Having tried and failed to find any useful reviews of the Neo-soul Keyz EP library for the Motif XF I decided to splash out an early a xmas gift to myself. I’m now going to reveal my findings as someone may find it of use at very least it will make me feel better.
First off, the download reports to be 200 plus megabytes which is pointless as its split into three versions for the respective motif models, made even more frustrating because the download was painfully slow on my 20 mb!! broadband. The library features two waveforms which the voices are based on. Having loaded the sounds the first thing I noticed was how similar the sound to the stock Rhodes presets, hmmm I thought not really what the demo’s sounded like to my ears. Anyway I rolled up my sleeves fully prepared to get my hands dirty with a bit of tweaking thats when the situation got worse, I’m sorry but decent looping of keybanks should be standard fair for a professional sound library not the case with my download. Some of the samples are much longer than they need to be then go on and loop silence, some loop in a very noticeable manner with audible side effects! One of the videos on their site say’s they sampled the key off noises from the Rhodes, false on my library the internal key offs are being used not new samples.
I could go on but you can probably guess I’m a bit underwhelmed by my purchase, of course I emailed the “sales team” expressing my wish for a refund based on the fact that I was disappointed with my purchase, they did go to the trouble of sending me a screen shot of the the “ agree to the terms” button from their website I pressed when I placed the order. They also say they have no way of knowing if I will destroy or carry on using it. should there be a refund. A fair point, but why is it that we the consumer are always expected to trust and rarely receive any from the very people we give our hard earned cash to ??  Its a bout time that companies, businesses realise good customer service is as important as the products you sell ! And for he who says Roland and Korg should make it easy for anyone to bring libraries on they’re platform I say NO!!!! that way the risk of sub standard libraries is minimised. I also now see why may libraries use the built in waveforms, If you can’t do it properly then don’t bother!!!!
Finally sorry Jamal you had the right idea and I was will to support (pay) for your work but I don’t think its quite there. Maybe the Kontakt version is where it needs to be?

Merry Xmas

Since the Neo-Soul Keyz is software, and you purchased and downloaded it,
and then opened it and used it, there is no reason you should get your
money back. It’s like a movie - if you pay to see it, and then don’t like
it, should the studio that released the movie, or the director, return your money? No, because whether you liked it or not is a subjective opinion.

Now, if you bought a DVD and the DVD was defective (skips in places, or
doesn’t play at all) then you would have a right to get a refund or exchange.

If you download a band’s song on i-Tunes, and decide you don’t like the song, will i-Tunes refund your money? No. They can’t guarantee ahead of time whether you will personally like the song.

If you decide to buy Microsoft Office and then after two weeks decide that
you think Excel sucks, Microsoft isn’t going to refund your money, and neither is the place where you purchased it.

Third-party developers can’t guarantee you will be satisfied with a product. If there’s something corrupted with the download, of course you
should get a new download at no extra charge. But that’s about as far as
any “guarantee” would go.

Your review isn’t an objective review. It’s a sour-grapes complaint.
Many other people bought this library (when it had a different name) and
loved it.

One other thing - I’m a third-party developer (DCP Productions). I don’t
believe in giving people refunds if they don’t like a library I did. Why? Because then everybody and his mother could download my product,
decide they “didn’t like it” (even if they actually did) and claim a
refund, thereby ensuring that they get it for free. So while I will
try to help out someone who has a corrupted file, or with questions about use or loading, I will never refund someone’s money because they
simply didn’t like the sounds. That’s a stupid business model.

We can understand your disappointment. Every sample library is not for everyone, but what we can’t understand is that we have live 13-minute demos of the exact sound: http://neosoulkeys.com/motif/, so you kinda knew exactly what you were purchasing. This wasn’t some doctored up MP3, but a live musician (me) loading up the samples on an XF and playing all of the sounds. Furthermore the video we uploaded to YouTube was HD, so you can hear it in stereo and see me playing it.

So this makes it very hard to offer a refund, because you can hear exactly what you are purchasing.

Now there are a few things that may be disappointing you:
1. We recorded the audio @ 96kHz/24-bit
2. We recorded using the FW16e.
3. We had an XF8 weighted

So the quality that you are hearing is very high with 96kHz and because we have an XF8, the way we can manipulate the velocities and our “playability” may be a bit better if you don’t have the XF8. As a pro musician, we know it’s not what you play, but how you play it and it’s not to say you are not a professional, but just trying to make light of why you think the samples on the video sound different than what you purchased.

We sent you another E-mail offering you to download the EXACT XF format that we used on that video to make for sure you have the exact same samples.

GospelMusicians - 23 December 2011 02:27 PM

. This wasn’t some doctored up MP3, but a live musician (me) loading up the samples on an XF and playing all of the sounds. Furthermore the video we uploaded to YouTube was HD, so you can hear it in stereo and see me playing it.

So this makes it very hard to offer a refund, because you can hear exactly what you are purchasing.

Now there are a few things that may be disappointing you:
1. We recorded the audio @ 96kHz/24-bit
2. We recorded using the FW16e.
3. We had an XF8 weighted

So the quality that you are hearing is very high with 96kHz and because we have an XF8,

Maby i am a stupid but does Motif Xf sampler works only with
16 bit/44.1khz resolution samples so it is really does not metter even if u originaly recorded samples in 24bit/96khz thay will be compressed to 16bit/44.1khz in Motif Xf?

I appreciate the replies, Dave as usual your metaphors are ready and waiting to fly into action.
I can see how it can seem like sour grapes to some but as Jamal says it may not suit all and that being the case has little to do with sour grapes and more with good old fashioned dissapointment !
The fact that I spent £2K on a keyboard and still feel the need to buy additional sounds now that may be sour grapes :-)
Anyway my interest is not in a battle of wise cracks and metaphors I leave that to those who enjoy such activities. I’m just using the forum for what it was designed for in fact while I’m here let me say how much I love my XF and the sound it produces, its just that as Jamal knows, the quintessential RHODES sound is much desired and lusted after.

Jamal did you PM me the link as I haven’t seen anything yet? The sound cloud demo settings were the ones that made me part with my money they sound great! might be useful you sharing or pointing out which settings were used.

Drew

chilly - 23 December 2011 03:41 PM

GospelMusicians - 23 December 2011 02:27 PM

. This wasn’t some doctored up MP3, but a live musician (me) loading up the samples on an XF and playing all of the sounds. Furthermore the video we uploaded to YouTube was HD, so you can hear it in stereo and see me playing it.

So this makes it very hard to offer a refund, because you can hear exactly what you are purchasing.

Now there are a few things that may be disappointing you:
1. We recorded the audio @ 96kHz/24-bit
2. We recorded using the FW16e.
3. We had an XF8 weighted

So the quality that you are hearing is very high with 96kHz and because we have an XF8,

Maby i am a stupid but does Motif Xf sampler works only with
16 bit/44.1khz resolution samples so it is really does not metter even if u originaly recorded samples in 24bit/96khz thay will be compressed to 16bit/44.1khz in Motif Xf?

YES!

GospelMusicians - 23 December 2011 02:27 PM

We can understand your disappointment. Every sample library is not for everyone, but what we can’t understand is that we have live 13-minute demos of the exact sound: http://neosoulkeys.com/motif/, so you kinda knew exactly what you were purchasing. This wasn’t some doctored up MP3, but a live musician (me) loading up the samples on an XF and playing all of the sounds. Furthermore the video we uploaded to YouTube was HD, so you can hear it in stereo and see me playing it.

So this makes it very hard to offer a refund, because you can hear exactly what you are purchasing.

Now there are a few things that may be disappointing you:
1. We recorded the audio @ 96kHz/24-bit
2. We recorded using the FW16e.
3. We had an XF8 weighted

So the quality that you are hearing is very high with 96kHz and because we have an XF8, the way we can manipulate the velocities and our “playability” may be a bit better if you don’t have the XF8. As a pro musician, we know it’s not what you play, but how you play it and it’s not to say you are not a professional, but just trying to make light of why you think the samples on the video sound different than what you purchased.

We sent you another E-mail offering you to download the EXACT XF format that we used on that video to make for sure you have the exact same samples.

Just to clarify the You Tube demo means little to me. I listened to the Soundcloud demo and I hear no sign of the pops on the key release notes in fact the soundcloud demo sounds far more realistic than what I have the release notes are far to loud etc.

http://soundcloud.com/gospelmusicians/neo-soul-keys-tm-sound-demo

Well I went back in my studio again to make sure I wasn’t crazy and recorded another audio demo of the Neo-Soul EP for the Motif XF:

http://soundcloud.com/gospelmusicians/motif-xf-playing-around.

I think it sounds amazing to me. That’s why it’s really so intriguing. Maybe my ears suck, but this thing definitely sounds warm, phat, and clear. I use to think the ES sounded better until I got the XF myself (as Dave had told me before), and wow the XF’s filters are way more clear and much better.

The demo you hear is recorded right from the Motif XF. So what I did is export from my USB drive the EXACT 100% SAMPLE-SET and uploaded it to make for DARN SURE that the sounds you hear in this demo is EXACTLY the same one we uploaded to the server.

That’s why we E-mailed you to see if you wanted to re-download it. Perhaps some files got corrupted, but what you hear in this demo is what we exported from our own XF and re-uploaded!

GospelMusicians - 24 December 2011 04:32 AM

Well I went back in my studio again to make sure I wasn’t crazy and recorded another audio demo of the Neo-Soul EP for the Motif XF:

http://soundcloud.com/gospelmusicians/motif-xf-playing-around.

I think it sounds amazing to me. That’s why it’s really so intriguing. Maybe my ears suck, but this thing definitely sounds warm, phat, and clear. I use to think the ES sounded better until I got the XF myself (as Dave had told me before), and wow the XF’s filters are way more clear and much better.

The demo you hear is recorded right from the Motif XF. So what I did is export from my USB drive the EXACT 100% SAMPLE-SET and uploaded it to make for DARN SURE that the sounds you hear in this demo is EXACTLY the same one we uploaded to the server.

That’s why we E-mailed you to see if you wanted to re-download it. Perhaps some files got corrupted, but what you hear in this demo is what we exported from our own XF and re-uploaded!

I have sent you an audio file illustrating the problem. I doubt it has much to do with “filters or sucking ears “ more a sample issue.

Hi Keysoul69, I noticed in a more recent thread that you now seem quite pleased with this library, contrary to what you’ve posted here. What happened that changed your view?
Stone

stoneb3 - 03 January 2012 08:33 PM

Hi Keysoul69, I noticed in a more recent thread that you now seem quite pleased with this library, contrary to what you’ve posted here. What happened that changed your view?
Stone

What helped me was that the main problem with the sound had been isolated to the Motifs key off samples. I’m quite happy to get stuck in and edit to my own tastes which was how I discovered the problem, using the excellent Waveform editor from John Melas!
I fed this back to the guys responsible for the library and they addressed the issue and more than fixed the problem, in fact check out the Neo soul keys suitcase for the Motif to see what I mean.

I think that certain people may find it hard to understand that people like me are interested in making the Motif experience better for its users.
Though I suppose if you have been given a Motif by Yamaha you may not be that bothered either way.
Anyway whats the point in sharing your feedback and experiences if all your going to get is “you didn’t have to buy it” LOL!

Anyway kudos to Gospel Musicians for not only listening to my feedback.... now there’s a new idea that may catch on! But for producing the best “Rhodes sound” not just EP sound, for the Motif XF.

a good job. much better than the built-in

rhodes samples in motif have cheap stretch distances - one sample stretch on 6 keys .
for example , 6 keys B4- E5 ( middle c is C4 ) more brighter than other keys . (B4 C5 Cis5 D5 Dis5 E5)
in samples signed “ + “ this 6 keys transposition quart up , signed “ - “ shift quart lower .
half of thousands samples in motif signed “ + “ and “ - “ . this is tranposed samples , no new

148 EP1 Sw
149 EP1 Soft
150 EP1 Soft+
151 EP1 Soft-
152 EP1 Med
153 EP1 Med+
154 EP1 Med-
155 EP1 Hard
156 EP1 Hard+
157 EP1 Hard-
158 EP2 Sw
159 EP2 Soft1
160 EP2 Soft1+
161 EP2 Soft1-
162 EP2 Soft2
163 EP2 Soft2+
164 EP2 Soft2-
165 EP2 Hard1
166 EP2 Hard1+
167 EP2 Hard1-
168 EP2 Hard2
169 EP2 Hard2+
170 EP2 Hard2-
171 EP3 Sw
172 EP3 Soft1
173 EP3 Soft1+
174 EP3 Soft1-
175 EP3 Soft2
176 EP3 Soft2+
177 EP3 Soft2-
178 EP3 Hard1
179 EP3 Hard1+
180 EP3 Hard1-
181 EP3 Hard2
182 EP3 Hard2+
183 EP3 Hard2-
184 EP Key Off

no new since xs

bonivyr - 04 January 2012 01:58 PM

a good job. much better than the built-in


rhodes samples in motif have cheap stretch distances - one sample stretch on 6 keys .
for example , 6 keys B4- E5 ( middle c is C4 ) more brighter than other keys . (B4 C5 Cis5 D5 Dis5 E5)
in samples signed “ + “ this 6 keys transposition quart up , signed “ - “ shift quart lower .
half of thousands samples in motif signed “ + “ and “ - “ . this is tranposed samples , no new

148 EP1 Sw
149 EP1 Soft
150 EP1 Soft+
151 EP1 Soft-
152 EP1 Med
153 EP1 Med+
154 EP1 Med-
155 EP1 Hard
156 EP1 Hard+
157 EP1 Hard-
158 EP2 Sw
159 EP2 Soft1
160 EP2 Soft1+
161 EP2 Soft1-
162 EP2 Soft2
163 EP2 Soft2+
164 EP2 Soft2-
165 EP2 Hard1
166 EP2 Hard1+
167 EP2 Hard1-
168 EP2 Hard2
169 EP2 Hard2+
170 EP2 Hard2-
171 EP3 Sw
172 EP3 Soft1
173 EP3 Soft1+
174 EP3 Soft1-
175 EP3 Soft2
176 EP3 Soft2+
177 EP3 Soft2-
178 EP3 Hard1
179 EP3 Hard1+
180 EP3 Hard1-
181 EP3 Hard2
182 EP3 Hard2+
183 EP3 Hard2-
184 EP Key Off

no new since xs

Hey - didn’t I just read this exact same post in a separate thread?  LOL ... fight on, fight the windmill

motidave - 10 January 2012 03:28 PM

bonivyr - 04 January 2012 01:58 PM

a good job. much better than the built-in


rhodes samples in motif have cheap stretch distances - one sample stretch on 6 keys .
for example , 6 keys B4- E5 ( middle c is C4 ) more brighter than other keys . (B4 C5 Cis5 D5 Dis5 E5)
in samples signed “ + “ this 6 keys transposition quart up , signed “ - “ shift quart lower .
half of thousands samples in motif signed “ + “ and “ - “ . this is tranposed samples , no new

148 EP1 Sw
149 EP1 Soft
150 EP1 Soft+
151 EP1 Soft-
152 EP1 Med
153 EP1 Med+
154 EP1 Med-
155 EP1 Hard
156 EP1 Hard+
157 EP1 Hard-
158 EP2 Sw
159 EP2 Soft1
160 EP2 Soft1+
161 EP2 Soft1-
162 EP2 Soft2
163 EP2 Soft2+
164 EP2 Soft2-
165 EP2 Hard1
166 EP2 Hard1+
167 EP2 Hard1-
168 EP2 Hard2
169 EP2 Hard2+
170 EP2 Hard2-
171 EP3 Sw
172 EP3 Soft1
173 EP3 Soft1+
174 EP3 Soft1-
175 EP3 Soft2
176 EP3 Soft2+
177 EP3 Soft2-
178 EP3 Hard1
179 EP3 Hard1+
180 EP3 Hard1-
181 EP3 Hard2
182 EP3 Hard2+
183 EP3 Hard2-
184 EP Key Off

no new since xs

Hey - didn’t I just read this exact same post in a separate thread?  LOL ... fight on, fight the windmill

you can not distinguish wurly from rhodes

what they mean
loose talk