I realize that this is an arranger forum, and Motif is not really an arranger at all, much in the way a Korg karma isn't, but it does have a few similarities as well I guess, and a couple people here had asked for a review .. so here goes

It's been almost a week with my new Motif. I have to say I'm loving it so far. At
first glance, it's a complicated workstation and I've seen several users comment on the
difficulty of understanding it and putting it to practical use. I find for myself, however, it's somewhat an intuitive board. The manual, like many manuals, is lacking a bit, but I have had little trouble finding and accessing functions. I think a lot of that is because I see it as first and foremost a board with some of the best sounds I've ever heard that also seems to have a lot of similarities to some of my composing software, just all in one box, so the layout sort of makes sense to me. I think it will work well for composing and writing, but also for live play in some respects.

The sounds: where do I start ? I have the PA80 and the "Triton" sounds. I was never a huge fan of some of the sounds on the previous Yamaha boards I had but this is different altogether. ( Don't get me wrong here, I really did like some of those old sounds ). I've heard boards that have a better sound in a particular area, but none that has such good ones overall in one package. The pianos are excellent. The electric pianos are as good as any
I've ever heard on anything beside the real thing. Really, every acoustic instrument gives a very very good presentation of itself and most compare favorably to their counterparts on the PA80. The one
group of sounds that I really disliked in my previous Yamaha boards were the electric / distortion guitars. Not so at all with the Motif. I like some of them better than the ones on the PA80. Some of the drumkits are simply outstanding. The only area where Korg MAY have a distinct advantage would be for synth pads and leads, but I'm not totally sure of that even, because I haven't delved into that part of the Motif enough yet.

Functionality: The Motif does not include a built in floppy disk drive. I thought i'd miss that but it does have a SCSI port for external devices ( up to a 30 mb hard drive ) and a port for Flash Rom ( smart media ) cards. I have a 32mb typical " smart media " card purchased at Wal-mart and it works flawlessly with both the Motif and the computer. There is also a USB port for direct connection to a computer as well as the standard midi terminals ( In, out, thru ). Midi files can be played through either. It comes with software so that you can do a lot of editing on the computer if you choose ( I do, the Moptif's display is small ). It comes with 4 mb of internal ram for sampling with an option for 64 via
SIMM ram modules. This is the only part of all of this that I don't like at all. SIMMS are still available, but they aren't the standard nowadays and are not as easy to find nor as inexpensive per mb of memory as the now standard DIMM modules. I'm still in the learning phase with the Motif's sampler, but I am familiar with using samplers, so I don't think it is going to be all that difficult for me.

Key Feel / Ergonomics: The keys feel a bit semiweighted as opposed to the PA80 or the PSR2000. I am mildly surprised to report that I actually like this. The layout makes sense. There aren't a ton of buttons and there are submenus, but once I figured out what mostly everything does, I can access most functions fairly easily. Aside from the master volume slider, there are 4 assignable sliders and 4 assignable knobs, along with the standard data entry wheel. I would like even more sliders and knobs, but I'm happy to have a few. I like that I can assign synth parameters to them. The weak link for me is the display itself. It is small in comparison to the one on my PA80 or even the PSR2000. It's too bad too, because there was plenty of room on the board for a larger one.

The Motif plays external midi files without a hitch via either the midi ports or the USB ports. They can also of course be played internally with files stored and loaded via the smart media card or external SCSI device. The Motif's song sequencer has excellent edit functions for an internal synthesizer's sequencer.The pattern sequencer looks very interesting and has potential. Like the sampler, I'm still in the learning phase with it, but it seems to mimic the functions of some of the software pattern sequencers I have, but maybe with a lot more functionality. . It can carve up midi files and save the pieces as indvidual variations of a pattern. There can be up to 16 variations per pattern ( intros, fills, variations etc.. somewhat related to an arranger's styles ). 64 user paterns can be stored onboard with more stored via external media. There are even situations where it might be useful for live play. Even more though, it will be useful for composing in tandem with my software, most notably Jammer Pro and Jazz+ Sequencer.

Overall, I am liking this board an awful lot to this point. I have never owned anything like it.
Like my PA80, but even more so, for me the Motif certainly appeards to be a keeper.

Korg AJ

AJ,
great to hear you're enjoying the new motif. I too am looking into a board that has more synth and workstation qualities. Does the motif have an arppegiator? Can you simply (understand that's a relative term) edit sounds to come up with created patches for that one specific sound (like a pure synth?). Did you compare this to any other comperable boards? Just thought I'd get your thoughts seeing you've been playing around with it. I love my PSR 2000, but in a studio setting, where I'm looking for various sounds to fade in and out (specialty effects etc) it just doesn't sound that good at times. I realize that I am probably the limitation most of the time, but I still think there are better sounding boards to get a more professional sound in the studio mixes. Anyhow, I'm happy for you and your new board....Cheers Brian

So far, the Motif has the BEST Rhodes sounds I've ever heard. The effects really make the tones shine!

Hi Brian,

Thank you. I really am happy with her so far. It has an arpeggiator that has several different types of settings. I haven't completely tried the synth editing functions, but it seems to have full patch edit capabilities on par with my PA80 or a Triton . The difference is that some of the waveforms themselves are also are displayed on the screen and already it seems a easier for me to understand patch editing on it as opposed to the way Korg approaches it. Being able to use the supplied software and the computer for patch and other file type editing and then transferring the data back and forth via smart media card and / or USB is also a huge plus. The assignable knobs and sliders would allow me to do that imitation analog thing in a live setting too.. ( I love that ). I had said that Korg might have the edge in pure synth sounds, but the more I play around with the Motif, the more that edge seems to disappear. You can save user patches, programs ( multi layered voices ) and "scenes". A scene appears to be a combination of things including voice, performance, pattern, global and every other setting so that it can all be recalled at once, which is a nice touch and could be compared to a registration setting that includes the settings for every function on an arranger board.

To answer the last question, yes I had compared it with Triton, Triton Le, Karma, and Fantom. Karma was the first one I ruled out. Karma has some cool functions but I don't think it is well suited to my style of play. I also have heard others state that once they finally did master the board a little, the novelty wore off. Triton was next to be eliminated, followed by Trtion Le. Triton Le is a good value for the buck, but I already have a PA80, and I would gain little in the sound department.

The choice between the Fantom and the Motif was not as easy. I really liked both. Fantom seemed easier "out of the box" to understand and navigate, and it had good sounds to boot. The two also seem to have similar features. I think I just liked Motif's sounds a little better. I can't truly say why, but Motif just kind of "grabbed" me, whereas Fantom didn't to quite the same extent. Still, I'd love to have both but....

Uncle Dave, I LOVE the Rhodes sounds... I could almost swear I was playing the real thing.

Korg AJ



[This message has been edited by Bluezplayer (edited 03-20-2002).]

AJ,
In a few days, I WILL be playing the real thing again! I won an auction on eBay for an 88 key Rhodes Stage piano. The listing was mis-spelled, so there were not too many hits. If it's anywhere as good as the pictures suggest .... I absolutely STOLE it.
I'm so excited, but if it's not perfect - I'll re-sell it right away. Life's too short to play funky gear. These babies are selling like hotcakes right now, and I'm sure I can at least double my money, and maybe TRIPLE it !