Roland Fantom-8 88 Key Synthesizer

The Fantom-8 is the gleaming new synthesizer from the company that needs no introduction. Having already put many legendary synths both on the market and into music history, when Roland suddenly announces their latest, top-of-the-line synth, you can bet your life savings that it’s not going to be just ‘the next synth’ and in the case of the Fantom, your money is safe. In the 80’s and 90’s, synths (including digital ones) were fairly well-defined machines used alongside early computer sequencers. Today, a lot of production methods have been put ‘in-the-box’ as they are now largely taken care of by computers. This synth wants to do everything that your computer can do and does it with all the familiarity and comfort of the hands-on operation of a keyboard and interface.

The Future-Proof Roland Fantom-8
More than plenty of entirely fresh samples have been loaded onto the Fantom and with the spacious touch screen, you can create or re-shape an extensive range of sounds. But this is almost a given. What really blows the Fantom so wide open is its incredibly comprehensive synth engine. In brief, a complete synthesizer with oscillator, amplitude control, filter, two LFOs and effects is generally termed a ‘partial’ by the Roland lab. A tone can consist of four partials and a scene can consist of a maximum of sixteen tones. A well-known difference between hardware and software (while avoiding the start of an inexhaustible debate) is that software is endlessly flexible and basically limitless, while hardware is restricted by all kinds of obsolete physical limits. Meaning there can literally be no room for growth. Since the engine of this synth is so enormously layered, Roland have largely eliminated this, meaning that all sixteen parts have their own effects and that this is a synth that can literally grow. As with your Mac, the virtually future-proof processing power of the Fantom is your only limit.

Get Out-of-the-Box
Many new and enticing features have been packed into the Fantom. A built-in audio interface; a fresh and comfortable keyboard with channel aftertouch and a much larger velocity range than you’d expect, especially when you start playing with the built-in pianos (V-Piano). The integration with Logic Pro, GarageBand and MainStage is certainly worth mentioning and of course, an arpeggiator and sequencer have been included for quick and intuitive production. The drum pads offer clip-based composition and if you’re still interested in some TR style sequencing, there’s a real analogue filter that can be freely assigned to a sound or through which the entire synth can be sent. You can fill gigabytes with with your own samples if you want (and you will) and the back of this synth is more connected than the national rail system. I mean, have you ever seen so many connectors on a synthesizer? This is yet another Roland mold-breaker that the competition simply cannot ignore. If you’ve been yearning to move away from the computer but are too attached to the flexibility of working ‘in-the-box’, you’ve obviously just been sitting and waiting patiently for the Fantom.