that's an odd one. Even if you did run 48 notes at the same time your Fantom should handle that. My suggestion would be to go into the manual and look at the voice lists. Check each voice you used to see what the poly used for each voice is, and start adding them up. Also if you're sustaining your arps, that too can eat poly pretty fast. First thing first though... Look at the data list in the manual and add up the poly for the voices you're using.

If you're blowing out the poly in "patch" mode just playing a patch such as Maj, Strings then that's REALLY odd!!!! Is your software updated on the unit?

Squeak

Thanks Squeak...I'm dying over here. It took me 3 years to pull the trigger on another 1000 keyboard, and now I'm wondering if I made the right decision...

I did all the math regarding polyphony in the book. As I see it, even if I had the max:

Kick 4 notes
Snare 4 notes
Clap 4 notes
hat 1 4 notes
hat 2 4 notes
Hat 3 4 notes
Bass 4 notes
Guitar 1 4 notes
Guitar 2 4 notes
9x4= 36 notes

So I should have been able to play 3 notes at the same time with each patch right????

I was far away from doing that. Like I said, then I went to strings, played a three note c chord on the lower region, and a 3 note c chord on the higher region, and it cut out on me...and that was with nothing else even playing.


I haven't yet updated to System Update 1.05. do you really think that this could be my issue. I thought the update just dealt with some USB storage and some timing issues????

I've read some comments about sustain. I don't believe any of the notes were lasting longer than a single hit, except for the bass and the guitar. As for the arps, I was playing them by hand, not using the arpeggiator function.


ALSO A SIDE NOTE::: When plugged into my Midi Timepiece AV, there's a note input showing up on the timepiece rack, which looks like the Metronome of the Fantom or something...could I have something playing in the backround that I dont' know about, like a rhythm pattern, or a metronome or something? My other two keyboards show no activity on the timepiece unless I press a note??? Could this be something adding to my problem????

Oh yeah, one more thing...

So I tried going back and changing my reserve voices for each track, to see if it would help. I switched all 8 channels to 4 reserve voices. The sound wasn't any different, and the drop out still occurred.

Is there something I'm missing here????

My biggest frustration, like I said is that everybody keeps telling me that with 128 voice poly, I should be able to do like 8 tracks of drums, and another 8 tracks of expressive keyboards, strings, etc, with no problems.

But here I am at 8 tracks and already overloading.

MY ALESIS 64 NOTE POLY NEVER DID THIS, NOR DID MY EMU PROTEUS RACK. Both only have 64 Voice, and I can do 16 tracks with tons of chords on both units with no problem.

Can somebody out there that owns one of these things, tell me how many factory patches they've been able to sequence at once before they had drop out???

I figure most of you are able to use all 16 tracks, and 16 different patches with no problem???

HELP ME PLEASE, as I SAID IF I CAN FIGURE OUT THERES A PROBLEM I CAN RETURN THIS UNIT BEFORE FRIDAY.

THANK YOU

1) The Fantom X8 has a voice monitor function. Check to see if there is an equivalent function for the XR

2) Patches that use four tones eat into you poly count.

3) Use of the hold pedal will eat voices.

I don't have a hold pedal. I just used the 4 tones for patches as an example. Most patches I used only used 2 tones. Lastly how can I figure out if it has a voice monitor? I've looked in the manual as well as online and can't find anything. This would lead me to believe that it doesn't. Thanks Mark though, any other suggestions???


PLEASE SOMEBODY GIVE ME AN EXAMPLE OF AN ARRANGEMENT THEY WERE ABLE TO DO WITHOUT ANY POLYPHONIC DROP OUT?? HOW MANY PATCHES, WHAT KIND OF MUSIC, HOW MANY NOTES/CHORDS WERE PLAYING AT ANY ONE GIVEN TIME...

This all just doesn't seem right to me. I still think I should be able to complete a 16 track hip hop arrangement with keys, drums, strings, instruments, etc...with no problems....it's not like I'm doing orchestral arrangments playing 100 notes at a time.

PLEASE STILL HELP.
Thanks
Anthony

To see the voice monitor ... press SHIFT during the main LAYER/SPLIT screen and you will see "Voice Mon" F4 ... that should be informative ...

If you find a particular patch is eating up too much poly, go to PATCH EDIT under GENERAL and see what your PATCH PRIORITY for that patch is set at ... there is "loudest" and "last" ... I usually select "loudest" if I'm having probs. (Don't forget to write the patch or the chang won't stick.)

BTW, even when my voices are maxed out at 128 ... I am still able to get a consistent sound out of the Fantom ...

It seems like there's another option elsewhere, -- maybe in the system menu -- but I'm not really in Fantom mode now, so I'll have to dig in later ...

Good luck ... I was having some difficulty with dropped notes for a while ... but I managed to figure it out ...

You will too ...

I've had my Fantom X7 almost two years -- and loving it! -- and I still feel like I'm just starting to get it on with this thing ...

Check back and let us know how it goes ...



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Roland Fantom X7, Alesis Fusion 6HD, Novation X/A-Station 25, Alesis Micron

Check to see if you local control is turned on or off. If its turned on, turn it off. Having it on will trigger additional (Double) voices and this may be causing your polyphony to cut out.

Don't panic. We'll get it sorted out.


As everyone has suggested, check your voice monitor. That "reserve" function of 4 notes is not a good idea because you're limiting yourself, and you might be playing a lot more. Change everything back to auto and let the fantom take care of it.

For comparision, i have a Fantom S with 64 voices, and i dont have a drop issue with 48 voices.



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If at first you dont succeed, then skydiving is definitively not for you.

Check to see if you local control is turned on or off. If its turned on, turn it off. Having it on will trigger additional (Double) voices and this may be causing your polyphony to cut out.
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I'm confused with that suggestion. Why would he turn off "local control". Wouldn't turning local control off, disconnect the tone generator from the keys? You'd turn this feature off to control external gear and to avoid the Fantoms internal sounds playing on top of the unit you're controlling. Unless I'm missing something I don't see how turning local control off would help him.

Voice reserve is a nice feature to use in this case. However, what he has to understand is that "some" voices are more for "live performance" than they are for using in muti-mix for sequencing. Also keep in mind how many notes you trigger on the "first beat" of your measure too. Add up all the notes on your first beat. You'd be surprised how many notes you trigger just on the first beat. Consider the bass drum, hi-hat, all chords played, the first note of your bass line. Again, when using larger element voices that first beat can add up fast. Add that with the use of sustaining, and the arps, and BAM "poly blow out baby"

My Roland synth has 64 note poly, and some of the voices themselves eat up a lot of poly too. Take a killer lush string or pad patch. With these you're so tempted to play massive chords using both hands. If you use a patch that has 4 note poly, and you play a 3 note chord with your left hand and three note chord with your right to get a very thick sound (which is very common)..., well you'll get that thick sound, but you'll also nail 24 notes of poly doing that. Now take into consideration using that voice, along with the bass drum, bass note, hi-hat, guitar, other tracks, using sustain, and arps all starting on the first beat of the measure.. That's eating poly very fast.

Squeak

Thanks for the help guys, I think I finally got it sorted out. When I bought the board, the dude at the store was showing me some things on it. I guess he had layered like 5 drums for each of the pads. So when I was using the drums on the pads, instead of the keys, I was playing like 20 tones at a time. I feel like an idiot for not checking this first. Made my first track last night, and I'm already impressed. Now I just have to delve deeper into the sampling and effects, and I think I'm going to be in heaven.

Amazing how much a new board can spark creativity.

Once again thanks for the help.

I'm glad you figured it out ...

Dude, you're going to be having lots of those moments.

Just last night for example, I picked up the Fantom X manual before going to bed just to see if I could find something new out ...

Low and behold, in the PITCH section of the PART VIEW menus that controls the pitch bend range of the patch ... In the menu, the setting is labled at PAT, which means the part will correspond to how the patch is programmed.

But that's just the prob ... it's a pain in the ass to edit the patch, find the parameter, write the patch, etc. for a simple change.

So I avoided used the pitch bend ...

Well, my pitch bend lament has ended ...

So it just goies to show you that even simple things can elude you (for almost two years!)

But that's the magic and mystery of the Fantom, for you!



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Roland Fantom X7, Alesis Fusion 6HD, Novation X/A-Station 25, Alesis Micron