My Fantom is dying

[boswell]

Time to give up the ghost *rimshot*

It's been a good 2 years, but today....it happened


Dead Key



The 2nd B flat. I tried to resuscitate it (banging continuously for a few minutes) but sadly, not a peep.

And to top it off now the aftertouch  is gone, accross the whole board. Only if I press the keys to snapping point do I get anything out of it.


I opened her up for the first time, for some surgery. Couldn't get access to the key contacts and scared myself that I might make things worse. I did however remove a few dead woodlice and some fluff, before puting it back together again ( I wish I was joking).

So...

Is that it? Is a dead key the end of the line for a synth? I can't afford repairs.

*weeps*

[gav]

OK, I'm not a keyboard player or anything, but could you possibly use the clever multisampling thing to still get some use out of it? :?

[boswell]

Yes I may be overreacting. It's only one key out of 61, but it's in such a bad spot....

The current workaround is to put that note onto one of the pads....:?

[gav]

It'll be a bit of an arse if you need to play a left hand bass line with that note in it :lol:
Here is an example:
"Hmmm... the G is right there, the A is next to it... the Bb is over here, up the other end, just above the actual keys, assigned to this little button thing, and I need to play them all in very fast succession with one hand..." :?

[SerFox]

Alright, 2 years for the life of a £2k workstation isn't that great. I have had mine for a year and mine has it's flaws, but there is good news. Roland already know of all of these flaws and will gladly fix them, if you are covered by warranty, then it'll cost you nothing. If not, it will be a very little amount. This isn't Apple, they don't charge the cost of the hardware to replace one of the keys on the keyboard. (I'm sure Apple would)

What I'd recommend is you go to your local music dealer (ie where you bought the fantom if you bought it in a store) and get them to register your Fantom for repairs. This would be classed under Wear and Tear, which tends to come out cheaper than Accidental Damage claims. Upon examining your Fantom, they may even class it as a 'Defect' and repair it for nothing. (Don't bank on this, but I do know that the pitch joystick issues are common faults and are normally repaired free of charge, as well as pad failures)

If you bought it online, get in touch with Roland directly and work it from there.

[boswell]

Wow thanks SerFox, that's comforting to know.

It's not under warrnty I don't think (and if it was I wouldn't have a clue where I put the paperwork  :oops: )
but I'll certainly ask my local dealer. My Cousin actually works at the shop I bought it from so I might get in touch with him too.

I must admit I was worried this would be in the hundreds to repair.

[RWA]

Roland has a lot of issues with dying keys. I had to repair my PCR-80 midi keyboard when 4 keys died on me...
But a Phantom is definitely worth repairing; especially when it's just one key that died.

It's an overall issue with gear these days; it starts to fall apart after 1 or 2 years, doesn't it? No matter if it's synths or TV's or Laptops.... it all seems to be crap these days. And if it's not falling apart..... they just stop supporting it software wise.

Then again, we need to consume, don't we?

btw, if repairing costs to much you might wanna try hooking up a (cheap or 2nd hand) midi keyboard to your Phantom to control it.

[gav]

Yeah, that's a good point- might aswell try to make the most of the thing if it's brains still work

[tomskerous]

If it's any consolation, the bottom B on my D50 has just died too.

[Pedro]

Crikey, this is getting like celebrities...you know, how one dies and that seems to trigger a bunch of them?
I'm not switching on the Triton tonight! :?

[RWA]

If it's any consolation, the bottom B on my D50 has just died too.

Bummer ..... but ...... that's after 20 years or heavy duty, isn't it? I mean,they used to build stuff that lasted 10 to 20 years!

FFS! The laptop that I use to write this very post wasn't cheap and is only 16 months old but the space bar is dying all ready. Thankfully MSI (the brand) gives 2 years warranty but I have to turn it in to have it repaired. I mean, WTF?!  :?

[Gman]

Sometimes these things can be really cheap to fix. Mrs Gman has had her Wavestation and SY77 repaired for various issues (loss of volume, patches disappearing) and they cost something like £50 each to fix.

We sent our Dynachord powered mixer back for repair - it wasn't under warranty but the problem had clearly been there from the start so they fixed it FOC.

As David Soul once said "Don't give up on us baaaaby, we're still worth one more try"

[RacingHippo]

Roland already know of all of these flaws and will gladly fix them,

Is woodlouse-infestation a known flaw?

[Jem]

I thought Roland had a 5 year guarantee on everything. As long as you've got proof of purchase it should be ok. In the meantime, can you use another midi keyboard to control it? It sounds like it's only the keybed that's fallen over, the synth engine will be fine, including the aftertouch.  

I've noticed lately that the pitch bend is starting to get a bit flaky on my G actually...

[gr8gonzo]

Says the man who makes keyboards cry.