As Jem is a Kronos man now....

[tranztek]

I was wondering what his thoughts on the Fantom X and G are now with hindsight...which of those did he prefer and is there anything that he misses from those setups?

[Jem]

I preferred the X. Losing the SRX compatibility on the G was a mistake in my opinion and the choice of ARX boards was odd too I thought. A Supernatural analogue synth engine would have been a better choice than, say, the drum one. I suggested they do a Hammond one too and use the faders as drawbars (a suggestion that was met with a polite "That's a good idea", then completely ignored).

That said, the G had a lovely screen. I'm not much of a fan of touchscreens as I think the greasy marks left when you turn them off are unsavoury. I have the same problem wth iPads, but that's just me.

I miss the pads as well. I'm a bit bemused actually as to why the Kronos doesn't have any when the M3 and the OASYS do.

If I could, I'd take the guts of an X and put them into the chassis of a G7, keep the G's effects section. Then load it with and SRX-05 and an SRX-07 and max out the sample RAM.

The other option is that Roland launch a 76 note keyboard version of the Integra 7 at the Musikmesse, I have written to Father Christmas and about it but I'm still waiting for a Rally Chopper from the old bastard too so...

[Rook]

I miss the pads as well. I'm a bit bemused actually as to why the Kronos doesn't have any when the M3 and the OASYS do.

I could be wrong, but I think korg updated the software on the Kronos so that you could plug in the Pad Kontrol straight to the USB in. Not as good as having them built in, but useful none the less...

[Pedro]

I miss the pads as well. I'm a bit bemused actually as to why the Kronos doesn't have any when the M3 and the OASYS do.

I could be wrong, but I think korg updated the software on the Kronos so that you could plug in the Pad Kontrol straight to the USB in.

...or maybe an ironing board...

[FreeThoughtTH]

I miss the pads as well. I'm a bit bemused actually as to why the Kronos doesn't have any when the M3 and the OASYS do.

I could be wrong, but I think korg updated the software on the Kronos so that you could plug in the Pad Kontrol straight to the USB in. Not as good as having them built in, but useful none the less...

They did yes. But we had this same discussion on the JR board about that. Why not just put pads on the board in the first place? They obviously went "Ba! No one uses pads, leave them off!", and then when practically everyone disagreed, they hastily worked to find some way to put them back on... Seems like a bit of an oversight on Korg's behalf.

[Pedro]

Something in the bag for inevitable Kronos 2?

[tranztek]

You can never have everything right can you? I have the M3 and the Fantom G - realistically I can only keep one, so the enivitable question of which or whether to upgrade to a Kronos comes up.

My M3 screen is also grubby and as for touch phones and ipads, I think i will have to get a cleaner in. I may opt to take the M3 module off and sell the keybed of the M3 and use the G as the controller - I prefer the key action on that anyway.

[FreeThoughtTH]

Not sure how well the keybed for an M3 would sell by itself @tranztek. Unless someone has an M3 or Radias module it's going to look really ugly plugging into anything else.... Does it have a standard MIDI or USB out or can it ONLY work with the M3 and Radias modules through some funky connections?

[BrendanGee]

That said, the G had a lovely screen. I'm not much of a fan of touchscreens as I think the greasy marks left when you turn them off are unsavoury. I have the same problem wth iPads, but that's just me.

I'm glad that I'm not the only person that has that problem when it comes to touchscreen technology  

[E.S.]

Personally I miss the touchscreen, used a Triton for years and years live. Now it's a Fantom. It's a beautiful and glorious screen, but I still leave fingerprints on it, forgetting that parameters can't be changed that way. :oops:

But yeah, the pads are very very useful indeed. They can take a proper beating too.
I wish Korg and Roland would become one company and combine everything into a Fantos. Or a Krontom.

[Rook]

What about a Krotif G2600?

[Pedro]

[LeonH]

I was on ages ago (few years) asking about the G, and I ended up buying one to replace my Mainstage rig, the G was my "return to hardware". I've found it to be a pretty good experience, barring a few niggles. I never had an X, though I do have a JV-1080 with cards and I agree not having the SRX library was a big mistake, even though quite a few of the waveforms are in there. As for the ARX cards... well they just don't do enough though the Brass one is very useful, first time ever I've used brass in a keyboard as they are so good. The drums card is good too, but the Electric Piano one is poor. I nearly bought an X, but the "modern amenities" factor of the G got it over the line. The seamless patch change is worth it's weight in gold, the PFX per part system (if a little inflexible, but patches always sound the same) the USB memory, bigger internal memory, the sliders, audio over USB, the pads are multifunction and incredibly useful, the RPS system... it has a lot going for it. Shame Roland never updated the OS or made more cards... we'll never know why. I bought mine before the Kronos came out (or Jupiter) so I'll probably never switch.. who knows. But the G it works OK for me. It does enough in the band and at home to be useful in a lot of ways. YMMV. One thing is for sure, with the way current keyboards are, I doubt I'll ever use a computer live again.

OT: I bought satches last album Black Swans and Wormhole Wizards... great album good balance of geetars and keys too. One of his best albums.

[sawtooth]

I'm really happy with my G6 - but then I've never had a Kronos to compare it with.
All I know is that although it is quite old tech now, it is currently the pinnacle of my synth ownership, starting with a couple of MS20s, a naff Castiotone thingy, a Korg Poly 61, a Kawai K1 & K4, and lastly a Trinity.
 I DO miss the Trinity for it's lovely aluminium gorgeousness and general sound, but oddly I don't miss it's touch screen at all. The sensitivity always seemed a bit hit and miss to me.

I find the G6's bigger screen, coupled with a trackball works fine for me. And using it as a sound card for my Macbook means I can chuck anything from Korgs own Legacy Collection to Omnisphere to Nostalgia through it to give me a really wide sonic palette, which sort of makes up for the lack of useful ARX cards.
I cant imagine anything else suiting me better really.

Also skip back sampling has been a revelation for me - I'ts just so easy use as a scratchpad or for recording happy accidents

But after al that waffle, I think the best thing is to get something which works WITH you rather than against you, which makes you happy whenever you get to spend time using it, and learn to use it as fully as possible. Sometimes newer aint always better...

[DavSel]

Personally I miss the touchscreen, used a Triton for years and years live. Now it's a Fantom. It's a beautiful and glorious screen, but I still leave fingerprints on it, forgetting that parameters can't be changed that way. :oops:

But yeah, the pads are very very useful indeed. They can take a proper beating too.
I wish Korg and Roland would become one company and combine everything into a Fantos. Or a Krontom.

I love the idea of a Fantos/ Krontom