LOL I LOVE these threads...
Yamaha, Roland, Korg...The Big three. All relevant, All different. All focused on different user needs.
I have had all three at one time or another in my little studio and used them for different voices. To this day they have their voice strengths and weaknesses.
I prefer Yamaha because I like acoustic sounds and to my ears they sound the most real. I also like the Arranger Support.
I like Roland because of the EASE of USE,
I like Korg because the Triton WS has been at the heart of my music for the pas 10 years
Why now Yamaha (beside the employee cost which meant nothing when I bought the PA2x FIRST based on my history with Korg)
ITs not so much Yamaha as the feeling Roland and Korg have always with good reason catered to the "music of the day" I find too much Hip Hop , Trance, Garage on and on in the Roland and Korg product with the emphasis placed in modern genres (which don;t stay modern). Yamaha seems to focus on more generic terms and their pads and voices seem to stand the test of generic time...(or geriatric) time LOL.
As far as Workstations go. Roland seems to want to seperate themselves from the DAW with a GREAT OS in their Fantom Series.
Korg is kind of in the Middle but using the Linux (I think) system they won't allow open source voicing and the M3 is a beast to learn, and the recent drop in pricing speak volumes about it's "community" acceptance...while it enjoyed the top dog position for years rightfully so with the M1 and Triton.
Arrangers need top drawer support and constant innovation,millions of readily avaiable styles, easy re voicing and editing, great voice sets, I don;t see any Arranger that can score high marks in all these areas other then the Yamaha....Yes I sell them but I bought the Korg for much more then I could get the Yamahas for initially and gave it a 4 month run....
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Yamaha Tyros 4
Yamaha Motif XS8
Roland RD700
Casio PX-330
Martin DC Aura
Breedlove ATlas Solo
Bose MOD II PA