Haven’t been on this board for several years....  was doing a lot of travelling and not playing.

SHORT VERSION: I want to get either the MM6 or MX61 to replace my Motif6 which is heavy!

Backstory:

I’m back in New York and re-starting my band.  (We had a free gig this weekend!)

I have a Classic Moftif 6 and a Yamaha P90 for my rig. We play old school funk, soul and R&B;covers.  I’m the only keyboard player and we just have guitar, bass and drums and me plus vocals.

I use the Motif 6 for strings, synth horns, horns, 80s sounds etc.  often while playing Rhodes on the P90.

I NEVER use it for sequencing, hooking it up to my computer, or using software synths etc.  Just for live performance.  (I wanted to use the sequencer but I found it too hard to use vs. my 80s era Ensoniq ESQ 1)

Anyway, carrying the Motif nad the P90 to gigs is so heavy! I live in NYC and have to use a cab.

I had bought a Juno D which was much ligher (and a guy I knew had one and the sequencer looked cool) but the display broke (a known issue) so now it’s trash.

So I want to get something lightweight to use as my synth instead of the motif.

The MM6 is still availble for like $400. It looks like it has most of the sounds I use...... but I’m concerned that 1) can I make performances with more than 2 voices? I see it has “Layer’, but i did make some fat Prince like horns by layering 3 or 4 horn sounds Same with strings.

2) it only has 32 note polyphony.  i dont’ sequence, but this weekend I was playing the Motif 6 on my layered horn sound and when I did some gliss’s up to chords I hard cutout. 

Wondering if the mx61 which has more sounds and 128 would be better.  Can’t really tell if mx61 can do performances either.

Neither MM or MX has Performances like the Motifs do. They can do simpler 2 voice split/layers.

You should read the manuals (they can be found online right here) and read about the features for yourself.

I have been doing that actually.  ANd reading the threads on here.  From what I can tell, the MX does let you create 4-16 part “performances” but only using a computer, but you can save them to the keyboard.

I can’t find if the MM6 does or not.

There is no editing on the MM6, not like on the MX which allows extensive editing and customization. Including making Performances that include as many of the sixteen PARTS as you desire. Not to mention the 8 Element architecture, the 128 note polyphony, the Virtual Circiutry Modeling Effects, the ability to seamlessly switch between any of 16 Voices in a program, Over 1100 Motif XS level Voices, etc., etc., etc.

And the MX61 is just 10lbs.  It’s a no-brainer.

OK so I can’t do the multipart performances on the Mm6 even with a computer.

I guess it boils down do I want to spend $400 or $800. Im only going ot use it live......  and whether I could get by with the Mm6 or go for the more voices and polyphony in the Mx61......

I use the MX live only.  While I do use the vycro editor to beef up performances, I don’t rely on that when gigging. 
As BadMister stated, it’s a no brainer.  Lightweight.  Great sounds.  VERY easy to navigate and simple to set up your favorite voices in performances for quick access.  I’m sixty yrs old and that 10lb weight is a back saver

So I played with both today at Guitar Center.  I prob could get away with the MM6 for my purposes, but the MX61 did have many more sounds and just seemed to have easier controls.

Plus with the fatter sounds I may not even need to make 4 part layers. I only did that with my Motif Classic to get fatter synth and strings for 80s songs.

I am curious if I can get “favorites” list easily...... I like to have 5-10 patches I can access quickly without scrolling through all the horns for example.  Motif Classic has that night “favorites” list.

From what I read I think I coudl create a “Performance” with 16 parts being my 16 favorites, but I also read other threads about the voice volumes being set too low and wonder using “perofrmance” to set up favorites is more of a hassle.

I just want a favorites list.

I set up two performances for a short gig.  In each performance I set up 16 voice/parts.  By doing this I simply pressed a part button for a new voice. And each voice was set to my preferences in terms of layer, octave shift, etc.  so it doesn’t get any simpler.  You can tweak the volume 10 ways to one so make that a non issue

richie1027 - 25 June 2013 12:20 PM

I set up two performances for a short gig.  In each performance I set up 16 voice/parts.  By doing this I simply pressed a part button for a new voice. And each voice was set to my preferences in terms of layer, octave shift, etc.  so it doesn’t get any simpler.  You can tweak the volume 10 ways to one so make that a non issue

Cool.  I think I will prob go for the MX thanks to all y’all’s feedback.

Just to clarify the above.... if I do a performance with 16 parts, and each part is a voice, I believe I can layer a part with 2 voices and/or a split, but can I make one of those 16 parts have 3 or 4 layers? Is that what you use the computer to do?  and if so can you do it with a mac or only a windows machine?

garymf - 25 June 2013 02:41 PM

Just to clarify the above.... if I do a performance with 16 parts, and each part is a voice, I believe I can layer a part with 2 voices and/or a split, but can I make one of those 16 parts have 3 or 4 layers?

Within a Performance you can set each Part’s channel and note range. So, you can have complex layers and splits within a Performance: .e.g.

Single voice Part:
Part 1: Channel 1, Piano,

3-Part Layer:
Part 2: Channel 2, Synth 1
Part 3: Channel 2, Synth 2
Part 4: Channel 2, Synth 3

2-Part Split:
Part 5: Channel 3, Bass, Note Range: C-2 to B1
Part 6: Channel 3, E. Piano, Note Range: C2 to G8
and so on.

The only thing with this approach is that it gets messy selecting the Parts to play in complex setups, because your “sound sets” don’t correspond directly to the Part buttons.  This is straightforward if you have one voice per channel, but it is tricky with complex setups.

Instead, for live use, I found it much easier to set up a Performance for just one “sound set” (layers or splits combinations) and then switch to a different performance, rather than selecting parts within a performance. This is similar to the Motif or Motif ES Performances, except those can have only 4 voices, with the MX you can have up to 16.

As for favorites, you’ve got 128 performance locations to store them in. I started with Performance 1, 2, 3 and so on.  A quick way to select a performance right away is to use the Shift and a Part button, so for example to go directly to Performance 9, press shift and Part 9.

Of course, you’d be overwriting the Factory performances, but you can always restore them from the Utility menu, or save them to a USB stick.

garymf - 25 June 2013 02:41 PM

Is that what you use the computer to do?  and if so can you do it with a mac or only a windows machine?

The vycromx editor is both for PC and MAC – so far, I’ve only used the PC version. As stated elsewhere, you use it to setup your performances and save them directly on the board. No need for a computer for live use.