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MikeRoePhonics
Total Posts: 2
Joined 01-08-2018 status: Newcomer |
Hi! This is my first post on the forums. This post is huge, so I summarized it in the next sentence:
TL;DR:
Has anyone here had experience with either Yamaha’s Motif or S-series 88-key keyboards? I’ve added them to the list of considerations for a solid 88-key MIDI controller for my DAW. I know the Motifs are gigantic, but I recall the Motif XS8 (the light blue/grey unit) I played at Guitar Center having a nice action, suitable for both piano and synth sounds. This was back in 2008, so it’s difficult to tell how well the XS8’s action compares to anything else. All Motifs and S-series boards also have a proper pitchbend and modwheel, as well as at least 4 faders. The faders can be assigned to custom CCs on the Motif XS and XF models. So that means they should play nicely with my VSTis (Omnisphere, Keyscape, etc.) I don’t like Yamaha’s Graded Hammer Standard (GHS) action found on other Yamaha keyboards. It feels cheap and dull to me. The newer Yamaha MX88 has GHS. I’ve excluded any keyboard using GHS from my list of candidates. To help keep track of keyboard models and keybeds, I’ve listed them below. The main question is: which action does each keyboard really have? I can’t tell for sure, as you’ll see below.
Motif and S-series 88-key models are listed below. To their right, I’ve listed all potential action names I’ve encountered:
S08: BHE* (no monophonic/channel aftertouch)
* = action matches official Yamaha product manual and/or Yamaha representative claim
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So, if BHE=BHA, which I believe it does, then all models listed above are BHE. But I have a suspicion that BHE *may* have been modified over the years, and that those modifications may exist across the XF8, S90ES and S90XS. There are two reasons I suspect this:
Quote:
I recognize that the above claim could be the result of velocity curve settings and not due to mechanical differences in the keybed. ========================================================== Some additional references I used when researching Yamaha actions:
I did some digging on Google to figure out which keyboard has which action/keybed. I believe nearly all Motifs keyboards have the same action/keybed, which, according to this post, is a “Yamaha A88 K6”. This leads me to believe that A88 K6=BHE.
Quote:
If BHE=BHA, then what about WHA? Here, the MO8 is listed as having “balanced hammer-action (BHA)”. The XF8 is listed as having “weighted hammer-action (WHA)”:
According to this Motif Wiki article, the action on all 88-key Motifs is referred to as “Balanced Hammer Effect (BHE)”, just like the Motif manuals state.
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MikeRoePhonics
Total Posts: 2
Joined 01-08-2018 status: Newcomer |
(continued...)
To add to my confusion…
This suggests to me that the S90XS action varies from the S90. This is the second claim that the S90XS has a different action, but this time, in relation to the *S90*, as opposed to the XF8. But does it? And what about the S90XS action compared to the S90*ES* action? Do *those* vary as well?! I seriously doubt this, but I can’t rule it out completely.
More conflicting reports (XS8 vs S90ES actions...:
Quote:
If my logic is correct, all this could mean that there are up to 5 (five) actions across all Motif and S models.
To wrap up this post:
Any thoughts on this? I know I went overboard with this post, but I haven’t seen anyone address Motif & S-series action differences beyond the references I posted above.
PS:
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