Roland Announces Powerful New FANTOM Keyboards for #909Day!

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Two of Roland’s most influential early products are the TR-808 and TR-909 Rhythm Composers, and each year on August 8th (808) and September 9th (909) the community celebrates by sharing favorites created with the classic tools and Roland offers great sales and launches awesome new products. This year is no exception, and we are covering each of the new products separately.

The Roland FANTOM series dates back nearly two decades to the FA-76, not a great start for the series but a foundation that quickly evolved into the true flagship Roland badly needed in the FANTOM-S and FANTOM-X. These workstations offered advanced synthesis and a host of sound editing and music production tools that have at once advanced and trickled down through the Roland product families ever since.

Now Roland has announced three new members of the family, the next-generation FANTOM 6, FANTOM 7, and FANTOM 8 models fuse Roland’s latest synthesizer technologies with fluid operation, an intuitive color touchscreen, and deep computer integration. These FANTOM instruments also offer the superb playability the series has always enjoyed as well as feature rugged, tour-ready construction to meet the demands of everyday life on the road. Available in September, the FANTOM 8 will cost $3999.99, FANTOM 7 $3599.99, and FANTOM 6 $3,299.99.

From their press release:

A key feature of FANTOM is its modeless interface, which makes technical limitations and confusing operation a thing of the past. Players never have to worry about what features work in which mode—FANTOM is always in full-on creative mode, providing a consistent working experience in every musical scenario. And with workspaces called Scenes, the instrument can be fully customized and instantly reconfigured for different composition and performance setups.

FANTOM’s flexible and expandable sound engine leverages decades of research and development, providing an endless range of inspiring and authentic electronic, acoustic, and hybrid sounds. Players can combine different synthesis technologies along with the onboard analog filter for new and unusual sounds. There’s also an enormous selection of effects available to enhance individual sounds and process entire mixes.

FANTOM is a complete music composition platform, filled with creative options to build arrangements fast. Available tools include RGB pads, a classic TR-REC style pattern sequencer, real-time recording with piano roll editing, and a grid for recording and launching clips.

To learn more about the all-new FANTOM keyboards, visit Roland.com.

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Michael Anderson
I have loved technology for as long as I can remember - and have been a computer gamer since the PDP-10! Mobile Technology has played a major role in my life - I have used an electronic companion since the HP95LX more than 20 years ago, and have been a 'Laptop First' person since my Compaq LTE Lite 3/20 and Powerbook 170 back in 1991! As an avid gamer and gadget-junkie I was constantly asked for my opinions on new technology, which led to writing small blurbs ... and eventually becoming a reviewer many years ago. My family is my biggest priority in life, and they alternate between loving and tolerating my gaming and gadget hobbies ... but ultimately benefits from the addition of technology to our lives!