Sold my Fantom G8 and bought a G7

Welcome to the "G7 club" if theres any.... Good choice....I thinks that's why it almost cost as G8.

why did you end up paying so much for the g7?

i think the G8's a great workstation for the studio. i intend to keep mine until it literally falls apart.

i think the G7's also a great workstation and does very well for the sake of creating music. i need all 88 keys to play so i have a hard time 'playing' my G7 but it's like my extra FG sound engine to double the fun. :p

if anyone's interested in the USA, i might sell my G7 later on. it's in new condition (never taken out of my music room, no scratches) with original packaging. ever since adding the nord into my setup i havent done much with my G7 and just sitting in my music room. kind of a waste.

Kenchan,
I'm just curious... What nord model did you buy?

There are no more G7s available at least in Europe... Selling your's could be a good business

paulof- i have the Nord StageEX for its piano's, EP's, and organ sounds. i use my G8 mainly for music composition but use the nord's sounds for the main keyboard instruments.

I got an m3 88 the other day. I'll post pics in the pic section soon of my now "COMPLETE" set up.

The Nord Stage EX is a really a powerful board for live playing...I've seen some demos lately...
Roland has nothing similar...

Yep I know...there's the V-Combo...but...

G-7 rock's - have one myself

I think there is a fair amount of people here who actually upgraded from 7 to 8... So to each their own I myself LOVE the feel of the 8's keys, but would never prefer it over the 7 due to the size and weight. That is until I get myself a bigger home

I had a G8 for a few months. When I started cancelling gigs just cause I was tired of carrying that beast around, I knew I needed to switch to a G7 asap. That thing practically broke my back, every rehearsal or gig felt like a 2 hour workout

Now I'm over a year with the G7 and I've never been happier with a keyboard. Even though I come from a piano background, I think the keys of the G7 are great and very responsive, I can play technical things on them that in the past I could only play on weighted keys.

If Roland built the Fantom G8 a lot lighter I would have preferred it to my G7 because of the PHA II Ivory Feel keys. The G7 is a good compromise though and I actually really like the feel of the G7 synth action keys. Twelve extra keys would have certainly come in handy also, I do admit, but 76 keys are usually quite sufficient for most all songs except a few here and there and for classical music of course. When faced with some notes that are lower or higher on the scale than my G7 allows if you're accustomed (through practice) in the use of Octave switching it can actually be pulled off fairly seamlessly in most cases. Thankfully it doesn't need to be attempted but only in occasional rare instances, if at all.

Just think of it. If Roland actually produced the G8 weighing in at around or under 40 lbs. Roland could have literally sold 'tonnes' more of the G8 than they have. It would have also been much more "profitable" to Roland's bottom line at the same time.

Don't think that other Keyboard companies aren't failing to see the need for lighter (stronger composites) in their keyboard products. As the population ages and as we get older do they really want us to lug around these huge 70 lb. "bricks" back and forth to and from gigging performances? Roland could easily please both the "gigging" crowd and the "studio" crowd with a much lighter 88 key option and all the while get richer at the same time because of it. Will they capitalize on this opportunity though?? Stay tuned for Roland's Fantom G8 successor to find out. Although my guess would be that NO they WON'T capitalize on it unfortunately... but stranger things have happened so we'll just have to wait and see... in about three years or so.

In the meantime I think both Yamaha and Korg etc., could easily come through in a big way in this regard. FWIW, Casio is releasing an 88 key Stage Piano in the Privia line for their 30th anniversary called the PX-3 that weighs in at 23.6 lbs. It's not a workstation of course but it's packed with features nonetheless and at the amazing street price of $799. It's fully weighted to boot and the "key action" is purported to be excellent (superb) also. And of course the Piano sounds are quite acceptable for the price and have even been praised by the likes of Keyboard Magazine, etc.

Just think of the impact Roland could have on their bottom line as well as their customer base if they produced top of the line 88 key workstation keyboards that won't break your back each time you try and move it? I would be the first in line to snatch one up if indeed they did produce one. But I digress.

I got a G8, I figured since I'm a studio musician and don't gig, that it would be the best choice. Still, since getting it, I've had to completely take apart my setup and I'm in the process of building another custom control desk because I need the Fantom in the center of everything but the damn keybed itself is about 4 inches tall and it completely throws everything off. And the whole weight thing doesn't help one damn bit....

Keysme, I'd be second in line right after you. I might even push
Seriously, a Roland workstation with piano action that weighed 40-50lbs would be perfect. I wouldn't even mind if the keybed wasn't as "realistic" as the G8's, even a lighter action such as the ones found in Roland's FP series would be good enough for me.

I think Clavia got it perfect with the Nord Stage, you can tell they really have the gigging musician in mind. I have a Nord Stage 88 EX, it's packed with features and weighs only 41 lbs! It's not a workstation but still very versatile.

I am not even that good on a keyboard, really just a beginner you might say but the G8 was my choice. I don't think I will ever sell it. It is the best of the best, in my opinion. I had owned a Korg M3 61. I also had a Nord Performance 3. Sold both, got the G8.