This is the keyboard that does it all; it's a phenomenal piano, a stereo sampler with up to 544MB of memory (32MB standard,) a digital recorder that captures up to 51 minutes of stereo audio, a sequencer with 400,000-note capacity, a rhythm programmer with 16 responsive pads, and a synth with four expansion slots and a color LCD screen that completely clarifies navigation and programming. Polyphony of 128 voices means you can combine samples, drum parts, piano and synthesis at once. A new synth engine maintains full polyphony even when complex four-tone Patches are used; other synths start losing polyphony as soon as patches are composed of more than one or two tones.

Many of the sounds in the Fantom X series were recorded in top studios with vintage tube microphones, top-grade preamps and the best A/D converters around; then they were mixed by engineer/producer Dan Blessinger of Martinsound, a person with a list of accomplishments and hits too long to recreate here. So when you dive into the stereo grand piano, a Patch built up from over 700 individual samples taken from each key at various velocity stages, you're working with a thoroughly professional thing of beauty. This may be the first synth that can stand on its own as a piano as well. The Piano button brings this patch up instantly (or you can reprogram this button to the patch of your choice!) This is just the starting point; the Fantom-X is loaded with 128MB of 16-bit linear equivalent waveforms, a total of 1,436 to choose from, and these are organized into 1,024 presets plus 256 General MIDI 2 (GM2) patches. User settings include 256 patches, 32 Rhythm sets, and 64 Performances, which organize the entire keyboard into multi-part setups. Roland calls the Fantom-X a "Giga-Workstation," since once you load the DIMM memory and fill the four expansion slots you have nearly a full gigabyte of wave memory at your fingertips.

Skip Back Sampling is worth the price of admission alone. It continuously records every note you play, from the keyboard and the Dynamic Pad Bank. Did you just have a brilliant flash? Just skip back and start building a song or soundtrack from it! The Dynamic Pad Bank offers both aftertouch and velocity sensitivity, and twice the polyphony of the previous Fantom. Realtime Timestrech makes it child's play to match different loops without changing pitch; you can also easily lock up to any of the 512 built-in Rhythm Patterns, 256 of which are user programmable. These are organized into 32 groups so you can quickly track down the style you need. The 400,000-note sequencer can import and export SMF Standard MIDI files. The Arpeggiator is another powerful creative tool, with 128 presets and 128 user patterns.

You might think a color LCD screen is more gimmick than necessity, but once you've worked with it you'll never want to go back. Seeing menus and screen sections blocked out in color coding makes it radically easier to see what you're doing - - everything doesn't blur together into one mono-color maze. Effects are one of the strongest points of the Fantom X, with three multi-effects processors plus separate Reverb, Chorus and Mastering Processors. Controllers include Roland''s ubiquitous Pitch Bend/Mod lever, four control knobs, two assignable switches and a D-Beam™ controller. Four outputs (two stereo pairs) and a stereo input for sampling make for great connectivity, as does the built-in USB connector. This aallows transfer of waveforms to and from a computer and serves as a MIDI interface as well. A digital coaxial I/O is also furnished, as is a PC card slot for CompactFlash and SmartMedia memory cards. This is the complete deal!