So I have a Yamaha MotifES and a Roland FantomXR rack. I used to preach the gospel on how much better the motif sounds are compared to the roland sounds. In terms of stock keyboard sounds this is correct. However....I reciently purchased a few of the (rather expensive) roland expansion units. I have to admit they are damn near incredible. Ive owned the XG expansion board and the Vocal harmony expansion board for some time and was not impressed so much with either. The XG i would be ok with except it wont save the mixing setting in song mode!!!!! how useless is this!!! 16 extra parts that reset themselves! Am i incorrect in this? If somone knows how to save the XG expansion card mixer settings in song mode i would love to hear how. The vocal harmony board i played around with and basically said ehhhh, as i could not get it to do anything super impressive. Am i missing something here? ive heard nothing but incredible reviews on it........why it is so mediocer to me? any instruction would be appreciated. Also, i was looking at the VL “acoustic like patch maker” Is this thing any good? can i make the most incredible string patch ever? The sound samples online are just a sax going. is that all it can do? Are any of these expansion boards worth buying? I cant wait to get 2 more of the roland ones. They are expensive but blow you away. somone convince me back to the yamaha side!

--Brian

Re: Does anyone like these things?

The VL does great brass, and woodwinds, (especially with a breath controller) but it’s strings aren’t great. Its also monophonic. So “most incredible string patch ever”? No.

The Roland cards are sample based, as are some of the Yamaha boards (PF, AP, DR & PC)

The VH is an effects board and allows you to do realtime vocal harmonies and vocoder-like effects. Its certainly something that none of the Roland boards can do (there is a vocal board for the V-Synth but not for the Fantom XR). Why does it seem mediocre to you? I dunno. What were you expecting it to do?

The other PLG boards, the AN, VL, and DX are synthesizer engines, virtual analog, physical modelling and FM synthesis respectively. The real strength of these cards is in creating new sounds, rather than the presets that come with the card. If you’re just looking to add presets to your ES, I’m not sure these PLGs are what you’re looking for. OTOH if you want to explore different forms of synthesis, they’re very cool.

Re: Does anyone like these things?

Hi if you want some good string you can take the SRX 04 symphonic strings, they is a lot of classic ensemble.
The SRX 06 complete orchestra have good string also less classic (good for pop pop rock music so for gospel i think it can be fine) and also some great vocal patch.

I have srx 03/04/06/09/10 in my FXR

I’m using the plg VL for solo brass and solo sax.
The plg Dx for EP type DX and CP.
The PLG An for great synth sounds and analog bass.

Re: Does anyone like these things?

I have the Vl and VH boards and think they’re both fantastic additions to my S90. Nothing ‘Mediocre’ about them in my book.

Question: Does anybody have a technique they’d be willing to share for getting a screaming sax solo sound out of the VL? Think David Sanborn or Yellowjackets, where the player is humming or growling into the mouthpiece and the sax sound just goes postal. I’ve got very realistic mellow sax sounds like Stan Getz or Kenny G., but I’m looking for something that really shreds for live performance. I’ve read the behind the manual and growl sax tutorials, but I’m still not getting what I’m looking for. Ideas?

TIA

Bob

Re: Does anyone like these things?

Brian,

I have the VH board and have posted many times on the forum about how much I love this thing. It is critical to what I do with the ES.

You have to hear it in the context of a song to fully appreciate it. If you are just noodleing around with it rather than really singing with it, you won’t be impressed.

I posted a song recently in the ‘songs’ forum. Click here to check it out. It may give you a different perspective.

Greg

Re: Does anyone like these things?

so the VH board is making your vocal harmonies in this song? sounds pretty good i guess. Good production quality on the song. Does anyone have any good examples where it has made a normal choir patch into a something drop dead amazing?

Re: Does anyone like these things?

yes, all the vocal harmony is from the VH.
That song was all done within the ES.

I don’t think the VH will turn a choir patch into “something amazing”.  It can take a choir sound and turn into something that sounds like Enya.

Greg

Re: Does anyone like these things?

The VL board can be used to great effect for solo strings. It takes considerable practice, just as does anything when you want to get it right. It is not ideal for such a purpose (compared to how it excels at brass instruments, for instance), but I would suggest layering it with a quality sample.

Using a wind controller or breath controller, you can more readily control the natural playing style of a bowed instrument through simulated tonguing and breathing. It is not easy, but at least it is possible.

Using standard triggered samples, one really needs to start sample-switching to get a realistic sounding part. For a background ensemble patch this is not so bad. It becomes more naked with a screaming lead Jean-Luc Ponty-inspired violin solo though :-).

I just spent the entire four-day holiday weekend going through every physical modeling technology that I own, as well as every other synthesis technique that I own (soft and hard) for producing strings, brass, and woodwinds. Everything is on the chopping block right now except for the VL and DX stuff (the analog stuff really in my view does not do such a good job of emulating classical instruments, even though Akai is currently taking this approach with their new wind synth).

Technics WSA1 had its own approach, which was convincing for plucked strings and combined sampling with physical modeling (also the most polyphony of any solution thus far). Korg Z1 shared some similar technology and research to the Yamaha VL series but made more specific models, yet somehow to my ears does not sound quite as organic.

The VL board in the Motif sounds the best due to the superior effects processing, and can make for a very rich and lush saxaphone or trumpet. I’ve personally stuck with the standalone VL70m module only because it’s more convenient live as I can use the phantom powered WX cable from my WX5 to the VL70m vs. a standard MIDI cable with an AC power adaptor.

For most folks, the PLG150-VL is the better solution, combined with a breath controller. The breath controller will also come in handy for the Artikulation voice library from K-Sounds, which uses the Motif’s internal samples. Keven Spargo has gone a long way towards convincing me that physical modeling isn’t the only valid option for emulating brass instruments.

The VL board is unbelievably cheap. I can’t imagine anyone complaining about it. But people do, because they can’t figure out why you can’t do a full brass section with it (well, a re-release might accomplish this as technology has moved forward, but that would only be of benefit to breath controllers vs. wind controllers).

Re: Does anyone like these things?

Just checking out the forum and found your question. I Use a sax from the VL card layered with a sax sound from the ES that has some growl in the after touch. ( sorry i am away from the keyboard at this time) But step thru the Saxes in the ES.
Then, I add either a synth brass or saw tooth synth sound . Press the “tone” button and tweak the “Cut “ and “Res” on the synth sound to give it a little brightness. I also set the poly to single and detune slightly. Maybe a little chorus and a quick delay effect. Hope you find this useful.