Fantom 0 series expansion memory capped at 256MB?

[lmederos]

Could anyone who has a Fantom 0 expand on whether they have experienced any problems with this? It seems very limited for expansion!

Having said that, Ed Diaz reports >6000 sounds ship with it -- but if you want to add legacy synths then 256MB could be a problem.

Thanks

 

[Chris Laarman]

No. I was looking for an answer myself... In fact, the space available is about half that 256MB, as three expansions come pre-installed (on my Fantom-08). Moreover, my few attempts at adding sounds from Roland Cloud have all failed. That might point to insufficient memory available for even one set.

I'm still curious about the storage space required for different items (zone, scene, sound), and about using external memory (using the USB Memory slot) for additions. The subject is hardly documented by Roland, so I keep trying Google queries. (And I have more Roland gear to repeat the query for).

By the way, Roland does provide downloads of manuals and other documents, including a Sound List for the Fantom-0 models. That list could have been sound-oriented instead of preset-ID-oriented, so using the electronic edition (rather than the printed one) at least allows one to search it for keywords.

 

[Keyboard906]

Could anyone who has a Fantom 0 expand on whether they have experienced any problems with this? It seems very limited for expansion!

Having said that, Ed Diaz reports >6000 sounds ship with it -- but if you want to add legacy synths then 256MB could be a problem.

Thanks

 

[Keyboard906]

Could anyone who has a Fantom 0 expand on whether they have experienced any problems with this? It seems very limited for expansion!

Having said that, Ed Diaz reports >6000 sounds ship with it -- but if you want to add legacy synths then 256MB could be a problem.

Thanks

I’ve just been experiencing this. From what I can gather although there are multiple exp,s available the Fa has only 2 expansion slots. Meaning if you install 2 then try and add more you will just overwrite the first set.

 

[Chris Laarman]

(I forgot where I learned this. On a forum here, I assume. From memory!) There is this difference between "sounds" (containing samples) and mere settings (to tweak sounds already present). The settings would take some 1kB each, so no problem on 256MB. The sampled sounds would hardly incur limits if mapped to the pads and left on USB-memory. Something like that...

 

[happyrat1]

It suddenly occurs to me, after reading this thread, and a thousand others like it, does ANYONE ever actually use more than the tiniest fraction of the built in presets on their boards?

My kurzweil PC3K with 256 MB expansion memory currently holds about 3400 patches and drum kits and sequences and setups in ROM and RAM.

I've owned the board over ten years now and cannot honestly say I've ever auditioned every single program.

The truth is that we all choose our palette from the available rainbow of colors (sounds) and basically work with a few primary colors (sounds) instead for our day to day use.

I honestly enjoy playing more with a synth that has a limited number of GREAT voices than a synth with a million mediocre voices,

Gary

 

[Chris Laarman]

1) I can see it your way, but... Let me be silly for argument's sake: if you buy whatever keyboard with 88 keys, do you expect to use them all, even (roughly) as often?

2) Talking about myself and my considerations: I'm in a transition into retirement. I want to have everything at hand that I may need to achieve my musical goals. "Pay now, fly later", learning to "fly" included.

 

[happyrat1]

Then consider a Forte or a K2700.

Absolutely gobs of memory these days.

Gary

 

[anotherscott]

if you want to add legacy synths then 256MB could be a problem.

Legacy synth models or other patches don't take much expansion memory. Sampled waves do.

In fact, the space available is about half that 256MB, as three expansions come pre-installed (on my Fantom-08).

You can painlessly delete one or more of them to make room for others. You can always get them back if you want them again.

Manufacturers are frequently dealing with this balance... customers who say "why didn't you give me more free space to add what I want" vs. customers who say "why didn't you fill all that empty space with stuff I could immediately use?" So in this case, they went half and half.

There is this difference between "sounds" (containing samples) and mere settings (to tweak sounds already present). The settings would take some 1kB each, so no problem on 256MB. The sampled sounds would hardly incur limits if mapped to the pads and left on USB-memory. Something like that...

Right... but keyboard-playable sampled sounds (as opposed to pad-triggered) do take up that memory.

I’ve just been experiencing this. From what I can gather although there are multiple exp,s available the Fa has only 2 expansion slots. Meaning if you install 2 then try and add more you will just overwrite the first set.

On the Fantom-0, there's room for 7 or 8 of those SRX-based expansions (EXZ on the Fantoms, EXP on the FA), and if you try to load more than there's room for, it won't automatically overwrite anything, it will let you know you need to delete something to make room.

 

[Wayne Hong]

Does the Fantom-0 series USB slot serve as a memory expansion? I thought I saw a feature somewhere for SD card memory expansion.