Overview Of The Fantom-Xa; How The Fantom-Xa Is Organized - Roland Fantom-Xa Owner's Manual

Overview of the Fantom-Xa

How the Fantom-Xa Is Organized

Basic Structure
Broadly speaking, the Fantom-Xa consists of a controller section, a
sound generator section, a sequencer section, and a sampler section.
These sections are internally connected via MIDI.
fig.BasicStruct.e
Playback
Sequencer
Section
Recording
Controller Section (controllers
such as keyboard, pad, pitch bend lever, etc.)
Controller Section
This section consists of the keyboard, pad, pitch bend/modulation
lever, panel knobs and buttons, and D Beam controller. It also
includes any pedals that may be connected to the rear panel. The
performance information generated when you do things such as
press/release a key or pad, or depress the hold pedal is converted
into MIDI messages and sent to the sound generator section,
sequencer section, and/or an external MIDI device.
Sound Generator Section
The sound generator section produces the sound. It receives MIDI
messages from the controller section and sequencer section and/or
from an external MIDI device, generates musical sound according to
the MIDI messages that were received, and outputs the sound from
the output jacks or headphones jack.
Sequencer Section
This section records operations of the controller section as MIDI
messages, and transmits the recorded MIDI messages to the sound
generator section. MIDI messages recorded on the sequencer can
also be transmitted from the MIDI OUT connector to allow the
Fantom-Xa to also control external MIDI devices.
Sampler section
A sampler is a device that captures sounds from a CD player or mic
connected to the input (or sounds from a wave file) as "samples."
Samples you record can be used in the same way as the waveforms
that are built into the internal sound generator (p. 100).
The Fantom-Xa can load WAV or AIFF format wave files as samples
via a USB connection. Loaded sample can be used in patches or
rhythm sets.
Audio Input
Sampling
Sampler
Section
Sound
Generator
Resampling
Section
Play
Classification of Fantom-Xa Sound
Types
When using the Fantom-Xa, you will notice that a variety of different
categories come into play when working with sounds. What follows
is a simple explanation of each sound category.
Tones
On the Fantom-Xa, the tones are the smallest unit of sound.
However, it is not possible to play a tone by itself. The patch is the
unit of sound which can be played, and the tones are the basic
building blocks which make up the patch.
fig.Tone.e
Tone
LFO 1
WG TVF
Pitch TVF
Envelope Envelope
audio signal
Tones consist of the following five components.
WG (Wave Generator)
Specifies the PCM waveform (wave) that is the basis of the sound,
and determines how the pitch of the sound will change.
The Fantom-Xa has 1228 different waveforms. All patches built into
the Fantom-Xa consist of combinations of tones which are created
based on these waveforms.
* There are four wave generators for each rhythm tone (percussion
instrument sounds).
TVF (Time Variant Filter)
Specifies how the frequency components of the sound will change.
TVA (Time Variant Amplifier)
Specifies the volume changes and the sound's position in a stereo
soundfield.
Envelope
You use Envelope to initiate changes to occur to a sound over time.
There are separate envelopes for Pitch, TVF (filter), and TVA
(volume). For example if you wish to modify the way in which the
sound attacks or decays over time, you would adjust the TVA
envelope.
LFO 2
TVA
TVA
Envelope
control signal
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