I just sold my Motif XS7 and I am not a 100% sure about buying the white XF6, some people tell me that Korg Kronos sounds better than Motif and that it is technologically more advance because the the HD Drive and its 9 on board synth technologies. On the other hand the M3 is quite ship and practical I to use. You can just take out the rack.

What do you guys recommend, what is your opinion ?

Venatt - 14 August 2014 01:47 AM

I just sold my Motif XS7 and I am not a 100% sure about buying the white XF6, some people tell me that Korg Kronos sounds better than Motif and that it is technologically more advance because the the HD Drive and its 9 on board synth technologies. On the other hand the M3 is quite ship and practical I to use. You can just take out the rack.

What do you guys recommend, what is your opinion ?

You should go to a music store that has both and spend some time researching what you want with regard to your needs. The store visit will allow a hands on as well as an ‘opinion’ that may require you to maintain your own ‘middle ground’ ...because of the unknown variable of the person offering it.
I’m always interested in hearing about the numbers of each of the Motifs and Korgs that are currently being used by pros in the field of music as opposed to the sales people. :)
More often what I’m finding is the struggling pro musician now employed in the music store part time :-)

At any rate… take your time!

*I love my motif because I’ve learned what it can do.
Even though I haven’t ‘mastered’ it all yet, we’re very pleased with it.
Our needs are arranging, recording original compositions.
The integration of Cubase, now owned by Yamaha,
with respect to the Motif XF and the communication capability between the two (workstation < -or- > daw),
the bi-directionality,
is only State of the Art.  ...in my opinion.

To me, the Kronos is far and away the better sounding board for pianos, bread and butter sounds, pads and usable combinations (performances) as provided by the factory. The different sound engines are for real, and they are amazing. The problem is that it is not as well built as the Yamaha if you are going to drag it around town with you. If so, you need to get a hard case.

I had a Kronos for about a month and it developed the ‘bouncing key’ problem, so I reluctantly sent it back and purchased an XF7 which I am using now.  Yamaha gear is better built, but the user interface is not the easiest to figure out and remember if you are away from a few of the functions for a while.

The Korg can be figured out almost without use of the manual, so you are up and running really fast. Integration with DAW software as a physical or virtual instrument is so easy and quick, and you don’t need to use Cubase. I personally have found Yamaha hardware (and I have a lot of it) to be overly obtuse, fussy and complicated.

I am saving now to reorder a factory new Kronos in hopes they have solved their key problem, as I just can’t get the wonderful sound of that thing out of my head.

Your mileage may vary, but that’s my 2 cents.

I should add that I still use my 2004 Motif ES every Sunday at church, and use the same S700 piano sample in that as I do on the XF. I can discern no appreciable sonic difference between them, so while the XF may have had a lot of updates, it really does not sound all that different than the ES, but the flash storage memory is a real plus.

I have them both and really believe the Kronos is a lot more than the XF.  Go Kronos, you won’t retreat it.
Best regards.