I hope I don't put anybody to sleep during their reading of this. Just want to share some boring tidbits with you all to keep you up to date and share some changes in Keyboard products I made after careful consideration. I'll lay it out for you right up front and then explain my decision[s] to you. I returned the Motif ES7 and bought a Tyros. Whew!!!! I said that easy enough, huh!

After careful deliberation I choose to return the Motif ES7 and the reason I did is pretty straight forward. - Because even though the Motif ES7 has some puesdo Arranger functions it's still not an Arranger by any means. It had great sounds, expandability, Sampling; among other advanced features. But there were a few things that just weren't there that I needed in a Keyboard. A lot of it had to do with the Sequencer when trying to Mix a song. A simple thing like knowing and seeing which Voice was playing on what Track at any given moment in realtime when Mixing and Mastering a song. It was like trying to do something in the dark with no flashlight or other source of light at your disposal. Flying blind comes to mind. Very disheartening to say the least. And if you changed Voices within a Mix from the default Voices and you happen to rewind the song back to the beginning all the Voices changed back to the defaults so you lost all your custom voices within the Mix and had to start from square one and once again re-enter them. Granted, I only had the Board about 2 weeks so that feature may have been in there but if it was it was hidden pretty well because I never found it. Again, the Motif ES is not for the faint of heart. I got rid of my first Mo' "Classic" because of OS bugs and SIMM incompatabilities. I was hoping that the Navigation and Layout of the Operating System interfacce would be easier and more User friendly but IMO it's as difficult as ever to learn and use. So that was another reason I returned it. The LCD screen even though it is angled which helps some, still is too 'small' and because of it awkward to navigate around the different functions. But the main thing was I missed having was the Arranger functions that I've come to know and love. Also, the Motif ES; -which is considered a 'Synth Workstation' Keyboard, did not have a very crucial feature on it which other competing Workstations, eg., Korg Triton, have. The feature I'm talking about is "Loop Cross Fade", which basically 'smooths' a part of a song into another part, (in use with the Sampling Sequencer) ie., "transitioning", which makes for a natural "flowing" between parts with no abrupt discordant sounds through and during the process. Many people were complaining to Yamaha about the absence of Loop Cross Fade on the Motif ES and that it was an essential feature to have in a 'quote': "Synth Workstation". Yamaha balked at the idea of providing Looped Cross Fade through an OS update even though there were 'many' people who were pleading with Yamaha to do so. So that kinda made me start wondering about just how much is Yamaha willing to provide for their customers needs and wishes and to satisfy them and support the Motif ES series Keyboard. If their balking now when the paint is not even dry so to speak, what will it be like a year from now?

So I bought the Tyros instead. I now have my beloved Arranger features, and even though I am fully aware of the Tyros limitations, ie., No expandability, no Sampling, etc.; I still think I made a good choice. I still have 128 note Polyphony like the Motif ES had, I have Aftertouch, I have superb Voices just like the Motif ES has. And even though I now have just 61 Keys as apposed to the Motif ES7's 76 Keys, I do have the Octave Switch which is a plus. And the biggest thing I have with the Tyros that the Motif ES doesn't have is a 'Huge' LCD screen! That big, beautiful, color LCD screen is exquisite!!! The scrolling Lyrics are absolutely fantastic. The image is very 'crisp' and clear. My hat goes off to Yamaha for designing such a great LCD screen for the Tyros. PS: I already upgraded the OS to the latest 1.20 version. Now I know what that Floppy Disk holder on the right side of the Tyros is for!!! I updated via Floppy Disk and of course we know that there are 14 disks total for the Update process. Well, some disks when you buy them are 'housed' in a small "carton" (container), eg., "when purchasing a bundled 25 disks, etc. I just put all 14 disks "in order" inside that little carton holder and placed it right on top of the Tyros's Floppy Disk holder. Updating was a breeze! Piece of cake!!

Now all's I have to do is hope and pray that Yamaha doesn't drop the ball in regards to supporting the Tyros and it's customers who own and cherish them - (The Tyros I mean!!, not necessarily Yamaha Music Division!) Although when you come to think about it - WE, ie., YOU and ME really DO own Yamaha. Without us -their customers - they wouldn't even exist. How's that for a 'deep' thought?

Best regards,
Mike

Mike,

Congratulations and welcome to the Tyros club!!!! You will not be sorry. I've owned my Tyros since January and I absolutely love it. It has actually sharpened my song playing skills.

Do yourself a HUGE favor and get a hard disk. They are reletively inexpensive and store TONS of midi files, Styles, registrations, and load very very fast.

I was without my Tyros for two weeks due to a faulty direct access key and I was given a MO 6 classic as a loaner.

I like the MO for goofing around, but I really, really, missed the Tyros and so did my Bandmates. They really have become accostomed to the Tyros voices as well.

Best of Luck
Al

Thanks Al. I will indeed get a Hard Disk. I'm thinking I'll take it to the max and get a 40GB one too. Reading the Tyros info on the Yamaha site I noticed there is a 'height' limit to the Hard Disk itself so I will have to take that into consideration when looking for one. I'm sure most Hard Disks fall within those height requirements/limits though. Terry Tilson went with an IBM Travelstar I believe and his works fine so IBM may be the company to go with.

It's really nice to know we have these Forums, eg., SynthZone, SVP World, Yahoo Groups, etc., where there are so many Tyros, and other Arranger Keyboard owners that are willing and able to give of their time and expertise in helping fellow Members and also just in the camaraderie we share with one another because of our common interest in Arranger Keyboards and keyboards in general.

Best regards,
Mike

Mike:

That sounds like quite a ride overall. I have a Motif ES 8 that is due to arrive next week, but my intention is to use it predominantly in the studio with Cakewalk Sonar as the sequencer, which hopefully will be a little easier to use than the internal sequencer both in terms of functionality and eye-strain. I also think it'll be pretty compatible sound-wise with my bread & butter gig keyboard, the 9000 Pro, so I'll use the MoES8 to create and tune up MIDI sequences for stage use with the 9kPro (in fact, I'm really looking forward to making some interesting sequences and styles for the 9kPro using the MoEs arps). I'm selling one of my prize studio Kurzweils to get the MoES8 so I hope I don't run into the regrets with it that you did.

I guess it's because I am an instrumentalist these days but I cannot fathom using a 61-note keyboard anymore. I use every bit of the 9000 Pro's 76 keys and I even find that to be a limitation at times although a bearable one. That is the sole reason I'll never own a Tyros, and I sure hope Yamaha is listening. If the Tyros only had a step-up 76-note model available with PLG board capability, lo-z mic input, and my beloved LittleLites I'd buy it without hesitation. (sigh)

Good luck with your new board...

Pro,

I envy your setup. I would love to get the MO ES 8 for the same reasons you did. Those darn kids and their college educations. Anyway, I went from the PSR 9000 to the Tyros, but I've never had the pro. The reason the Pro was never attractive to me is because I was satisfied with the core sounds of the 9000 and even more with the Tyros so I didn't need the PLG boards. I admit, the 76 keys and the sampling is sorely missed, but I have a Triton Pro that fills that need.

As far the "Little Lites" go, you should realize that you can have the same thing on the Tyros by purchasing USB Lights and plug them into the USB port of the Tyros!! Although I haven'nt tried it, you might want to research whether other members have.

Al

All good points here. It's all in what one does i think. For me and what I do, the ES is a no brainer choice versus any of the arranger line. The 9k pro would come closer than any other Yamaha arranger, but since I have little use for the styles themselves except if I used it for a backup to the PA80 , the rest favors the Motif line for me. Power of editing including access to raw samples and the plug ins ( I like making my own sounds ), the arps.. ( the "quasi arranger " concept isn't necessarily a new idea.. the old motif allows me to play the arps in different keys / chord structures based on how I finger them ), sampling.. better key feel ( the pro and Tyros have a nice feel though ). Equally important to me.. breathe controller, real knobs and sliders ( assignable ) , an assignable mod wheel ( I nrarely if ever use the stock modulation )

Although I'll still use external sequencing, the ability of the Motif to assign up to 8 effects to the parts playing opens new doors. The stock Motif drums are much more powerful and adjustable than on the PSR line, but I may add the drum card to the 3rd expansion slot..

Would I like, a better display.. ? Absolutely. Would that alone or having styles compel me to switch to a Tyros .. No chance.. OK maybe if I didn't like the korg arrangers better I'd replace the PA80 with a Tyros, but that won't happen.. unless I like the PA1x so much more that I want to replace the PA80 with it .

All in what one wants and needs I guess.

AJ

[This message has been edited by Bluezplayer (edited 09-26-2003).]

Al: Thanks. I'll actually be able to comment on this pretty soon because I've already ordered a USB goosneck lite to go with my Motif ES 8... that's how much I like them on my 9kPro!. However I don't like the idea of dedicating the USB port to this function, and the 9kPro includes a dimmer as well. My eyesight needs all the help it can get though so I'd already planned on getting a USB LittleLite for the Mo.

AJ: After a lot of deliberating I have decided not to use my PLG150-DR card in my 9000 Pro and use it instead on the MoES8. It'd require too much work to make my stage midis work with the DR and it will be more welcome as a studio asset in the Mo. I'm hopeful also that I'll be able to remotely control many of the Mo's functions via the OPT voice editors and voice definitions from Sonar, because I have a nice large flat display on my audio workstation. Maybe someday Yamaha will get the message about it's display on the Motif and offer a VGA port option.