Overall process
From a Fantom backup on a USB stick, through Fantom Set List Buddy, back to the keyboard for Restore.
- Backup on the Fantom to a USB stick. Use MENU → UTILITY → BACKUP to write a backup onto the stick. Turn INCLUDE PAD SAMPLE and INCLUDE KBD SAMPLE off for the fastest copy and best app performance.
- Import into the app from USB stick. Load the backup into Fantom Set List Buddy.
- Edit set lists. Rearrange songs and markers.
- Export to USB stick. Write a new folder for Restore (never overwrite your source backup).
- Restore on the Fantom from USB stick. Use MENU → UTILITY → RESTORE to load the exported backup. Leave INCLUDE PAD SAMPLE and INCLUDE KBD SAMPLE off (same as the small backup in step 1) for the fastest restore.
- Power-cycle. Turn the Fantom’s main power off, then back on, so the set list changes become active. You are ready for the gig.
What you can do
This is a user guide for iPhone, iPad, and Android. Features are the same across platforms. Screenshots and button labels show the iOS version. Android has the same functionality with the Android look and feel.
Quick start: first open on a device
Have a Fantom backup folder on a USB stick or in Files, or tap Open demo to try sample songs first (Export stays off). After the splash, the app lands on Set Lists. Tap Open demo, or Menu → Import from Folder… / Import from Fantom USB Stick…. Tap a named backup, then Import and confirm the path shown. Wait for Importing…, then you can unplug. Tap a set list to edit. Later Menu → Export to Fantom USB Stick… or Export to Folder… writes a new folder for Restore.
Move around the app (bottom tabs)
Use the five bottom tabs for the main jobs:
| Tab | Use this to… |
|---|---|
| Set Lists | Browse and edit Scene Chain set lists (list + editor stay in this tab) |
| Songs | Manage learned title → scene mappings (used by New Setlist… → Create from → Text…) |
| Scenes | Browse all 512 scenes; add one to a set list (confirms) |
| Bands | Define Band + Name contains filters for the Set Lists list |
| Menu | Import / Export / View original / Help…; Settings via the gear on the Menu header |
Multi-scene Songs
On the Songs tab, a song can map to one or more Fantom scenes in a fixed order. When you add that song to a set list (Add, or drag from the editor Songs library), those scenes are inserted as ordinary set-list rows. The Fantom Scene Chain cannot store the musician-facing song title. After Restore you only see each scene’s own name. Optional markers when inserting multi-scene songs are under Settings → Multi-scene Song Markers (Enable automated insert of markers, Inserted markers will be, Squeeze in markers). Import from text… can resolve a line to a Song or a Scene; Create expands songs into their scene lists.
Backup folders & Fantom backup types
On the keyboard, MENU → UTILITY → BACKUP writes a named folder to USB (Roland Owner’s Manual: Backing up User Data (Backup/Restore), around page 34). Plug the stick into the rear USB MEMORY port (labeled MEMORY, not COMPUTER or EXT DEVICE). Check or clear INCLUDE PAD SAMPLE / INCLUDE KBD SAMPLE for a full vs small backup. This app edits the set lists inside that folder. Export builds a new folder for RESTORE.
Leave enough free space on the phone, the USB stick, and any Export folder for one or more complete copies of that backup (staging + a new Export folder, plus headroom). Set lists are small; size is mostly samples. Without pad/keyboard samples, expect roughly tens of MB per copy. With samples included, size tracks your libraries. Roland’s Fantom 0 ceilings are about 256 MB for keyboard / multisample (shared with expansions) and about 2 GB for pad samples (including imported WAV/AIFF). Plan on 2–3× your largest backup folder free when Restore must keep samples; a few hundred MB free is usually enough for several set-list-only (no-sample) copies. Stick must be Fantom-formatted (UTILITY → USB MEMORY FORMAT, ≤32 GB).
Open a Fantom backup
Use this the first time, or when you want a different backup. After the splash, the app lands on the
Set Lists tab. Until a backup is chosen, set lists stay locked except
Open demo on the empty list. Import, Export, and View original… live on the
Menu tab (Import from Folder…, Import from Fantom USB Stick…,
and Available backups on USB Stick / Available backups in Folder when listed). The app never auto-opens a stick backup.
Demo is sample songs only. Export and View original stay off.
Demo edits are not kept when you later import a real backup (the demo band or project goes away too).
Import from Folder… lists named backups; tap one, then Import and confirm
PARENT/NAME (the Restore note is on ?, not on that confirm).
On iPhone the app stages a full copy so you can unplug USB.
The Songs tab also stays empty with no backup open (for example after installing a new build for testing):
learned title-to-scene mappings need an open backup so the app can verify scene names.
After you import, resolve any Song mappings don’t match prompt if this SVD’s scene names
differ from a previous backup version. Only then does the Songs list appear with verified names.
Work from the Set Lists tab
This is home for tonight’s running orders. The header shows Set Lists with the backup name underneath. Tap + for New Setlist…. Undo / Redo icons and Details sit on the right. Open the filter strip for Filter for…, Empty, Edited, and (when you have bands) an All Bands picker. Tap a set list to open it; ← Set List returns here (bottom tabs stay visible). Use Menu for everything that applies to this whole backup. Export, compare to original, switch backup, and help. Settings open from the gear on the Menu header (not a separate bottom tab). Screens and dialogs close with Cancel, Back, or Close. They do not dismiss by dragging down.
See more about each set list (Details)
Use Details when titles alone are not enough. Off = names only. On = project line plus ♫ songs · 💡 cues · 🎬 sets. (Inside an open set list, Details means bank/patch brackets instead.) How those counts work (and optional Songs / Cues name tags) is under Songs pools and cue pools.
Show only one band
Use the Bands filter on Set Lists when you play in more than one band and only want that band’s set lists on screen.
First define bands on the Bands tab (a name plus Name contains strings, e.g. Yacht Rock → yar, yacht).
Then open the Set Lists filter strip and pick All Bands or a band name.
Find, select, and reorder set lists
Use Filter for… for name or slot. Empty shows empty slots. Edited keeps only what you touched this session. Select for multi actions. Drag ⠿ to reorder (clear text/Empty/Edited filters first).
Create, rename, copy, swap, clear, delete
Use the set list row ⋯ (or long-press). The top line is the set list name (not an action). Each action opens its own dialog or confirm.
Edit the songs in a set list
Open a set list to order the night. Drag ⠿ to reorder. Drag the transfer handle to show the scene library. In portrait the lists stack with ↑/↓; in landscape they sit side by side with ←/→. On Scenes, use Filter for… plus bank toggles A · B · C · D or All (four Fantom banks of 128; at least one bank stays selected). Songs has its own Filter for… / Details. Drag a scene’s ⠿ onto Songs to add (or a song’s ⠿ onto Scenes to remove).
Song actions: Info, clipboard, swaps, markers
Use song ⋯ for Cut/Copy/Paste, Info… (BPM, layers, memo, set lists), Swap Scene / Marked Block / Sets, Select by Number, and markers. Swipe is Remove only. On iPhone, scroll the menu; not every action fits on screen at once.
Share a set list
Use Share… to send a text preview via the system share sheet. Share only song names (default on) leaves cues out.
Build a set list from a text list
Use New Setlist… → Create from → Text… when you have a pasted list or a
.txt / .csv. Or open the same dialog from the Home Screen
(long-press → New Set List from Text) or the Shortcuts action of the same name,
including lists from Apple Intelligence Shortcuts. Match, review, then create
(still in the app; first empty set list slot by default).
Titles you correct (for example Escape → Pina Colada) are remembered on this device
and tried first next time. Manage them on the Songs tab.
Matching against a repertoire book uses an optional Songs-tagged set list. See
Songs pools and cue pools.
Songs pools and cue pools (name tags)
Show set lists are tonight’s order. Optional Songs / ABC pools are your repertoire book.
Cues pools (for example Lights CUES) mark utility scenes (lights, FX, breaks) so they are not counted or shared as songs.
Put the Settings Song List Identifier in a set list name (default SONGS, or e.g. ABC)
so Import from text… can match against that catalog.
Put the Cues Identifier (default CUES) on a pool like Lights CUES;
those scenes count as 💡 cues in a show set list, drop out of “songs only” Share, and can form Pre/Break/Post blocks
in Automated Set Detection.
Undo…
Use Undo… to reverse changes made over multiple steps in this session, not only the last tap. Open from the Undo icon on the Set Lists header, or editor ⋯ → Undo…. Newest at the top; Undo to here jumps back; Undo all clears the stack (Redo still available until you edit again).
Export for Restore
Use Export to Fantom USB Stick… when the stick is plugged in, or Export to Folder…
for On My iPhone / iCloud. Both write a new folder only. They never overwrite your source backup.
Put it in ROLAND/FANTOM/BACKUP on the stick (the Fantom only lists folders there).
Export to Folder confirm (and ?) notes that System → Restore only sees
/Roland/Fantom/Backup/ on a USB stick. On iPhone, Export shows progress (file · bytes) with Cancel.
Then Fantom UTILITY → RESTORE → power cycle.
Settings
Use Settings to set folders, Songs/Cues tags, automated set detection, share defaults, and bands once. Then every session follows those choices. Open Settings from the gear on the Menu header. About includes Help pages, which opens this manual in Safari. Menu → Help… does the same.
Safety & Restore
- Never overwrites the source backup on export.
- Getting edits onto the keyboard: USB stick
ROLAND/FANTOM/BACKUP→ UTILITY → RESTORE → power cycle (select the folder Export created; the Fantom only lists that BACKUP folder’s children). - Prefer a backup taken immediately before restore if the keyboard may have newer scene edits.
- Fantom BACKUP can omit pad / keyboard samples; Export copies whatever was in the backup you opened. See Backup folders & Fantom backup types.