Yamaha Motif 8

this thing is pretty complex. manual describes pretty much everything but sort of targeted for sound engineer or something. however, if you spend more time playing with the synth with the manual on your side, the learning curve is not that steep. the screen is small compared to the other synth (like triton) but considering the price, it's a good bang for the buck.

once you learned/get used to the interface, this synth is one of the best.

the synth is loaded with features. some of the goodies:
scsi i/o
smartmedia i/o
usb/midi connection
digital out
optical out
3 expansion slots
on board sequencer
tons of apreggios
arpeggiator
and many others

make sure to buy the usb cable to expand its features (like remote control, i.e. controlling the sequencer software from the synth).

haven't tried all instrument yet but the piano sounds really good. combined with great key feeling, this synth plays like a real piano.

this thing is HEAVY and durable. the design is solid and versatile.

motifator.com is the hangout place of the motif people and sometimes yamaha rep also reply messages in the forum. not sure if this is owned by yamaha though.

for its price, this synth is hard to beat. took a while to get used too, though, but once you are, it's a great instrument and musician gizmo. :-)

Generally speaking, the problem with today's keyboards is that they are designed to do so much that it is almost as much a challenge to make them 'easy to use' and at the same time offer tons of features. With that said, I think the Motif is definitely easier to use than previous Yamaha boards (specifically the EX series) and a little more difficult than the Triton. But I like that Yamaha has really laid out the different features on separate screens so one screen isn't loaded with parameters.

I would have liked another insertion effect, but for the price, who can complain. Of course, the Mlan, USB, 3V memory card and built-in SCSI are unbeatable. Absolutely great. I still am amazed at the smart card on that thing. 64 megs on something the size of a watch head.
The elements (or multi-samples) are wonderful. Really great. I was particulary impressed with the drum samples. There are something like 150 snare drum samples, and with a little tweaking, you can practically match any snare sound out there (which I like to do for my sequencing).
I haven't had first-hand experience with the Integrated Sampling, but from what I hear it's great. I'm also looking forward to the expansion boards and OS upgrades.
As stated above, the more features you pack into a keyboard the more difficult it will inherently be to use. The trick is making all of those features easily accessible and understandable to the user, and I think Yamaha still needs some serious work on this. The manual is great for me because I have a keyboard/Yamaha background. But as I read it all I kept thinking was how up the creek I would be if I didn't have the background on it.
I think Yamaha really needs to supplement its manuals and keyboards with an Idiot's Guide to their terms. The manual assumes you know too much.
This is not endemic to Yamaha. Most manuals I have seen are geared toward a more knowledgable user.

GREAT. Simple to say. The sounds are great. The effects are clean, the samples seem cleaner than the EX. The drums are really great. Other than buying a $3000 sampler or jumping to a Kurzweil (and hiring an engineer), I can't imagine much better sounds.

Like my other Yamahas, perfect.

I'd give this board a solid 9. I think many of the sounds are cleaner than the Triton, but the Triton is more of a plug and play techno type board. Once you've played the VL on the EX5 or the Moss board for the Triton, most acoustic instrument presets pale in comparison, but I don't hold that against this keyboard because it's comparing apples to oranges.
I recommend this board to anyone. The price CANNOT be beaten. Just shop around and don't pay tag price at any of the big chain stores. SUPPORT THE LITTLE GUYS!!!

This was something that I was conserned about before bying the Motif. But if you are willing to read the manual it should not be a problem. Somethings in the user interface are in deed a bit confusing and you do need to keep that manual nearby. And personally I think the manual is actually fearly good (or at least better than average.)

Its not bad, but it is not great either, but you learn to live with it...

Good in effects, expansion capabilities, etc... I think everything has been said before...
Polyphony should have been better. You do run out of notes every now and then :(

Very, _very_ good, but honestly not perfect.

Strings: I am a huge fan of strings and I use them a lot. In Motif there are lots of them but I still feel like I am missing something. Then again it has a sampler and it supports AKAI sampler files so after all its no problem.

Very solid build. No problems with the software.

Well, motfator.com -> see it... I would say that this site was my inspiration of bying Motif. Never have I seen such kind of support anywhere.

Great workstation. Great value for money. Good hammer effect keyboard.

Simple the best workstation around.

This board is (in my opinion) as good as it gets. The preset sounds are really awesome, and the board is completely expandable via sampling and/or expansion boards. You can sample up to 64M of your own stuff and then create voices based on your samples.

I'm not going to say this thing is "easy" to use, because the feature set runs so deep. Let's say it's easy to get going, but the more complex editing features aren't immediatly easy to do.

Stock, the board has 62 notes of polyphony. The motif 8 comes w/ 88 weighted keys based on the P80/200 but with balanced action instead of graded. It's basically what's on the high end clavinovas. The key feel is unbelievable (way better than an S80). This is the ultimate keyboard for someone who wants a real piano feel, but with all the MIDI/sequencing gizmos. I'm in techno heaven with this thing.

That brings me to the sequencer, which kicks complete ass. 16 tracks, pattern and song mode. In pattern mode, you can create a 16 track pattern with 16 sections (variations) and then play the pattern and change the order of the sections (real time). Very cool.

The expressiveness is excellent (same as a clavinova). The board also comes with aftertouch, which is great. The stock piano sounds are really good, but you can also get a piano expansion board for way more and way better piano (and expand the polyphony at the same time).

BEST COSTOMER SUPPORT EVER!!!!!!!!!!! There's a website called motifator.com that is updated by the minute where you can post a question and a Yamaha rep will answer it for you. Excellent excellent excellent online support. I've honestly never seen anything like it. Yamaha is definitely behind this product.

Everything has its plusses and minuses, until you learn to think the right way. You can do so much with this board, but you really have to learn to think the way Yamaha wants you to. After the initial learning curve, this thing is just pure fun.