Uses and Set Ups for the Roland Fantom X8 Keyboard Synthesizer Workstation
(Note -- you will need QuickTime Viewer in order to view the demo videos)
Solo Instrument - Be a solo accompanist, or play in a band or orchestra.
At its most basic, the Fantom X8 can be a real piano, an entire string section, a rhythm guitar or whatever you choose. If you are playing in a band or simply recording one track at a time, you will use the keyboard as a single instrument.
This is perfect in so many situations, because the realistic piano sounds, for example, are breathtaking. You can fit in anywhere in an orchestration with the right instrument. I have seen many summer stock theater companies do full-scale musicals with just two keyboards. One was a piano, and the other split with strings and horns.
The keyboard allows you to combine a number of sounds to create much richer accompaniment. The most common example would be mixing a grand piano with a rich pad sound. Below are some video demos to give you more of an idea of how this works practically.
Full Accompaniment - Playing a solo gig, using the keyboard as a full backing band.
The Roland Fantom X8 easily becomes a full backing band. You can use any of the quality drum section presets to drive your playing. If you split the keyboard between a bass patch on the left-hand and a piano/synth/guitar/whatever on the right hand, and play along with the appropriate drum beat, you've got a full band. It's as simple as that.
You may wish to add more instruments than you can play. No problem. The arpeggiator (which does NOT just play arpeggios) can create any rhythm groove you wish. As with the drums, there are presets to start with. Simply choose the instrument and the groove, and the drum beat, and then play along. Now you've got an even bigger band!
Custom Backing Track Creation - Make your own music to play back as you need it.
This has application both in live performance and in recording. Basically, you can record an entire orchestration and play it back at will. For example, if you have a concert of your own music, you can record as much of a backing band as you wish and perform along with it.
You can tweak and improve all of that multitrack recording as well. The Fantom X8 has advanced mixer functions to let you pan your tracks, add effects such as chorus and reverb, and other tweaks. If you are recording, you can do most of this work before you commit to tape. For live performance, it will make your music sound that much better. I, personally, like to mix instruments I can't play live together with my piano part, which I do play live. That way, I don't lose the energy of live performance, but the sound is huge.
Multi-Track Recording - Using the keyboard as a multitrack recording studio.
There is the option of expanding the wave memory to give you enough to record eight tracks of audio. That means that you can record a lead singer and seven backup vocalists, for example. Or, you may choose to record shorter phrases and play them back in the tempo of the song. Audio is audio, so you can use it as a sampler or as a multitrack digital recorder. It all depends on how much memory you add.
Sound Creation\Sound Sampling And Composition - Use the Roland Fantom X8 to create your own sounds or re-create live ones.
A sampler lets you record actual sounds and instruments and have them play back as if they were part of the keyboard. So if you have a pan flute that you just love, you can sample it and re-create it through your Fantom X8. The sampler lets you edit and adjust in minor or major ways.
A unique function of the Roland Fantom is the skip back feature. This lets you recall whatever it is you just played and record it. So, for example, if you're writing a song, and you just played an amazing phrase, you don't have to desperately start scribbling and struggling to remember how it went. Simply access the skip back function and it will play it back for you. In this way, the keyboard becomes a composition notebook.
Click here to buy the Roland Fantom X8 Keyboard Synthesizer Workstation.
