The Bob Campbell wrote:Talking of workstations do you like your Fantom G6? I've been vaguely shopping for a good sequencing/sampling workstation for a while and kept hovering back and forth between the Korg M3 and the Fantom G6. I found the Yamaha screen was much too ugly for my liking and I fear (from experience) that Yamaha's loading/saving routines would probably drive me to the edge of armageddon.
I like the Fantom-G6 very much. I'm not the quickest of learners and have been somewhat plagued by writers' block for a few years (maybe it's age, maybe it's lifestyle changes, I don't know), but I'm getting on really well with the FG6. I have a few reference points for commenting on hardware workstations as I've previously owned Yamaha's Motif Classic and the QS300, and also have an Alesis Fusion 6HD.
The FG6's display screen is a revelation compared with other workstations. It's not a touch-screen like Korg's (I often wonder if M3 users get fingerprints all over the screen?), but it enables a lot of information to be shown in one place. Many functions are still accessed via buttons rather than the mouse and working out which method does what takes a bit of getting used to.
The sequencer is a very DAW-like, an impression emphasised by the ability to click and drag items with a mouse - a much-needed update for hardware workstations. It's a lot more intuitive than any of the other synth workstations I've used.
I haven't done much to explore its synthesis capabilities as yet, nor have I imported any new multisamples, but the built-in sounds are almost universally excellent and the range of responses to different levels of velocity and aftertouch is on a par with the better software samplers.
One thing I'd like, but which isn't there yet, is a more advanced arpeggiator along the lines to be found in the Motif range (post-Classic). There are a number of built-in arpeggios but nothing like the scope you get on the Motif. Hopefully, this is something Roland will look at next time they update the FG operating system.
The other downside of the hardware workstation is that a great more forethought has to go into putting together a track that includes audio loops. Although the FG can connect up to a computer and you can import files to it via Windows Explorer, it's a great shame that you can't actually view your computer's directory structure on the FG itself. Now that really would be an improvement and it would make laying down beats on the fly a lot easier. I guess it depends where your computer monitor, keyboard and mouse are located in relation to your synth, though. If you've got the sort of desk that houses them together, this might well be easier to achieve.
I recommend checking out the Fantom-G tutorial videos available on
Dan Krisher's YouTube Channel. There are more than 20 available now and they give a good idea of the FG's typical workflow and potential.
Back to the seating arrangements, I've taken the plunge and ordered the first Thomann stool I mentioned in the post above. I like to have my main keyboard set at a height where I can choose either to play while standing or lean back on a (stable) seat. Moving down to computer desk level, as my keyboards have been recently, makes it a bit too easy to get distracted by the attractions of the web. Like this forum, I guess.
