I am back in the Hardware Game, Boys. Be Afraid. Be VERY Afraid.

[Cold Truth]

Well, as of June 5th, i will be the proud owner of the brand new Fantom XR module. i spent damn near half my weekend playing with this thing at sam ash.

After much searching and brainstorming, and with the help of my cool-as-heck little sister's excellent credit, i am going to walk out of a small time place called Whitaker Music in Temecula, California, with one for $250- tops. its looking more like $200, with $100 a month payments.

I was going to get the XV 5050, but that just seemed like the XP 30 in a module... which i have already owned. it just didnt impress me the way the SRX cards did. i heard those and expected the 5050 to be along the same lines, but it sounded pretty dated to me. but this one.... damn, it sure sounded nice. i plan on using it not only as my main sound source, but also as an outboard effects processer for vocals and guitar (we'll see how that works), and i also got a Presonus Blue Tube Pre Amp, a new condensor mic, and studio monitoring headphones. i asked questions about the pre amp, but nobody answered me, so this is what i went with.

this new fantom xr is going to put my beats on a whole nother level, and ill be making crazy phat dope tracks in minutes! lol, not really, its just going to give me better quality sounds and increase my effects capabilities drastically. this one is for you, big d (even though you beat me to it, you bastard... we will have to do a beat battle: your triton extreme vs. my fantom xr........lol)

 

[Manji]

So no more sampletank? eh?

Yo isn't that Phantom motion sensitive?

 

[Cold Truth]

no, i will still be using sampletank. i still stand behind that as a quality software solution- but it does have its drawbacks, as does everything. i wil still use it it for certain things, like drums, etc... and i do have an excellent library as it is... and i cant get past its pianos. when i first got it, i was so awwed by its sounds... but over time, i ralized that while good taey doo not compare to the overall quality of the hardware modules i have used.

but since i have a chance to make a serious upgrade, why not do it? i can simply record the audio directly, which would enable me to use all of the available onboard effects on the module, but taking up no extra cpu power in doing so... this frees up my waves gold effects for just mastering purposes, and eliminates the extra drain by the sampletank2 effects. (thats actually pretty low, come to think of it) but personally this is an excellent upgrade...

and fantom motion...? you talking about the d beam on the actual keyboard?

 

[bigdmakintrax]

Hey thaz some good shidd man! let me know how you like it....I love my Triton, but I dunno how the drums are on the XR....I know that the add on card for the original fantom are probably the best I have ever heard for a keyboard workstation short of using samples.....do you get those drums on the module? we can battle though and yeah that D.beam is aight considering I had the same thing on my SP-808 about 4 years ago...LOL just kiddin though thats a fat piece, it will give you endless hours of fun and lack of sleep...

 

[Cold Truth]

well, the few drums they give you are nice, becasue of the 4 way velocity switch. the hip hop kits arentthe best but they are solid. i always like to layer the acoustic kits with the hip hop kits i have anyways.... and with the effects section being what it is, i will have a decent drum collection built in... but it doesnt come with the srx kits, unfortunately.

the module doesnt come with the d beam. i have never been impressed by it, and i doubt i would really use it. i messed with it on the x8 board a little.. i yawned.... .lol..

i'll let you know as soon as i get it.. june 5th, man i am drooling already. i almost forgot how good a sound module really is, after 9 months of sampletank2 (again, and excellent software option, if not the best so far...).... i i hear it has great A/D converters as well, as well as a professional sounding compressor...

 

[classic]

hey truth thats great man. Good to hear u coming up.
I know my motif has been treatin me real good the past couple of weeks.

We should have a battle of the modules

3 enter 1 leaves

lol

class...

 

[Cold Truth]

that motif is no joke man.... the only thing i wish it did better, and that roland-and Korg especially- really excells in, is its synth sounds- its pads and atmospheric type sounds. when i get it, we can setup an independant, unofficial competition of sorts, and just put them in the showcase. i dont want to turn it into an actual battle, because that kinda sets a bad precedant (i am a mod, after all...) so we will just showcase our tracks from our newly acquired gear...

by the way... did you check that solo violin/cello/viola on the motif yet? i swear i have yet to hear anything as nice for those instruments... roland has better overall string sections, but the solo cello on the motif is the best i have heard so far, that includes the major libraries (i do own the garrison collection, as well as the peter siedliczech collection....)

 

[classic]

sounds good truth. I would love a friendly showcase were eveyone could show off their mod sounds.

As far as violin, i havent really had a chance yet. Im still experminting will the wonderful piano sounds. I will get to em soon though. There is just so much shit u can do with this thing Im kinda overwhlemed but in a good way

Any suggestions on mofit plugin's

class..

 

[erkl]

im very interested in hearing how the motif sounds, and the fantom..

i was a bit dissapointed with the 5050...

 

[Cold Truth]

yeah, i heard the SRX cards, and figured that since the 5050 is essentially a stripped down 5080 (it contains the exact same soundset, just minus some features) and the 5080 gets such rave reviews, that it would be great. it actually was a good, solid module, but i have already owned those sounds on the xp 80 (a lot of them were the exact same patches) and it just felt like i would be going backwards. the xv engine was supposed to be much better....

the fantom x sounds are pristine, and crystal clear. the 5050 had, i think maybe 1 rhodes patch taht wasnt bogged down by a phaser or chorus effects or something else. that was my biggest complaint about the xv 30 and 80- no good rhodes. the other thing that roland really sucks at, is organs (THE EXPANSION BOARDS are pretty good, however. i am reffering to their keyboards and modules). they really do not have much in that departmet out of the box. thats where the motif shines brighter than anything else-even the fantom board, although the gap has narrowed considerably.

 

[bigdmakintrax]

Well I feel like we could do that, I still got all my sounds off tha Mo too b4 I sold it, 2 days of sampling shidd....I had the original MO about a year and 1/2 or so b4 I had to sell it...but look I think that the new ES sounds are hot though...so if ya'll got some new beats post em up....I been in tha lab myself coming up with some Sick...I mean very Sick material too that imma unleash up in the showcase one day...how is that module Class? I heard it has all the ES sounds on it...

 

[2_nice]

kurzweil k2600....... and asr10 only two hard sound sources i'm really down for........ k2600 for it's incredible v.a.s.t sound engine and asr10 for ease of use quick programming etc. and crosswave synthesis capabilites (ala sq-80) and two track digital recorder for on the go sketch pad.....
i just saw the rhodes comment the best rhodes i have ever heard was well A RHODES !!!! lol they can be had cheap and there are alot of parts around for them if you ever brake shit

 

[classic]

man big D the motif is crazy dude.
Im loving it but im still learning the ropes since its the first module i have ever had. With filtering,effects,expansions etc.. this thing is going to keep me busy for a long ass time. THe sounds are "crisp" as hell!!!! One thing that i love about the mofit that was a plensent suprise were the drum sounds!!! THe drums kicks and snars are tight as hell!!!!!! Congos are the shit 2.
If u wanna check out some stuff i made click my sig i have 2 beats called lesley and latim mami(already posted in showcase)that i used motif sounds on.

As with anything there is going to be a steap curve plus im still learing how to produce in general(6 month anniversy is comming up!!!) but SO far i think that the mod was well worth the money!!

class...

p.s u got the fantom right?? how is that shit going??

cant wait for truth to get his shit so we can have a battle of the modules!!!!!!!!

 

[bigdmakintrax]

Naw I opted for the new triton extreme and took the fantom back because I am on high speed production now...after two weeks I still wasn't happy with were my beatmaking was going on the Fantom....basically on the triton extreme and classic motif after buying it I was crankin out beats quickly and I have sequencing for awhile....the bottom line is how easy is the sequencer and arrangement when I decide whether i like the board and also how comfortable am i with the process they came up with and how does it work for me...sounds were dope on the fantom though...yeah I know I shoulda probably went for the Motif ES when I had the chance but instead built in Tube amp and that good ol touch screen kinda was tha novelty of the piece so I copped it instead...I am happy though.

 

[Cold Truth]

the mo rack doesnt have the es sounds in it, sadly enough. it does contain 2 extra banks though, so they may be on the es as well.