Chicken Systems Fantom Creator User Manual
Fantom Creator™
Version 0.9, Build 21
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Fantom Creator™
Table Of Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................. 5
Basic Concepts. ........................................................................................................................... 7
The Fantom Document
Main Screen ................................................................................................................................ 8
Fantom Object Views. ....................................................................................................................10
Keyboard Optional Display ............................................................................................................12
Wave Optional Display ..................................................................................................................13
Working with Objects
Adding Objects. ............................................................................................................................14
Deleting Objects. ..........................................................................................................................15
Editing Objects. ............................................................................................................................16
Renaming Objects. .........................................................................................................................17
The Fantom Player ..........................................................................................................................18
Preparing and Re-importing. ............................................................................................................19
Editing Single Samples Externally ..............................................................................................................21
Exchanging Objects. .........................................................................................................................22
Auditioning Samples and Multisamples. ............................................................................................23
Importing External Instruments. .....................................................................................................24
Editors.
The Patch Editor ..........................................................................................................................26
The Tone Editor ...........................................................................................................................27
The Multisample Editor ................................................................................................................28
The Sample Editor ......................................................................................................................29
The Performance Editor ................................................................................................................30
The Part Editor ...........................................................................................................................31
AutoSampler
Introduction ..............................................................................................................................32
Audio/MIDI ...............................................................................................................................33
Placement ................................................................................................................................33
Recording .................................................................................................................................34
Processing ................................................................................................................................35
Switches ...................................................................................................................................35
Parameters ...............................................................................................................................35
Menus
File. ............................................................................................................................................36
Patch/ Performance. .........................................................................................................................37
Tone/Part. .....................................................................................................................................38
Multisample. ................................................................................................................................39
Sample. ......................................................................................................................................40
View ...........................................................................................................................................41
Help .............................................................................................................................................42
Gear Menus - Patch/Performance ........................................................................................................43
Gear Menus - Multisample. ...........................................................................................................44
Gear Menus - Sample ....................................................................................................................45
...................................................................................................................................25
Preferences
General. ......................................................................................................................................46
Colors. ...........................................................................................................................................47
Import .......................................................................................................................................47
Export .......................................................................................................................................47
Data Processing ...............................................................................................................................48
Audio/MIDI. .................................................................................................................................49
Support
Troubleshooting. .............................................................................................................................51
FAQ ..........................................................................................................................................51
Bug Reports. ..............................................................................................................................51
Contacting Technical Support. ............................................................................................................. 53
Updating. ..................................................................................................................................54
Contact Us .................................................................................................................................55
Credits. .......................................................................................................................................56
Fantom Creator
™
Introduction
Fantom Creator™
Introduction
Fantom Creator™ is a powerful Patch, Performance/LiveSet, Multisample, and Sample creator/editor for
Fantom workstations, including the Fantom-S, Fantom-X, Fantom-XR, and Fantom-G.
The Fantom line of workstations are
a well established new generation
Workstation-style keyboard system
that has excellent sounds and advanced
functionality, for superior usage in
the studio and playing live. The most
immediate gratication of the Fantom is
playing it’s onboard sounds, which are
top- shelf and professional standard.
However, the Fantom also allows for
playback of user-dened multisampled
keymaps (called “Multisamples” on the
Fantom) with the same possibilities
as the onboard ROM Multisamples.
This functionality is entirely under the
Sampling button on the Fantom.
Although the Fantom is a little less
exible then the older specialized
hardware samplers (e.g. Akai S-5000/ZSeries, Emu Emulator 4, Ensoniq ASR10, Roland S-7x and so on), and more less so then powerful software samplers such as Kontakt, it is still
very powerful, and with the right software platform to assist in creating these sampled Multisamples and
Patches, the Fantom can go beyond it’s stock sounds and y high with your own custom Patches.
That is the goal and stated purpose of Fantom Creator.
Like most (if not all) hardware musical instruments, the onboard display and provided access do not give
access to the Fantom user-sampled area exceptionally well. Some Supermen have used it and worked with
it, but among us Mere Mortals it’s “in and out”, since it is slow and difcult not only to view the total range
of information, but also to apply new edits etc. Again, Fantom Creator leverages the natural power of your
computer to access, display, and arrange information that it’s a perfect and powerful bridge to create and
edit Fantom user-created content.
You will notice that a signicant difference between Chicken System’s Fantom Creator™ and
own provided Fantom Editor is that the Fantom Editor communicates via MIDI or USB to the Fantom
ITSELF, whereas Fantom Creator™ simply works with Fantom les themselves. This is because of lacking
functionality in the Fantom itself; it does not allow user wavedata to be transferred or detected through
MIDI or USB. That is a signicant omission in the Fantom Editor; although the immediate Program editing
and librarian functions are wonderful, there is no access to the user Multisamples. In fact, on older Fantom
models the editor actually crashes when encountering a user Multisample.
Roland
’s
Fantom Creator™ takes advantage of only access to user Multisample data - via the les themselves.
Fantom Creator™ is practically a virtual Fantom specialized for editing. You can make your own user
Multisamples, edit and create your own Samples within those Multisamples, and much more. Fantom
Creator also allows innovate ways to listen and audition those sounds. Since it’s not a Fantom, it can’t
substitute for it, but with sampled sounds you can come awfully close. Most of the time, we foresee
Fantom users to operate Fantom Creator™ to take care of the sampled side, since it more clear, powerful,
and efcient then the Fantom itself, but when it comes time to tweak the sounds and do the real-time
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Introduction
parameter editing, we expect them to write the les and read them into Fantom, edit away, then resave.
Fantom Creator™ also includes management of ROM data. Renaming objects (Patches, Multisamples, etc.)
is a breeze on Fantom Creator™. You can manage your Categories (sometimes the center of most Fantom
user’s experience!) in new powerful ways beyond what the Fantom itself can do. You can even set up a
library of Patches and create your own compilations to be written into a le for particular uses.
Fantom Creator™, while powerful, is still a simple application. It was designed to give you easy and
intuitive access to Fantom data, with no funny business or confusing Corvette-looking widgetry.
Some notes regarding the documentation:
This document is synced to the Fantom Creator™ version denoted on the cover of this document. It is a
dynamic document and often is revised with every major, minor, or even build of Fantom Creator™.
In this document, the term “right-click” also refers to “control-click” on a Mac. Only “right- click” will be
used. Similarly, “Preferences” is term for different optional parameters that can be set in the program;
on the Mac you will see the word “Preferences”, but on Windows you will see “Options”. In this document,
Preferences will be used. Graphics are all Mac, but look very similar to the Windows version.
Since the Fantom regards the middle C key on a keyboard (MIDI note 60) as C3, by default Fantom
Creator™ shows the textual representation of MIDI note 60 as C3. This is the non-US representation.
However, if you are more used to seeing C4 as middle C (like GigaStudio or other US models - or even
some varied non-US samplers), you can change this in Preferences- General.
Fantom Creator
™
If you are a registered owner, you are qualied for free updates for the life of the program. You can
download these from your program using the Check for Update feature, or from the Chicken Systems
Update Area.
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Fantom Creator
™
Basic Concepts
Basic Concepts
The Fantom Creator™ Fantom Document represents a single Fantom folder structure. It can be one that is
existing, or a new one that hasn’t been saved to disk yet.
Your experience with Fantom Creator™ revolves around creating a new (or opening an existing) Fantom
structure into a Fantom document, editing the objects within that document, then saving the document
as a Fantom structure. This saves
all objects, such as Patches and
Multisamples, into a single le/folder
set.
A Fantom File/Folder Set contains
the SVD le, which contains the
Patch, Multisample, and Performance
information, and the Samples,
represented as WAVE les, inside the
‘SMPL’ folder within the Fantom folder
structure.
(Note (Fantom-S/X only): the Fantom
sample format is technically mono.
However, there is a concept of stereo
samples and is fully reected in Fantom
Creator. What this means is that when
there are two sample objects (left and
right), Fantom Creator treats it as one
stereo sample. We admit it is confusing because within the Fantom structure, the sample IS actually stereo, but the next index does not exist.
Still, this is worth noting just in case you are interested.
The Fantom Document shows you the most important aspects of the Fantom les: the Patches, the Tones
within each Program, the Multisamples, and the Samples within the Multisamples. These are represented in
four Lists; the Patches with the Tones, and the Multisamples with the Samples. There is also a Performance
List and a Part List, shown in the Performance View.
From there, you are free to add, delete, or edit any of the objects to your needs. For more information on
the Fantom Document, where you’ll do the majority of your work, see The Fantom Document elsewhere
in this document.
Each object has an Editor. There is a Patch Editor, Tone Editor, Multisample Editor, and Sample Editor; and
additionally, a Performance Editor and Part Editor. One editor can be open at a time, and it edits the current
selection in the list on the Fantom document. For more information on Editors, please see the Editors
section elsewhere in this document.
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The Fantom Document
Fantom Creator
The Fantom Document
The Fantom Document represents a single SVD le and it’s samples within the SMPL folder, existing or
a new one that hasn’t been written yet. Your experience with Fantom Creator revolves around creating
a new or opening an existing Fantom
le, changing the objects within using
the Fantom Document, then saving the
document which saves everything to
the a new or existing Fantom le, for
immediate use in your Fantom.
Lists
The Lists on a normal Fantom document
show the principal objects; the Patches
(List 1) and the Multisamples (List 3).
The Tone List (List 2) shows the Tones
contained in the currently selected
Patch, and the Sample List (List 4)
shows the Samples in the currently
selected Multisample.
There are two other Lists; the
Performance List and the Part List.
These appear when you are in the
Performance View.
™
The purpose of the List is so you can view the contents of the File that is represented by the document and
apply functions to change, edit, or build up the le.
Views
Speaking of Views, the Fantom document interface is highly customizable, so you can either have all the
List on the document at one time (admittedly crowded), or you can see only what you want to see for
handy editing. The Views are:
-
Patch/Tone/Multisample
-
Multisample/Sample
-
Performance/Part/Patch
-
“Four Corners” (Patch & Tone on top, Multisample & Sample on the bottom)
-
Full View
You can choose which view you’d like with the Gear menu on the upper right, or the top level Views menu.
For more information of Views, see the Views section in this manual.
Range Maps
On top of the Tone List and the Part List you can have Range Maps perched on top of them. This allows for
graphical editing of the Ranges (Key and Velocity) of Each Tone or Part. Key is selected by the top button
to the left of the Range Maps, Velocity by the second button. A green color indicates which Range you are
viewing. The third button (yellow) gives you a context menu by selecting it, giving you some auto-mapping
options, plus some viewing options. If you have no immediate use for them, you can hide them using the
context menu or the Views top-level menu.
Having the Range Maps mounted on top of each other makes it easy to see how Tones or Parts are
arranged against each other. Alter the range by simply grabbing and pulling each end with the mouse.
Selecting the middle of the range allows you to slide it back and forth.
(Remember, these Ranges are actually “Limits”; that is, with an Tone, you are restricting the key/velocity
response. The Multisample the Tone refers to may have information beyond the limits, you are simply
creating a smaller “window” into the Multisample (or Patch).
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Fantom Creator
Also remember that the Ranges do not appear on Rhythm Kits, since there are no Key/Vel Ranges to deal
with, just the natural 1-Key limit of a Rhythm Kit Tone.
Optional Displays
There are two option items you can display on a Fantom Document; the Keyboard Display and the Wave
Display. The Keyboard Display shows the contents of the Multisample that is selected in the Multisample
List, and also responds to dragging and dropping of external Samples into that Multisample. It makes
mapping incoming samples a breeze. The Wave Display shows the Multisample of the Sample selected in
the Sample List, for easy recognition.
For more information on the Optional Displays, see either the Keyboard Display or the Wave Display areas
of this document.
Filtering Lists
The text eld and popup menu above each list lter the lists contents. Typing into the text eld lters
the list based on what you typed; e.g. typing in “Trum” (without the quotes) in the text eld above the
Program List brings up Patches with the names “Trumpet Short”, “TrumLngBrght”, and “Guitar Strum”.
Multiple criteria can be inputted by separating them with commas.
The popup menu varies with each List. but give you common ways of making each list more specic; e.g in
the Sample List you can view just the external samples.
™
The Fantom Document
Performing Functions on List Objects
The whole purpose of Fantom Creator is to add, edit, delete and change objects. Patches can’t be deleted
per se but they can be initialized. A “blank” Program is one that starts with the letters “INIT” (case
insensitive); initialized Patches usually have no sampled Multisamples referenced, just has the rst Tone
enabled, and is set to the rst Piano Multisample.
Mostly what you’ll edit in Patches is the contents of the Tones. Other then providing a set of real-time
parameters, an Tone’s main purpose is to playback a Multisample, whether it is a ROM Multisample or
sampled (RAM) Multisample.
RAM Multisamples are listed in the Multisamples List. A RAM Multisample is a collection of non- overlapping
samples within a MIDI Keyboard with variable Velocities. By selecting a Multisample in the Multisample List,
the associated Samples show in the Samples List, with their properties.
There are many ways of adding, editing, and deleting objects. Most of these are standard computer
methods. More specic information will be given in other places in this document, so we’ll cover them
briey here.
You can use the Gear and Plus (+) and Minus (-) buttons below each list. Clicking the Gear button exposes
a Menu that is very much like the top-level menus titled Patches-Tones- Multisamples-Samples. You can
apply the function to selected objects in the list, or to all of them, by selecting the popup menu next to the
buttons (Apply to All, Apply to Selected).
Ctl/Right-clicking on a list brings up a Context Menu which is usually identical to the Gear Menu for that
list. It ALWAYS applies to the selected items in that list.
Dragging objects is a very powerful editing method. All drags and drops do what you would think they
would do. If you drag a Wavefrom and drop it on an Tone, it will set that Tone to that Multisample. If
you drag a couple of WAVE les from outside Fantom Creator and drop them on the Sample List, it will
automatically add those WAVE les to the Samples List. You can also drag Patches, Multisamples, or any
object from one Fantom document to another.
The INS and DEL buttons are active to make new Multisamples or Samples, and Backspace serves as
another DEL button.
Two very powerful functions are included on the Main Screen; Importing and Preparing. These are covered
in depth in other areas of this document. Consider turning this viewer off in Preferences.
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Object Views
Fantom Creator
™
Fantom Object Views
The Fantom Creator™ Fantom Document has several views so you can work effeciently. Sometimes it is
important to get a birds eye look at your Fantom structure, and sometimes you need to only look at a portion of
the structure.
Views can be access either by the Views top-level menu, or the Master Gear Menu on the upper right of the
document.
Fantom les (or we call them Banks) have up to 6 components to them:
Patches
Tones
Multisamples
Samples
Performances (All Files only)
Parts (All Files only)
Generally the Program is the Queen of the Bank, because so much centers on the Program. Because of this,
most Views have at least something to do with the Patches.
There are 5 Views, separated into 3 Categories: General, Detailed, and Special.
There are two General Views:
Full View
This includes from right to left: Patch-Tones, Multisample-
Samples.
This is a good general view of the Bank. You can select
Patches and see the Tones that work within them.
You can view the Multisamples, and view the Samples
referenced by them. And you can assign Multisamples
to Tones very easily, since the lists are ght next to
each other.
Four Corners
This includes from right to left: Patch-Tones, the below
that left to right Multisample-Samples.
This performs the same purposes of Full View, except
that it values the details of each view (you can see
more of the columns) because of 2x2 alignment. Full
view is more valuable when you want to see more
entries of one list.
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Fantom Creator
There are two Detailed Views:
Patch-Tone-Multisample View
This includes from right to left: Patch, Tones,
Multisamples.
This is when you are most concerned with
assign already-designed Multisamples to
Tones. The Samples list is omitted since you
are already comfortable with the contents of
the Multisamples.
You have more horizontal information since
there are only 3 lists.
Multisample-Sample View
This includes from right to left: Tones and
Samples
™
Object Views
This is for hardcore Multisample designing,
you can see the minutiae of the Multisamples
and of the Samples. You are not concerned
with Patches or anything other then the
Multisamples and Samples.
You have much more horizontal information
since there are only 2 lists.
Finally, there is one Special View:
Performance View
This includes from right to left: Performances,
Parts, and Patches.
This is the Performance Editor, where you can
assign Patches to Parts, and thus develop
your own Performances easily. Performances
do not exist on any other list, since Patches
are more commonly used and Performances
are “far away” from Multisamples and their
dealings.
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Keyboard Display
Fantom Creator
The Keyboard Optional Display
Since the Fantom is basically a keyboard, and everything revolves around a keyboard, so it’s just natural
that we put a keyboard display on a Fantom document. It shows you what the contents of the current
Multisample are, allows you to select a
Sample within the Multisample, and also
allows dropping to import Samples into
the currently selected Multisample and
determine their Key Ranges.
Sample View
The Keyboard display shows in
alternating pink and green the Samples that are referenced in the currently selected Multisample
(on the Multisamples List). Velocities are also shown, in various tints.
Sample Select
By clicking on the Keyboard display, this selects the Sample according to where you clicked. This
also pertains to Velocity -the higher up you click, the higher velocity gets selected.
Sample Import
By dragging and dropping external Samples (WAVE and AIFF) onto the Keyboard display, this
allows you to import Samples into the currently selected Multisample. If you drag more then
one Sample or a Folder, multiple overlays will appear as you drag onto top of the display, with a
maximum of an octave spread. Dragging higher on the Keyboard makes for wider spreads.
™
Dropping on the Keyboard display imports the Samples into the currently selected Multisample. If there are
overlapping Samples, they are deleted or cut-away - this is because Multisamples do not allow overlapping.
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Fantom Creator
™
Wave Display
The Wave Optional Display
No editor would be complete without a Wave Display!
Although there is one in the proper place in the Sample Editor, you can display one on the main screen by
checking the Wave Display menu in the top-level View menu, or the master Gear Menu.
This displays what you play
in the Sample list. There are
no transport controls; well,
there actually is - the single
button on the Sample List
performs this function.
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Adding Objects
Fantom Creator
™
Adding Objects
You add Patches, Multisamples, Samples, or Performances by dragging objects into the Lists, by clicking
the + button under the List, or pressing the Insert button (INS) on the computer keyboard.
Patch List
Drop a Patch from another Fantom document into this list, and it will add it to the Patch List. (We should say
it will replace the Patch selected.) Or drop an external le, like a Kontakt .nki, Apple .exs, SoundFont, etc.,
or even one or more WAVE/AIFF les, on the Patch List and it will create a Patch and make Multisamples
that will hold the samples. Clicking the + button or pressing INS will allow you to select one or more
external Instruments to Import in (See Importing External Instruments for more information.)
Multisample List
Drop a Multisample from another Fantom document into this list, and it will add it. Or drop an external le,
like a Kontakt .nki, Apple .exs, SoundFont, etc., or even one or more WAVE/AIFF les, on the Multisample
List and it will create Multisamples that will hold the samples. (You then have to assign the Multisamples
to Tones within Patches, if you wish.) Clicking the + button or pressing INS creates a blank Multisample, in
which you can add Samples to.
Sample List
Drop a Sample from another Fantom document into this list, and it will add it. Or drop a WAVE/ AIFF. When
importing external samples, Fantom Creator assigns the rst available key from the left of the keyboard
and gives it a one note range. You can edit the range afterwards. Clicking the + button or pressing INS
brings up a Open dialog where you can select WAVE/AIFF les to import.
You can also add Samples by dropping them on the Keyboard Display at the bottom of a Fantom document.
This provides an easy way to add a sample to a specic keyrange. For more information, see the Keyboard
Optional Display in this document.
Performance List
Drop a Performance from another Fantom document into this list, and it will add it to the Performance List.
(We should say it will replace the Performance selected.) Note: you cannot import external foreign formats
into the Performances List yet, even if the format is a Performance-type (like a Roland Performance). This
will be incorporated in a future version.
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Fantom Creator
™
Deleting Objects
Deleting Objects
You delete objects in a List by clicking the minus sign (-) button under the List, selecting the “Delete” Gear,
Ctl/Right-click Context, or top-level menu option, or by pressing the Delete button (DEL) on the computer
keyboard.
The popup menus under the lists determine if you are deleting all the objects or just the selected ones.
Since it is impossible to delete a Patch or Performance, in this context it means Initializing the
Patch(es).
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Editing Objects
Fantom Creator
™
Editing Objects
You edit an object by double-clicking the object in the list, or by selecting the Gear or top-level menu
“Edit...”. It is only possible to edit one object at a time, so if there are multiple objects selected in a List,
only the rst selection will be edited.
When you edit, the appropriate editor appears. For more information on Editors, see the Editors section of
this document.
For Samples, there is also an additional “Edit External...” menu option. This allows you to edit the sample in
an external editor that you specify in the Preferences dialog. For more information, please see the Editing
External Samples section in this document.
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Fantom Creator
™
Renaming Objects
Renaming Objects
You can rename any object a Patch, a Performance, a Multisample, or a Sample - by selecting it, then
selecting it again. Although you can name any object whatever you want, Fantom Creator will apply the
natural Fantom text and length restrictions.
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