General Sound of the Fantom

6 May 2005, 05:45

Hi there,

I own a Roland XV-88 and a Fantom X7.

I used the XV88 as my favorite live playing gear.
Now wanted to expand my Live Setup with the Fantom X7.
But the sound of the Fantom X7 is not so powerful and assertive as the sounds from the XV.

I tried to rebuild a Patch from the XV on the X7. Same Tones, same Settings.
The Patch sounded lackadaisical on the X7.

Next step i tried was using mainly the sounds of the XV and the clavier of the X7. I have a clear image of how a live gear has to work and how it should be programable for being a good live gear.
The Performace stuff is very unlogical an for my purposes as far as possible useless...

I love the easiness of the sampling part. The Pads are great. The handling is very intuitive and logical. I like that.
That is the only thing i use in a live performance.

Slowly but surely i have the feeling that the X7 is not useable for live perfomances.

Feel free to discuss with me... Perhaps you can prove me that black is white...

Greets from Germany,
ALex

P.S.: Sorry for my bad bad english

Re: General Sound of the Fantom

6 May 2005, 07:38

Well, what you are saying is quite strange to me. Fantoms have a little more advanced sound engine, and much better set of effects, plus a mastering compression... I never had a close rehearsal of the XVs but from what I hear they are no way better than the Fantoms. I myself used to have XP-80 and although the Fantom-S I have sounds different, it still gives me better sound and a simply uncomparable set of new stuff.

As of live use, I think Fantoms beat XVs too. First thing is that they feature D-beam and knobs like XV-88, but the huge LCD gives you much more power to view what's going on live. The other great thing is that the SVQ files are like project files except for samples, they save your whole setup including patches, effects, performance and controllers settings.

A.

Re: General Sound of the Fantom

6 May 2005, 09:30

I have to agree with everything Artemio has said. I also used to have an XP80 - good in it's day but surpassed in every way by the current FX.

Sound wise - is the mastering control set up OK? (fooled me at first). Sound output is less "lively" if you don't use it. What about output gain? You can adjust that too.

I agree the performance setup is not immediately logical (compared even to previous Rolands), but once you get into it you can really fly with live performance. That big screen is wonderful for live setups (even got my set list and lyrics in there!)

FantomX8, V-Combo, JV-90

FantomX7, V-Combo, JV-90
SRX-07

Re: General Sound of the Fantom

6 May 2005, 10:53

Yeah thats odd.... Fantom Is basically a complete upgrade from the XV including better sound chips, AD/DA convertors you name it.... I think your just in love with the other machine! happens..

PRS guitars
Mesa Boogie Amps
Roland Fantom X6

Re: General Sound of the Fantom

6 May 2005, 13:01

As a former XP-80 and XV-88 owner, as well as a current Fantom X8 owner, my vote goes to the Fantom!!! (hands down!)

http://www.piaknow.com

PiaKnowGuy
Please feel free to listen to Pirates
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PiaKnow

Re: General Sound of the Fantom

6 May 2005, 13:14

AxlF, are we sure we are not just dealing with the balanced vs unbalanced cable issue? That is what it sounds like to me.

Signed, "We work, we laugh, we struggle, we perform."?pianodick 2005

Re: General Sound of the Fantom

6 May 2005, 13:30

I used to own JV1080, JV2080, XV88. Now I have a Fantom S88 and S. I agree that the Fantoms (stock) are better in most regards. There are a few JV/XV sounds that I miss, and a few things that they can do arguably do better (ie organs and saxes IMO). In general the Fantom is better, althouigh sonically it's not dramatic to me. The Fantoms are way easier to program.

For live performance, the Fantom is nicer with the screen, favorites and easy tweaking, however the XV88 has a dedicated numeric pad and bank buttons which IMO is an important loss in the Fantoms. I still can't figure out why Roland left them off.

Cheers.

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