I am a big fan of Yamaha keyboards and want to upgrade to a Motif.  However, I’m not sure what decision to make:

1) Pay the extra cash for a Motif XF6. 
2) Get a XS6 and use the extra cash for expanded voice banks, nice monitors, etc…

I’ve read a lot, and it seems to me that the upgrades on the XF aren’t too relevant to a beginner to the Motif series, like me.  Am I right?

Thanks in advance!

For the discount you can get on the XS line, it’s a great deal to start off with. But if you need the flash memory for live performances, then the XF is the way to go. They are both great machines and you can’t go wrong with either one.

XS all the way, XF is a flook.

The Motif XF definitely sounds better than the XS now that i’ve seen a proper demo, simple as that! I wouldn’t touch the XS.The XF will serve you for the foreseeable future until Yamaha US get their heads out of their arse’s and decide to bring out something with more and better tools on-board.

I’m considering to add 88-key to my existing ES with 3 plug-in boards (VL,AN,DX - all Yamaha’s synth engine!).
For me, XS8 is better solution since it has already built-in firewire interface that support mLAN and I’m using mLAN16e in my ES6. Contrary, XF8 doesn’t come with built in firewire interface and even more, new card is not compatible with mLAN.
In that case I would lost my previous investment in mLAN16E for ES and a lot of projects based on the powerful features of mLAN. I know that new concept is peer-to-peer between computer and instrument, but I don’t know why Yamaha remove the choice to use mLAN or IEEE1394 driver from XF (XS still has that in it’s Utility).
Also, I don’t play live or very very rare, so my choice is XS8.

Alex