Roland Fantom G6 Specification sheet

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© 2009, 2010 Roland Corporation U.S.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without the
written permission of Roland Corporation U.S.
FGWS06
Editing Fantom-G Patches and Rhythm Sets
®ÂØÒňήWorkshop
Fantom-G Workstation Keyboard

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About the Workshop Booklets
Roland’s Fantom G6, G7, and G8—the Fantom-G family—set a new standard
for excellence in workstation keyboards, with spectacular sounds and
incredible built-in effect-processing muscle. A beautiful full-color LCD
display and innovative performance features make getting around a pleasure
and make the G6, G7, and G8 a dream to play. For recording, the Fantom-G
contains a powerful 152 MIDI/audio track sequencer. Each Fantom-G can
also host two Roland ARX SuperNATURAL™ cards whose breakthrough
modeling technology provides sounds with amazing sonic detail, expressive
possibilities, and sound-design opportunities.
Each Fantom-G Workshop Series booklet focuses on one Fantom-G topic,
and is intended as a companion to the Fantom G6/G7/G8 Owner’s Manual.
This booklet requires Fantom-G Operating System v1.30 or higher. You can
download the latest Fantom-G O.S. for free from www.RolandUS.com.
About This Booklet
As a synth, the Fantom-G is more than a box filled with great sounds—it’s
an instrument packed with tools for making your own. This booklet explains
patch and rhythm set programming in the Fantom-G, whether you want to
tweak factory sounds or build your own patches and rhythm sets.
Understanding the Symbols in This Booklet
Throughout this booklet, you’ll come across information that deserves
special attention—that’s the reason it’s labeled with one of the following
symbols.
A note is something that adds information about the topic at hand.
A tip offers suggestions for using the feature being discussed.
Warnings contain important information that can help you avoid
possible damage to your equipment, your data, or yourself.
Clicking or Pressing
As explained in the Power User Control Fantom-G Workshop booklet, you
can perform most operations on the Fantom-G using either a connected
mouse—sold separately—or the Fantom-G’s own front-panel controls.
If you’re using a mouse: If you’re using the Fantom-G’s controls:
You select parameters and objects with
a left click. You change the selected
parameter’s value by turning the scroll
wheel. You can often display a menu by
right-clicking an object.
You select parameters and objects with the
3, 4, 5, and 6buttons. Change a
selected parameter’s setting by turning the
Value dial or by pressing DEC and INC.
Left click Right click
Scroll
wheel
Value dial
In any situation, the best method to use is always simply the one that feels
most natural to you.
Going forward, when we want you to click an onscreen button or its
physical counterpart—your choice, of course—we’ll simply tell you to “click”
the button. The same mouse-centric logic will apply to any other virtual
versus physical control issues we encounter. If there’s only one way to do
something, we’ll tell you so. Beyond that, remember that whether you use a
mouse or the Fantom-G’s built-in controls is entirely up to you.
Going Modal
You can edit and create patches and rhythm sets in Single, Live, or Studio
mode, but since Single mode’s the simplest environment, this booklet
presumes that’s where you are as you learn the Fantom-G’s sound-editing
tools.

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Patches
How a Patch Works
If you want to edit patches or create your own, you’ll need to understand
what makes a patch tick, so to speak. In this section, we’ll discuss the
mechanics of a patch.
Where Does a Patch Get Its Sound?
Each Fantom-G patch is actually a group of one or more audio recordings
playing back together as a single sound. There are lots of settings in a patch
that control how the recordings play and interact—the Fantom-G effects
contribute significantly to a patch’s sound, too—but everything starts with
this group of recordings.
There are two kinds of recordings a Fantom-G patch can play. It can play:
built-in recordings—
• The Fantom-G contains 2,230 brief sound recordings
stored as PCM “waveforms.” Each ARX wave expansion board has its
own waveforms from which patches can be built.
your own recordings—
• A patch can also play recordings, or “samples,”
you’ve captured yourself on the Fantom-G, loaded, or imported via USB.
These may be brief chunks of sound, loops or anything else. It can play
single samples or sets of samples called “multisamples.” (To learn about
sampling, see the Sampling Fantom-G Workshop booklet.)
Tones: The Structure of a Patch
Each patch is a set of four sound-
producing devices called “tones.”
It’s the tones that actually play
the recordings which form the
basis for a patch’s sound.
Each tone can play:
a stereo waveform, sample,
•
or multisample, or
two mono waveforms,
•
samples, or multisamples.
Tone 1
Tone 4
Tone 2
Tone 3
A patch may or may not use all four of its tones, depending on the
complexity of the sound its programmer is trying to achieve.
A tone doesn’t have to play a stereo waveform or sample, or two mono
waveforms or samples—it can play a single mono waveform or sample
if you like.
Each tone has its own set of over 100 parameters that determine how its
waveforms or samples play. Tones can be set to play together in different
ways, resulting in a variety of different sounds being possible from the same
basic sonic materials.
In addition, there are parameters that control the behavior of the combined
sound produced by all of the patch’s active tones.
Making Your Own Patches
After you’ve read the following sections and are ready to get started,
see Page 84 in the Fantom-G Owner’s Manual for some helpful patch-
programming tips.
In this booklet, we discuss editing—and therefore creating—patches on the
Fantom-G itself. If you prefer, you can accomplish the same thing on
your computer using the Fantom-G Editor (and Librarian) software.
To get to a patch’s parameters, select the patch you want to
start with on the Single Play screen, and then press the LIST/
EDIT PATCH button. (If you prefer, you can click F7 (Patch Edit)
on the Single Play screen instead.)
You can create a new patch from one of your own
samples by selecting the sample from the patch list’s
User Sample category bank, and, from the Single Play
screen, pressing the LIST/EDIT PATCH button.

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The first patch-editing screen appears.
Getting the Right Tones
Since a patch is made up of its tones, obviously a key element in patch
programming is choosing the right waves, samples, or multsamples for its
tones to play.
A patch’s effect plays a large role in its final sound, too. To learn more
about effects, check out the Fantom-G Owner’s Manual.
If you’re tweaking an existing patch—or you’re editing a patch that plays
samples you’ve made—the tones you want are most likely already in place.
When you’re creating a new patch from scratch, though, the first thing
you’ll want to do is figure out how many tones you really want to use. Many
patches sound great with just one or two tones. There’s no need to use all
four available tones unless each one really contributes to the sound you
want—what’s the point in doing programming work for no reason?
As you select tones for a patch, consider how you’ll be using it and
how it’ll affect your available polyphony. We explained polyphony in
the Single Mode in the Fantom-G Workshop booklet.
Activating and Selecting Tones
To turn tones on or off on a patch-editing screen, click F8 (Tone Sw/Sel) to
show the Tone Switch/Select F buttons at the bottom of the screen.
To turn each of the four possible tones on or off—• click the desired F1-F4
(Sw) button. When a tone’s on, it lights yellow.
To edit a tone’s parameters—
• click the corresponding F5-F8 (Select)
button. When a tone’s selected for editing, it turns red onscreen. To edit
the parameters of multiple tones simultaneously, press their F buttons
at the same time.
To hide the Tone Sw and Tone Select buttons, press the EXIT button.
An even faster way to select tones for editing and to turn them on and
off is to use the pads’ Tone Sel/Sw mode. See the Power User Control
2: The Pads Workshop booklet to learn more.
Editing a Tone’s Parameters
The Fantom-G has two sets of patch-editing screens that let you work on a
patch quickly, or in-depth:
Zoom Edit patch editing—
• is designed for making quick tweaks to an
existing patch. It graphically presents important parameters you’re
likely to want to get to for quick adjustments.

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Pro Edit patch editing—• contains all of a patch’s parameters, allowing you
to dig into a patch down to its tiniest details. You’ll want to use Pro Edit
when you’re building a patch from scratch.
The two screen shots above show the same settings and their different
presentations on the Zoom Edit and Pro Edit screens.
The Zoom Edit Screens
To switch to Zoom editing from a Pro Edit patch-editing screen, click F6
(Zoom Edit). To return to Pro editing, click F6 (Pro Edit) again. You can also
toggle between the modes using the LIST/EDIT PATCH button.
The Pitch Envelope Zoom Edit Screen
Use the Pitch Envelope Zoom Edit screen’s parameters to automate changes
to a tone’s pitch as a note plays—see Page 97 in the Owner’s Manual.
The TVF Zoom Edit Screen
The TVF—for “Time Variant Filter”—can remove selected frequencies from
a tone’s waveform, sample or multisample, as described on Page 98 in the
Owner’s Manual.
The TVF Envelope Zoom Edit Screen
The TVF Envelope Zoom Edit screen allows you to automate changes to a
tone’s frequency content as a note plays, as described on Page 99 in the
Owner’s Manual.

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The TVA Envelope Zoom Edit Screen
The TVA Envelope—for “Time Variant Amplifier” envelope—Zoom Edit
screen allows you to automatically shape a tone’s volume as a note plays, as
explained on Page 101 in the Owner’s Manual.
The Structure Type Zoom Edit Screen
On the Structure Type Zoom Edit screen, you can set the relationship
between the patch’s tones—this can have a major impact on the patch’s
sound. See Page 92 in the Owner’s Manual for more.
The LFO1 and LFO2 Zoom Edit Screens
On each of these Zoom Edit screens, you can adjust the patch’s LFO. An
LFO—or “low frequency oscillator”—can add cyclical variations to your
patch, from rhythmic pulsations to chaotic random changes. See Page 102
in the Owner’s Manual for details.
The Step LFO Zoom Edit Screen
The Fantom-G also contains a potent user-progammable step LFO that in
essence allows you to design your own unique LFO for use in the patch, as
described on Page 104 in the Owner’s Manual.

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The Pro Edit Parameters
In the Pro Edit patch-editing screens, you’ll find all patch-wide and tone-
specific parameters presented in groups. To move from section to section,
click F1 (Group/Up) or F2 (Group/Down).
To switch to the Pro Edit screens, click F6 (Pro Edit) on any Zoom Edit patch-
editing screen. To return to Zoom editing, click F6 (Zoom Edit) again. You can
also toggle between the modes using the LIST/EDIT PATCH button.
The Pro Edit Parameter Groups
General—• These parameters apply to the patch as a whole. It’s where
you sets its musical category, overall level and panning, and set the
patch’s importance to you when polyphony is at its limit. You can adjust
the patch’s tuning and response, and do some overall tweaking to a few
key parameters. See Page 89 in the Owner’s Manual for more.
Wave—
• These parameters allow you to select each tone’s PCM
waveform(s), sample(s), or multisample(s), and set their basic behavior.
See Page 91 in the Owner’s Manual.
TMT (Tone Mix Table)—
• Set the manner in which the active tones interact
here. Also, control the basic volume and playback characteristics of a
tone with these settings. See Page 92 in the Owner’s Manual.
Pitch—
• Set a tone’s basic tuning here, and how it responds to the Pitch
Bend/Modulation lever, as well as to the pitch envelope, below. See
Page 96 in the Owner’s Manual.
Pitch Env (Pitch Envelope)—
• The pitch envelope allows you to automate
changes to a tone’s pitch as a note plays. See Page 97 in the Owner’s
Manual.
TVF (Time Variant Filter)—
• The Time Variant Filter can remove selected
frequency ranges from a tone’s waveform, sample, or multisample. Set
the properties and basic behavior of the filter here. See Page 98 in the
Owner’s Manual.
TVF Env (TVF Envelope)—
• The TVF envelope allows you to automate
changes to a tone’s frequency content as a note plays. See Page 100 in
the Owner’s Manual.
TVA (Time Variant Amplifier)—
• The TVA parameters set the basic volume
behavior of a tone, and set its panning. See Page 100 in the Owner’s
Manual.
TVA Env (TVA Envelope)—
• The TVA envelope allows you to automatically
shape a tone’s volume as a note plays. See Page 101 in the Owner’s
Manual.
Output—
• The Output parameters determine where a tone’s sound
goes: to effects or directly to selected physical outputs. You can set the
amount of the tone to be sent to the desired effects. See Page 102 in
the Owner’s Manual.
LFO 1, LFO 2—
• LFOs provide repeating, cyclical changes to the desired
parameter values, such as pitch, panning and more. Each tone has two
standard LFOs that can be configured as desired. See Page 103 in the
Owner’s Manual.
Step LFO—
• The step LFO allows you to set up more complex repeating
changes than a standard LFO. See Page 104 in the Owner’s Manual.
Solo/Porta (Portamento)—
• These parameters determine whether the
entire patch plays only one note at a time or multiple simultaneous
notes, and sets the way in which one note moves to the next.
Portamento, or note sliding, is also controlled by this group of settings.
See Page 105 in the Owner’s Manual.
Misc—
• These miscellaneous parameters allow you to delay the start of a
tone as you play, and to set a tone’s response to certain MIDI messages.
See Page 107 in the Owner’s Manual.
CTRL 1, 2, 3, 4—
• These parameters, found on Page 109 in the Owner’s
Manual, are the patch’s “matrix control” area. Matrix control lets you
use a variety of devices, including MIDI messages, to alter patch
parameter values as notes play. Each of the four CTRL screens lets you
select a controlling device, or “source,” and up to four parameters, or
“destinations,” for realtime manipulation.
While the CTRL 1-4 screens let you select unique control sources for
a patch, you can also use the global “system controls.” We’ll explain
these in the Manipulating Sounds in Realtime Workshop booklet.
Once you’ve selected a MIDI message for controlling a patch’s sound,
you can set use the Fantom-G realtime knobs or sliders to generate
that message. See the Manipulating Sounds in Realtime Workshop
booklet to learn how to set up the Fantom-G’s realtime controls.

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Patch-Editing Tools
On either the Zoom Edit or Pro Edit screens, you can click F4 (Util Menu)
to display the Patch Utility Menu containing a list of helpful patch-editing
tools.
Here’s what this menu’s patch-related tools do.
The last tool in the menu is Multisample Edit. To learn how it works,
see the Fantom-G Owner’s Manual.
Patch Initialize
The Fantom-G contains a plain-vanilla patch that acts as a starting point for
creating a new patch that’s not based on another one. When you use the
Patch Initialize tool, you reset the current patch’s parameter values back to
these default settings.
Tone Initialize
This tool resets any currently selected patch tone to its default values. This
can save you time when you want to program a tone from scratch.
Don’t worry about using Patch Initialize or Tone Initialize. As you
learned in the Saving Your Work on the Fantom-G Workshop booklet,
you’re only resetting the parameter values in the copy of the current
patch in work RAM—you’re not destroying its original, stored version.
You can always simply re-select the stored patch to get it back.
Tone Copy
If you’d like to copy the settings from one tone to another within the same
patch—or “borrow” the settings of a tone from another patch—use Tone
Copy to open the Patch Tone Copy window. Select the tone whose settings
you want to copy (the Source patch and tone) and the tone in the currently
selected patch to which you want to copy them (the Destination tone).
You can audition the selected Source patch by clicking F6 (Compare) so
it lights, and then playing the keyboard.
Once you’ve set everything up as desired, click F8 (Execute).
Rhythm Sets
How a Rhythm Set Works
Each note, or “drum key,” in a rhythm set consists of four sound-producing
devices called “waves.” A wave in a drum key serves the same purpose as a
tone in a patch: It plays the recordings that make up the drum key’s sound.
While you’re editing a rhythm set, the word “tone” on the editing
screens refers to a drum key.
Each wave can play:
a stereo waveform or sample, or
•
two mono waveforms or samples.•

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A drum key may or may not use all four of its waves, depending on the
complexity of the sound the programmer is trying to achieve.
Each wave has its own set of parameters that determine how its waveforms
or samples play. In addition, there are parameters that control the behavior
of the entire drum key.
If you’re thinking a single drum key sounds a lot like an entire patch,
you’re right—they have a lot in common.
Editing and Creating a Rhythm Set
Here’s how to edit or create a rhythm set in Single mode.
In this booklet, we discuss making rhythm sets on the Fantom-G
itself. If you prefer, you can do the same thing on your computer with
the Fantom-G Editor (and Librarian) software that came with your
Fantom-G.
You can edit a rhythm set you’ve assigned to the keyboard or to the pads
when they’re in the Rhythm pad mode. During the editing process itself, you
use the keyboard for selecting drum keys. You can try out your edits on the
pads as you work.
Setting Up for Rhythm Set for Editing
Press LIST/EDIT PATCH, and then click F7 (Part Select) to display the1
Part Select window.
If the rhythm set is on the:2
keyboard—• set the Part parameter to Part 1, the keyboard part.
pads—
• set the Part parameter to Part 8, the pads. (In the picture
above, we’ll be editing a rhythm set that’s currently assigned to
the pads.)
Click F8 (Select) to place the rhythm set on the keyboard for editing.
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Use the F6 button or the LIST/EDIT PATCH button to toggle over to4
the Pro Edit screens—that’s where the really detailed rhythm set
editing gets done.
You can always use the Zoom Edit screens to work on certain commonly
used drum key parameters.
Play the keyboard to check out all of the sounds—and drum keys—in5
your rhythm set.
Finding the Pad Drum Keys
If you’re going to be playing your rhythm set from the pads, you’ll want to
know where these drum keys are on the keyboard. Here’s a map of where
each of the 16 pads is located on the keyboard by default (you can change
this using the Rhythm pad mode’s Pad Settings screen if you wish to).
1
3 8 16
9
6
7 4 13 12
145 10
2 15
11 The blue key is Middle C,
or C4
Selecting a Drum Key for Editing
As you edit a rhythm set, you’ll start off by working on each drum key, one at
a time. (Of course, you only need to be concerned with the sounds you want
in your rhythm set, and their drum keys.)

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On the display, use F1 (Group/Up) to select the General group of
parameters.
Drum key-related parameters
Drum-key MIDI
note
The top pair of parameters—Rhythm Set Name and Rhythm Level—affect
the entire rhythm kit as a single entity. The remaining parameters all refer to
the drum key that’s currently selected for editing.
To select a drum key for editing, press its key on the keyboard—its name
appears as the Rhythm Tone Name value, and its MIDI note number appears
in the upper right-hand corner of the screen.
In our screenshot, we’ve struck the C two octaves below MIddle C on the
keyboard to play Pad 1’s drum key, the main kick drum.
The Drum Key Parameters
The drum key parameters are arranged in sections from top to bottom on
the Fantom-G display. To move from section to section, click F2 (Group/
Down) and/or F1 (Group/Up).
What’s in Each Parameter Section
Your Owner’s Manual—starting on Page 117—provides more details than
we have room for in this booklet, but here’s a general overview to get you
started.
General—
• The only parameter that applies to the entire rhythm set is
here: Rhythm Level adjusts the overall level of the rhythm set. Other
General parameters name the currently selected drum key, assign it to
a mute group, set its controller response, and turn its One-Shot mode
on or off. See Page 117 in the Owner’s Manual for more.
Wave—
• These parameters allow you to select each wave’s PCM
waveform(s) or samples(s), and set their basic behavior. See Page 119
in the Owner’s Manual.
WMT (Wave Mix Table)—
• Set the pitch, level, pan, and velocity range for
each waveform/sample here. See Page 120 in the Owner’s Manual.
Pitch—
• Set the drum key’s basic tuning here. See Page 121 in the
Owner’s Manual.
Pitch Env (Pitch Envelope)—
• The pitch envelope allows you to automate
changes to the drum key’s pitch as it plays. See Page 121 in the Owner’s
Manual.
TVF (Time Variant Filter)—
• The Time Variant Filter can remove frequencies
from the sound of a drum key. Set the properties and basic behavior of
the filter here. See Page 122 in the Owner’s Manual.
TVF Env (TVF Envelope)—
• The TVF envelope allows you to automate
changes to the drum key’s frequency content as it’s played. See Page
124 in the Owner’s Manual.
TVA (Time Variant Amplifier)—
• The Time Variant Amplifier sets the drum
key’s basic level and panning. The velocity curve and velocity sensitivity
can be set here as well. See Page 124 in the Owner’s Manual.
One of the things you’re most likely to want to do to a drum key is to
adjust its volume or change its stereo location in the mix. To change
a drum key’s volume, set the TVA section’s Tone Level parameter. To
change its stereo panning, set the same section’s Tone Pan parameter
as desired.
TVA Env (TVA Envelope)—• The TVA envelope allows you to automatically
shape a drum key’s volume as it’s played. See Page 125 in the Owner’s
Manual.
Output—
• The Output parameters determine where a drum key’s sound
goes: to effects or directly to selected physical outputs. You can also set
how much of a drum key is to be sent to the desired effects. See Page
125 in the Owner’s Manual.

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Rhythm Set-Editing Tools
As with patch editing and
programming, the Fantom-G
provides some helpful rhythm
set editing tools you can display
by clicking F4 (Util Menu) on any
Pro Edit or Zoom Edit rhythm-set
editing screen.
Rhythm Set Initialize
You can start programming a rhythm set from the default one built into
the Fantom-G by selecting this operation in the Rhythm Set Utility Menu
window.
Rhythm Key Initialize
To return a specific drum key to a set of plain-vanilla default settings, select
Rhythm Key Initialize in the Rhythm Set Utility Menu window.
As with the patch- and tone-initializing tools, when you use Rhythm Set
Initialize or Rhythm Key Initialize, you’re only initializing the copy of
the current rhythm set that’s in work RAM. The original is still stored
safely in ROM or in internal or USB flash memory.
Rhythm Tone Copy
Rhythm Tone Copy allows you to copy the settings from one drum key in
your rhythm set to another, or use a drum key from any other rhythm set in
the one you’re currently editing. When you select this operation, a window
opens in which you can select the kit—the Source kit—from which you want
to copy a drum key, and the desired drum key itself.
You can audition drum keys in the selected Source set by clicking F6
(Compare) so it lights, and then playing the rhythm set’s drum keys on
the keyboard.
When you’ve got the settings as you want them, click F8 (Execute).
Rhythm Set Editing Tips
Assign different velocity ranges for each wave in a drum key—• This lets you
trigger different sounds depending on how hard you play the drum
key, enhancing the expressiveness of your rhythm sets. Velocity ranges
are set in the WMT parameter section. Check out PRST:001 G Standard
Kit—especially the hi-hat drum keys—for an example of using velocity
ranges to good advantage.
You can also program a drum key to play completely different sounds
at different velocities.
Experiment with effects—• Effects can add even more personality to your
rhythm sounds, and each drum key in a rhythm set has its own effect
settings. See the Workshop booklet The Fantom-G Effects for details.
When simulating an acoustic drum kit, use realistic panning for placing
•
instruments in the stereo field—Place acoustic drum sounds in stereo as
they’d be heard in an actual kit to make them sound more real. Check
out the toms in G Standard Kit for an example of realistic drum key
panning.

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The End
We hope you’ve found this workshop helpful. Keep an eye out for other
Fantom-G Workshop booklets available for downloading at www.RolandUS.
com.