When XS was launched the users have react in the same manner ??. Now i see that some users seem offended because XF is not a big step forward ?.I;m not offended i’m indifferent.

But hey ! i think that XF is only a transition keyboard. Maybe next year we will see the real new one with a touch screen like Oasys .. I think that a big hit is prepared for the next year. I have read that Voice libraries will be vastly expanded with every possible sound genres and every possible famous synths signatures from the last 30 years or so. If this will happen and i think it will happen (because today demands have changed) is predictable to see a new synth next year with more than 10 USR sound slots...etc And the name for that synth i think will not be Motif ..maybe the name will be Horizon ZF or Universe SY or ...As u see there are better names to adopt for the new hit . I’m ready to buy Universe SY if my predictions came true

by Ziiaclout:

Agree with you 100% Mike.  If the XF isnt for you...cool!  In a down economy, who has put out a new workstation that you do want?  oh thats rght, NOBODY!  The way i see it, this board should make the ES users salivate.  It is a glorified XS.  As a Studio Owner, im gonna keep my XS8 in the studio now, and im gonna get a XF7 and gig with it.  Thanks Yamaha.

I wasn’t referring to ME as not wanting to buy a XF because it wasn’t made to my specifications, I was referring to other Posters in general that wanted this or that feature otherwise they weren’t going to buy one.

As an ES8 owner the last six years, the XF would indeed be a significant upgrade for what I do with a workstation and the way i prefer to work. I never wanted to take the time and money to buy a PC, firewire, software, and all the potential headaches as well as TIME getting everything to work together.

I prefer using a workstation stand-alone. I record my backing tracks on the ES8 and then gig with it too. I would love to have some of the string libraries that are available and ones that will be available in the future for the XF. I use a load of strings in my songs and would like to be able to use some of the great sounding and extensive libraries that are coming.

With half-damper capability of the stock piano sounds, that would be an improvement over the ES pianos, although I’ve made good use of the ES8 since I bought it. I am one of the target customers Yamaha had in mind when they designed the XF.

If/when I can get my hands on some $$$ I would certainly buy an XF.

Cheers,

Mike T.

Bad_Mister - 05 August 2010 01:36 PM

SYEMB05 = SY Expansion Memory Boards allowed you to add 512Kb of battery backed RAM to the SY99 and there were 5 slots. The SY99 came with 512Kb (that is not a misprint - I mean kilobytes of RAM on board and you can add 5 x 512Kb for a total of 3MB in a full expanded SY99.

If I recall the SYEMB05’s retailed for $395 a board!!!

Just FYI.

I don’t remember the MSRP of the SYEMB05 boards, but I think you could find street prices of $265.00 US back in the day. Five boards @ $265.00 = $1,325.00 added to the MSRP of $3,999 totaled $5,324.00 for a fully equipped SY99 (then add a few other small items like BC3, etc.). My SY99 has all five ram boards in it so I have a “whopping” 3mb of ram, would love to find a Musitronics 5mb ram expansion to add to it to bring it up to 8mb total. Unfortunately the Musitronics device sold out a while back and they do not plan on making it available again. I’ll go demo the XF when it comes out, but I’d really like to see some alternate synthesis methods on a new Yamaha board (FM, VL, etc.).
Clyde

DX7IIFD, SY77, SY99, Hammond C3, Steinway L, etc.

radurobert - 05 August 2010 05:35 PM

When XS was launched the users have react in the same manner ??. Now i see that some users seem offended because XF is not a big step forward ?.I;m not offended i’m indifferent.

But hey ! i think that XF is only a transition keyboard. Maybe next year we will see the real new one with a touch screen like Oasys .. I think that a big hit is prepared for the next year. I have read that Voice libraries will be vastly expanded with every possible sound genres and every possible famous synths signatures from the last 30 years or so. If this will happen and i think it will happen (because today demands have changed) is predictable to see a new synth next year with more than 10 USR sound slots...etc And the name for that synth i think will not be Motif ..maybe the name will be Horizon ZF or Universe SY or ...As u see there are better names to adopt for the new hit . I’m ready to buy Universe SY if my predictions came true

I also think the XF is a transitional keyboard. I also think it’s the last in the Motif Series. Lastly, I think you’ll be waiting more than a year for the next workstation release.

OMG, yet aonther stupid post.

A POROFESSIONAL makes the instrument in hand sound great,, FACT;
If the Motif series are so bad, then why are some many PROFESSIONALS using it?

A radio shack midi keyboard sounds great in the hands of a skilled professional player.

I also think the Motif XF is the last of the series, thus the “F” stands for either FLASH, or FINALE?

The Funk Master - 06 August 2010 10:24 AM

OMG, yet aonther stupid post.

A POROFESSIONAL makes the instrument in hand sound great,, FACT;
If the Motif series are so bad, then why are some many PROFESSIONALS using it?

A radio shack midi keyboard sounds great in the hands of a skilled professional player.

I also think the Motif XF is the last of the series, thus the “F” stands for either FLASH, or FINALE?

OMG, yet aonther stupid post.

A professional have between 4 and 10 synths in his arsenal…

Judging by the responses I guess I’ve really put the cat amongst the pigeons here.

I wonder if Yamaha are planning a workstation with inter-changeable fascia’s next? I mean let’s face it, other than the flash ram option it’s pretty much an XS in a black case.

One advantage I have found though, if I were to buy the XF it would be a perfect colour match to go along side my SY-85,
but then I’d have more money than sense I suppose.

Surprisingly, one question that still hasn’t been posed in this debate is, will the next XS OS update give us the tweaks of the XF? If it did, wouldn’t the proud new owners of the XF feel slightly duped? Which leads me to my next question, does this
mean no more XS OS updates?

Discuss.

radurobert - 06 August 2010 10:57 AM

A professional have between 4 and 10 synths in his arsenal.

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/1996_articles/jul96/georgemichael.html

Most high profile gigs feature 2-3 keyboards per player, and many studios today just have a MIDI controller and a bunch of software plug-ins.

The Funk Master - 06 August 2010 10:24 AM

A radio shack midi keyboard sounds great in the hands of a skilled professional player.

DmitryKo - 06 August 2010 03:18 PM

radurobert - 06 August 2010 10:57 AM

A professional have between 4 and 10 synths in his arsenal.

Yeah, why not if you’re a superstar and have a bunch of technicians and programmers to serve them.

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/1996_articles/jul96/georgemichael.html

Most high profile gigs feature 2-3 keyboards per player, and many studios today just have a MIDI controller and a bunch of software plug-ins.

yes little unknown studios have only a MIDI controller and a bunch of software plug-ins.I entered that page that u gave me, page and seems that STUDIO us a lot of gear. For sound he use >

SOUNDS
• Akai S3000i samplers (x2)
• Akai S3200 sampler *
• Emu Procussion percussion module
• Emu Vintage Keys Plus module
• Emu Ultra Proteus synth module
• Korg Prophecy keyboard synth
• Korg Trinity Plus keyboard synth
• Kurzweil K2000 sampler/synth
• Roland JV1080 synth module
• Roland Juno 106 analogue keyboard synth
• Roland Vintage Synth MVS1 sound module
• Studio Electronics SE1 synth module *
• Yamaha SY77 keyboard synth
• Yamaha TG500 synth module

No I don’t feel XF users would feel “duped” by including the new OS improvements for the XS.  I would strongly bet that most XS users will not go to the XF but I suspected Yamaha knew that.  I believe that most XF sales will come from new users and from old Motif-Motif ES owners.  The XF allows Yamaha to “refresh” the XS so to speak to keep it current for now. If anything as an XF purchaser I would be elated to know that the keyboard that I am purchasing will keep on being supported and updated for years to come.  That is smart marketing on Yamaha’s part.  Which would you rather buy, a keyboard that you know will have support cut completely 2-3 years from the date that you bought it or one that will have updates for 5 years or so and long years of support.

It kind of is a moot point though because the XS is being discontinued.  So anyone thinking about buying a new Motif is going to look at the XF infor on there web and not really worry about what the past models had (most people).  And the Flash Rom upgrade combined with double the onboard Rom is something that XS users can never get… If I was in the market for a new Motif, I would buy the XF very happily and totally love the Flash Rom thing.  Don’t underestimate the fact that you now can have instantaneous access to 3 Gigs of sound versus the XS which has close to 400 mb of sounds available via instant access.  I don’t think that is a small deal.  Getting a keyboard with 7 times the amount of sounds as the predecessor...pretty amazing.

Just my thoughts…

God bless
KJ

radurobert - 06 August 2010 03:31 PM

I entered that page that u gave me, page and seems that STUDIO us a lot of gear.

radurobert - 06 August 2010 10:57 AM

A professional have between 4 and 10 synths in his arsenal…

Most professionals don’t play on giant gigs with 1000s of people in the audience. They play on weddings and company-parties, or small venues when they play their own work.
They use gear that can easily be replaced with the same when something is wrong (so Yamaha, Roland and Korg).
They want to create setups for their songs rather fast and easy (so an advanced stage piano or a rompler workstation for more demanding repetoires).
And they certainly don’t want to carry 4 synths around! So every peace of gear must be able to do as much as possible.

The Motif range is maybe not for synth geeks (buy a modular) but it is for the professional. The XF is just a logic step in the direction the whole competition will go.
After decades of producing instruments, Yamaha knows the market better than we do.

beautiful color for the new Motif XS...sorry XF

new flash....but:

up to 4 Parts (please take a look to Yamaha PSR....maybe....)!!!!!!!!!!!

Yamaha is ridiculous to change the color for just about a new motif. May even put an extra button.... :)

JUST MARKETING !!!!! How to make money on the backs others.....

Best Regards,

buhuhu - 07 August 2010 07:42 AM

new flash....but:

up to 4 Parts (please take a look to Yamaha PSR....maybe....)!!!!!!!!!!!

Contemptuously, it could at least 8 parts!

So now that you have the specifications for the Motif XF, what is the
point of posting something like “sorry, Yamaha, you’ll have to do better”?
You know the design isn’t going to be changed between now and when it
appears in the shops..sorry, I don’t get the point of posting that you
won’t be buying it.

It’s like a band - if you don’t like their music, then you don’t buy it.
Why post that you don’t like it, it isn’t going to change anything.