At Knobcon 2019, Roland introduced a new Fantom line, three new flagship synth workstations.
The Fantom offers a deep synth engine, sequencing, beatmaking tools, a big touchscreen display, lots of MIDI and CV connectivity options and more.
We talked with Roland synth guru Ed Diaz, who gave us an overview and demo of what the Fantom can do. Diaz shared that they also plan on releasing a series of tutorials on the Roland Youtube channel that will dig in deeper into the details of using the Fantom.
Pricing and Availability
The Roland Fantom synths are available now, with the following pricing:
Nice. I’m more impressed with the new Fantom after Ed’s typically useful demo, but at $4k, its going to be for pros and trust fund babies, not the more typical player. Besides, its more complex than my DNA. You can’t merely buy it. You have to marry it.
I think the new Fantom is super desirable…I am totally hot for it. Yeah, the price is like OUCH. What happened to $2400 for a 61-key? Making me reacquaint my interest in the Kurzweil PC4. I dunno, the Fantom has got the critical aspect of haptics down I reckon and the performance based sequencer is a massive draw for me. On the other hand, the PC4 has V.A.S.T and downward compatibility with my K2500 files. Once anybody gets past the interface of the Kurz (which really isn’t complicated at all truth to tell) the V.A.S.T. system is kinda a one and only thing in the hardware world. The synthesis capabilities are mind blowing and I can’t think of anything that has even come close. PC4 88 weighted keys for under 2k. I personally would like a 76 at most…non-existent as of yet but by the time I pay down my Sweetwater credit, who knows? Furthermore, in the >2k range there’s the JD-Xa which I have been eyeballing for like ever. A lot of synth that truly isn’t appreciated as it should be.
Nice to see Ed demoing the new Fantom as I have the previous generation Fantom G6,for which Ed provided a lot of useful Tutorials.Yes it has been a long wait for the next generation,and it is expensive,however,I think these machines really have so many features it could comfortably take up a decade .It should be looked upon as a long term investment/commitment.We really are spoiled rotten that such gear is available at this time.Back in the day,my first synthesiser meant I had to commit financially a good few years to pay off,and it had 2% or so of this machines capability.
Compared to previous generation,I like the improvements,interface includes TR style sequence button,touch screen,use of Scene mode work,DAW integration.
Good demo, but in a way, also kind of a sad demo. The synth engine looks really capable, and it practically has a built-in DAW, which also interfaces to an external DAW. Then Ed did some totally pedestrian beats, which were fresh for 1995.
While technology is progressing, music seems to be stagnating.