lekanout - 21 December 2014 07:34 PM

one thing is sure:
Who wants to buy a white XF today at this price?
!

I do, and I did! New MOTIF? Other the thing writing the music for you how could they make the MOTIF better?

I would think at this point they would just keep updating/improving the hardware (faster/more processors, HDMI output for video) and software (more functionality), maybe add some features for improved sampling techniques and additional tracks for the sequencer.

Anything else on Santa’s “wish list” from anyone?

Jeff Roe - 22 December 2014 01:49 PM

I do, and I did! New MOTIF? Other the thing writing the music for you how could they make the MOTIF better?

I would think at this point they would just keep updating/improving the hardware (faster/more processors, HDMI output for video) and software (more functionality), maybe add some features for improved sampling techniques and additional tracks for the sequencer.

Anything else on Santa’s “wish list” from anyone?

+1 for me…
Also, I heard the White XF, like mine, is a ‘limited addition’ ?
Maybe someone could confirm this??
Not necessary though.... :)

kday - 21 December 2014 02:08 PM

With many new companies like Oberheim

Pretty surreal if Oberheim is considered a new company...Tom Oberheim is just reissuing his synths from 40 years ago.

lekanout - 21 December 2014 07:34 PM

if yamaha wants to sale like kronos sales..they have to do something!

Here in the USA, when I go into Guitar Center they have Motifs on the floor but require you to special order Kronos. Two of the stores closest to me have never had a Kronos in the store, a third one got one about 2 years after it was first released. After that one was sold, no more arrived. To be honest, I’m quite surprised. 

It suggests that Kronos may not be selling as well as Motif, but is not based on any knowledge of actual sales numbers.

meatballfulton - 22 December 2014 03:04 PM

kday - 21 December 2014 02:08 PM

With many new companies like Oberheim

Pretty surreal if Oberheim is considered a new company...Tom Oberheim is just reissuing his synths from 40 years ago.

Considering Oberheim been out of business for 30 years, they’re considered a new company to the current crop of synth manufacture Namm shows.

Thirty years? Not hardly.

Oberheim existed into the 21st century after being purchased by Gibson, who I think still own the name. The final Oberheim was the OB12 virtual analog polysynth that came out in 2000. Like all of the brands bought up by Gibson since the late 1980s, the original product line was dropped in favor of cheaper products (Oberheim organs!!) that used the name until finally it died about ten years ago.

The current SEM synths are labeled Tom Oberheim as a result (so I guess you could call that a “new company") and have been available for five years already.

psychobabble - 23 December 2014 09:41 PM

-1 for me.
There’s a very big difference between owning a Motif and being able to play it Vincet.That’s usually the main reason people make outlandish requests for new sounds and features, because they don’t update their playing ability and believe that the machine itself has gone stale and instead stick to anything else that isn’t music making like getting a Twitter, a Facebook and an egocentric website.
I’m not sure how it could be a limited edition if you can buy it everywhere and in as much quantity as you like, although it may be available for a limited time, who knows?Nothing beats the black one for me, we’ll see what it looks like in 10 years when the white goes a bit yellow.

Art is subjective… Humanities is a course offered.

I wrote it
I can edit.

:-)

May you know peace and compassion from within,
for others,
....without hatred.

On another forum, someone wrote that Yamaha has trademarked two names: Yamaha Reface and Yamaha Montage. Who knows what those will be used for (and more importantly - when), but we can speculate… https://www.gearslutz.com/board/namm-2015/977456-korg-yamaha-new-synths-namm.html

It would be about time.

Montage

- a work of art that is made up of several different kinds of things

- a literary, musical, or artistic composite of juxtaposed more or less heterogeneous elements

Reference: Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary

Machina - 08 January 2015 03:34 PM

On another forum, someone wrote that Yamaha has trademarked two names: Yamaha Reface and Yamaha Montage. Who knows what those will be used for (and more importantly - when), but we can speculate…

It seems that Montage might be a reasonable successor to Motif. Different enough to suggest it’s not the same old thing, but similar enough for continuity.

Or not.  :-)

I personally would like to see Yamaha continue (as they have) to add new functionality to the Motif XF both with a new OS version and “perhaps?” new hardware additions.

In any case, the way the Motif XF (I own a Motif XF8 which I purchased in the spring of 2014) has more than enough to keep me busy for the next 20 years.

I’m sure there will be a new version of a Yamaha workstation at some point (I’ve been buying Yamaha synths for 38 years), but at the high end price point as in the Motif XF series, why the rush?  A new OS with added features, and perhaps update the firewire to maybe USB 3.0+ (since computers don’t support firewire that much anymore) would be nice.

If you know every single thing regarding the Motif XF, would you please come to my house and show me?  As a veteran synth owner, there is a whole lot going on in the current XF instrument!

Don’t forget, for violinists, they would die to own an original Stradivarius which is hundreds of years old and still keeps on ticking!

Heck, I’m waiting for the new Motif XF DVD (which I pre-purchased) to come out so I can get more insight when it is released.

Not many people have enough money to burn to purchase every version of the Motif.

Jim Shoe - 08 January 2015 07:31 PM

I personally would like to see Yamaha continue (as they have) to add new functionality to the Motif XF both with a new OS version and “perhaps?” new hardware additions.

That would be nice, but there are practical limitations. There’s only a certain amount of memory in the XF which can be programmed by an OS, and once it’s filled no more features can be added.

 

Jim Shoe -

In any case, the way the Motif XF (I own a Motif XF8 which I purchased in the spring of 2014) has more than enough to keep me busy for the next 20 years.

I’m sure there will be a new version of a Yamaha workstation at some point (I’ve been buying Yamaha synths for 38 years), but at the high end price point as in the Motif XF series, why the rush?  A new OS with added features, and perhaps update the firewire to maybe USB 3.0+ (since computers don’t support firewire that much anymore) would be nice.

Unlike car manufacturers, who are apparently compelled by the market to introduce new/newer models every year, companies like Yamaha typically determine when to release new ones based on sales figures and what the competition is doing.

While I have no inside information, it’s likely safe to say that the next model has been designed and prototyped. It might even already be in production.

While you purchased your XF less than one year ago, the model has been around for over four years. I’m in no way implying that alone is a reason for a successor to be released, but it’s a consideration.

 

Jim Shoe -

If you know every single thing regarding the Motif XF, would you please come to my house and show me?  As a veteran synth owner, there is a whole lot going on in the current XF instrument!

There’s plenty to know, and I doubt that many (if any) synth users actually fully master what they own before moving on to the next model.

 

Jim Shoe -

Don’t forget, for violinists, they would die to own an original Stradivarius which is hundreds of years old and still keeps on ticking!

I’m sure that’s true, but I’m equally certain that hundreds of years after the last XF comes off the production line, there won’t be much clamoring for one of them.  :-)

 

Jim Shoe -

Heck, I’m waiting for the new Motif XF DVD (which I pre-purchased) to come out so I can get more insight when it is released.

Not many people have enough money to burn to purchase every version of the Motif.

The XF has a lot of music in it, especially if you know how to coax it out. Players with the best “chops” are probably the least in need of the latest model.

Although I have an XS, I got an XF because the additional Waveforms, Arps, etc., in addition to optional non-volatile memory, were very appealing. Whether I’ll find the next model {whenever it’s available) to be irresistible or not remains to be seen.

I agree with 90% of what you say.

The remark about the Stradivarius, was of course, tongue in cheek.  Being around synths and electronics for almost 40 years, I know they become dated, or even unusable after a certain life-span.

My point was simply, the XF has a lot in there to master.  Do we all want more?  Of course.  I could list many things I wish it had.  However, once again, there is a lot to master with the XF and we should be very happy with this over the synts of the old days when we were happy to have a monophonic synth that weighed way more than the Motif!

If Bob Moog saw a Motif in the 60’s, he would have raised his hands in the air and said, “Wow!  I can’t compete with that!” and gave up.  So of course, technology evolves.

Being a software developer, I agree with you that there is finite memory in the XF.  However, I do also know that there are always things that can be tweaked and enhanced.  If this wasn’t the case, there wouldn’t be developers working on legacy code that is way older than the Motif.

I personally feel it would be in Yamaha’s best interest to continue to “enhance” an instrument that is very popular, has a lot of potential, and they already have the equipment in place to create these wonderful instruments.  To put it on the “user” (to quote Tron) to purchase a new expensive machine is tough on most people.

And yes, the new items in the XF was a big difference from the XS that you mention.  I find it interesting that it took so long to introduce them.  My old samplers from the 80’s used floppy disc’s to save samples.  I would think that in 2010 they would have had flash boards since memory is so inexpensive.  And 2GB is pretty small.  You can buy 128GB SD cards for next to nothing!