Roland FANTOM 7 Synthesizer (76-Key)

Product Overview

To say Roland Pianos threw the kitchen sink at the new FANTOM series would be an understatement, as the Roland FANTOM 7 is absolutely brimming with the power and potential one would expect out of a 76-note instrument that exceeds the $5,000 CAD price point.

It’s no secret that with the exponential growth of Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) technology in recent years, their popularity among producers of all levels, whether hobbyists or professionals, has grown at an equally exponential rate.

This has predictably rendered all-in-one keyboard workstations to niche status. That said, even niche items can have a healthy market of consumers, and that’s certainly the case with music workstations. For some musicians, nothing beats the hands-on, creatively stimulating process of creating and developing music in conjunction with a powerful workstation – in real-time.

Whether it’s tiny musical snippets, or titanic level arrangements, all of your creations can be instantly saved with ease via the Scenes button, and easily combined and edited with previously saved Scenes.

Concerned with bandwidth restraints? Don’t be. You’ll never run out of processing power even when maxing out all 16 parts with every effect engaged, plus full patch remains.

And the sound…oh my, the sound… the FANTOM 7 has multiple on-board sound engines, meaning you could easily bury yourself in this thing for years on end exhausting your creative capacities. Both of Roland’s revered acoustic piano engines are here with both the V-Piano Technology and SuperNATURAL sound engines. Also present is the ZEN-Core analog modelling technology, as well as their PCM synthesis. Add in an assortment of software synths and I think you can see the possibilities.

There’s a near endless list of effects, an analog filter, and it’s all being driven by Roland’s brand new Behavior Modelling Core Chip (BMC) which means maximum polyphony and fidelity. But we’re not done yet – the easily accessed Roland Cloud offers multiple Sound Packs, Wave Expansions, and other updates driven in response to tightly monitored user feedback.

But you’re sacrificing with regards to the touch since it’s a 76-note keyboard right? Well, not really. This new 76-note keyboard is semi-weighted and touch-sensitive with channel aftertouch and boasts Roland’s singular durability.

We can’t forget the plethora of sequencing options courtesy of Roland’s 16 Step TR-REC dance sequencer – a blast from the past for those familiar with Roland’s legendary drum machines.

Connectivity is about as extensive as it gets with a laundry list of ports, and the FANTOM 7 can also function as a 16×3 stereo audio interface. This means you can use it to control DAW’s, and send full arrangements directly from your FANTOM 7 to the DAW or plugin of your choice.

And perhaps the best thing about the FANTOM 7 is just how easy it is to control, at the heart of which is a high-resolution touchscreen. Roland clearly expended serious resources to ensure the ease of use was totally maximized. Add in a robust case of premium materials, and you’ve got a serious instrument for folks unwilling to settle.

76-Key Touch-Sensitive Piano Action

The FANTOM 7 features a 76-note, semi-weighted touch-sensitive keyboard with an aftertouch. This action has been redesigned over older 76-note incarnations and features an improved feel and response.

If you don’t need the 88-note weighted action found in the FANTOM 8 but want a little more than the 61-note keyboard of the FANTOM 6, the FANTOM 7 is a nice middle ground.

Multi Sound Engine

When it comes to the FANTOM 7’s sound engine, as mentioned above, we’re actually looking at several. The FANTOM’s internal sounds number over 3,500, along with in excess of 90 drum kits as well.

First up is the ZEN-Core analog engine, which is based around a series of ‘partials.’ Each partial can be made up of various effects, 2 x LFO’s for modulation options, an amplifier, a filter as well as an oscillator, with a total of up to 4 partials for a single tone.

Beyond this engine, there’s also Roland’s multisampled PCM synthesis engine, and then for authentic acoustic piano tone, the SuperNATURAL and V-Piano engines are also present. The driving force behind all of this is the new Behavior Modeling Core Chip (BMC), which offers a higher degree of fidelity than on previous generations’ workstations.

There’s a load of sampling options, whether you’re sampling internally or externally, and you can create your very own multisamples with up to 352 samples per single tone.

And with Model Expansions, you’ve literally got an expandable sound engine as you can quickly access the Roland Cloud for new sound packs and constant updates. This means your creative potential will never get stagnant with the FANTOM 7.

Versatile Connectivity Ports

The same degree of versatility applied to the sound engines has certainly been applied to the connector ports on the FANTOM 7 to ensure you’re set for the studio with deep computer integration. Let’s start with the Main line outputs – ¼” L/MONO, R in addition to XLR L, R.

Then, we’ve got what Roland calls the ‘Sub Outs”, with another ¼” L/R, dual ¼” analog outputs, and then ¼” and XLR Line/Mic inputs.

Rounding out the main ports are dual CV outputs, dual Gate outs, four-pedal ports for a variety of pedal options (HOLD, CTRL1, CTRL2, CTRL3), a MIDI line in and dual MIDI outputs.

There are of course also USB ports with a USB flash drive and USB Audio outfitted with 3-stereo output, a 16 stereo input, and MIDI with 3-port support.

Lastly, there are three additional ports for external devices, which make the FANTOM 7 compatible with the likes of the Roland A-49 and A-PRO MIDI controllers, among others.

Notable Features

Since the feature list of each FANTOM workstation is so long, it can be difficult to pinpoint one particularly notable feature. That being said, the FANTOM series workstations are all so incredibly easy to use, and given the extensive list of features, this is particularly noteworthy and deserving of special mention.

• 76 note semi-weighted, velocity-sensitive keyboard
• Zen-Core Sound Engine
• Multiple Modeled Engines
• V-Piano Engine
• SuperNATURAL Acoustic Engine
• Expansion capability
• 16 Zones
• 128 Scenes
• Multitude of Effects including 9 chorsus’, 7 reverbs, Master EQ, Master Compressor
• Analog Filter
• Vocoder
• Sequencer
• Sampler
• Arpeggiator
• Huge array of controllers
• USB Computer Port
• CV/Gate Outputs
• Dual Assignable Switches
• Backlit LCD Colour Display
• 39 lbs

Conclusions

So there you have it. The FANTOM 7 is an absolute beast of a workstation, and if you’re the type that prefers a physical workstation and an amp to a DAW, don’t sleep on it!

Roland FANTOM 7 Owner’s Manual

• [English] Fantom 7 Owner’s Manual