Roland Fantom-S 61

The Roland Fantom s61 has 61 beautiful semi weighted keys. It also has a big screen so you can work in song mode to create your whole song right on board without having to transfer files and .wavs somewhere else. You can even master right in the Fantom 61. Its an all in one board to take care of the whole musical process.

UTILIZATION

The craftsmanship is incredible, .pretty solid/heavy keyboard feels very sturdy not so delicate like the Triton. This is the best thing that I've ever bought in my life!!! At least musically anyway. If I had to give everything else up my PC, software, mixer, speakers, mics, processors, etc. I would definitely keep the Fantom and start over with everything else! It really is the heart and soul of my studio!


SOUNDS

The overall sound quality is superior! Especially the guitars, and synth sounds. Roland always does a great job on creating warm and realistic sounds. I have only had this board for a week, but I really can't complain about any of the sounds. I've worked with several workstations, and the factory drum sounds are some of the best that I've heard. The drum kits are very nicely laid out.(Of course if you want the cutting-edge percussion. well that's where sampling comes in) The Fantom even comes with mastering effects including compression and eq!

OVERALL OPINION

Overall, The Fantom is easy to start with right out the box you will have no problems setting it up. But in order to know what's really going on, and capture all of it...I really suggest checking out the manual. If only for reference every now and then, reading the manual and not strictly playing everything by ear will help you to understand how the Fantom and operates. Overall the user interface is very friendly for anyone who understands the basic makeup of workstations/synths.

I am more than satisfied with the features of the Fantom-S!!! Where can I start...I could talk about everything from the Sequencer to the Velocity Sensitive Pads, but I'll comment on the most innovative feature of them all, which is the Continuous Sampler. At my studio we "play" around alot, and the have been many times when I can't remember what I just did...so the sample playback feature is a Godsend!!! OH...I forgot about the USB capability! Maybe that's the most innovative thing about the Fantom. The fact that you can drag and drop files from the computer to the keyboard is sickening!!!!

Price paid

2.100

UTILIZATION

The Fantom is easy to start with right out the box. But in order to know what's really going on, and capture all of it...I really suggest checking out the manual. If only for reference every now and then, reading the manual and not strictly playing everything by ear will help you to understand how the Fantom "thinks" and operates. Overall the user interface is very friendly for anyone who understands the basic makeup of workstations/synths.

SOUNDS

The overall sound quality is superior! Especially the guitars, and synth sounds. Roland always does a great job on creating warm and realistic sounds. I have only had this board for a week, but I really can't complain about any of the sounds. I've worked with several workstations, and the factory drum sounds are some of the best that I've heard. The drumkits are very nicely laid out.(Of course if you want the cutting-edge percussion...well that's where sampling comes in) OH YEAH......did I mention the onboard effects??? The Fantom even comes with mastering effects including compression and eq!!!!

OVERALL OPINION

Being that I've only had it for a week...and the fact that I don't plan on doing hardly any live gigs with my board kinda makes this category non-applicable for me...BUT The craftsmanship is incredible....pretty solid/heavy keyboard...it feels very sturdy....not so delicate like the Triton.

This is the best thing that I've ever bought in my life!!! At least musically anyway. If I had to give everything else up(Godforbid), my PC, software,mixer, speakers, mics, processors,etc. I would definitely keep the Fantom and start over with everything else!!!! It really is the heart and soul of my studio!

Originally posted on FutureProducers.com
Posted by: Unknown (January 1-, 2003)

Absolutely!,call this a workstation,think a new description is required!

Price paid

£1399

UTILIZATION

The on board lcd screen is great for navigating yr way around the fantom s,menus clear as day,like the screen savers to! the manual,well 4 of them seem fairly clear,usb interface fine,as long as terminal in full working order.

space age looking ,think in a flight case will b fine,full steel construction,though the side panels are in fact plastic-but dont they look super!

SOUNDS

Sounds are well catered for in bothe,real world patches & synthesized ones.the pads are simply supreme! expansive massive with real great clarity.

OVERALL OPINION

I tried the triton-good,the motif es6 ok,thought keys felt cheap,and no where near as cute looking as this baby! .all the features work fine- d beam-sampling-skip back sampling-pich mod lever-aft touch-seq-no probs with fantom s units!get one see for yr self,should that b hear it 4 yr self. u want music production tools-this is it.

Originally posted on FutureProducers.com
Posted by: Unknown (January 2-, 2003)

The pads were a real selling point for me. As well as the skip-back sampling.

$2195 CND

UTILIZATION

I made a beat in about 20min after setting up my fantom. Super easy to use and play on. Easy to sequence songs as well.

Are u kidding me??? The keyboard is a polished steel. The board is pretty much bullet proof.

SOUNDS

The sounds are great. Awesome pianos and pads. Super basses and guitars. Just a killer all around sound. Plus all sounds are easily edited to your own creation.

OVERALL OPINION

With all the cool features and awesome sound, I cant live without my Fantom-S!!!

Originally posted on FutureProducers.com
Posted by: J-ExL ( 1-, 2004)