Motif XS6

SilverBeast

New member
I was at the Yamaha shop last week and touched touched the XS6 and boy, the keys feel soooo good! I was able to compare that feel with the ES6 stacked above it and there is distinctive difference. IMO, it's by far the best feel I've come across so far since the Trinity, but it's feel is unlike the Trinity and has its own character. Also, the knobs and sliders feels very sturdy and I kinda liked their "pop up and spongy" buttons for the sequencer section. For a hardware person like me, the price (especially after the discount) is definitely worth it for an all rounder workstation. BTW, I'm no spokesperson for Yamaha. In fact, I'm suppose to be a Roland fan! :D
 
I thought I wanted the Motif XS as the year-end purchase
but w/o the PLG expansion slots I may re-consider.

I did had a good try at a friend's place and as well at music plaza,
looks like Yamaha is gearing towards good acoustic sound.

maybe just get the motif es rack ?
 
I suppose expandability in the form of cards or boards will likely be phased out in upcoming generations of hardware workstations and may be replaced by soft upgrades/add-ons (even for wave samples) like they do for OS updates. Is the Fusion towards that direction?

I mean if I had a sampler workstation now and want to expand my soundset, I might as well load in samples from external sources, get a synth module or even go soft. In the case of the XS, if anyone were to expand its sampling ram to 1 gig, isn't that satisfying enough? Well, at least it is to me.

It seems the current tech pursuit for makers is incorporating feel when emulating instruments so as to make it more expressive and inspiring for keyboardists to play with. I remember makers in "old" days compete for the best sampled piano sound in terms of wave size for use as benchmark for their synths, but now, there are instrument sounds with velocity switch, super articulation, etc...WOW, we are in the right era!

For the XS, it's not just about the quality of sounds but meeting my overall needs and budget (least expensive for a flagship model). Most of all, I like its key action which non(?) of the current flagship models have. I personally don't make music for a living or fuss about perfect soundsets and if I were to have an XS, it would be like heaven to me!...and not forgetting that I have to maintain my "2 keyboard at one time" policy! :D

Bongman, if not the XS, what would you have gotten? :)
 
:D Bongman, I thought you'd refer to to another hardware synth. Yes, soft synths/samplers are arguably more economical and have better quality soundsets. Well, I'm still a hardware fan and the moment an inspiration come to mind, I'd prefer to power up my gear fast and play.
 
Aye... I like to use softwares to run other stuffs like max/msp and plogue bidule or reaktor 5 patches and kyma X; instead of soft synth (not saying that they are no good)... the synths part I prefer hardwares too! Actual dedicated knobs to noodle... So I second silverbeast BUT it's all just preferences... no better or worse... I think expandability nowadays are by OS-updates via usb or firewire... even Moog Voyagers and Little Phatty (the so called analogue synthes) are doing usb OS updates now... expansion cards are phasing out for cost cutting in production I guess...
 
SilverBeast

nowadays, technology gotta so hot, hardly know what to get ? only got limited budget for this year.

thought of getting the Korg M3, but now since I got the Triton; so need not get the M3.
maybe the motif es rack? main purpose is for the PLG slots so I can access a PLG150-DX card, I'm a FM fan !?
is roland launching any new gear? I love the juno-g and sh201 !

shopping list consideration:
Reason ver.4 ?
M-audio Axiom 61 ?
korg radias ?
korg KCL AE 2007 ?
Arturia Jupiter 8V ?
NI komplete ?


anyway, I just got my Pro Tools 7.3.1 upgrade today!
 
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Sonicbrat, the knobs and faders come from midi controllers. Software uses hardware as well to control. It's just that they have much more processing power than dedicated hardware synths.

Bongman, instead of Jupiter V, wait a little while for the Analog Factory 2 to come out. It has way more patches than before and includes all the Arturia's synths in it - with less tweakability but generally best bang for the buck. I myself am waiting for that to be ready. It will be the one analog softsynth I'll aim for.
 
Perhaps it's just my mindset that I like to have everything in one board unlike soft synths where things have to be connected. No matter how good soft synths are (and they really are and more value for money too), I'm still not moved and unlikely to be a convert. I just don't need such setups given my humble use. :D

When it comes to analog equipment and sounds, I'm sure sonicbrat is the right guy to confirm that there is that difference between soft and hard versions in terms of feel and effect. I strongly believe that sonicbrat, as with any other analog fan, would prefer playing the hard versions. On the other hand, try asking any pianist who adores playing his/her steinway grand to convert to a soft version one! :LOL

Bottomline is that everything is still about personal preference and of course, type of usage.
 
oh? suddenly here becomes a deep thinking thread ?
let me count the number of white thread in on hair ...
 
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Silverbeast, softsynths and VSTis is always about practicality. Yes, I would love to always play on a Steinway B, Bosendorfer 290, or Yamaha C3 Grand. But it's impossible for me to carry one around with me! But I can carry all 3 of them in sample form - which sounds exactly the same as the original grands.

Analogs are the same. Of course I would love to have all the analog keyboards at my disposal, but I can't carry them around with me. But I can have the Moog Modular, Jupiter 8, CS-80, Prophet, ARP 2600, Oberheims etc all with me wherever I go, that sounds very close to the real thing - for a fraction of the price.

But yes you are right - it's still personal preference. And Bongman is right - we are going OT. And Bongman, I have more white hair than you!
 
Cheez, I do agree with the fact that soft synths are always about practicality, but I don't agree that their samples sound exactly the same with their acoustic versions. Likewise, the feeling when playing on both would be different too, would it?

I'm sure there are people who collects grands or analog hard synths of different makes just to satisfy their passion for music. Anyway, soft samples, especially with today's tech, can always fool the untrained ear like mine, but they'll never fool the masters'. Music aside, would it be the same between driving a real Ferrari and its actual simulation? Let's not forget that one of the fundamental things a synth does is to emulate sounds and "emulate" is the keyword here.

During my school days, I know 2 separate friends who had tested their grands at the shop and purchased that very particular demo piece without getting a new piece simply because they do not agree 2 of the same model sound and feel the same! In fact, one of them prefers to play the grand in her school than the same model at her home! Any "real" pianist want to comment on such behaviours?

What's happening here reminds me of my younger days in school when I would witness comparisons of/arguments about why one respective religon is better that the other :D. I do think it's better to chop-chop-close-shop this thread coz in the first place, all I wanted to do here is to express how impressed I am with the XS, especially its key action! :D

BTW, sorry for the white hair, bongman! :D
 
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During my school days, I know 2 separate friends who had tested their grands at the shop and purchased that very particular demo piece without getting a new piece simply because they do not agree 2 of the same model sound and feel the same! In fact, one of them prefers to play the grand in her school than the same model at her home! Any "real" pianist want to comment on such behaviours?
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because it's the truth =) ... no 2 piano will same alike, same brand or same production date, doesn't matter ... cuz the wood is already different, no totally same trees in the world, therefore no wood are alike ...

and for yamaha to forbid people to come to their storage to choose the particular piano is ridiculous ...... (remember this discussion? hehehe) ... anyway ... for piano, buy what you try .. and if you haven't try it ... don't buy it ....
 
OK. Back to topic. We'll never agree on this and that is fine. Diversity of opinion is good and healthy - sometimes. I would hate it if there are no opposite opinions! When I have the time, I'll record my latest piano piece with my Bosendorfer 290 sample and maybe do an A/B comparison - to let others hear and see if they can tell which is the real piano! Maybe Pianoex can tell me where to find a real Bos290 to record? :)

Back to topic.
 
Good one cheez :) and I know I'll be fooled for sure. Hope there'll be "masters" who can take part in the challenge too...maybe do a poll? :)
 
Hi all, do you know a place that has the XS6 in stock at the moment? The Yamaha stores are out till Jan.

Thank you in advance!
 
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