Yamaha Motif 7

The manual needs more information... The Es manual was very detail in areas of setting up your midi and voiciing....This is a little thinner....

THe wurlly, Rhodes, and organ....Very much in improved!! I sold my fantom!

Awesome......The MOTIF is known for the user friendliness..The new Appreggio system blows fantom out the water...

Again, Motif does not fall short in this area..... Korg has always has had great syn sounds.... Motif has not match the Korg yet but they are getting better.. The fantom is still reigning champ on the brass sounds...

My gig set up is MOTIF ES8 and Fantom 7.(Love the FANTOM!)

My new gig set up is MOTIF ES8 and MOTIF XS 7!!! With confidence

I currently own ES8, and this is an excellent production keyboard; allowing great song writing creativity for pop, smooth jazz, jazz, and etc.....I was never really happy with ES's Rhodes, Wurlly, Organ, Synth and Guitar sounds. Their strength has been user friendly worksation and piano sound....I brought the Roland fanthom to fill some of these deficiencies ( love the fantom)....Well, Yamaha has fix the problem with the XS because the Rhodes, Wurlly, Organ, and guiars are awesome... ...I sold my Fantom!! It is that good...Appeggio system blows Fantom away....

I actually had an ES-8 (76 keys) : Presets far better than Korg Triton to me, sweet sounds. I am an orchestrator and I loved the woodwinds, string choices and harp. For what I need out of a board however, basic editing is far too difficult. Remember, I'm not producing a track,
I just need to hear sounds and generate scores (notation).

How can one not
have a touchtone screen in the 21st century? I have to dial in each alphabet to name a file and my name has 21 characters in it. After 3 months, I traded Es-8 in for a Korg Triton Studio.
The Manual provided enough detail, but too many steps are needed just to "throw in a disk" assign patches to tracks and generate a song. I see that others highly rate Motifator, but what I love about the Triton is that in the 4 years that I owned my old one, I only needed technical support once. So much of it is common sense, you didn't need to refer to the manual. I don't want to meet technical support, I want to CREATE. I don't want to
have to go to a manual just to figure out how to save the name of my song. If the Motif
ever gets smart and adapts Korg's SENSIBILITY, I'll be back for the most blazing pre-sets in its price range.

Keyboard action the same as Korg-great. I cannot speak to the other issues, except
pressure sensitivity seemed good and the on board sequencer, as I explained before is not at ALL easy to use.

Very realistic acoustic instruments, and as a conductor/orchestrator just great. Bass sounds fun and as a jazz/Latin enthuaist I was thrilled. Even the factory pre-set touch sensitivity during real play much better than Triton, and this I misse most of all when I had to trade in Motif for Triton so that I actually could get 15 orchestrations done and earn some Christmas money.

I did use it for gigs, and as a performance instrument it was great.

Never kept it long enough. On the other hand kept DX-7 for 9 years.

I'm afraid as an orchestrator, it gets in the way so I had to go with a lesser sound board that allowed me to get work done.

The Motif ES7 is great if you are able to receive training. Yamaha should have representatives to visit dealers and offer training hands on at site locations, this would increase sales and offer users a chance to ask questions concerning this complicated keyboard. I will keep this keyboard but it should have been made with a CD Rom or floppy accessability. The Piano and organ sounds are not satisfactory for church use.

The company where I purchased it has no knowledge on how to use it

I would not buy it again, I would have bought a Korg Triton or Phantom, possibly a Roland

If you are new to synths/workstations, you may find this keyboard is a bit of an enigma. The manual matches the abilities of the instrument; simply massive. However, when you do get used to it, it is easier than you first thought. The presets sound quite good and editing/making performance edits is quite easy.

This keyboard has almost every facility a performer needs. Polyphony is adequate and the keyboard action is typically synth-like. There are some options for expansion and plenty of this is available both in stores and on-line. Try Motifator.com.

There are plenty of sounds; some good and some not so good. This is not a piano and consequently, don't expect top-notch piano sounds. Most of the sounds are excellent, including the drums. This is a 'board you can use for many types of music. The effects are good and easily manipulated.

The Motif 7 is well made and I use it constantly for gigs. The casing is metal and well designed. There are some knobs/sliders which require protection, particularly on the road; a good case is a must. I think that the keys might be easily damaged too. No problems with my 'board so far, reliability has been good. However, my first Motif 7 had a fault with one of the circuit boards and Yamaha agreed to provide a new instrument; eventually. They wanted to repair the first Motif 7 but I thought that a two-month old instrument should not have such faults and insisted on a new 'board.

When I had problems with the first Motif 7, Yamaha tried to pass the buck to my local dealer who happens to be a friend of mine, insisting that he could carry out the repair. After insisting that I be given a new keyboard, i had to wait several weeks for a new instrument! Not impressive for a corporation of this size. I would hesitate at buying another Yamaha product particularly when there are other manufacturers, many of whom provide better warranties.

Motif 7 represents good value for money but i would not replace it with a Yamaha product. However, it is competent, light, and sounds good. It is easy to use once you get used to it and ditch the manual. I believe that Motif 7 ES is much improved but i will not audition it when i change my current Motif. I chose it because it is portable and very able. It's all down to personal opinion at the end of the day and the Motif is still very much a leading light.

I use an MOTIF 6 with Software Version 1.7.I kicked out my good old Roland XP80 for theMotif. The presetb Sound are great - the editing of the sounds is (Yamaha-Like) ok, also with the software.
The Manual is like every japanese manual - you need a lot of time !

Polyphony (62) is ok, keyboard is ok, the uise of the smart-card is great, better then the harddisk in my Kurzweil K2000SVX! And a lot of Exansions.
I am very dissapointed about the MIDI capabilities. No programmable RCV-Channel in the Performances ( or I didn't find it in the Manual)
No Programmchange in the Masters ! Big Sounds but MIDI - uihhh ???

The sounds are great - but to much aiatic drums and instruments !
The Effects are ok.

I will use the MOTIF in November the firs't time on stage. But I had one of the first DX7 - and I think I can trust on Yamahas qualtiy.

I buyed it as an uesd one, but there ar a lot of informations on the website of yamaha and other websites.

I miis only the 76-Keyboard and the MIDI capabilities of the XP80.
Thats all!

My OS was recently updated to 1.7.
Personally, I love the preset sounds. All the musicians around me love them too. The Motif presets actually manage to WOW my bandmates every time we get together to jam. The variety of sounds is nice. The brass and vox sounds are good but don't offer quite enough variety for my taste. I would also really like a rich oboe sound, which is not present here.
Editing can be a bit frustrating at times, depending upon what I'm trying to edit. I've not used the patch editing software.
As with every Japanese keyboard manufacturer's manual I've ever dealt with, this manual is fairly worthless except to maybe steer me in the right direction.

Polyphony is 62; not really enough for complex sequences using lush sounds, but polyphony is increased with each PLG board added. The keyboard action is light and responsive; I have to play my Yamaha P300 from time to time in order to keep my fingers in shape.
The built-in effects sound great and are pretty easy to edit. They won't take the place of some big fat Lexicon Reverb in the studio but are more than adequate for a high-end workstation.
The expansion capabilities are plentiful. I really love that the PLG boards have their own polyphony and that my audio output options are so plentiful and expandable.
Midi implimentation is what you'd expect from a high-end workstation--no news here.
The sequencer isn't necessarily stellar but I was able to master it without use of the manual (thank God!). The ability to sample on-the-fly with the Motif automatically keymapping the sample/samples as you go is frickin cool!

The pianos and electric pianos are top notch. The "Power Grand" patch was the first thing that made me stop and think before buying a Triton. Every player has his/her own taste in piano sounds--I've always favored Yamaha's and the Motif is a great example of why. Nothing sounds unrealistic on the Motif except some of the preset Leslie Speaker effects (nothing that a good tweak won't fix).
The sounds cover the gamut as far as styles. I've heard talk that the Motif doesn't do the orchestral thing very well, but I disagree; tweak a little and the results are great. The Motif for "dance" music is a no-brainer. The sounds are punchy, piercing, flowing, engaging, mezmerizing, anything you need them to be for dance. It's a great Rock keyboard but don't do any of that fake guitar stuff; some of the solo guitar sounds are nice but no one has created a keyboard that can realistically do the high-gain Mesa Boogie crunch and punch sound without sound like a keyboard. I'm hoping the Motif ES will address this.
The effects, once again, are more than adequate for a workstation. They are a nice compliment to the basic sounds (which again I love).
Key response is nice. I don't feel I ever put more expression into playing than I get out of the Motif. The realtime control knobs are a bit small and don't react exactly how I'd like, but are easy enough to adjust to.

I lug twice weekly and I've never had a problem with reliability. But I love my Motif too much to simply put it in a gig bag and go. I got the SKB hard case for it. The case's built-in wheels are a great help.
I have now broken 2 keys on my Motif. Yeah, I know... what a goof! I guess I play pretty hard sometimes. I don't know if this was a hardware shortfall or my own zeal but I thought I'd mention it.

I only had to deal with Yamaha once for the Motif. The CS person was great and actually gave me the number and address for the repair center they send-out to. That way I could have my broken key fixed without waitng forever and sending my Motif through a back-and-forth shipping nightmare.

If it were lost or stolen I would buy another without hesitation, unless of course the Motif ES 7 was out at that point. The "bang-for-the-buck" factor sometimes makes me feel like I should give Yamaha some more money. It's a great bargain. It's the best bit of gear I've owned in the 18 years I've been playing synths/electronic keyboards. I also own a Yamaha P300 and a Roland XP-30 (which I plan on selling in order to upgrade to a Motif ES this September!). I use a Mac with Digital Performer.
I love the Motif for its rich sound and playability. I hate nothing about it. I would say that I want more variety out of it but as no one board can REALLY do EVERYTHING at the highest levels of quality and satisfy EVERYONE'S tastes, this is as close as it gets to perfection for me (for now). It helps me express musical ideas the way I want them expressed.
If you're looking to purchase a workstation, go to your local store and A/B it with the Korg Triton. The Triton has nothing on the Motif as far as sounds go. Hear for yourself--you'll get a Motif. And, no, I don't work for Yamaha.

The OS is a little weird at first to get around, but once you know your stuff... you'll get it down fast. The manual is a little tough, you may need to use some internet tips for some things.

Excellent features. Everything is very nice... effects, sound, expansion capabilities. Very easy on the hands to play, even after playing for forever. i've never used the midi yet, so i dont know. The memory card idea was great so that you have a place to store your data.. and an alternative to that is a SCSI device.

AWESOME sounds! everthing from organs, pianos, brass, synths and drums. Everything is very nice. I especially like the organs with the Leslie. You can move the modulation wheel to change the rotation speed, or you can assign a pedal to do it. Very nice! a ton of options that you can change for almost anything and everything.

Excellent again. It has a built in back-up battery to keep the data without being plugged in. It also lets you use SmartCards, SCSI device, even your computer. As long as you take care of it, its awesome!

never needed tech support.

Definitely holds a place in my heart!!! The ONLY thing i dont really care for is the small screen... which korg tritons beat with their large touch screens. I LOVE THIS KEYBOARD!! i recommend it for anyone whos looking for something different than the Triton... which i dont exactly like.

not so good .. u need to get around the place to understand the parametres... korgs do much better than this one

well i havent spent much time with the machine. yeah the features are really great especailly u r expansion slots! usb midi and other stuff well sequencer is not that hot ... no looping tool for the sng mode which is a serious drawback .... screent too small ... not like the triton is ...midi is great,,,but give me some more to like it more

the generic orkestral instruments suffer ........... though it has great drum kits and arpeggios
the pads are average
the motion textures are pretty neat!

no i wont say that............. it is good keyboard for dance and elerktonic muzic but when it comes to symphonic sounds a triton proves to be a much better keyboard

it sucks big time in india i hate the company to sell it on international prices and no support sturcture at all

well all i can say is that it is not a great mother keyboard for me..
i use it more like a side kick ,,,, the sequencer is tough and it has some great features but yet not as perfect as the triton is..... i think it needs better modelling for generic sounds especially orckestral brass and strings to a great extent !!

I'm using 1.7 OS.
The presets voices are good, and the Gm bank is one of the best I ever heard. Patch edit is not so difficoult,but there are a lot of features and you have to learn the meaning of each one.
I'don't use the bundled voice editor but it seems good. I just prefer to make everithing using only the Motif.

Polyphony 62... For me is enaught but it's not a lot. The effects are quite good, but there are some limitation in performance mode. There are 3 expanision slots, but i don't need a FM synth simulation or other yamaha expansion boards (a sort of roland SRX were better IMHO). The sequencer it's powerful and you can insert in a song wav files: great!
The smart media and the usb connection are great.
The display is smaller than triton's but is ractional and quite clear

I think that this is the most versatile workstation (exept kurzweil maybe).
Acoustic pianos are good for a synth, wurlitzer and rhodes are quite good, elecric pianos are great.
Hammond sound are few and not wonderful but b's knees from motif mart can help you.
Strings and brass,bass, are ok.
Pads are beautiful but there are too layers (so I edit them, putting of some layers and they become ok).
I think that syn lead is the worst section on motif, so if you want to play prog rock or dance, get a triton studio or a kurzweil k2(5)600.
The onboard effects are good, but so powerful as triton's.
Aftertouch works great

OK

never calld yamaha, but www.motifator.com is helpful

If it were lost or stolen, I will cry!
It's a great machine. I think it's more versatile than triton. I also think that triton studio and kurzweil k2600 are better keyboards. For it's price I think it's the best synth now

I have the latest version of the os. I bought this keyboard because it was impossible to not purchase it. Its that good. Ive owned 19 keyboards over 23 years.

I bought it for the internal 85mb sounds and the fast scsi smart media (128mb) cards, 64MBRam(I installed that) and Akai s1000 cd-rom compatibility. When ever a new keyboard comes out I go play it and listen to its solo violin preset. This is the only keyboard that has a good one. The next thing I consider is does it compare to cdrom based 3way velocity-switched samples. The motif has this on nearly all its piano and electric piano samples. My final test is does the keyboard have any samples anywhere on the keyboard on any sound that sound bad or are out of their range and ie chipmonk effect. Most keyboards have about 70 bad samples, the motif - Ive only found 3.
ie organ with leslie high note.

I could not avoid buying this keyboard and I did try. I also find the internal sounds are so good that I haven't had to import that many akai samples. The guitar sounds are nearly as good as the cdroms and the strumming patterns have taught me alot about how to use those samples. The 4 sliders work as drawbars on b3 sounds and modify others, the 4 knows adjust sounds too. I own a KorgT-2 and love it but I am waiting for korg to eliminate bad samples from their sample rom and include scsi as an installed base feature. The choir voices totally lack on the motif so I bought the Acoustic Choir cdrom(akai) from bigfish for $49 now it has the best choir of any keyboard hands down.

hasn't broke, loading the new os fixed a polyphoney bug.

there in an independant webpage that is more organized that links to specific pages in motifator.com. Example: akai samples aren't loud enought after import, go param etc, adjust etc. I emailed yamaha to get a training dvd, I received 2 of them 3 weeks later.

I prefer korg equipment but Yamaha addressed and passed all my tests that pertain to sound and samples so I bought it and never looked back. I thank Yamaha for raising the bar for standards on keboards. In 2 years Korg will put something out to compete. Anyone reading this should go play this board or the motif8, test the sounds with muliple velocities, test functions that are important to you, give it a good 2 hours. Now walk away any try not come back and buy it. Good Luck. Oh, I got a written email quote and took it to guitar center locally and they matched the price :)

Actually, the Motif 8 has a newly designed keybed, developed from the graded hammer action found in the P series. The Motif 6 and 7 use the same FS action that has been in use since the DX7 (also found in M1, O1/W, Trinity, Triton...

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Let me correct the reviewer below me who stated that the Motif and the Triton's keybeds are the same. This person is incorrect!!!

While Yamaha makes the Triton's keybed, they are different. The Motif has Yamaha's latest generation keybed -- the Triton is one generation removed.

Yamaha uses their R&D in Digital pianos (specifically the Yamaha Clavinova series) to benefit other keyboards. The specific keybed and action on the Motif is a modified version of the latest Clavinova models (e.g. Clavinova 920).

The keybed and action in the Korg Triton is based on Yahama's older Clavinova models (e.g. Clavinova 820).

The action on both of these keyboards is great. However, the keybed/action on the Motif is slightly newer technology.

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I don't understand how so many users can say they like the Motif's keybed feel better than the Triton's. THEY USE THE EXACT SAME KEYBED PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!

Yamaha supplies Korg with the keybed for their high end models. Motif and Triton keys are exactly the same. If you notice a difference, it must be psychological.

This board is really japanese. I mean to understand it is as hard as to learn japanese language. But eventually you'll get a clue how to do what you want. Don't even bother with sequencer. Patches are cool - especially if you use realtime controls. Manual is... Oh well...

Well, I think the sounds are some kind of between Roland XV and Korg Triton. I mean it's as full and large as Triton but doesn't have that ethereal feel to them, so it sounds more like a Roland. Drums are very fresh, basses are what I like, pads are very usable in the mix, acoustics are lush (there is indeed a vibrato problem on some of the sounds), synths are fat. I like some of guitars too... Again limited fx section - when the hell those people will start to put many inserts there??? I like piano very much - very musical. Check my page if you want to hear Motif sounds: www.ampcast.com/georgeicefield

Bad points: 1) hard to use (learn), 2) limited fx section, 3) vibrato on samples, 4) UGLY. Otherwise probably the best keyboard out there... If it only had ribbon controller...

1.40 update
The presets are very impressive.
It's not easy to bang a preset into the sequencer and have it sound the same. But with an external computer or sequencer, it can be done.
Editing patches is not that easy, but you can do it with some patience, and tips from Yamaha's excellent support site, http://www.motifator.com
The unit comes with a patch editor (software.) i haven't used it, however, as I'm pretty good with books and buttons. But the manual is poorly laid out. Much "go to page 54 to find out about ...." when you're on p.200.

62 note polyphony is really MUCH less when you use pianos, because of the way the sustain pedal works.
It can be a problem in the sequencer. But if you add the Plug In Boards, you get more ways to make voices.
62 notes, is only for using voices with 1 element in each voice. Most voices us at least 2.
Built in effects. Good, but confusing: variation and insert, plus global.
Easy to expand memory. Buy a smart card too. It has SCSI, but I use the smart card, self contained that way.
The sequencer is cool, but I wouldn't want it to be my only sequencer. It can do alot, but the question is,"would you want to do it THAT way?"
They're working on upgrading the built in USB MIDI connection, which should be cool, but at this writing, can lead to lock ups, delayed and stuttering notes. But that should be fixed by the time you read this. And if you just use a MIDI interface, there shouldn't be a problem. (It has a built in USB MIDI interface.)

The sounds are great.And you can add your own samples, so, what's not to like!!!???
Good for Rock, New Age, Piano, Jazz, Hip Hop, and some Trance (tho that's not my field of expertise.)
Unfortunately, most of the sounds are not pre-programmed for aftertouch, some are. You have to go and tweak that, and save them to valuable user space.

So far, so good!
Always have a back-up!

Great online help @
Motifator.com

I'd probably get another Motif, rather than anything else, if I needed a synth today.
Playing 46 years, bought first synth in '79. (B-3,Rhodes, Clav before that.) I have alot of Roland, Ensoniq, and Sequential Gear. I was one of the guys to see the DX-7 in Japan before it came out,and work with it a bit at their factory in Hamamatsu, so I could program that one. I now have a Beetle PR-7 Programmer and a TX-816, and 3 TX7's,so I still "do" DX7.
I think the Ensoniq TS-10 had a better sequencer. Never had anyKurzweil or Korg synths, so I can't compare. the Motif to them.
It is a very FUN thing to play.
I can't always be as productive as I'd like to with it, unless I record its output directly to Digital Performer as audio, on my PB500. That way, I can take advantage of the great Preset sounds, and not be stymied by the clever and powerful, but quirky sequencer.

I'm using software version 1.40. The presets sound great. The first hour I started using it, I was going through as many patches as I could and noticed how beautiful most of them were. The pianos and organs are great. For old FM fans, the TX-81Z's Lately Bass patch is in here and it is 99.9% as close to the real thing as you can get. In fact, it's better than the real thing because there's no noise on the outputs and you can run it through the internal stereo fx if you wish. The drums are great. The pads are very good. The flute and sax sounds are among the best I've heard. Editing the patches is somewhat complicated because of the strange instruction manual. It's a very comprehensive manual, but laid out in an alien way. It makes you jump around from page to page like one of those follow-the-path adventure books (the ones that tell you to jump to page 53 or page 275 depending on what you want to do next). The index is next to useless. Once you get used to the inconsistent user interface, life gets easier. Everyone says you should read the manual first before using the Motif. Good advice. I read the first 120 pages, which includes terminology and a "quick start guide." Please do the same if you want to keep your sanity. I don't know if there is a patch editor available for the Motif yet, but if there is one, I'm sure it would make life easier.

The polyphony is 62 voices. The keyboard action is supposed to be like the old DX7, which I don't remember too well. Another keyboard I owned from the same era is the Roland D50. I like the keyboard of the D50. It's got a rubbery feel that is great for organ playing (the Screamin' B3 patches are phenomenal). When I first played the Motif, I thought the clacky feel and sound were annoying. However, once you put your headphones on and start playing, you will see why Yamaha chose this keyboard. It just feels right for the sounds it is good at reproducing. For example, pianos feel kind of like pianos with this keyboard. Organs feel like organs. The big difference is people who don't have heavy hands can play this keyboard without feeling like they're performing an intense workout with their fingers. The Motif has reverb, chorus, and other effects. You can downsample sounds to make them have a gritty feel. Once you get used to the alien user interface, everything will be much easier. The excellent thing about the Motif is its expandability. The sound cards that are available are not just memory boards filled with memory, but synth cards that hold the internal workings of your favorite synths. There's a card that holds all of the inner workings of a Yamaha DX7, for example. Think about how cool this is, to be able to add a new synth into the Motif for a measly $250. You can expand sample memory from 4MB to 64MB. You can add a card to get more than the included 4 outputs. The MIDI capabilities are very extensive and there are enough controller buttons, knobs, and sliders to keep you happy for a while. The Motif comes with an onboard sequencer, but I don't play on using it because I have Digital Performer.

All of the sounds that are supposed to be realistic sound very realistic. It is a joy to work with an instruments that has this many realistic sounds in it. I think the Motif is best suited for pop, rock, classical, and hip hop. There are a lot of dance sounds in it, but the focus is not mainly on dance like some other synths (the Yamaha CS6,for example). There is a lot of expressiveness in many of the sounds. Just tweak a knob or slider and you're ready to go. The onboard effects sounds very good, but then again, almost all new instruments come with good fx sections nowadays. If they were bad, they would become unpopular very fast. There is some reaction to your playing depending on the sound you are playing. Many samples are recorded with different velocity settings, so you would trigger a different sample by playing a note loudly or softly.

The Motif weighs a ton and looks battle-ready. Only time will tell if its solid exterior can withstand the changing climate and environment.

Motifator.com is one of the reasons why I bought the Motif 7. I would like to say that the Roland Fantom was my other choice besides the Motif, but Roland's Fantom web site really s*cks. By not updating it, they probably lost a bunch of potential customers, including me. Yamaha has downloadable manuals, advice sheets, free sounds, and an incredible web forum in Motifator.com. Roland has NOTHING. Their web site is pathetic and it's tough to find things. Yamaha, Korg, Novation, and Access all have better web sites than Roland. Please get with the program, Roland. I own or have owned a D50, two U220's, R8, DR660, DR202, SP808, SP808EX, DJ70, S750, so you see I'm not some sort of hobbyist. I try to stay loyal to companies that make good stuff, but if their support s*cks, that's just another reason for me to switch to another brand. Roland, if you need help, contact me. Check out www.catwalkrecords.com for an example. Upgrading the OS is easy on the Motif, but you'll need to buy a SmartMedia card.

If it were lost or stolen, I would buy another one. It's worth what I paid. To me, this is like the next-generation Quasimidi Sirius (a great synth in its own right) with sampling and expansion capabilities. Remember, guys and girls, you need to read the manual first. It's all in there and when you're ready to dive in and experiment and want to pull your hair out, there's always tech support on Motifator.com to help out.

The Presets sound good , but they aren't really so TECHNO/DANCE as Yamaha made us believe ( all the commercials and stuff).
I am not saying they are bad , but they ain't good enough if you are only looking for dance sounds ..
Nevertheless you can always TWEEk/CHANGE existings sounds , and there is also the possibility of buying expansion boards (THe AN and DX are quite suitable for the BOOM BOOM sounds ....).

THE MANUAL IS DECENT , NOTHING REALLY BAD , OR GOOD ABOUT IT .

It has lots of good features , it being a brand new board and all .
All are pretty good as well .
What i was dissapointed about , is the POOR REVERB , and the fact that you can't apply few effects to a very limited number of tracks .
THE SEQUENCER IS O.K , but not as GOOD as the YAMAHA RM1x's SEquencer...
The FACT that the cool GRIDMODE isn't available in the motif is really irritating .

If they say it's a revolutionizing workstation and all , they should have done this better :EFFECTS ; SEQUENCER !

TO speak of something else ...
What is the GREAT DEAL WITH THE RS7000 ????
I don't see a great improvement on the RM1x !!!
All companies , once they have made their name , don't revolutionize anymore .
The RS7000's Sequencer is the same as the Rm1x's .
The sampler CApabilities are from my point of view quite limited .
The preset sounds are not as good as the ones on the Motif (in Fact i think they are just a little bit better than the ones on the Rm1x , that means that they SUCK !) .
I WOULD BUY A RM1x and a used YAMAHA A5000 for the same price (there's much more that you could do with these do , i think )

One think i really did like about this keyboard , are the keys (nice pressure sensitive keys) ,all the standart outputs (SCSI , SPDIF OUT , etc ...NICE GOING ! ) .

But still , why a worse sequencer than the RM1X ~~@!!!!! ?????
I hope they ll have an OS update with that Grid Mode (Shouldn't be difficult ).

THE SOUNDS ARE GOOD , IF YOU WANT WORKSTATION SOUNDS ( THAT MEANS A BIT OF EVERYTHING) !
THere ain't as much techno/dance sounds as you might have thought , but for WORSTATION sounds they are all pretty good .

They Say it's a "DANCE WORKSTATION " , maybe because of the sequencer , but certainly not because of the PRESET SOUNDS !!!
(You have a sampler (very simple one , but with a nice SLICE mode) , so you can put anything you want in it ; there are board as well (as i said before))..

If you think of it as a DANCE WORKSTATION i'd give a 5 for the preset sounds , and a 8 for a normal WOrkstation .

I THINK YOU CAN DEPEND ON YAMAHA STUFF .
(Never had problems with their gear ;- ) )..

WITH MOTIFATOR.COM , YOU CAN SPEAK OF REAL GOOD SUPPORT !

If it were stolen , i wouldn't buy it again .
In Fact i sold it already , it wasn't at all what i was looking for , i am even thinking of rebuying my Rm1x (that i sold to have some more money in order to buy this workstation ).
I prefer to have lots of seperate units , for the kind of music i make (PROGRESSIVE TRANCE ) .
The Motif ain't a bad Buy (i defenitly think it's better than the korg TRITON; but it's not better than the Kurzweil K2600Xs from my point of view).
It's all a question of taste in the END , if you like WOrkstation , If you like the Motif , it's sound , it's sampler and it's poor Sequencer , than Go for it !

I Would not ;- )

Okay, this is a preliminary review as I've only been working with the M7 for a few weeks. I will submit a more comprehensive review after I've had it for several months. The reason I wanted to get a posting on was the unique way I came to own this instrument. I originally purchased a Korg Triton Pro...this was a natural choice as I've owned several Korg products (including 01/W Pro workstation) in the past. Never had a problem with Korg. The Triton that I purchased literally "died" not long after I took delivery. It suddenly was unable to hold program and combination info - even after reloading the factory disk and turning it off and back on, it would all be gone (tried this several times). Guitar Center agreed to swap the defective keyboard for another new Triton. I got that one home to find that several of the black keys made a horrible clunking noise upon key release. Again, GC was willing to swap for another Triton and I asked about maybe going to something else instead after the bad experience. They were agreeable...after demo'ing the Motif 7, I was ready to switch over although I don't have extensive experience with Yamaha workstations. By the way, the staff at Guitar Center was very helpful, courteous, and professional throughout this ordeal.

So far, I'm very happy with the Motif. As for ease of use, I think my learning curve is steeper because I'm used to the way that Korg instruments are operated. Little by little I've been able to find my way around the Motif and have been able to successfully execute most of the functions that are important to me.

The Motif had almost everything available that had made the Triton my original first choice. Probably the only major thing lacking is the Triton's touch screen, but I have found I'm not missing it as much as I thought I would (it is a cool feature, though). The Motif's button arrangement is pretty intuitive and I've been able to navigate the function menus relatively effortlessly, once I learned them. Part of my decision to jump to the Motif was that it has several features that the Triton doesn't have - factory SCSI, USB, optical connection, 85MB of sounds without optional expansion boards, and the integrated sequencer sampling. One thing that appears to be missing (or, at least, I haven't figured out yet) is how to use the Motif as a data filer for other MIDI gear so I can store sysex files to the smartmedia card. I just posted to the Motifator web site to see if someone can help me out on this one.

This is an excellent sounding keyboard. I haven't been able to explore every single sound yet, but I've been impressed with everything that I've heard. My biggest concern with leaving Korg was that I'd sacrifice sound quality, but I feel the Motif is a strong contender in this area...and certainly surpasses the Triton in a couple of areas, like Pianos. Also, I like the feel of the keyboard on the Motif better than on the Triton.

Big concern for me based on my recent experiences. Too early to tell with the Motif so far...but no problems as of yet. I've spent a lot of time on the Motifator.com website and it's nice to know so much information on the keyboard is available just at that one site.

Have not dealt with Yamaha US directly, but I've heard good things about their responsiveness. Again, the Motifator.com site is very helpful.

Again, remember this is a preliminary review...I plan to post something a little more substantial and informative maybe after I've had it for 6 months. Initially, I'm very pleased and would not hesitate to replace it with another Motif 7 if something happened to this one. As for other gear, I'm using it in conjuction with a Boss DR770 drum machine via MIDI. I also own a Yamaha DD55 drum pad. Past gear: Korg 707, Prophet 600, Korg SQD-8, Ensoniq EPS, Ensoniq ESQ1, Roland D70, Roland MT32, Korg 01/W Pro.

I have owned this since it shipped on July 4, 2001.

Coming from the S80, this was a breeze. As I accidently trashed my manual the FIRST day I got it (long story... but yammy was good enought ot send me another free of charge), I was able to figure everything out, from sampling to changing CC data. This was the easiest workstation synth I have used.

Trashing manuals is an easy and popular sport. Though I read the manual after-the-fact, I actually find it to be a great compendium and easy to follow.

I am no brain surgon, and only have 5 years of *real* synth and recording experience, but I just find this to be a very intuitive instument.

The features of this synth are widely noted, so I don't know if I really need to add much here... other than to say that bang for the buck, this synth is VERY hard to beat by anyone.

I should note that the expansion options are quite impressive. I have a DX and an AN card. That is THREE types o' synthisi under the hood of board! And I still have room for one more!

Well, I just don't know how anything less than a 10 could do. I know these things are subjective, but come on! Good it good! Simply put, it sounds amazing. No one beats Yammy at EPs or synth sounds. And the drum kits are wonderful. All the other sounds are well represented. And the onboard samples are a rich rich trove that I will be able to mine for many years. The GREAT thing about Motif is that the synth sounds great EVEN IF you strip them of their effects. To be kind, this is not always the case with other widley used workstation synths...

Built like a tank. I have no worries

Well, take one look at www.motifator.com and judge for yourself. Yammy tech support is quick and sharp, and they sent me a new damn manual free-or-charge even though I was the idot who trashed my orginal one!

I just don't think there is another synth that competes with it, blow for blow. Take a good pair of head phones and plug into one. Those that have been around synths will immediatly recognize the signifigance of this instrument. Those looking to buy for the first time... MAN, you can't go wrong. It is a great time to be a gear head, I tell you!