ROLAND just released a new update for the Fantom called fantom ex upgrade.
Says it now integrated with Cubase!!!
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Just bumping this. I’ve seen great videos showing integration with Logic but nothing since the ex update showing “full Cubase integration” on Roland’s website.
Any info, videos, reviews etc would be SO greatly appreciated. On the fence of getting a 6Ex but I can’t find info anywhere.
Thanks!
Well, the integration with Cubase is decent. Basically it’s a limited Mackie implementation, similar with what we see on many midi controllers, you have an 8-tracks per page mixer, with control over volume/pan/mute/solo/record, the track names on the display of the Fantom, the usual transport buttons, plus two user ones, and the cursor locator.
The EX upgrade is great, I did get it, but I never thought about the DAW integration. When I find the time, I hope soon, I will contact Roland and ask permission to deploy a full Cubase implementation based on Steinberg’s MIDI Remote API. Perhaps, I’ll be allowed to. Otherwise, I will still create a MIDI Remote, but I will be a little restricted concerning display manipulation. Fantom has a fantastic display, and I would wish to take full advantage of it.
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Hi m.c.,
Thank you for the reply!
Totally looking forward to your (hopefully pending) full Cubase implementation or the Midi Remote. That screen DOES appear to be fantastic!
Thank you again for the response.
I’m finding it really hard to see any screenshots of the Fantom’s screen with the recent MCU mode that was added, has anyone seen any online or any videos that show it?
You have to wonder how hard it would be to back engineer the logic implementation too. Really tempted to sell some gear and get one, the note polyphony talk puts me off a little though, but I heard the same thing about the FA’s and never really had a real world issue with it.
Here’s a photo from mine:
Not hard at all. The display is what Cubase sends in every MCU based controller, and then there are the usual components. The thing is that the name of the assignments to buttons (basically the 6 push encoders at the bottom) are hard-coded and so are the soft buttons at the display. Apart from the screen, we can use the faders/knobs (but not the select buttons) of the mixer area, and the first 8 pads.
I totally understand. I bought this synth for writing my drafts (I liked to experiment with pattern recording instead of linear and I find it great for such purposes) and for live usage, and I haven’t encountered a problem since my work is usually 2-3 pads with some mostly simple chords, 1-2 basses, an arp, leads and the other usual components in synthwave. As a controller? Even if I do plan to create a script for it, hopefully soon, when I’m passing my songs to Cubase, I always open one of my other controllers. At this stage, I barely keep the original presets used upon creation, and turn to VSTs. However, I already started creating my own presets and this is about to change soon and get rid of some (or most) of my VSTs. I like a lot the high res knobs for manipulating the sounds (1024 steps) by the way.
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Thanks for that image, appreciated. It’s a shame they’ve gone for that typical font really but I can see what you mean now, looks like using the pads to swap modes/change MIDI Remote pages, this could be quite handy with Cubase and a bit of time invested.
Although I was thinking more of backwards engineering the original Logic implementation (Such as the quick controls UI) as it’s much better character count and general view:
Unless Roland have any kind of software layer running that specifically communicates with Logic directly i’m thinking it could be possible. There’s such a potential there i’m amazed Roland haven’t pushed this further really.
Really tempted to take a gamble on one, but it’d mean selling a Yammy and I love the acoustic pianos, strings and arps on it.
Well, this integration uses Logic’s way of creating midi control surfaces. I have never touched it, so I cannot answer this one.
I think this might be related to the general concept of this synth, since it appears to be a workstation too, but opinions differ between users. I didn’t really have the time to contact them and see if there’s an open door (I highly doubt it) for letting me create a proper script using the whole display environment. On the other hand, if we want to get our hands really dirty, Roland has open sourced the OS, so… 
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