Yamaha Motif 8

Using newest version (2/27/05) of OS.
I write in many different genres, mostly musical theatre and performance styles (think Sondheim to Schwartz.) The ease of use, at first, was a TWO. I purchased this board for it's compatibility with my computer and the rich voices and expandability it presented. After learning the more 'modern' features, it felt more and more like my old QY300 Sequencer. If you're familiar with Yamaha boards and sequencers, give it time. I now give the ease of use a NINE. It could be easier, maybe a bigger, more colorful screen; maybe more discriptive titles on the buttons and knobs. Otherwise, the screens are built on pages (which are easily changed with function keys,) and everything is very well integrated.

For just having fun, the performance voices are fantastic. The only problem I have is that, when using OrchThem or similar sets in performance, you need to add RAM to get a real effect... the starting RAM is just not enough. For basic voices however, this board functions well.

I was nearly offended when someone said there was ONE effect available. That's just NOT true. You are offered so many avenues to layer effects/voices... don't even start. Hehe. Yes, it takes a little work to build the effects you want ... but .. that's what a SmartMedia card or hard drive is for! Save what you built ... music is not created in a day.

I have heard the samples of what certain expansions can do, including the 'vocoder.' They sound impressive, but after paying in excess of $2k for the monster I just can't validate such purchases.

The weight is near perfect. As a PERFORMANCE machine, as in, piano, organ, guitar... you really couldn't ask for much more. I play a Bradbury upright from 1940, considered one of the best of that era (and beyond, some would say,) and I feel I play the Motif as well as I play my piano. As a PRODUCTION machine, the weight of the keys can be a bit annoying ... but if you don't like it, tough. The Motif 6 and 7 offer just what you need with nearly the same specs.

The sequencer is fantastic. Yamaha is very well known for the ease of use of their sequencers... and having such an expanded seq built into the board is a blessing, never a curse. EXCEPT (and this I take a point away for) the board is VERY integrated. This creates an illusion, of sorts, that EVERYTHING can be integrated. Performance mode is difficult to integrate into the sequencer, but CAN BE DONE ... unfortunately it requires a track for each voice used in performance mode.

The jazz flute. That is how I start this segment and how I wrap it up. When they get it right, they get it VERY right. From the pianos to the woodwinds, organs to the strings, realism is the thought. People complain about the presentation of the violin and organs. I rave. The organs, when controlled correctly, are easy to use and very realistic. The violin (PRESET) is a bit full with the vibrato, but if you don't want a sweet violin, use the original MIDI violin. It's still MegaVoice, it's just not as 'performancy.' Most people that want a realistic violin sound with full control ... hire a VIOLINIST.

Above all, the voices are phenomenal. I researched other boards for MONTHS until I made this purchase. Roland's string voices sounded like, when solo, original MIDI with a touch of care, and, when grouped, sounded like there was always a choir in the background... useless for me. I have produced many compositions that have had professionals scratching their heads... for soundtrack composition (and a little work besides, considering you're using ONE machine,) this beast is my baby. I love it like it's a member of my family.

Have no opinion ... my Motif is still working to this day.

Haven't had to.

A bit expensive considering what it must cost to manufacture, but I could say the same about my television or my cell phone. The fact is, Yamaha has hit a GEM with the Motif. It's a fantastic instrument between ease of use and sweetness of sound. I've had this board for a year and a half, and I'm still tingly when I touch it.

This beast is a #$%^& to learn but well worth the effort. If you have worked with other Yamaha gear then you should pick ip up pretty quick. If you are used to Roland or others then Yamaha's nomenclature can be condusing. The screen is small but there are a lot of function keys which makes getting to the desired functions easy.

Just what you would expect from a board of this caliber. Polyphony could be a little higher but I haven't run into any problems yet. Think of this as a studio production/song writing instrument and not as a tone generator for film scoring. Use the rack if that is your need.

Many people complain that there are not enough effects (read nerd nobs). While it is fun and in some RARE cases important to design your own sounds, this board is made to be played and not played with.

Haven't had the chance to use any of the expansion cards.

The feel of the keyboard action is nothing short of inspiring (at least for me). I personall like the Yamaha feel but others complain that it is too heavy. Thanksfully Yamaha makes boards with a synthy action (Motif 6, 7) for people who like that.

I'm still trying out the sequencer but frankly you can't beat a dedicated software sequencer for flexibility and features.

I personally love the sampling capabilities but was extremely disappointed with the 64MB memory limit. Yamaha, what were you thinking with using SIMMs???? The new ES solves this but I would hate to think that the board was designed poorly just to release an upgrade.

The sounds are distinctly Yamaha. If you like other Yamaha gear then you will LOVE this board. If you are a fan of other synths, then you will still love this board, but just not as much.

I personally mix the sounds of a Roland XV-3080 with the Motif to come up with the best of all worlds. Mi primary instrument of choice the the accoustic piano. The Motif is brite and brassy which is great when used in mix but harsh for some solo classical work unless you are prepared to alter the EQ/effects/etc. I have found that mixing the Motif Grand with the Roland SRX02 piano produces the finest sounding instrument available. My point is that no single instrument will meet everyone's needs for every sound.

Works like a charm but it stays in my home studio and is babied.

Never had to deal with them.

I'm in love and wouldn't part with it for anything (except maybe a new Motif ES8) Definately my favorite board!!!

I would like to see later versions come with a larger screen. Perhaps Yamaha could adopt the industry nomenclature as well.

I'm using OS 1.7. Compared to other boards, this one is very complicated, due to the small screen, but for the features, the ease of use is great. I've figured out almost everything on my own, and I referenced the manual a few times and had success. Don't buy this board if you're thinking it'll do work for you. This is a professional board and inexperienced people need not apply.

Great features. I'm in a touring band called Somebody's Closet and I tour with the machine. The voices and live performance is working just fine for me. I also use it in the studio and have never come across any problems or anything I can't do.

The piano is the most life like on the market. Roland and Korg need some work on their pianos. As far as the organ, it could be better, but good enough for live performance. You can also download MANY voices to upgrade your bank.

I only have 1 and I been touring with it for over a year now. The only problem I have is a sticky key, which I can fix on my own. Never had a problem.

Never used it.

I have been playing boards for 19 years and this is the greatest yet. If you're having trouble, just stop and think. Again, this thing won't think for you. Logic is the word. My Motif and I think the same. Don't get frustrated when something's not working the way you want. Chances are it can do it, you just need to know how to make it work.

OS Version 1.7 (no improvement only bugs remove. The manual is not very usefull and with many translation errors.

This not an user friendly keyboard and the GUI is the bad thing that we can find on the market.

Yamaha can and must do better (like the LCD screen on the TYROS)

Only out of date technology here. Use of USB for midi and data yes but at the Midi rate it's the hell.

Today it is very hard to find SCSI devices. Iomega (ZIP & Jaz) discontinue selling SCSI devices.

All the good stuffs are not included in the keyboard : AES/EBU - mLan are optionals

The GM presets are not truly GM compatible (the GM Drums for example)

The Onboard sequencer is the hell to use.

Can't change the weight of the keys. Playing organ is a hell for the fingers with the weighted keys.

Aftertouch is good but nothing exceptionnal.

Only one effect is not enough

This is a heavy keyboard used only at home.

Yamaha come with customer support ??? is it free of charge ???

There is motifator.com but i think that noone at Yamaha read it.

Example : some ask for a 1.8 OS free upgrade with great improvements of the GUI and the result is :

an Expensive Motif ES version

If it were lost or stolen, i never buy it again. I'm looking for other technology this is upgradable like Liontrack or eKo Open Labs.
This is the future of the music.

We must wait because mLan, USB 2, Bluetooth 1.2, Wifi and so on are the far future of the music.

Imagine your instruments hoocked to your computer or your mixer via Bluetooth or Wifi.

Software version unknown. Presets sound good but complicated. Editing patches is fairly unintuitive and takes a while to navigate to the parameter you want to edit. Manual is utter crap, merely explaining each feature in a very shallow way: "The arpeggio function is used for arpeggios" would be a good way of summing up their manual style.

64-note polyphony (or is it 62-note?) The keyboard action is a slightly-light piano-weighted feel. It has a number of built-in effects which sound quite nice, but I'm not sure how easy they are to make new ones. It accepts up to three Yamaha-branded expansion boards. I tried their Piano expansion board and after having a Roland A-90/ex the piano sounds were WEAK. Very weak. And I never figured out how to get the expansion board's sounds to play in my songs with the built-in sounds.

It has full MIDI controls, but curiously, at least the aftertouch DOES NOT get recorded into your sequences. This sucks if you have a sound that depends on aftertouch. For example, I had a flute noise that aftertouch would trigger a little harder breath noise, and by wiggling my finger I could get a beautiful human-controlled vibrato. But when playing back the song, the flute would always be flat and dull and boring. Yamaha tech support sucks in answering this. Fired off email to tech support and only got a robot response asking me to fill out their marketing survey.

The on-board sequencer is so convoluted and un-intuitive, you should expect to spend at least a week trying to sequence the most basic sounds. Then, if you ever try to sequence anything except 4/4 time, you will be a little disappointed in how little quality assurance went into making sure non-standard timings like that work. So far as I can tell, it is impossible to properly use arpeggios, patterns, and song mode in, eg, 5/4 time.

The instruments are beautiful but shallow. You will instantly sound like a professional violinist, flautist, pianist, or DJ when you get on this keyboard.

But if ever you want to play a violin sound without vibrato (or cello, or viola...) you will discover that they've SAMPLED THE VIBRATO INTO THE SOUND!!! This means that for any lengthy violin solo, for example, your ear will quickly grow tired of the monotonous constant vibrato on the instrument.

Don't dig too deeply on these samples, and you'll be amazed and astounded. Try to emulate a Yo Yo Ma cello piece, and you'll be disgusted at its limitations.

It does react well to velocity and aftertouch, but like I mentioned above, at least aftertouch cannot be recorded into your sequence. I know mod wheel and pitch bend *ARE* recorded ito the sequence, but I have no breath controller or controller pedals to be sure if every controller type can be recorded. (Oh, BTW, yes, I did find the screen that lists which events to record into the sequence, and yes, aftertouch was checked)

I don't gig with this board. It's a studio machine. It hasn't flopped out yet except features. As mentioned above, the inability to deal with anything but common time (4/4) and inability to record basic MIDI events like aftertouch into the sequence make this board a little limited.

Customer support sucked. Email: "Can Motif8 record aftertouch?" Simple question. Seems like a human could quickly say: "Your board is defective, return it," or "We have known issues, upgrade your OS" or whatever. Instead: "Fill out this huge complicated marketing form with your grandmother's date of birth and how many children you'll sell to Yamaha." Useless.

I've never tried to upgrade or repair this, but I've had Yamaha gear before. Like any company that has a monopoly on their own stuff, repairing or replacing parts will be extremely expensive and a huge hassle until it gets fixed. I doubt Yamaha is any worse than any other company in this regard, however.

I would probably buy something else if this were stolen. The Roland Fantom maybe. Roland's piano sounds and weighted piano feel is a little better in my opinion.

I have been playing for about 20 years, and have owned a Yamaha V50, Roland A90-ex, Roland Juno 60, Peavy DPM-V8. Some other random synths and modules in the past.

I love Yamaha's arpeggios. I wish they worked in 5/4 time, for example. If you only ever play common-time music (4/4) you probably will love this synth. It seems very geared toward rap and R&B, too.

When I was preparing to purchase, I compared this against the competition, and this one just seemed the right feature set for the price for me.

I do wish it would record aftertouch and work well with non-4/4 timed music :(

And sometimes I wish the sequencing and controls were a little less complex. The Yamaha V50 had some good controls for editing parameters and navigating the features, this one has a lot less buttons, sliders, and knobs and therefore is "simpler" but takes 3x longer to edit or navigate through the system as before. Take data entry: The value is "999" now and I want it to be "32" -- I have to spin this stupid data entry wheel for 10 seconds to get down to 32, whereas on the V50 you could just type "32" on the number pad then "enter."

So the Motif is much simpler to understand, but when you start getting good with it, there's no way to speed up input.

Sometimes it gets in the way of making music and sometimes it helps. Depends on if you can wrap your head around the new idea of an "arpeggio." If you can, then you can sound like a professional flautist, guitarist, pianist, violinist, and R&Bist all in one hour, but if you can't, then this will only ever make cheezy music for you.

The email address I give below is actually a valid email, and you can email it without getting bounces.

The best way to learn this keyboard is to be part of www.motifator.com and its forums. (play this AXE nightly) The manual is basically used for definitions and has no interactive support. My advice is to put it away. (It's only good as a reference) Eventhough it offers a sequencer, you're better off having Sonar XL 2.2 as your software sequencer here. It's easier to edit using sequencing software than to deal with the Motif 8 edit capabilities.

The Keyboard action on the Motif 8 is terrific along with its touch sensitivity. (I depend on it for all of my articulations evident in my scores) The internal sounds are fine and I do not care for any of the expansion boards. I basically use Gigastudio 160 and its libraries to bridge thoses sounds with the Motif internal sounds. Polyphony issues are resolved by using Sonar XL 2.2 and creating additional Audio tracks. This gives you greater control in all of your final mixes.

Since I am a Jazz arranger, there is a lot to be tweaked in way of reeds and horns. Check out http://motif.falldowngoboom.org/ and look for the guys there that are offering at present a free voice bank.

I use the Motif strictly in my studio only! I wouldn't take this heavy axe out on a gig unless I needed it to make a living. Since I am retired from Gigging, my Motif 8 remains in its pristine state which is very comforting to see. It does get covered when not in use.

The customer support can be aided by contacting the Gurus in the motifator.com forums otherwise it takes a good while IMHO for Yamaha to respond. Look for my scores in the Mo-Songs Forum of that Site under Saxman28

Since the Motif 8 is my Master Keyboard, I wouldn't part from it. You can listen to all of my song-arrangements at www.AlanRussellMusic.Com (Please sign my guest book) You'll be able to hear many internal sounds of the Motif 8 + A few Giga Library Files. There is a description for every song-arrangements and the instruments used. All of my gear is notated. Keep in mind that the Motif 8 is my master keyboard in all of my productions.

Hate to break it to you folks but the Rhodes and Wurli patches in the S80 are far better than the Motif 8 or the new S90 (since the S90 is just a compilation of Motif sounds) They didn't use the same Rhodes samples and the new ones are much thinner and not as responsive. Yet one more example of how things get worse as a product line progresses. The synthesizer industry is just like the car industry. In order to have the best you have to search for that one model and one year that had the killer engine in it that the model from the "improved" following year didn't have. Absolutely ridiculous. Gear head techy folklore anyone?

There is absolutely NO way you are going to use this synthesizer through intuition. however, the manual is 94% useful. If you get in stuck on something for a long period of time read carefully through manual. I learnt all the fundemental operation prodecures in only 2 days. but it takes quite a bit of time and frustration to understand.

I do not know much about the polyphony yet, havent even bothered with it. the keyboard it EXCELLENT. comfortable than your average grand piano. I love the sequencer but i find it a little time consuming. I have finally got the hang of the song mode but i still have a little more to master. The bitch about the sequencer is that you MUST either have a Smartmedia Card or Scsi connection otherwise once you turn it off all the sequence data is gone.

I think that the synth pads are absolutely brilliant. The only thing that i would ask for is that they had more sounds which were more sharper and attacking. it consists more on ambiences but other than that they are top notch.The string samples are definitely the best and most that you will ever find for a workstation with preset sounds.
The guitar sounds are detailed but i would not say that that they are realistic. it was a minor disappointment. the synth leads are pretty good. there drums are excellent and also have a broad range. the brass sound are medeocre. the musical FX can be classified as top notch. The EFFECT sounds are great but leave a little to be desired.

I would NEVER take to any gigs. It almost weighs more than i do. It has only crashed once in the time that i have had it but other than that it's more trustworthy than your right hand man.

I have not need to go to any kind of support.

worth every single penny{even worth more}. this is a definate purchase if you are looking to make amazing and professional music.

The motif was a little hard to use, because you have to press several buttons to get to one place. With the help of motifator.com most of my questions are answered in a day or two. So overall, it's a fairly easy synth to use once you get down the basics.

The only downside to the Motif is the polyphony. Only 62 and it can run out fairly quick, especially if you like to use that sustain pedal with the pianos. I can only get down to like 3-5 tracks , if i use the sustain pedal a lot with the pianos. THe other downside is that you can only use one fx at a time. So in song mode you can only assign one fx to one channel. That kind of change the sounds a little, but still fairly decent.

As far as expansion capabilites, you can add more memory for sampler, add up to 3 expansion board, Mlan, and AIEB2.

The onboard sequencer is fairly easy to use, but editing is sort of confusing due to the tiny screen.

The sounds on the motif is superb. Probably one of the best acoustic sounding synth i have ever come across. If we're just talking about stock sounds, then the motif can't be beaten.

I use the sounds for pop, rnb, rock, and dance music. The sounds can be edited to suit your needs. There are other third party offering more sounds, so you're not limited.

The motif is built like a tank. Extremely heavy. I recommend that if you plan to use it for gig, you'll have to invest in a case that has wheel so it'll be easier for you to transport it from one place to another.

I have not call customer yet. I got the motif for a year now and so far no problem. IF i'm stuck with a problem, i usually post my question in motifator.com and it's usually answer in a couple of hours or the next day. Of course, the manual sucks, so go to the site for better help and clarification.

If it was lost i would replace it. For sounds makes a huge difference in my mix. I have been playing for 15 years now and this is one of the synth that i owned. When i was going to purchase this synth i did compare it with the Korg Triton Studio 88, but the motif has more realistic sounds while the Triton is aimed more toward dreamy pads to synth sounds. THe only thing that i can make it better are more FX (right now only 1 for 1 channel) and more polyphony(62 at the moment).

Mine came with OS v. 1.4; will upgrade to v. 1.7 shortly. I'm hoping 1.7 improves the user interface, but I'm not holding my breath. My previous experience is limited to Ensoniq (SD1, TS12), and a very little with a Yamaha S80. In so many ways, my approximately 10-year-old Ensoniqs were FAR easier to use, with a far better and user-friendly onboard sequencer, than the one that comes with the Motif8 (the onboard sqeuqncer being one of the main reasons I bought the Motif8). I still haven't gotten very far into the various features of the Motif8 yet (in large part because I am still stuck trying without success to get the sequencer to do things that my old Ensoniq could do in a cold heartbeat). Much of my inability to get very far into the Motif8's features more quickly by now than might normally be possible is directly due to the nightmare that Yamaha calls a user manual. It's obviously written for rocket scientists and gear-heads, but not musicians. The manual covers all the buttons (and myriad combinations thereof), in a scientifically perfunctory (but uselessly unhelpful) kind of way. Adding to the difficulties is Yamaha's unexplainable need to rewrite otherwise commonly used synthesizer terminology in its own unique way! The user interface, as presented on the LED screen on the synth itself is anything but user-friendly. Yamaha could learn a lot in this department by taking a close look at Ensoniq's user interface and soft/dedicated button setup. Another user here mentioned the ASR10 (Ensoniq) as being the best onboard sequencer of all the many synths he has used, and the Ensoniq TS-12's onboard sequencer (which I used a lot previously) is very closely related, if not the same animal. Some here say the Motif8 sequencer is a great thing because of all its features and tracks, etc. I'm not impressed. You can have all the features and tracks in the world; but if the basic usability of the thing is far more difficult than it should be, and it's also handcuffed by the Motif8's limited polyphony, which definitely comes into play when doing sequences, then none of the good stuff matters, in my opinion.

Only 64 (62?) voices of polyphony. Should be 128 out of the box (hopefully, some wise forward-thinking company will bump the "out of the box" standard up to 256 voices sooner rather than later). And who wants to spend a couple of hundred per expansion board that has a bunch of unwanted extra "new" sounds just so you can get added polyphony? Not I.

My Ensoniqs only had 32 voices of polyphony, yet I could layer more tracks in a sequence than I can with the Motif8 which supposedly has 64 voices of polyphony. One wonders if "voice" really means voice, or whether Yamaha redefined that one, too. I have yet to be able to layer anything more than 2 thicker sounds (i.e., piano and strings) together in a sequence (something I do frequently) without running out of polyphony; and sometimes, I even run out while laying down the track for the second sound!! For my desired uses of an onboard sequencer, this renders it virtually useless except for the most unadvanced and simple "sequences". Also, some funky MIDI thing happens in the first measure or two of every sequence that I haven't figured out yet, and which messes up the first measure of music in every sequence. Finally -- and this is pretty incredible -- you MUST save any songs/patterns EXTERNALLY -- i.e., there is NO internal hard drive/memory dedicated to songs/patterns created with the sequencer. This is like a leap back to the stone age. Even my 10-year-old Ensoniqs could save numerous songs created with its sequencer to a dedicated internal hard drive.

My general impression of the Motif8 (excluding the fabulous sounds) is that you have to do a lot of tweaking, a lot of "homework" (research), and invest a fair chunk of $$ in a variety of extras in order to get the beast to work the way it really should.

Lots of features, but difficult to use (unless you want to just play it as an unconnected stand-alone piano (or other instrument)). Because of its abundance of features (despite their difficulty of use), my rating of this category will give it the benefit of the doubt.

Best brass on any synth I have owned or tried out.
Too much vibrato (and can't get it to fade out) on the solo string instruments (i.e., violin, etc.).
The PowerGrand piano is to die for (and I'm a pianist).
There are also a nice variety of fairly realistic pipe organ sounds (I'm also an organist). Overall, the Motif8's sounds are the best. I've spent only a little time on the motifator.com site in the short time I've been registered, but I understand that downloads of additional sounds, as they are developed, are available, which surely is a good thing.
I use my Motif8 in a church setting (I direct my church's orchestra), and do a lot of mixed ensemble work with various orchestral insrument, vocal ensembles and solos, etc., and so I focus on the orchestral instruments, pipe organ sounds, pianos, and could care less about drums, guitars and anything "band" (we already have our own live band, and they do a great job).

Once I can figure out how to get the onboard sequencer to do what I think it should be capbable of doing, with the results sounding much better than they do now, then my overall rating of this synth will increase dramatically. But as for its sounds and expressiveness viewed ALONE, they are wonderful! Many here say they would buy the Motif8 for the sounds alone regardless of other factors. If I had to do it over again, I'm not sure I would agree with that -- but in all fairness, the jury (for me) is still out on that point.

Very reliable. However, I don't understand why I can't write/save Motif8 MIDI files directly from the Motif8 to a USB pocket-size 20GB hard drive via a USB cable plugged into the back of the synth (on one end) and into the hard drive (on the other end), without getting a PC involved. The only two options offered on the Motif8 for saving song/pattern files are (1) the SmartMedia card (fairly expensive memory space when compared to other forms -- $40 for only 32MB of SmartMedia memory space versus $180 for 20GB of USB hard drive space); or (2) a SCSI hard drive. The Motif8 has a USB port, but no option to use it to save and/or load data via that port is even offered within the Motif8 OS. I don't get it.

Haven't had occasion to use this yet. Registered with motifator.com, but have not had time to give it a serious look (too busy screwing around with the manual, the sequencer, and trying to make the USB hard drive I bought work with the Motif8 to save song files). I hope the positive comments others have said here about the motifator.com site are all true.

Caveat - I haven't owned this synth for very long; but on the other hand, it hasn't taken me very long to figure out the things mentioned in this review.

Overall rating is split into two categories: (1) Available sounds, effects and features - "10" (except for the sequencer -- and I forgot to mention that I have never done any sampling, so any ratings I offer exclude that feature); and (2) ease of use of available sounds, effects and features - "3" (at best). Combine this with what I would consider very limited polyphony (I've been asked more than once "how can you ever run out of polyphony with 64 voices?"; my answer "it happens to me daily"), and I'd have to give the Motif8 an overall rating (at this point in time) of 6. Again, if I had bought it for different uses than I currently have, then perhaps I would think it was the greatest invention since apple pie; but I didn't, and I don't. I sincerely hope I can come back here later on and, like one other reviewer here, positively amend this initial review (by the way, I completely agree with and echo the sentiments of that other reviewer as expressed throughout his amended review).

Except for the sequencer, manual, limited polyphony, and difficulty of use, it's a great instrument, if you don't mind spending hours figuring out how to use it instead of creating and/or saving music!