FA-07 Keybed Quality

I haven't played the FA-06, but I hear the FA-07 has a far superior keybed. I personally enjoy my FA-07 keybed a lot.

Just picked up my 07. Ive played the 08 and 06 a lot in store, and the 07 is WAY better than the 06. Personally I didnt care for the 08 either and bought an RD2000 for my weighted board.

The 07 replaced an ageing Fantom-S and the keys are similar in feel. They are similar keys with the exception that the 07 is slightly sharped edged (the Fantom has slightly rounded corners the 07 are more square).

I personally think the Jupiter 50 is slightly better - it also has the slightly rounded corners BUT the 07 is actually rather nice.

I ummed and rrrrd a lot about which board to get to partner the RD2000 (Go all out on a Kronos, pick up an analogue in the shape of a Rev 8 or Prologue, get a VA like the JD-XA or System 8 - ot even a module like the Deep mind or Peak). After a few days though the 07 was the correct way. Its on par with my old S for PCM tones, and much better for synth and acoustic ones. The sampler isnt quite as good, but good enough and the sequencer is easier to use as are studio sets ( im using the pads to select my tones so its not really a sequencer like set-up its more 16 tones all available from a single pad press).

Its not perfect....The RD sounds a lot warmer than the same tones from the FA (same EXP bank download) but the FA is slightly less muddy on lower notes. It suits some things (Synths and organs particularly) but is less well suited to pianos and orchestral stuff.

How are the velocities on the -07, do the whites and blacks play nicely together?

That's probably the biggest issue the more i play on the -06, you can adjust your technique to suit the louder/more responsive blacks but then when you go back to a more expressive keyboard it goes to pot again and you have to re-adjust your playing.

And yeah, i use my FA with the pads like that as a studio set more than sequencing, i love the layers - it was something the Jupiter was better at, but since the v2 update and the keyboard switching you can do some lovely dynamic layering on the FA.

I don't feel any difference between black and white keys. It's a decent heavy synth action with good feel.

My FA-07 will arrive tomorrow :-) My last workstation was an XP-80 that I bought in 1995. Over the past 20 years, I've played guitars and pianos. Now I'm back to the synth world. Very excited.

I have a Clavinova, so when I need weighted keys, I'll drive the FA-07 from it. I plan to buy a DS-88, though. My next purchase will be a D-05. I always loved the D-50.

Chrisk-K wrote:

My FA-07 will arrive tomorrow :-) My last workstation was an XP-80 that I bought in 1995. Over the past 20 years, I've played guitars and pianos. Now I'm back to the synth world. Very excited.

I have a Clavinova, so when I need weighted keys, I'll drive the FA-07 from it. I plan to buy a DS-88, though. My next purchase will be a D-05. I always loved the D-50.

FWIW, when you get the 07 you can download the Synth Legends (or Synth Legends Pure) set from Axial and it has a set of D-50 sounds in it. They're just like the original, though not as many as the D-05. But if you just want some sounds to whet your appetite, the D-50 set and what comes stock might be enough.

stevel wrote:

FWIW, when you get the 07 you can download the Synth Legends (or Synth Legends Pure) set from Axial and it has a set of D-50 sounds in it. They're just like the original, though not as many as the D-05. But if you just want some sounds to whet your appetite, the D-50 set and what comes stock might be enough.

Also worth mentioning is EXP-11 Vintage Synth expansion on Axial, this also has some D-50 presets that aren't in the Synth Legends pack as they are sample-based PCM tones, including the (in)famous Digital Native Dance and some classic D-50 brass patches.

I know that the FA can do a decent job emulating the D-50, and I loved the Vintage Synth board when I had an XP-80 and an XV-3080.

But the D-05 is so affordable that I cannot think of a better way to spend $300 :-)

The D-05 is nice. Just be aware that it only has 4 voices. You can change two of them together to get 8 voices. I think you can chain more for more voices if you choose, but then it does start getting expensive.

Tony

D-05 is 16 voice.

Cenobite wrote:

D-05 is 16 voice.

Then connect 4 (!!!) D-05s together. Of course, at that point it is cheaper to get an original D-50. Currently, there is one on the local Craigslist for about $500.

Tony

My FA-07 arrived. I like the keybed. Much better than other Roland synth keybeds I recently tried! It will take weeks to explore what the FA-07 can do.

I initially thought about driving the 07 from my Clavinova, but I'm very tempted to buy the DS-88 later this year. Its keybed feels fantastic and an additional exp slot is attractive. With some deal, I could buy one for around $800.