Link

So, all those who complain about the Tyros drums have finally a solution to their problems...

So when is it released in the US?

I would get it in a second if I could send program numbers to it using my T2. Unfortunately, I don't think you can...

Also, listening to the Demo page, I don't hear any great acoustic rock drum kits - in fact they seem to rely heavily on the funk kit that we have on the T2 already. I'm listening now on my laptop speakers though, so I'll have to listen again in my studio to be sure.
http://www.motifator.com/motifxs/motifxs-listen.php

No sampler...

Why is it Roland include the sampler in their Fantom Rack, but Yamaha drop it? With the sampler, this would be a 'must have' piece of kit...

Motif Rack XS Info

Looks interesting alright. It has 1,217 voices total including the Drum Kits. The Drums are superb on the XS so I assume that they will sound just as good on the Rack XS.

My Roland Sonic Cell has over 2,000 'patches' with the two SRX cards I have on it and the Drums are a big improvement over my Tyros' drums. But the Motif Rack XS brings up some new possiblities thanks to the extra set of MIDI IN/OUT's on my Tyros. The addition of those 6,000 + Arpeggio's on the XS Rack will be a real nice bonus too. And also with the expanded Articulated voice system included on the Motif Rack XS it will be like getting a Tyros2 without actually getting a Tyros 2.

It will definitely be worth looking in to.

Best,
Mike

[This message has been edited by keybplayer (edited 03-10-2008).]

What do you think sounds better: T2 with Roland Sonic drums, or T2 with Motif XS drums?

I have to give the nod to the Motif XS drums chony. We have to wait though as there are no demos of the new Motif Rack XS drums posted on Yamaha's web site yet. But I am guessing that the XS Rack Drum Kits will most likely be just as good as those on the Motif XS workstation.

Best,
Mike

I assume that the XS rack has all the sounds of the board - that's how it worked with their other models anyway...

Gosh, I'm itching to get both - a board for home use, and a rack for performance use...

Just wait, save your money I bet the T3 will have all this inside

No need to wait. Buy the rack, then buy the T3 and sell the rack on eBay for $150 less. $150 is not bad rent till the end of the year.

The only problem with the rack though, is that it won't seamlessly integrate with the T2 for program changes. :.(

Excactly Chony & it's another thing to hook up and carry...definitly NOT worth the hassles for for me!

Chony,

as I suggested in the thread initiated by you, all you have to do is create on the Motif XS rack some multi-setups corresponding to the genres/styles of music you play most. Then you have to filter-out the program changes on the receiving channels and you are set.
Example 1 - create a Latin set with:
1- Acoustic or Brush drum kit
2- Acoustic or Fretless bass
3- Spanish or Acoustic guitar

Example 2 - create a Funk set with:
1- Funk drum kit
2- Slap bass
3- Mega electric guitar (Strato-like)

You really don't need more than those three instruments to complement the Tyros 2 (you could actually use just the drums, since the Mega-guitars and the Mega-basses should be the same as the Tyros 2, unless Yamaha added some more basses).

Another possibility: imagine playing one of the Motix XS arpeggios in sync with a Tyros 2 style, just like you would do with an internal multipad...

[This message has been edited by Dreamer (edited 03-11-2008).]

It wouldn't work for me (unless I don't understand the XS well enough).

I have hundreds of custom styles that I'll use over the course of an evening and I change them at less than a moments notice. I typically will do a 1.5 to 2 hour dance set without a single second of dead air. I change the styles extremely often - sometimes a few times in a single song to keep things as fresh as possible. (You have to hear it to understand it. I guess you can look at it this way - for me my whole keyboard is one style with one thousand variations, and each variation is in a way its own style so that I have one thousand styles with no variations...) For me to change a multi each time I change a variation or style ain't happenen.

Chony

It was reported to me a while back that the Tyros2 and MotifES Mega voices were NOT interchangeable. There were differences in the way the Mega part of the voice was implemented. I've been on a quest for quite a while to find some way of adding Yamaha 'flava' to my Roland rig, but this one was a no-go.

And given how inflexible the T2's MIDI implementation is, it would surprise me to find out that the MotifXS Rack is any more easily integrated to the T2 than previous racks...