That was an excellent video, both in terms of content and production values. And I've done enough video stuff to know how much work it takes to produce something like that. (And yes, okay, fine, I subscribed - I find that so terribly tedious, and everybody does it, to the point that I instinctively skip the first two minutes of most videos).
I had the Fantom 7 first, and just recently bought the M8x. I can concur on all the points you made regarding the relative weaknesses of the Fantom platform. And either you were being kind or you haven't done the EX update, otherwise you surely would have mentioned that as the most clumsy and embarrassing user experience of the decade. How can a company make such a brilliant keyboard and be so inept at the user experience of an update?
Don't get me wrong, I very much enjoy the Fantom, and like all gear I simply take it for what it is. While I agree that a DAW is the place for any significant editing, I love their Ableton-esque sequencer for capturing ideas on the fly. I've never done loop based recording before, and I find it great for that use case. Once it's a fully formed thought, I then export the MIDI to the computer and it continues life in Cubase (and for Cubase users, the DAW control in EX is rudimentary at best and not worth the price of the upgrade in and of itself).
I've also been caught out by the concept of tones in scenes being pointers rather than copies, which discourages editing. For the most part, the Fantom is my Roland synth collection, which I enjoy. I don't care about the EX ACB models (honestly, how many different ways do I need to get a Jupiter 8?) and would be annoyed that they could only live in Zone 1. The Zen Core models are just fine. The Fantom lives in the studio control room along with the JV-2080, so that's Roland-land for when I want that sound.
Not wild about modeled pianos or instruments (though the organ is nice), so I reach for the Montage or Kronos for that territory. I'm just getting started with the M, and having all three flagships it's easy to see the strengths. Also, your 88 is the Fantom and I have a 7 so I don't know what that feels like, but the weighted keybed on the M8x is wonderful to play. Last weekend I switched positions between it and my Kronos 88 to make the Montage my daily driver.
The M is relatively new so there's not as much out there on it. However, since it's an incremental update to the same platform I learn a lot by watching original Montage videos. With your workflow comparison between it and a keyboard I already know, it was fun to map the two concepts to each other. Keep up the good work, man!
I had the Fantom 7 first, and just recently bought the M8x. I can concur on all the points you made regarding the relative weaknesses of the Fantom platform. And either you were being kind or you haven't done the EX update, otherwise you surely would have mentioned that as the most clumsy and embarrassing user experience of the decade. How can a company make such a brilliant keyboard and be so inept at the user experience of an update?
Don't get me wrong, I very much enjoy the Fantom, and like all gear I simply take it for what it is. While I agree that a DAW is the place for any significant editing, I love their Ableton-esque sequencer for capturing ideas on the fly. I've never done loop based recording before, and I find it great for that use case. Once it's a fully formed thought, I then export the MIDI to the computer and it continues life in Cubase (and for Cubase users, the DAW control in EX is rudimentary at best and not worth the price of the upgrade in and of itself).
I've also been caught out by the concept of tones in scenes being pointers rather than copies, which discourages editing. For the most part, the Fantom is my Roland synth collection, which I enjoy. I don't care about the EX ACB models (honestly, how many different ways do I need to get a Jupiter 8?) and would be annoyed that they could only live in Zone 1. The Zen Core models are just fine. The Fantom lives in the studio control room along with the JV-2080, so that's Roland-land for when I want that sound.
Not wild about modeled pianos or instruments (though the organ is nice), so I reach for the Montage or Kronos for that territory. I'm just getting started with the M, and having all three flagships it's easy to see the strengths. Also, your 88 is the Fantom and I have a 7 so I don't know what that feels like, but the weighted keybed on the M8x is wonderful to play. Last weekend I switched positions between it and my Kronos 88 to make the Montage my daily driver.
The M is relatively new so there's not as much out there on it. However, since it's an incremental update to the same platform I learn a lot by watching original Montage videos. With your workflow comparison between it and a keyboard I already know, it was fun to map the two concepts to each other. Keep up the good work, man!
Statistics: Posted by ChrisDuncan — Thu Aug 01, 2024 2:13 am