About Simultaneous Polyphony; About Memory - Roland Fantom XR Owner's Manual

Overview of the Fantom-XR

About Simultaneous Polyphony

The Fantom-XR can play a maximum of 128 sounds simultaneously.
The following paragraphs discuss what this means, and what will
happen when more than 128 simultaneous voices are requested from
the Fantom-XR.
Calculating the Number of Voices
Being Used
The Fantom-XR is able to play up to 128 notes simultaneously. The
polyphony, or the number of voices (sounds) does not refer only to
the number of patches actually being played, but changes according
to the number of tones used in the patches, and the number of waves
used in the tones. The following method is used to calculate the
number of sounds used for one patch being played.
(Number of patches being played) x (Number of tones used by
patches being played) x (Number of waves used in the tones)
For example, a patch that combines four tones, each of which use two
waves, will use eight notes of polyphony at once. Also, when playing
in Performance mode, the number of sounds for each part is counted
to obtain the total number of sounds for all parts.
How a Patch Sounds
When the Fantom-XR is requested to play more than 128 voices
simultaneously, currently sounding notes will be turned off to make
room for newly requested notes. The note with the lowest priority
will be turned off first. The order of priority is determined by the
Patch Priority setting (p. 49).
Patch Priority can be set either to "LAST" or "LOUDEST." When
"LAST" is selected, a newly requested note that exceeds the 128 voice
limit will cause the first-played of the currently sounding notes to be
turned off. When "LOUDEST" is selected, the quietest of the currently
sounding notes will be turned off. Usually, "LAST" is selected.
Note Priority in Performance Mode
Since Performance mode is usually used to play an ensemble consisting
of several patches, it is important to decide which parts take priority.
Priority is specified by the Voice Reserve settings (p. 92). When a note
within a patch needs to be turned off to make room for a new note, the
Patch Priority setting of the patch will apply (p. 49).
Voice Reserve
The Fantom-XR has a Voice Reserve function that lets you reserve a
minimum number of notes that will always be available for each
part. For example if Voice Reserve is set to "10" for part 16, part 16
will always have 10 notes of sound-producing capacity available to it
even if a total of more than 128 notes (total for all parts) are being
requested. When you make Voice Reserve settings, you need to take
into account the number of notes you want to play on each part as
well as the number of tones used by the selected patch (p. 92).
It is not possible to make Voice Reserve settings that would
cause the total of all parts to be greater than 128 voices.
34

About Memory

Patch and performance settings are stored in what is referred to as
memory. There are three kind of memory: temporary, rewritable,
and non-rewritable.
fig.04-006.e
Fantom-XR
Preset H (PR-H)
Preset G (PR-G)
Preset F (PR-F)
Preset E (PR-E)
Preset D (PR-D)
Preset C (PR-C)
Preset B (PR-B)
Preset A (PR-A)
Patch
128
Rhythm Set
40 * 1
Performance
64
* 1
Select
Temporary Area
Select
EXP F Slot
EXP E Slot
EXP D Slot
EXP C Slot
EXP B Slot
EXP A Slot
Patch
Rhythm Set
Wave Expansion Board
* 1 Only in PR-A (PRST)
* 2 The selected Patches/Rhythm Sets cannot be changed.
System
User (USER)
Patch
256
Rhythm Set
GM (GM2)
32
Patch
256
Performance
Rhythm Set 64
9
Select Select Write
* 2
Select Write
Patch
256
Rhythm Set
32
Performance
64
Memory Card