Roland Fantom G or Kronos

[Richkeys]

My Triton Studio has been the centre of my setup for 8 years but it is getting a bit old in the tooth!
I know this may be a slightly biased forum to ask this question but:
Should I consider the Roland Fantom G or wait for the new Kronos?
Rich

[EvilDragon]

Wait for Kronos.

[kimu]

i would wait for Kronos to be available in shops and then i would try both of them in shops for a sufficient amount of time; only after you can decide which is better for what you need.

except the case you are searching for specific features that only one of the two offers... in this case choice is done.

btw, waiting to try out Kronos,i have tried Fantom G when it arrived in shop and was not completely satisfied by sounds, imo it sounds too much "clean" and "pristine" and a little bit plastic (and i own a V-synth GT that I simply love, so i am not against Roland tout-court). Of course, Kronos seems to be based on better technologies than Fantom: you have 12 GigaByte of samples with direct streaming from SSD, dedicated 4GB acoustic piano (maybe something you can have buying also the Fantom expansion), physical modeling, analog modeling etc etc...

[master logic]

the K the R the O the N the O the S de dee de dee BUY KRONOOOOOS!!!!!!

[robinkle]

My Triton Studio has been the centre of my setup for 8 years but it is getting a bit old in the tooth!
I know this may be a slightly biased forum to ask this question but:
Should I consider the Roland Fantom G or wait for the new Kronos?
Rich

Is it even possible to compare a Fantom G to a Kronos?
Probably, I never tried any of them. Though I have touched the surface of the Fantom G and I found it cheap/toy like, that's it. For those who have got a feel on the kronos, they are saying it is rock solid. So in build quality, Kronos wins.

On paper, the Kronos look superior to the Fantom G. Except for Sample-RAM. I assume. My bet is that Kronos will get a tad more expensive than a Fantom G but not much. I could be wrong though (hopefully not, cheaper would be nice though).

After what I hear and what I've seen, I will wait for Kronos. I think a second hand Oasys is the only comparable alternative. But that's just me (and possibly some others too).

[EXer]

In my opinion, as a workstation a Fantom G cannot compete with a Motif XS/XF nor with a Korg M3 Expanded. It has a much smaller ROM, fewer memory locations, a less comprehensive and less versatile effects engine and a lesser degree of DAW integration.

Let's not forget that a Fantom is based on the XV engine, which is nothing more than an enhanced JV engine.

A Fantom is completely outclassed by an Oasys.
And a Kronos is an enhanced Oasys is a cheaper case.

Nevertheless, Roland synths have a character of their own and I can understand that some musicians or producers want that sound (personnally I still happen to use the Orchestral JV card built in my XP30 ). If you're one of those people I would suggest to buy a used XV-5080 and SRX expansion cards to complement your setup.

[Rosen Sound]

When i was ready to buy my first workstation it was between fantom G6 and a triton classic I had the money for either.
Played fantom:
Weak sounds, weak filters, horrid interface, okay feeling keys.
Played Triton classic:
Minus piano...
BLOWN away.
So much that I dont trust roland for jack s**t. A keyboard muchhhhhh older then the fantom G still blows it out of the park.
Maybe im just crazy? Im sorry but for me personally, the fantom was a big pile of toy junk that couldnt even compare to a keyboard from 1999.

Even when i get kronos, triton will probably still be my live board (with my patches from kronos sampled of course...)

[jimknopf]

The Fantom G appeared with a totally halfbaked OS and has since been updated only marginally. It has a nice, punchy and warm sounding audio engine and some nice sounds on board, but that's it.

Roland has left this device completely unfinished and abandoned the whole customer base to deal, among others, with
- a desastrous file management system, which is not even able to organize proper interchange between its own projects!
- a destsrous sampling management, which is not able to import a single multisample format, not even Roland's own, without problems, and needs external program support (Nexoe programs) to work at all in a proper way
- lots of bad patch programming which requires heavy reworking
- an absolutely poor effect routing despite considerable effect power
- sub standard Leslie effects in conncection with poor B3 samples, making proper B3 clone play impossible
- Pianos far below the Kronos quality
- no VAs on board, and not one single ARX VA board available, no B3 clone expansion either
- the pattern based sequencer comes with great specs, but is more or less unuseable for any serious sequencing, due to missing editing functions even of the most basic kind

In short: the Fantom G, which had the potential to become a nice workstation years ago, if they had heavily updated and changed the OS, has instead been completely abandoned by Roland since and is now, compared to the Kronos, one of the lamest choices available on the market, not least due to completely missing support.

I will sell mine as soon as I have a Kronos release date.

[Arp_]

I don't see any reasons to consider Fantom G, not even compared to Kronos, but in general. For most applications, there are better or equal but cheaper products from Korg/Yamaha/Kurzweil and even from Roland themselves.
And if we compare FG to Kronos, then Kronos simply blows away FG pretty much at everything. I don't understand how can you even think that FG can be an alternative to Kronos?

[Arjan]

Should I consider the Roland Fantom G or wait for the new Kronos?

Wait for the Kronos. I have a Fantom X (got it when it came out) with three SRX expansion cards (strings, complete orchestray, ultimate keys).

I tried the Fantom G when it came out and found it was lacking in sounds compared to my expanded Fantom X. I also found that the seamless switching is not totally perfect. I kept my Fantom X.

I do find the Kronos tempting (one of the reasons being the CX3, the only piece of Korg equipment I currently have) but I'm not sure I want to part with the Roland sound, especially what's coming from the SRX cards and I wouldn't look forward to findng subsitute sounds.

[SpIdErWeB]

Kronos, without hesitation... why?

1) First of all, Roland will come up with a new VSynth (I know it from very sure sources). Some people already speculate they're coming with a new Fantom which will merge with the VSynth. True or not, they will still come up with a new keyboard between now and next years...

2) Secondly, the Fantom-G never been a real competition to the Motif or M3 and I even don't mention the Oasys. It has some interesting features, but sound wise it was a down step from the Fantom-X with a very limited ROM size and expansions (I had 6 SRX Cards on my FXR and had better sounds than a stock Fantom-G).

3) Oasys is far superior to the Fantom-G, and then the Kronos is an improved Oasys for a cheaper price, with huge sounds. Just check the piano sound (one of the most important sound for a keyboard), the Kronos does have 2 libraries, and each one is 4.7 Gb big... none of the Fantom-G, Motif XF or even Oasys can't have them. It brings realism not available anywhere then. And the Kronos is way more than just piano sounds... so go figure.

4) Nonetheless, Motif XF is based on old 10+ years AMW2 technology (with improvements), the Fantom-G is based on old 10+ years technology found on the JV serie (with improvements)...
The Kronos is using technology developed partially on the Oasys (HD-1, CX3, AL-1...) in 2005 which is already more modern, but also using technology such SSD drive for Streaming which is actually not available anywhere yet. It's really a 2011 technology which should lead the next 10 years.

I'm not pro-Korg more than I could be pro-Yam, Roland, Open Labs, Arturia, Nord, etc... But today, THE keyboard of the moment is the Kronos. Things might change in future with news here and there, but today there's no comparison possible and no competition.

My 2 cents,
Phil

[BillW]

Definitely Kronos.

The Fantom G6 is my gig machine and I own two (one primary, one backup). I've had the G6 since it came out. The G6 is built like a tank and I've had no problems with it. With some clever sampling & programming, it can cover a lot of ground.

However, at the end of the day, the G6 is a ROMpler with very little in terms of expansion capability unless you are willing to spend the time to sample your other instruments (which I've done extensively).

The Kronos, on the other hand, can be a ROMpler, a virtual analog synth (x3), a Hammond B3, a DX7, etc. The only thing the two have in common (other than ROMpler/sampler/sequencer) is the seamless sound transitions. The Kronos eats the G6's lunch in almost every other sonic category (including the flexibility of the effects section).

If I had to make the choice today, I'd buy a Kronos. I have one on pre-order and it will replace my G6 for live use as soon as I can get the sounds together for all of our songs.

[Melodialworks Music]

I know this may be a slightly biased forum to ask this question but:
Should I consider the Roland Fantom G or wait for the new Kronos?

Slightly biased? No kidding! Try posting the same question at rolandclan.com and I suspect you might get some slightly biased responses of a different nature!

Having said that, from everything I've read, I would recommend trying the Kronos when it becomes available and then decide. You've had your current board for 8 years, so waiting for a few more months shouldn't be that big a deal!

You could even consider waiting (longer) for the Fantom G successor to be released and then decide. I believe that the Fantom G is nearing the end of its run.

[Teh Mick]

Wait for the Kronos.

On all workstations out there, the Roland Fantom G is the one that got its ass really kicked by the Kronos.

The only real thing the G had over the Fantom X was the live mode with no sound cutoff and the ARX board that add drums, EP or Brass in a similar way the MDS EP engine works in Kronos, it uses samples and a bit of modeling to achieve its sound. You can only load 2 ARX board and they cost money. (unlike the Kronos which come with 9 synth engine right out of the box)

Here's what the Live Mode in the G offers you:

• 8 part combination
• 1 effect per sound (no way of routing them as you wish)
• A global delay, chorus and reverb (3 seperate effects)

Here's what the Kronos offers you in COMBI mode

• 16 part combi
• 12 Insert Effects which can routed into others effects, programs can be routed to any effect chain
• 2 Master Effects
• 2 Total Effects
• Acces to all 9 synthesis engines
• Smooth sound transition between combis, or between combi/programs/sequeners in Set List Mode

I was planning to maybe get a Fantom G because of its Live Mode before the Kronos was announced. If I would had buy it, I would had miss the flexibility of the Korg effects in their workstation. Also I remember trying the Fantom G in a music shop and the sound of it and it didn't make an impact on me.

Since you're a Triton Studio user, you'll feel right at home with the Kronos. The Touch GUI uses the same idioms since the Trinity and it was really improved in the OASYS/Kronos version. Also, you'll get acces to some similar programs, the OASYS had the Cosmic Furnace patch when I tried it in a music shop back in the day.

[Crystalmsc]

The Kronos is the only workstation I want right now. It's something I've been waiting for so long and going to be a perfect match with Ableton Live. Even I still hope for a DS-10 style sequencer, which going to be fun and effective on such a nice screen.