Played with a Motif XF8 today at Guitar Center Fairfax.  First impression:  Motif XF is nothing more than a black Motif XS with Flash Memory, and some new functionality and presets...but that’s about it.  I was very disheartened to see that most of the new presets made for it are in the User Banks and NOT the Preset Banks.  Every Motif XS preset is included.  The new S6 piano patches are good, and it’s cool to see Farfisa organ patches too.  The weighted keybed on the XF8 felt noticeably different than the XS8...less “spongy” and more expressive.  It didn’t feel like the same weighted keybed as the one in the CP5, but I liked how it felt.

I didn’t spend enough time with it to truly judge it outside of my first initial impression, and I intend to spend more time in the future to really dig into it.  I also intend to ask a great deal of questions on here to better wrap my head around and understand the Motif workflow.  I’m looking to move up from an XS6 to either an XF7 or XS7.

Just an FYI, all Guitar Center has in stock are XF8s.  XF6s are on their way and are expected late this week or early next week.  XF7s are only being special-ordered.

Thanks for the heads up.

I’m thinking I’ll get an XS6 on a closeout sale rather than opt for the XF.

Do they have the 2GB flash ram? And do we even know how much that’s going to cost?

AK-Jake - 31 August 2010 01:34 AM

Played with a Motif XF8 today at Guitar Center Fairfax.  First impression:  Motif XF is nothing more than a black Motif XS with Flash Memory, and some new functionality and presets...but that’s about it.  I was very disheartened to see that most of the new presets made for it are in the User Banks and NOT the Preset Banks.  Every Motif XS preset is included.  The new S6 piano patches are good, and it’s cool to see Farfisa organ patches too.  The weighted keybed on the XF8 felt noticeably different than the XS8...less “spongy” and more expressive.  It didn’t feel like the same weighted keybed as the one in the CP5, but I liked how it felt.

I didn’t spend enough time with it to truly judge it outside of my first initial impression, and I intend to spend more time in the future to really dig into it.  I also intend to ask a great deal of questions on here to better wrap my head around and understand the Motif workflow.  I’m looking to move up from an XS6 to either an XF7 or XS7.

Just an FYI, all Guitar Center has in stock are XF8s.  XF6s are on their way and are expected late this week or early next week.  XF7s are only being special-ordered.

What is your opinion about the new display ?
Does it have better visualization and angle of visualization ?
Thanks.

They don’t have the Flash RAM boards in-stock that I know of...they just broke the XF8 out yesterday afternoon.  I doubt you’ll see flash-boards in-stock at stores, and they probably won’t be readily available for a few weeks.  But that’s just my prediction.

They quoted me $3099 for the XF7 and $3599 for the XF8.  In other words, the same retail prices listed by Yamaha a few weeks ago.  You may be able to get some wiggle room in the price, but probably not for a good 6 months or so.  Let the “newness” wear off and they’ll probably deal more after sales start to drop.

Regarding the visibility aspect of the “new” screen, I couldn’t quite tell, because the XF8 was hanging on the wall about 4 feet in the air.  It was MUCH brighter, and looking at it from an angle, it seemed to be much easier to view.  The REAL test will be playing it live outside in direct sunlight.  I’m gonna go play with it for awhile some more tonight.  I’ll get back to you.

plz help me friends i never have motif befor and i decided to get motif xf but when i saw some people said that its same xs just they make it black

and really i hate how motif look but i adore the sounds and i saw that xf

have the same presets as xs,, i compare the data list between xf and xs
a little new sounds and performance so ,i think to get motif xs rack with korg m3 61 or get motif xf i dont know what to do , the kind of music i produce is pop,funk,ballad,r&b;,jazz,electronic music

what you suggest for me friends motif xf or motif xs rack and (korg m3 or fantom xr)

Depends on what you’re looking to do with it.  You could get an XS Rack plus an M3...or you could get an M3-M (M3 rack-module) and an XS or XF workstation.  What are you looking to sequence with?

coinstar - 31 August 2010 02:16 PM

plz help me friends i never have motif befor and i decided to get motif xf but when i saw some people said that its same xs just they make it black

and really i hate how motif look but i adore the sounds and i saw that xf

have the same presets as xs,, i compare the data list between xf and xs
a little new sounds and performance so ,i think to get motif xs rack with korg m3 61 or get motif xf i dont know what to do , the kind of music i produce is pop,funk,ballad,r&b;,jazz,electronic music

what you suggest for me friends motif xf or motif xs rack and (korg m3 or fantom xr)

Take motif xs-xf with korg m3-m!!!
It’s the best choice!!!

AK-Jake - 31 August 2010 02:25 PM

Depends on what you’re looking to do with it.  You could get an XS Rack plus an M3...or you could get an M3-M (M3 rack-module) and an XS or XF workstation.  What are you looking to sequence with?

i use cubase i dont record in keyboards

i just use sounds and arp from keyboards

Lemonjam - 31 August 2010 02:31 PM

coinstar - 31 August 2010 02:16 PM

plz help me friends i never have motif befor and i decided to get motif xf but when i saw some people said that its same xs just they make it black

and really i hate how motif look but i adore the sounds and i saw that xf

have the same presets as xs,, i compare the data list between xf and xs
a little new sounds and performance so ,i think to get motif xs rack with korg m3 61 or get motif xf i dont know what to do , the kind of music i produce is pop,funk,ballad,r&b;,jazz,electronic music

what you suggest for me friends motif xf or motif xs rack and (korg m3 or fantom xr)

Take motif xs-xf with korg m3-m!!!
It’s the best choice!!!

i chose from take motif xf alone or take motif xs rack and korg m361

what u suggest dose the xf worth to get it ???
isee xs do the same thing and have the same tone generator

If you’re sequencing in Cubase, I’d just get the XS Rack used on Ebay, plus a used M3-M (module) and call it a day.  You can control both racks via MIDI, and you can control your XS Rack arps via the XS editor software right inside Cubase as a virtual instrument.  Saves you a ton of money!

AK-Jake - 31 August 2010 02:45 PM

If you’re sequencing in Cubase, I’d just get the XS Rack used on Ebay, plus a used M3-M (module) and call it a day.  You can control both racks via MIDI, and you can control your XS Rack arps via the XS editor software right inside Cubase as a virtual instrument.  Saves you a ton of money!

thanks for replay

another ask what do you think fantom xr instead of korg m3

Lemonjam - 31 August 2010 02:31 PM

coinstar - 31 August 2010 02:16 PM

plz help me friends i never have motif befor and i decided to get motif xf but when i saw some people said that its same xs just they make it black

and really i hate how motif look but i adore the sounds and i saw that xf

have the same presets as xs,, i compare the data list between xf and xs
a little new sounds and performance so ,i think to get motif xs rack with korg m3 61 or get motif xf i dont know what to do , the kind of music i produce is pop,funk,ballad,r&b;,jazz,electronic music

what you suggest for me friends motif xf or motif xs rack and (korg m3 or fantom xr)

Take motif xs-xf with korg m3-m!!!
It’s the best choice!!!

Agreed! I have Korg M3 73 (with full expansions) and Motif XS6 and they go together like 2 lovers...perfect

nchrist - 31 August 2010 03:40 PM

Lemonjam - 31 August 2010 02:31 PM

coinstar - 31 August 2010 02:16 PM

plz help me friends i never have motif befor and i decided to get motif xf but when i saw some people said that its same xs just they make it black

and really i hate how motif look but i adore the sounds and i saw that xf

have the same presets as xs,, i compare the data list between xf and xs
a little new sounds and performance so ,i think to get motif xs rack with korg m3 61 or get motif xf i dont know what to do , the kind of music i produce is pop,funk,ballad,r&b;,jazz,electronic music

what you suggest for me friends motif xf or motif xs rack and (korg m3 or fantom xr)

Take motif xs-xf with korg m3-m!!!
It’s the best choice!!!

Agreed! I have Korg M3 73 (with full expansions) and Motif XS6 and they go together like 2 lovers...perfect

when you combin voice from motif and kor m3 dose they sounds nice

and can you control motif from ur korg?

coinstar - 31 August 2010 02:16 PM

i saw that xf have the same presets as xs,, i compare the data list between xf and xs a little new sounds and performance

And you can install up to 2 Gbytes of nonvolatile flash memory in 0.5 and 1 GByte modules to store these custom waveforms, so you don’t have to load them at startup all over again.

Please include these facts in your consideration.

You can also wait until next Spring-Summer when the Motif-Rack XF will be release, which might feature built-in RAM and/or flash memory expansion.

DmitryKo - 31 August 2010 04:17 PM

Yamaha will also provide free 500 Mbyte Voice library with additional Voices and Performances.

Citation needed?