Roland Fantom-X8 Keyboard

The Roland Fantom-X8 keyboard is more than just a keyboard. In fact, it is listed as not just a keyboard but a Workstation Keyboard, because of its vast capabilities that go beyond a regular electronic keyboard. I am fortunate enough to own one of these, and the technology available through it is amazing. Check it out here!

Just a few of the features listed on the website: 

• 128-voice workstations with an 88-note Progressive Hammer-Action Keyboard
• Seamless integration of audio and MIDI using gorgeous new ROM waves and sampling with realtime timestretch capability
• 8 stereo audio tracks integrated with internal MIDI sequencer
• Color LCD screen - a first in a workstation keyboard! 
• 3 MFX processors, plus dedicated reverb, chorus and mastering processor
• USB port 
• PC card slot for backing up samples and data with up to 1GB capacity
• 4 Line outputs (2 stereo or 4 mono), stereo Line input and 24-bit S/PDIF I/O

The Fantom-X8 offers many features of an electronic keyboard, such as weighted keys, input/output lines, a metronome, and recording capabilities. However, it goes far beyond this. The soundbank is the most extensive I have ever seen on a keyboard, and you can re-create the sounds of any instrument or sound effect imaginable. 

One of the most useful features of this workstation is its recording capabilities. You can record a song and play it back through the keyboard, but then you can edit it, layer it with other tracks, and save it, much like you would do through a computer program. 

The Fantom-X8 also features a color LCD screen, which makes navigating all of its many features a little easier. My personal favorite feature is the option to switch the keyboard to functioning as if it were a grand piano:

This feature allows you to choose from dozens of different piano sounds, but it also has the ability to lower or raise the lid of the piano on the screen, imitating the effect of closing or opening the lid on an actual piano. As a pianist, this option provides me with a great alternative to practicing when I don't have access to a piano. Although playing on a keyboard is never quite the same as playing on a real piano, this comes the closest! 

Even though I have had this keyboard for a few years now, I still feel as though I have barely scratched the surface of its capabilities. Every time I use it, I discover some new feature. If you look at the first picture, you can see that on the right there is also a drum pad (the orange square buttons). This is touch sensitive and can be programmed to record drum tracks, and is the next feature that I want to explore and become more familiar with on this workstation. 

This workstation keyboard is one of the most innovative and powerful keyboards available, and is a wonderful technology not just for pianists but for any musician interested in exploring music through audio and recording technologies. Although it is not quite the same as working on a computer, it provides many of the same capabilities along with something I thinks is very important - the ability to play along on the keyboard while working, allowing you to interact with the music on the instrument at the same as recording and editing.