All user reviews for the Roland FA-08

Well I do not have time to write everything! But that's fine!

For me, the keyboard is a must in this price range that's great. I liked a smaller keyboard to type 76 but lives touched heavy, but good considering that the beast is not too heavy we'll say it's okay.

Good sampler pads are soft, but hey it's still going.

Oh yeah and the SUB an additional output that can send back a metronome or otherwise. Whore for the scene it's great. Really well done to Roland.

UTILIZATION

This device is very simple, you have hacked 5 minutes, it lacks a little button if beyond, but there always comes at the end.

Editing sound is great, easy to death, plus the effects are really good. there are three modes TONE SPLIT edition and STUDIO. I love the third one that allows the end of the bunk and slpité layer simultaneously. It can affect the arpeggiator to a sound and not another, similar to the effects! and although his are on the same notes in different layers. it can also affect sample on the Keyboard, not PADS.

We can fashion studio also affected battery with the tempo you want, on each sound. In short it's pretty awesome, and we quickly did a little hack for fun.

The manual is so so, it flies good things but who cares a little.

SOUNDS

Then we will say that this is a general synth, for me it is perfect.

The effects are really great, there are so many choices, and not things useless gadget genre. I love the sound of vinyl for example, it looks like a sound melotron. The effects can be assigned anywhere including the samples.

The sounds are realistic, no problem, the brass are not fatal but it's not bad, it's illusion in a mix. The pianos are great settings are really different than a Kronos, but ultimately it's not better or worse it's different, and I prefer the FA-08.
The synth, bass synth etc. Bhen enough for the generalist, I push not enough things in this area.

Organs / Electric Piano etc great, it's better than the Nord Lead and another, and finally to me.

The bass guitars etc. I do not care a bit but it sounds.

Drums / percussions awesome yeah, nothing to say.

My only negatives it would be little arpeggiator, which for me is too complicated. I preferred that of Jupiter 80 At the same time, it's a matter of taste.

OVERALL OPINION

One month!
more:

- Sounds
- Price
- Keyboard
- The Sub
- Use
- Weight
- Complete for the stage

I like the fact that it is a synth designed for immediate kind you quickly returned above you can do everything fairly intuitive. The sounds are enough for me, I not ask much! the keyboard to the top especially for this price range.

Cons:

- The sampler pads too soft
- The complex arpeggiator

I find it really ugly, the menus are ugly and so even though they are super intuitive, it's tship plastic hand, saw its opportunity frankly it well deserved to be metal. Damn I want beautiful as a Nord Lead or Korg SV-1, even some Bontempi are sexier than the FA-08. Between the VR-09 and FA-08, Roland is the ugly, will butter the designer? No, but it's true it gives not want to play fortunately the sound is there !!!


I started with a D10 and a Motif 6, jupiter 80, VR-09, Integra 7. against no I have not tried the other synth before purchasing the FA-08, I just sold the Integra 7, I do not like at all, in terms of editing sounds. I tend to trust Roland, it's a bit like buying blind I confess. I saw three videos and I thought oh that's cool !!!

Bhen for me it is the top, I do it again the same choice a thousand times, and frankly for the price there is nobody in front.

If I am unhappy about something I will come back to say it but there nothing comes to mind.

PS: I have not spoken sequencer, so it's normal, it's because I do not care, so make sure to read other reviews !!!

The keyboard is very nice. Mostly I was looking for a workstation with a good heavy feel, I found the feel of A08 was superior in many digital pianos input and even middle midrange! In addition we have a pitch bend, modulation and two assignable button.

Connectivity is basic but not insignificant. For my taste it lacks a MIDI Thru (there are only IN and OUT), but we have taken two programmable pedals and that's good.

The sounds are very numerous, and categorized and each part can have its own effect, it's really more for multitimbral use.

The Sampler échantilloner lets you play, play WAV, MP3. Samples can not be used as a source for the patches.
There is also an arpeggiator, chord memory (do not care) and "rhythm" patter that lets you use the arpeggiator as a rhythm (with entro / ending, fill in, variation).

UTILIZATION

The general config is simple, since the system is always in performance mode (Studio Set).
The manual (same reference) does not explain everything. Someone who knows nothing synths will quickly stripped if he wants to go beyond the basic use.

Editing sounds is easy enough: it's either supernatural cfm (31 sounds that can only change a little color), or it is supernatural synth (there it is pretty fun, a real analog synth!) or it's the classic Roland PCM.

I did my A08 for a week so I have not explored everything, but I read the entire manual. The sequencer is fairly simple to use (more than my SY-77 but hey 24 years apart!)

It lacks a bit of direct access buttons and must often use +/- / ENTER / Exit. Screen printing is also a little dark, the keys are black so in the dark we go to grope.

So you almost 1.42 wide so if you have a stand (like me) of 1,40cm wide, must tinker around.

SOUNDS

The sounds are really beautiful, and embellished with high quality effects. Piano Supernatural is really nice. Sets, violins, organs (except tubing) and Rhodes are great. Synths are great even if we regret the lack of variety of presets. The bass is also superb, and the guitars not bad. Overall, it's very musical and enjoyable to play.

There are only a few Wurlitzers, I remain a bit on my hunger. There are only 2 presets accordions and nothing like drinking pipe organ. There really is no DX7 piano guy with "long" type tines of what is expected in "E.Piano 2" in a GM bank.

The effects are great. The instrument is absolutely silent (no wind) but I noticed that sometimes I like a crackling that persists after selecting certain sounds, I hope so an update will resolve this.

OVERALL OPINION

I've had a week, I already love it. Its keyboard excellent (although no aftertouch), Super Natural sounds with superb piano, easy to use sequencer.
It can affect per game, 3.4 more global effects, plus 6 different compressors for the battery, all at the same time. Competition is buried.

Even if it's all over, it is regrettable that may be all in plastoc, smaller than the other models screen, lack of direct access buttons, but that's good for bigger FANTOMs that cost more. O is consolation, it weighs only 15 pounds, incredible for a keyboard of this quality.

In short this is a great value for money. Cheaper but less sharp than Kurzweil PC3K8 (I envisioned), cheaper as a Korg Krome 88 but nothing to envy, but with SuperNatural sounds and effects that make the key is there . At that price it will be a hit.

The Roland FA-08 is an 88-weighted key synthesizer workstation.

It is equipped with sounds from both Roland's XV series of sound modules and the newer SuperNatural sounds. Additionally, there is a complete Virtual Analog Synthesis engine on-board that allows 3 oscillators to be programmed in many ways.

There are 16 pads that can be used for triggering loops, samples, and sounds, a pitch bend and modulation joystick, 6 rotary knobs that can be assigned to a variety of parameters, a D-beam control, and a screen with a scroll wheel for editing and creating sounds/songs.

The polyphony is 128 voices.

UTILIZATION

Editing sounds is extremely easy and fun. The supternatural Synth engine is a breeze to use. Everything appears clearly labeled on the screen and navigation with the buttons is straightforward as can be.

I found using the sequencer to be a little annoying at times, compared to the Fantom G, but this is only personal preference. The G has a larger screen that is arranged more like a DAW. The screen shows your instrument list and numbered bars of the piece. You can see a color coded representation of which bars have audio or midi of that instrument recorded.

I do like however, the ease of constructing and performing loops. This is much easier than the Fantom G.

The sampler is pleasant to use. It is based on one of Roland's standalone samplers and works quite well. The sampling and looping capabilities make me feel that this workstation is aimed at the EDM market heavily. The Fantom G came out at a time when it was still common for people to produce their tracks on a workstation, but I believe that today people lean towards the DAW because of it's easy access. This keyboard gets it right and puts fun, easy to use functions at your finger tips without having to fire up a computer to create a few loops and play with ideas.

That said I don't personally use the keyboard to create complete tracks. I don't think any workstation will match the speed at which this can be done in a DAW today.

SOUNDS

The sounds are fantastic. The XV series sounds still hold their own today and work well in a mix.

The supernatural side of things is the best aspect of this keyboards sound. The synth is just incredible, and Roland has been great at supporting it and uploading more sounds to their AXIAL website where you can expand your preset bank. The synth is especially good at imitating a variety of vintage gear such as Jupiters, Junos, and Moogs.

I don't notice any problems with the converters, they sound great through my speakers (yamaha HS series) and I enjoy them all very much.

OVERALL OPINION

The best part about this keyboard is it's loop triggering and portability. It's lightweight and small enough that I can take it to a gig without much trouble, and since I can create and trigger loops so conveniently I am able to hold quite the one-man-band show.

I will say I don't like the keys as much as the Fantom G. They are still ivory-feel weighted, but they feel a little small and unresponsive to me. I will usually trigger the keys from another board at home if I am playing much.

The sound quality is great and leaves me impressed every time.

I considered getting a Korg Krome when this came out, but the many features of the FA lured me in and I have no regrets.