I recently bought the S90XS and wanted to know if I should upgrade to the XF.  I am new the Motif and wanted to get a quick explanation of what Flash RAM expansion modules are for (FL512M (512MB) and FL1024M (1 GB) Yamaha flash option boards).  This concept is new to me.

Are these vital (necessary) to the overall performance of the XF or could I go without them?  What are the main benefits or what will I be missing without the expansion? 

Would you recommend upgrading?

Thanks Guys

That flash memory only serves as a quick start-up aid.
You don’t lose samples any more at power down.
You can play without them.
;JOOP!

I recently bought the S90XS and wanted to know if I should upgrade to the XF.  I am new the Motif and wanted to get a quick explanation of what Flash RAM expansion modules are for (FL512M (512MB) and FL1024M (1 GB) Yamaha flash option boards).  This concept is new to me.

Are these vital (necessary) to the overall performance of the XF or could I go without them?  What are the main benefits or what will I be missing without the expansion? 

Would you recommend upgrading?

First congratulations on your purchase of the S90 XS. You will have to tell someone a bit more about yourself and what you want to do before anyone can recommend to you whether or not you shoud move to a Motif XF.

Asking a forum like this whether to recommed that you upgrade will get you every type of answer under the sun. Mostly based on the individuals own personal view and requirements. The only personal view and requirements that count (in fact) are yours.

The fundamental difference between the Yamaha S-series and the Motif-series is going to be important in making up your own mind.

The Motif-series are called Music Production Synthesizer workstations. We’ll explain that in a minute.
The S-series are called Music Synthesizers.

The are very much siblings - because they share the same fundamental wave ROM. The focus of a Music Production Synthesizer workstation (Motif-series) is being able to record, expand, and sample right on-board the instrument.

There is a built-in recording sequencer (called the Integrated Sampling Sequencer). This is at the heart of the Motif-series since the beginning. It allows you to not only record MIDI sequences, but to ‘sample’ (add audio data) by overdubbing as you would in a recording studio. The sample memory allows you to plug in a microphone and record yourself singing, rapping or playing an acoustic guitar to the tracks you have created in the MIDI sequencer.

The expand feature means you can add new waveform data to the preset WAVE ROM built-in to the unit. This is fundamental to adding completely new Voices based on new waveforms. The S90 XS for example comes with 2,772 Preset WAVEFORMS in ROM. This is not expandable. Any new Voice Libraries for the S90 XS will be referencing these 2772 waveforms.

The Motif XS came with 2670 Waveforms, the Motif XF comes with 3977 Waveforms… but in both instances you add additional WAVEFORM data to the unit because it has a built-in sampler. In the Motif XS you could add a maximum 1024 new WAVEFORMS - we are still trying to verify the new WAVEFORM limit for the new XF… but the point is the Motif-series features waveform expansion capability.

What’s new and exciting about the XF is you can choice which WAVEFORMS you wish to add and they will remain as a permanent part of your XF for as long as you want them. These do not disappear at power down. So it is now possible to take your backing vocals or your acoustic guitar playing with you as a permanent part of YOUR custom Wave ROM.

The Sample feature means that with 128MB of SDRAM (right-out-of the-box) you can begin music production (even without booting up a computer, installing a DAW, fiddling with drivers, making connections, etc., etc.)

The FLASH boards means when you do get some samples that you cannot live without - you can make them apart of YOUR XF!!! They will remain not only between power cycles but for as long as you wish to keep them. Flash memory is re-writable.

The S-series, on the other hand, features a very similar sound engine to the Motif-series but at a significant price savings - because, of course, it does not have all of the on-board music production features and the optional expansion/sampling functions. It is designed to be a stage synth… a MOTIF equivalent at savings. However when connected to a computer it becomes a music production synth.

So with the downloadable S90 XS/S70 XS Editor and the included DAW software (Cubase AI) you can do serious music production.  In fact, at that point it and the Motif-series share some of the same computer connectivity features.

You have to ask yourself - What do I want to do?