Roland Fantom G Review

Around the middle of last year I purchased a Roland Fantom G to create the first video set on the market for the workstation. The "G" is the follow up to the Fantom X series workstation so as you may know it is very similar. Where the G really takes it to the next level is there's more options for working with hard disk recording. The interface is more intuitive much like a DAW software. The ability to connect a USB mouse and use a cursor on the screen takes that feeling of working on a computer to the next level.

Although if you owned a Fantom X and are really familiar with the screens, you'll notice that in the Fantom G there's more on the screen. That's because it's much bigger with a larger resolution. With the larger screen and higher resolution Roland was able to streamline the menus, making common tasks just one click away. This speeds up the music creation process and reduces the learning curve because many of the tasks are readable and easier to find with purposefully labeled buttons.

I would recommend this workstation to anyone for any type of application (studio, performance, hobbyist. The only thing is that this workstation is in the upper price range of many of it's competitors. They retail around $2500 for the 61 key version.

Karma M50 Software

Usually I make a post for workstations but this time I've decided to do a post on the Karma M50 Software from Karma Labs. This is a special software that enables you to generate patterns on the fly in real time when connected to a Korg M50 workstation. Normally "Karma" is a feature that's only available on certain Korg workstations. Since the M50 is a lighter version of some of it's sister workstations, the availability of this software to be used in conjunction with the board makes it even more powerful.

All of the functions found on the Korg M3, Karma Workstation, and Korg Oasys as far as Karma capabilities are there plus more. You can access GE parameters, tweak gate assignments, and render and tweak your parameters using the M50's front panel controls. This is a special feature not even available on the other Karma softwares for the Korg Triton even. It retails for around $150 and can be purchased and downloaded from karma-labs.com. Consider it a wise investment for music creation.

The Korg M50

The Korg M50 is the latest music workstation from Korg. It's not really a pro class workstation like the M3 released last year, but it does keep many of the same features and has the same synth architecture.

At first glance the M50 has a remarkable resemblance to the M3 workstation, this is because of it's large touch screen interface and tab navigation system. If you're familiar with the Triton Workstation series then you'll easily be able to find your way around the M50. You may also notice that the M50 gets a lot of its design cues from the M1, with its backlit round buttons. Also the X/Y axis joystick look very similar to those workstations of the past.

With the looks and sounds comes a price that is easy to get use to. The M50 retails for only $1000. For this budget you know Korg is going to leave out some of the goodies. You might miss the Karma feature found on the Karma, M3, and Oasys Workstations. Also there's no sampling feature. Korg probably realizes a lot of the entry level workstation uses are also using DAW software with their boards so the M50 actually hit's a great price point.

Introduction

This is the introduction and post for my blog. In it I'll review keyboard workstations as the title describes. Although this seems like a very obscure topic there are quite a bit of musicians that seek information about which new products to buy based on reviews. Unlike other review sites like Amazon or Musician's Friend where customers can write a paragraph or two with out being qualified, I'll be writing in-depth reviews of these products that offer insight to not online thier functions, but thier ease of use and learning curve. This is very crucial because many workstations are a pain to learn and use. One of the reasons I'm able to give qualified reviews is my company sudosonic.com, is where I create and sell instructional videos for the workstations. Hope you enjoy! -Paul Duffey, sudosonic.com