i have extensive knowledge of the Motif XS as i previously owned one for over a year.

i highly regret selling my XS and i in the market to purchase another XS or a Fantom G6.

i have never touched or heard a G6.

i mainly want trance sounds / arps. the XS is great and i am probably going to buy it but how does the Roland Fess up to the Motif?

on board DAW functionality and mouse input is not really a big factor as i use cakewalk on my pc for all sequencing.

does anyone here own a Fantom G? i want to hear some trance / dance sounds on it. all the demos on the website and youtube are just live band type music and weird electro stuff...

This is an XS weighted review but does call out where the Fantom G is better, VEry informative..http://www.tweakheadz.com/review_of_the_motif_xs.htm

I gathered the voice set of the FAntom is encyclopedic when compared through the use of expansion Cards. However MORE ROM (355MB vs 128MB) is used for fewer sounds on the Motif which seems to indicate better quality voices not to mention up to 8 elements per voice vs 4.

The Fantom as a much better sequencer,However the Control Surface on the XS makes the onboard sequencer a scratch pad vs a far better DAW on the Fantom. The fantom has deeper synth voice editing of thats your desire. I think you will findthe Fantom is accepted more in the HipHop and pattern based music world among those who do not use a PC. You have a great advantage in that you know the XS capabilities.

Fantom has those pads which are really great for sample calls and programming percussion,
The Fantom uses a RAM drive and can record 8 AUDIO parts.

Seems more Hip Hop guys on YouTube without PCS are liking the Roland.




[This message has been edited by Kingfrog (edited 02-17-2009).]

Thanks for that mate!

my thoughts exactly on the Fantom leaning more towards Hip Hop style...

Like I said I haven't seen or heard one demo of someone using a Fantom G6 for trance music.

Im sure it can be done but I am thinking the XS is more focused on my type of music.

i will have a read of the review on that link you gave me, thanks for that!

Nick

Youtube is a great way to understand who is using what for what. You will find more users of the Fantom in the Hip Hop loop based world without PCs. The Motif seems to be represented by more MOR and a wider variety of music. I thought about the Fantom and was seduced by the easy OS and screen....easy to do when you are a thousand miles from home in a Roland Booth with no PC.

Add the PC to the mix and the Roland goes downhill fast with less ROM and the need to buy $300 cards to increase the sound set and swap them out. I like the idea of being able to keep samples on a network server and import them as needed on the Motif as well. I DON:T like the idea of a one note production being all Yamaha. I really wanted to get away from that. The VSTis will help that and the semi Arranger behavior of the XS sealed the deal as the main reason I bought an Arranger was because I am not a Bass player, horn Arranger etc. The ARPS gave me that capability to create my own "styles" from a blank slate without having to actually play them. If I am off base here in my expectations please let me know as I have not actually played one for more than 10 minutes...LOL I am buying blind. I have been watching a lot of video demos and user demos though. I love what I see.




[This message has been edited by Kingfrog (edited 02-17-2009).]

I thought the FantomG had a sampler too? And, if I remember rightly, it not only imports it's own format (an extensive Hollywood quality library exists for Roland, back from when the Roland sampler racks ruled the roost) but I thought it imported Akai as well... (largest format library in the world)

A $350 expansion board isn't the ONLY way to get new sounds into a FantomG... But it's the only way to get altogether NEW capabilities into either the MoXS or the FantomG. That's because each board isn't just samples, it's a whole different synth, with different capabilities (all the modeling stuff on the E. Piano and TD-Drum kit boards, and SA and newer brass voicing capabilities on the new ARX-03).

Kind of what Yamaha USED to do with the expansion boards for the MoES, which for some unknown reason they dropped...

Indeed. The Motif is not the sound machine the Roland is. but one NEEDs more sounds in the Roland. not a whole lot of internal ROM.

The motif uses 1GIG of sampling which is equivalent to a couple CDs. Plenty of room to crerate new sounds using eight elements per sound, each individually accesable withing avoice using splits.layers, velocity,ocillators LFOs ENVS and filters. The "damper" key off is really nice and is a single element of the Piano voice.

Both sysnths though are for sifferent purposes. Fantom more suited to a stand alone production center, especially strong for dance music

The major difference I see is Roland is doing all they can to remove themselves from the DAW atmosphere creating a GREAT visual experience and DAW experience right in the keyboard, whereas Yamaha seems to be going the opposite way and joining forces with the DAW world becoming one with it and with DAW integration that goes far beyond any of thier previous Work Stations.

[This message has been edited by Kingfrog (edited 02-17-2009).]

Sampling to be honest is not a big issue for me.

although its handy to have it there if needed but ide rather be spending most of my time writing music and sequencing patterns instead of having to try and generate the sounds needed.

ide rather just buy a keyboard that has the sounds i want already on there (and lightly modify some of them with effects) if you get me?

My Korg PA 800 has an extensive sound editor built into the OS but no matter how much u can tweak and adjust, if there's a particular sound u want to create u just cant always get it.

i think the reason why Yamaha left out the expansion cards is because u can simply go online and purchase all these different sound and style sets and just chuck them onto a USB key. it works out much cheaper and it gives them the ability to create much more variety rather than just 4 expansion cards ever being released for the keyboard during its 5 year lifespan of productivity.

just my two cents...

Nick

Sampling is not a huge issue for me but having real female back up phrases, oohs and ahhs is nice to capture. I have never heard a voice set on a keyboard that sounded as good as a live recorded sample of a real voice. I want to create a real choir out of a few real voices on 24 tracks using 4 real sampled notes on the DAW then import the voices and keymap them across a chromatic octave. The Akai sample set is very old. Today's arrangers have better samples than most of their vast collection anymore.

I was unaware one can download new voices into the Motif using USB.....I thought the Motif was a closed system like the PSR900s and T2 as far as new factory waveforms.

BTW how does Sonar integrate with the XS as a Control surface or did you not bother to set up ACT with it...
Don;t make your final choice until you hear the Roland. You may like it more for your music,




[This message has been edited by Kingfrog (edited 02-17-2009).]