🎹 Roland FANTOM-08 88-Key Synthesizer Keyboard Comprehensive Review & Demo 2024 🎹

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Alternatives:
🛒 Get the Roland FP-30X▸https://geni.us/Roland-FP-30X
🛒 Shop Kawai KDP-120▸ https://geni.us/Kawai-KDP120
🛒 Shop Kawai ES-120 ▸ https://geni.us/Kawai-ES120
🛒 Shop Yamaha P-225 ▸ https://geni.us/Yamaha-P225
🛒 Shop Casio PX-S3100 ▸https://geni.us/Casio-PXS3100
🛒 Shop Roland FP-E50 ▸ https://geni.us/Roland-FP-E50
🛒 Shop Yamaha DGX-660▸ https://geni.us/yamaha-DGX-660
🛒 Roland FP-60X ▸https://geni.us/Roland-FP30
🛒 Yamaha P125 ▸ https://geni.us/Yamaha-P125
🛒 Kawai ES920 ▸https://geni.us/Kawai-ES920
🛒 Korg B2 ▸https://geni.us/Korg-B2
🛒 Yamaha P-45 ▸https://geni.us/Yamaha-P45
🛒 Yamaha DGX-660 ▸https://geni.us/yamaha-DGX-660
🛒 Yamaha YPG-535 ▸https://geni.us/Yamaha-YPG535

Roland Fantom-08
The Fantom-08 has been out for a year now, and we haven’t done a video to review this synthesizer. I’ll share the reasons why I changed from the RD-2000, and why it’s the highest value 88-key workstation on the market today.

Why The Change?

The RD-2000 was a great machine; not only because of the wooden action, but it felt the best when compared to other keyboards at the time. That being said, great actions can be heavy and the RD-2000 was particularly heavy with its extended key length and heavier mechanism overall. It was built like a tank with a wooden underframe and steel case.

I originally wanted the RD-2000 because of its V-Piano engine and the large number of available sounds that could be mixed live with tactile faders and great controls; however, it was lacking a couple of key features such as an arpeggiator, and had limited recording, and no sequencing options.

I wanted a creative, tactile connection with an instrument that would let you build a song, track, loop, or groove.

High-Value Features of Fantom-08

Weight
The Fantom-08 is much lighter than the RD-2000 weighing in at 32.6 lbs.
For an instrument that is not going to be treated roughly, its plastic case gives a similar experience as metal.

The lighter PHA-4 action, which is the same that is found in a lot of Roland’s mid-range product, has a slight difference in nuance compared to the PHA-50, but will be just as good for 95% of your playing needs.

Touchscreen
The high resolution touchscreen control surface is well laid out. While it is smaller than the full size Fantom offering, there is no noticeable reduction in usability.

Organ Tone
The SuperNATURAL organ tonewheel simulator, accessible from track 2 only, utilizes slide bars on the screen that are adjustable from either the tactile faders or the touchscreen. The manual X toggle turns the Lesley speaker effect on and off, and is exactly where the switch is located on a Hammond organ.

Other Tones
The Fantom-08 has implemented multiple tone engines, including the ZEN-Core, SuperNATURAL, and VTW Organ to produce over 3,500 tones and over 90 drum kits. There is also access to the Roland Cloud for even more tone options.

The sounds are easily selected using the tactile buttons or touchscreen.

Operating Mode
The Fantom-08 is always in 16-Zone C mode. It always has access to the sequencer, muli-function pad, and effects. It is configured as a modeless play instrument.

Every ZEN-Core patch consists of 4 oscillator components, each with a full set of filters, LFOs, amp settings, envelopes, etc., providing ah uge amount of synthesizing power. Four partials per patch and sixteen available patches for a total of 64 partials sounding at any given time.

Assignable Pad
There are lots of options for pad assignability with sample assignment as the default. Each column of the 4x4 set of pads is configured to be a new part. The pads can also be assigned to drum sounds, rhythm pattern control, zone solo control, pattern play control, and sequencer control.

Pattern Sequence
The Fantom-08 has a multi-track recording feature with rhythm sync, step entry, and count in options. There are eight patterns available to record per track, and sixteen tracks to layer.

Adjustments from RD-2000

Effects Structure
The effects structure is different than the RD-2000 and took some adjustment to get accustomed to. At the top level is the Global Master Effects, including compression, EQ, effects, chorus, and reverb. This is followed by Scene-specific Insert Effects such as voice pitch shift and modulation delay. Finally come the Zone Effects that are specific to each Zone.

Acoustic piano sound
There is minimal editability of the SuperNATURAL piano sound when compared to other Roland products because these variations have been programmed into presets.