Fellow Musicians,

I’m really disappointed with the number of negative posts I see on here.  I view this forum pretty much daily and have gotten tons of very useful info.  I appreciate having some sort of access to the guys who really understand these products and are willing to share their knowledge.  I’m a very satisfied Yamaha/Steinberg user, and while I certainly don’t blindly say “Synth X is the greatest keyboard in the universe”, I do recognize that these products are great tools for making music.  Like any other tool, they have limitations, but those limitations don’t lessen their value to all users to the degree some of these posts imply!  They certainly don’t justify the personal attacks and put-downs that are becoming more and more frequent on here.

When I first starting playing keyboards, I couldn’t afford the latest and greatest thing out there.  I was forced to learn the gear I had and find ways to make good music within the limitations of the gear I could afford.  Now that I’m able to get better gear, I still adhere to that philosophy of learning what the gear was designed to do and use that to get the results I want.  Just because something doesn’t work the way I want it to in a given situation, doesn’t mean that it’s a piece of crap!  It just doesn’t do what I’d like it to or it does it in a different way.  I’m certainly not an equipment or software developer, so for me to make comments like “how hard can it be to add feature-x to a keyboard that cost this much” seems a bit ridiculous to me.  If it’s so easy, create it, market it, and make your million!  But don’t get in the way of us mere mortals who want to read this forum, communicate with experts and fellow users in a constructive manner, and learn how to get better at using the tools that are used in our craft.

I look forward to the posts from Bad Mister, Dave Polich, and so many others on here who have much more experience with this gear than I.  I must admit that BM can be kind of “blunt” in his approach from time to time, but with so many daggers coming back his way sometimes, I can sort of understand!  However, the simple fact that I can reach out almost directly to people of this caliber in the industry, for nothing, is at a minimum worth a little restraint and common courtesy.

I’m sure this may fall on a lot of deaf ears but I would personally appreciate it if we could think about what we’re posting on here.  This is a great resource and it should be respected as a professional repository of knowledge and support.  If you’ve read this far, thanks!  If you have something negative to say about this, please send me a private message!

Darryl McEachin (dmcmusic)

Well said..  I just purchased a XF and I’m a long time AKAI MPC user.  Im always pushing that machine to the limit.  Now im trying to do the same thing to my Motif XF.  I love making my gear do things out of the ordinary. I just have to deal with the learning curve.  Some of my best music was done on a Tascam 4track recorder, MPC2000, a DX7 and a Casio CZ101...lol

+1.

If you look at the “negative” posts it is usually the same people who post
them, and almost none of them have any music to show for all the complaining that they do. They’re a small minority, the vast majority of
users never post complaints - actually the vast majority of users still
don’t know about Motifator.com. They just go on using their gear and making music.

Here’s the thing - if you can’t make great music tracks with your gear,
whatever it is, then the fault is yours, not the tools’ fault. But some
people simply don’t care to take responsibility for their own unwillingness to learn. It’s “must have before can do"..."I must have
feature ‘x’ before I can do ‘y’”. These people are smart enough to read
the specs for other products (which they always cite as superior) and then
complain that Yamaha products don’t have these features, and then blame Yamaha for being an impediment to their otherwise productive music career,
or whatever.

A few of them, don’t, as far as I can tell, have any actual gear at all - they read online catalogs or visit local retailers and play around on the keyboards on the sales floor. A few of them claim they’re selling their “crap Yamaha Motif” and getting a Kronos or a Jupiter 80 or whatever they seem to think is the current king of workstations, and then don’t. Then they come back here and post more negative stuff.

And a few of them are just trolls who like to drop “stinkbombs” and
watch them go off. If you’ll notice, these people have a terrible time
with spelling English words correctly.

You may even see one or more of these folks post a reply to my reply here. And it will be a negative attack on me, you, and anyone else who “apologizes for how lame Yamaha is” or something along those lines.

Just keep in mind that while posting suggestions about improvements is
indeed helpful, and Yamaha does take note of these because Yamaha reads the posts on these forums, it is delusional to think posting angry,
negative attacks is going to affect Yamaha’s business or product decisions in any way. It simply makes the poster look like what they are - a child having a temper tantrum because they can’t figure something out.

No matter what arena you are in, you will always get people who love to complain. There has never been a keyboard thus far that has been all things to all people. As long as people are people, there will probably never be one that can attain that status. Every instrument has its own personality with strengths & weaknesses. As time goes on, keyboards have progressively encompassed more functionality with greater abilities as with all technology. Too many people have a microwave mentality. They want it fast & easy. Push a button or 2 and it is done. Just the very nature & complexity of these synths can’t allow it. When we advance technology to the point where we can hook up an instrument directly to our brains, & by simply thinking what we want it to do, it responds....well we certainly will be closer to the perfect instrument....but even then, their will always be limitations nonetheless. Give it another 50 years before we reach that point, and then another few hundred years to perfect it. :)

I understand what you guys are saying but if I may ask a question"why do you guys respond to them” If something bothered me I’d stay away from it...These posters are very well known so my question is,Why do you even open the post??Those guys have a right to their opinion..Now on the other hand,people that complain,in my opinion,are just as worst as the people ranting and what do you call it-trolling..It’s childish on both sides..Make music not confusion..Good Day..

I not only no longer respond, I have set certain members to ignore so I don’t have to bother wading through their posts.

I recommend this highly ;)

dereknae - 16 January 2012 05:06 PM

I understand what you guys are saying but if I may ask a question"why do you guys respond to them” If something bothered me I’d stay away from it...These posters are very well known so my question is,Why do you even open the post??Those guys have a right to their opinion..Now on the other hand,people that complain,in my opinion,are just as worst as the people ranting and what do you call it-trolling..It’s childish on both sides..Make music not confusion..Good Day..

There is one reason I read these troll posts - it’s because sometimes they contain misinformation, which can then “go viral”. For example, things like “Yamaha is discontinuing the XF”, or “a Yamaha rep told me there will be a PCI-E card with all the Motif sounds on it”, etc.

I do agree there’s no point in arguing with the trolls. Correcting false statements and misinformation, however, is valid.

That’s a very fair statement Dave....From that perspective I can understand responding back..See,you have a lot of knowledge with boards,sound,ect.ect..Me,I’m still learning my board(after 4 yrs.)and don’t have time for dumb conversations..You’ve cleared things up for me and I now understand why some respond back...Have a blessed day…

I couldnt agree with Dave more.