As nicola suggested a new thread for help with any technical help tips and tricks i thought id start it off here.. i think we can all learn a fair bit and help each other out with things like .. how to create your own performaces .. how to edit voices, changing the volumes of the upper lower and pedal voices ,saving your own pefromances to user etc ,, anything really related to the fantom technical side of it.. i think us fantom owners will benefit from giving each other help and advice .. cheers .. Tony
OrganFax Community » General Discussions
Fantom /t.o.i.a.b technical & tips/tricks
(46 posts)-
Posted 1 year ago #
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Hi all (and any newcomers),
Yes it might make things a bit easier also for any future Fantom XR/toiab owners if they can have a checklisk that they can refer to for easiness.
Please note for anyone new to the forum - none of us here are experts on the Fantom XR module, but we are a friendly bunch of enthusiasts that like to share what basic knowledge we have gained so far to help others, as the Fantom manual doesn't seem to cater for people that are new to expanders.
If you are reading this as a new owner of the Fantom XR it would be fair to say that a few of us have experienced one or two "idiosyncrasies" with how the everything works via midi depending on which Organ/Keyboard you have to "control" the Fantom. So far it looks like the Orla organ is the best "controller" for working midi. So, with that in mind, the best place to start is probably if a few of us share our knowledge of our own organs and what they can/can't do. Can I make it clear here that some people may have to possibly puchase an additional "Events Processor Box" in order to get their organ/Fantom to work exactly as they would wish. More about the "box" later though - for now here is what I believe to be correct from the limited knowledge I have :-
Yamaha organs work reasonably well -
HS8/EL90 will give expression control to the Fantom. Plug the outputs of the Fantom into EXP IN on HS models, and RHYTHM IN on EL models to achieve his. *Please note HS models have MONO inputs (I had mine converted to stereo imput)
HX/AR do not give expression control. (Tony can fill anyone in on the HX properly as he has the experience of using it)The Yamaha models mentioned above will only allow you access to the first 16 user patches/performances on the Fantom by pressing the appropriate piston/registration button on the organ. You can get access to the rest of the 64 patch/performances in the Fantom by getting the Events processor box. Neither of these organs transmit either their drums or accompaniment out to the Fantom - both models are of an era that wasn't quite as advanced on midi as perhaps other models were.
The Roland Atelier organs do not (to the best of my knowledge) have any facilities for being able to control expression, so, the extra "box" would be necessary in order control expression. The Ateliers do however have an excellent midi mapping device on them (MSB/LSB) so any of the 64 patch/performances can be accessed easily at the touch of a piston button. *Please note Atelier organs do not (to the best of my knowledge) transmit initial touch/after touch from the organ's base pedals - meaning anything on midi Channel 3 (base pedals) will be VERY loud in comparison to anything coming through on Upper/Lower keyboards. So until this can be investigated further, I would advise all Atelier owners to either turn down the volume on channel 3 in the Fantom (or switch off) accordingly - more about how to do this later.
Anyone with any experience/info on other organs and how they operate with the Fantom can share their technical details here too.
Any newcomers, please feel free to come forward and share your thoughts with us - we can be found on the other toiab thread too where we like to chat with fellow enthusiasts.
Regards to all
NicolaPosted 1 year ago # -
Hello keith here.
I think this is a wonderful idea to have tech channel as it were.
The more people put htere ideas the better, specially for "Dumbos"
This applies to a lot of us.
I am currently looking at an EL90. They sound like good one for midi, and ,also I hope to hookup Miditzer.
Keep up the good work.
PS" Will see Chris Powell next week, he is doing a concert at our club.
I will see if I can give a few tips!!!!!!!
Cheers. keith re BaldwinPosted 1 year ago # -
Yes Keith, the EL90 is a pretty safe bet. Good luck with finding one. The Orla still appears to be the best "midi controller" out of them all, but as long as we can get the different "idiosyncasies" of each of our organs sorted out, we are making progress. Anyone else out there got anything to add about what their own particular organ does/doesnt do for the sake of any newcomers?
Cheers, NicPosted 1 year ago # -
ORLA GT3000 and possibly 8000 and 9000-
These control expression via midi, they also transmit the drum rhythms and the fx buttons. All 64 performances can be selected easily from the control panel of the organ. The volume controls also control the individual channels, the accompaniment can also be transmitted and the pitch bend and modulation wheels work the Fantom. Sustain buttons and octave buttons and also transpose functions work too as does the metronome and touch sensitive keys.O.M.C ,M.F.C, O.F.C are output to the XR. (the drawbars give a midi signal too but not found a use for them yet) Anyone wanting a .set file sending to set up the Orla and a .doc file detailing the settings on the Fantom email themaseratimoose@yahoo.co.ukPosted 1 year ago # -
Posted 1 year ago #
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well nicola and el90 owners .. ive managed to get a further 26 performances using sysex messages from the upper voice 1 /lower voice 2 , lead voice /pedal 1 .. in total so far with the 16 registration buttons thats 42 ,the lower voice 2 / upper voice 2 and pedal voice 2 seem be sending the same sysex message . i`ll have ago later with this to find out whats going but right now after a few hours on the El90 (about 10 i think) im slowly dozing off at the p.c.. im sure its possible with the midi solutions box to get all 64 user of the fantom .. i shall keep you posted ..but a least its a bit of progress so far after all 42 is better than 16 .. catch you all soon.. Tony
Posted 1 year ago # -
From Russ's info, the Orla looks to be the winner hands down. Tony - thanks for the info, but look after yourself too - we don't want you suffering from exhaustion!
For anyone wanting any info on how to back up their toiab card to computer, here is the link to the video that Russ has kindly done for us, which gives a step by step account of what to do.....
Posted 1 year ago # -
NB; Here we're ONLY commenting on the CONTROL functionality of an organ with the Fantom XR- The Quality of the organs internal voices and capabilities are not being compared. Obviously the manufacturer and indeed age of the instrument determines the sounds within the instrument which should also be a consideration if you intend to buy a new instrument as do appearance, size etc. That being said the Fantom has so many fantastic sounds in it's own right (and the option of extra from SRX boards) you may never use the organs sounds again!!!.
Posted 1 year ago # -
No probs at nicola ..well i can tell you ive got the full 64 performnaces controlling the fantom now so it seems the EL`s are as good as the HX models . ive reversed the numbers in the midi solutions programme so it runs in order instead of going backwards . i.e start at chorus to organ on upper 1 and that will select performances 17 -24 upper voice 2 will select 25 -32 .. and so on .... till you get the full 64... and i dint suffer any exhaustion ,, just a bit of study on the sysex messages and well im as happy as larry ... so again another good controller for the fantom XR.. as mentioned i can send the file onto anyone .. but please state for MP10 or the MP32 as they have to be programmed with the RTF file for whichever one you use.. cheers Tony ,
Posted 1 year ago #
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