Anyone moved from an FA-06 to Fantom 06 (or I'll take opinions on the Fantom 06 as well)

xp30 wrote:

My issue with the pads is that you have to hit them in a certain way for the keyboard to register the hit.

It works okay for many use cases, like switching keyboard groups, or "triggering" samples for intros.

However, I would not use them for "playing". A specific example: I would not use the sample pads to play the talkbox samples for Living on a prayer, and I would instead use the keyboard, either to trigger the sample pads (as in https://youtu.be/x3LKHLDXmdk), or to trigger keyboard samples.

Thanks for this xp30 - I mainly use the pads for switching keyboard groups and rarely, triggering samples, so if they're pretty much the same I'd be OK on this.

xp30 wrote:

About non-hardware differences between FA-06 and Fantom-06:

Features that you might miss when switching from the FA-06 to the Fantom-06:

• Linear sequencer and ability to export songs as WAV.
• Multiple pad sample sets: On the FA-06, the 64 pad samples are stored per song, and you can quickly switch between sets of samples by loading a different song. The Fantom-06 has only one set of 64 pad samples.
• Favorites: On the FA-06, you can use the buttons below the screen for quickly switching between your favorite tones and studio-sets. There are some alternatives on the Fantom-06 (e.g. ratings for scenes and tones, and scene chains).
• Some SuperNatural-Acoustic tones.
• D-Beam.

So the good news is, none of those are really horrible things to lose for me.

Features that I would miss when switching from the Fantom-06 to the FA-06:

• Touch screen and the UI controls (knobs below the screen).
• Keyboard samples.
• Sliders and pitch/modulation wheels.
• Two additional insert FX (IFX).
• Lack of features in the SuperNatural Synth engine.

The touchscreen and samples are alone great things, so this is all more stuff I'd be more likely to use.

For example, you mentioned MFX. This is still the same on the Fantom-06.

Thanks. Too bad, but I've learned to live with it so it wouldn't be a dealbreaker.

anotherscott2022 wrote:

Stiffness or resistance overall is different from getting stiffer as you move toward the rear of the keys. The FA-06 had less resistance than FA-07, but it still had the issue of getting stiffer as you moved further back. (And I think it seems even worse, because the keys are shorter to begin with.)

Yeah this is part of my issue when I mention "shaved keys". It's both the length of the white keys - and this issue about getting closer to the hinge, but more especially the slopes on the sides of the black keys and their length as well.

I have really small hands and short fingers and I just wonder how any normal sized person can actually play these - their fingers would be curled up or even under on the black keys - you wouldn't even be able to play in Ebm pentatonic minor practically!

It sounds like the Fantom 06/07 are going to be close enough to the FA-06 that it's not really going to help - I think you mentioned in another post that the keys are not as long as the FA-07 but longer than than the 06 so that may help slightly.

I'm comparing to my D series keyboards from the 90s when I want "good synth key size" :-)

I was an FA-06 owner (before yesterday) and I share exactly the same opinion. The keybed sucks. It is even inferior than most midi keyboards. The velocity difference thing kinda exists on any synth action keybed but especially so on the FA-06. I've asked a few people on youtube and the feedback is that the new fantom-06 has upgraded the keybed, still a little bit inferior than fantom6 but much better than FA06. To go back to the beginning, I sold my FA-06 yesterday, but haven't get to buy a new fantom-06 yet since this model is sold out on most resellers in my country. I also need to gather some extra money since selling the FA-06 can only get me half a fantom-06.

my short take on the main diferences in the FA06 (i have 2) and the fantom 06 (i have 1) is the number of patches . the FA06 has total presets 1,912. + 256 GM and 512 user patches and 512 user studio sets. of 16 tones in each studio set. wheras the fantom 06 has 3,857 presets + 256 GM and 2,560 user patches and 512 scenes. of 16 tones in each scene . so for sheer user tone sounds the fantom 06 is a clear winner. and thats my short input.

sorry made an error in last post, as i said elseware the fantom 06 does noy have a GM set as i accidently said, i confused myself when posting i was in fact refering to the FA06 which does have 256 GM sound set. cheers.

Moved from FA06, to FA07 and to Fantom 6. The FA07 key-bed is zillion years better than the toy-kind in the FA06.

Linear sequencer is deeply missed. Favourites feature is missed too. I rarely used the pads, but when used, I like to have it per song, rather than just 1 bank. No GM set, and limited playability of standard midi files. Related to hardware, you can't compare built quality. Fantom is amazingly built.

"Multiple pad sample sets: On the FA-06, the 64 pad samples are stored per song, and you can quickly switch between sets of samples by loading a different song. The Fantom-06 has only one set of 64 pad samples."

I'm very disapointed about that limit of 64 for everything.

Hi,

For the ones that are moving, or have plans to move from FA to FANTOM, I´ve started some discussion about a Migration Tool here:
https://forums.rolandclan.com/viewtopic.php?f=55&t=73329


Here is a collection of opinions exchanged with other colleagues:

... after several days of preparation and studying which expansions I would need, I finally managed to create some Scenes for one of the bands, using the same FA tones, presets and some users... and I really liked it!

The sounds, even though they are the same as FA (by name and waves), are all more expressive, well balanced in terms of volume and equalization.

In FA, for example, I had to tweak the Pianos and EPs, change the equalization and mix them with other tones and ranges, and reduce the volume of the Synths. The volume and equalization levels varied a lot from one tone to another, some were very thin... now in FANTOM... the presets are almost all ready and balanced, I had to make the levels more similar between the parts... I think because the keys are less heavy, the sound comes out with more pressure and I have to control my fingers and the volumes more because all the tones want to speak... in FA I had to keep "bringing" one tone or another forward and back.

I'm impressed, I'm going to abandon several user tones that I had made in FA because I'm finding some better ones in FANTOM.

Looking at the ZenCore, the parameters are very similar to those in FA, but since I can see the detail and the edits I had made in the users through my editor, it seems to me that, although Roland uses the same waves, the parameters in FA were lacking some of the details that I see in FANTOM. There are user tones that I improved in FA, but when I redo them in FANTOM, even though the parameter names are the same, some values ​​are different and there are more parameters filled in than in FA, even though they exist, in FA they were "zeroed or unused", failing to bring the details, nuances... and I don't think it's because they changed to ZenCore...

My theory is that Roland has a master database of tones, with all the details and nuances, equalization, etc... all TOP.
In Fantoms and RDs, they put the tones with all the parameters and details.
As the category goes down... FA, Juno, XPS, etc... they must reset or "worsen" the tones so that the sonority is reduced so as not to compete with the top of the line... but this must also have to do with the hardware and CPU resources. Fantom must have more processing power, they must make adjustments/calibrations to sound good on reduced hardware, with less processing. But it could also be what car manufacturers do with different classes of vehicle models... the same "2.5" engine design is calibrated and with fewer components, locked to give only "1.0" of power in entry-level models.

... FA Synths are very good.... Pianos, EPs and Organs presets were "fine", but you could spice them up with edits... in FANTOM, almost everything is ready... "the beast" is already there... lol

... I had several parts with EQ changed in FA, using the same timbres in FANTOM, I had to cancel (use the preset's default) and make the levels more similar to other parts... before it was Piano with level 120, synth with 50... now I have to make them close and they sound the way I need...

... but the little I played with Organs with FANTOM, I already liked it... that alien to VTW that only runs in part#2, maybe I won't even use it... I'm going to focus on the Leslie, Rotary and Chorus effects because I think I can make it more "edgy".

About EPs, I recorded samples of the FA to compare with the FANTOM... the tone is the same, but the details and nuances are not... some have more modulation and I can still detail using the wheel on the right... good thing about the FANTOM.

EXSN03 pianos sound very good (to me), which would be the successors of the SuperNatural from the FA that did not come to the Fantom.

My favorites:
EXSN03 Classic Piano => For classical music it is very good
EXSN03 Smooth Classic => It is the most similar to the Full Grand from the FA
EXSN03 Winter Warm => This one speaks loudly, has a creamy sustain and fills the spaces
EXSN03 Nordic Breeze => the echo effect is good for modern music (And I think it has a reference to the Nord...)
EXSN03 Mazurka 1849 => Piano for Blues and R&B.

In terms of expansions, I managed to put all the timbres from the 2 expansions I had on the FA and another 3 additional expansions on the Fantom... time will tell if I'll go for the multisampler or continue editing and "improving" the tones that already exist.

For whom is interested,

See attached excel sheets comparing FA and FANTOM-0 sounds & libraries, which I used to convert my setups from FA to FANTOM-0

Unfortunatelly, I have an unfinished FANTOM-0 PC Editor with a running converter from FA to FANTOM-0, but still not in the shape to open to the users.

Thanks,
Marcelo

tchelomgf wrote:

Unfortunatelly, I have an unfinished FANTOM-0 PC Editor with a running converter from FA to FANTOM-0, but still not in the shape to open to the users.

I would love to see a Fantom-0 PC Editor even with pretty minimal functionality. All I really want is this:
... ability to easily re-order scenes (and ideally, scene pages as well)
... copy/paste zones within and between scenes
... assemble/edit scene chains (not quite as important as the other two, since you can do this on the board, but it's still a bit cumbersome... a computer-based drag-and-drop approach would be much faster)

And as long as I'm here, I'll reply to this even though it's old...

xp30 wrote:

Features that you might miss when switching from the FA-06 to the Fantom-06:
...
[*] Favorites: On the FA-06, you can use the buttons below the screen for quickly switching between your favorite tones and studio-sets. There are some alternatives on the Fantom-06 (e.g. ratings for scenes and tones, and scene chains).

neomad wrote:

Moved from FA06, to FA07 and to Fantom 6...Favourites feature is missed

Just like the 10 category buttons on the FA, the 16 category buttons on the Fantom-0 can double as Favorites buttons. It's the Scene Chain function. It has more capabilities than the FA's Favorites function (e.g. the sets of 16 are nameable and editable), but it works just fine to duplicate the FA's Favorites function (i.e. to use banks of 16 buttons for quick access to your favorites).