Come, help me make my dreams/drums come true

[LovinPavan]

Hey,

I have had a roland fantom x6 since 2005, but it has been too technical and over my head, so I have always been inhibited from using it. Now I have the time and I would love to get a simple setup where I can just record percussion phrases with swing, loop them as I want and be able to layer other electronic instruments, etc. My production idol has always been Timbaland and I have always marveled at how he did things on his ASR-10, basically just tapping away keys and somehow looping them and layering melody, etc. Is there a simple machine or setup that could facilitate this experience for me better than a fantom? I would greatly appreciate your help. I just want to learn the basics and build on that.

Thanks so much,
Pavan

 

[busystarter]

I think I can help you. I looked up the fantom x6 and I see it has a screen in the middle of it... Does it record drums and stuff directly into that? I've worked with a lot of different kinds of equipment and I can tell you that what you have now is actually really good because you're going to want to add bass note values into your tracks. Note values are MIDI data which tell the computer part of your setup what to play for instruments... like literally any instrument you can think of. Bass, piano, trumpet, violin etc. etc. Would you rather play notes on a drum pad or on piano keys? Both ways are possible believe it or not. I think you want to use piano keys though

Here's the link to all the manuals for that thing: Roland - Support - Fantom-X6 - Owner’s Manuals

Try the Quick Start manual. That should get you up and running. If that's too easy, or if you already know that stuff hit up the the full Owner's Manual. Honestly the documentation for a piece of equipment is where it all starts man. It sucks but even I have to sit there and read the manuals whenever i get new equipment and I've been studying music for 5+ years...

Another method is youtube... search youtube for "fantom x6 _____" just replace the space with any part of the equipment you want to learn more about. You would be surprised how many people post tips and tricks for free, its crazy...

If you really just want to throw the thing out the window, hit me back in this topic and I'll help you out some more ok?

 

[LovinPavan]

I think I can help you. I looked up the fantom x6 and I see it has a screen in the middle of it... Does it record drums and stuff directly into that? I've worked with a lot of different kinds of equipment and I can tell you that what you have now is actually really good because you're going to want to add bass note values into your tracks. Note values are MIDI data which tell the computer part of your setup what to play for instruments... like literally any instrument you can think of. Bass, piano, trumpet, violin etc. etc. Would you rather play notes on a drum pad or on piano keys? Both ways are possible believe it or not. I think you want to use piano keys though

Here's the link to all the manuals for that thing: Roland - Support - Fantom-X6 - Owner’s Manuals

Try the Quick Start manual. That should get you up and running. If that's too easy, or if you already know that stuff hit up the the full Owner's Manual. Honestly the documentation for a piece of equipment is where it all starts man. It sucks but even I have to sit there and read the manuals whenever i get new equipment and I've been studying music for 5+ years...

Another method is youtube... search youtube for "fantom x6 _____" just replace the space with any part of the equipment you want to learn more about. You would be surprised how many people post tips and tricks for free, its crazy...

If you really just want to throw the thing out the window, hit me back in this topic and I'll help you out some more ok?

WOW. thank you for the great response. forgive me for the delay. my day job can be crazy so i forgot i even made this thread. anyways, i really appreciate your time.

my biggest question with the fantom x6 is how to program drum loops with swing that i can copy and past one after another to maintain the swing and not paste it exactly on one of the sequencer's note, which will throw it off swing and actual beat.