About Polyphony - Roland Fantom G8 User Manual

Overview of the Fantom-G
fig.04-005.j
Studio set
Part 16
Part 1
Patch /
Rhythm set /
Sample set
Part
On the Fantom-G, a "Part" is a kind of location or slot to which you
can assign a patch, rhythm set, or sample set.
Live mode gives you eight parts, and you can assign a patch, rhythm
set, or sample set to each part. This means that you can play up to
eight sounds together.
Studio mode gives you sixteen parts, and you can assign a patch,
rhythm set, or sample set to each part.
Part group
In addition to the internal parts (the internal sound generator), the
Fantom-G provides part groups for expansion boards 1 and 2, and
for the external MIDI output.
Part group Explanation
Internal Internal
(internal sound generator)
EXP 1 Expansion board 1
EXP 2 Expansion board 2
External External MIDI output
34
Number of parts
Live mode: 8
Studio mode: 16
Up to 16
* Depends on the expansion
board
Up to 16
* Depends on the expansion
board
16

About Polyphony

The Fantom-G has a maximum polyphony of 128 simultaneous
notes. Here we'll explain how the polyphony is counted, and what
happens when the limit of 128 notes is exceeded.
How polyphony is counted
The Fantom-G can produce up to 128 notes simultaneously. This
number of notes will vary depending not only on the number of
notes you're actually playing, but also on the number of tones used
by each patch, and the number of waves used by each tone. When
playing a patch, the polyphony is calculated as follows.
(number of patches that are sounding) x (number of tones used in the
currently sounding patches) x (number of waves used by those tones)
For example, if a patch consists of four tones, and each of these tones
uses two waves, it will use a total of eight notes of polyphony. If
you're playing in Live mode (multi) or in Studio mode, count the
polyphony for each part to obtain the total polyphony of all parts.
* If you're using realtime time stretch, twice as much polyphony will be
used.
Patch polyphony
If you attempt to play more than 128 notes simultaneously on the
Fantom-G, existing notes will be turned off, starting with the note
having the lowest priority of the currently sounding notes. This
priority is specified by the Patch Priority setting (p. 90).
You can choose either "LAST" or "LOUDEST" as the patch priority.
If you choose "LAST," notes will be turned off starting with the first-
played of the currently sounding notes when you exceed the 128
note limit. If you choose "LOUDEST," notes will be turned off
starting with the note whose volume is least. Normally, you will
probably want to select "LAST."
If you're using multiple patches to play an ensemble, it's important
to specify which part gets priority for its notes over the others. This
is specified by the Voice Reserve setting (p. 141). The patch priority
setting (p. 90) will determine how the notes of a patch are turned off.
Voice reserve
The Fantom-G provides a Voice Reserve setting, which lets you
reserve a minimum number of notes for each part. For example, if
you specify a voice reserve setting of "10" for part 16, ten notes of
polyphony will be guaranteed to be available for the sound being
played by part 16 even when the overall Fantom-G reaches its 128
note limit. When making voice reserve settings, you'll need to
consider the number of notes you actually want to play and the
number of tones in the patches you're using (p. 141).
You can make voice reserve settings for up to a total of 64 notes
for all parts.
When the audio tracks of a song are playing back, the audio
tracks take priority over the voice reserve settings.