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#297189 - 10/22/10 11:20 PM Re: Received my Motif XF6
miden Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 01/31/06
Posts: 3354
Loc: The World
Quote:
Originally posted by Nick G:
Hi Miden,

I just want to add because maybe you missed this feature when you used the XS:
firstly to clarify - the XS had about 6000 arpeggio patterns already out of the box. the XF has over 7000.


Nah thanks Nick, I did not actually miss those when I had mine

Its all good m8 and I do understand why you are posting the info as you are...

The XS was just sooo close to working for me, and it was such a wrench to let it go BIGTIME, as I loved the sound....But I am like a lot of other musos I guess, too poor to own several keyboards, so it had to go to help cover the cost of the replacement.

Dennis

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#297190 - 10/23/10 02:23 AM Re: Received my Motif XF6
arranger_yes_pc_no Offline
Member

Registered: 07/16/09
Posts: 319
Quote:
Originally posted by Nick G:
Hi Miden,

I just want to add because maybe you missed this feature when you used the XS:
firstly to clarify - the XS had about 6000 arpeggio patterns already out of the box. the XF has over 7000.

The arps are all categorized and there are already pre set arps for 8 beat, rock, trance, jazz, latin for all types of instruments (drum arps, bass arps, pad, guitar strums ETC ETC)

ANY sequence that you make in the song or pattern mode CAN be converted to an arp so you can call it up in your performance and play it in a live situation with CHORD RECOGNITION (something the ROLAND Fantom doesn't have and I don't know about the Korg M3)

You can also import ANY midi file into the keyboard's sequencer and convert that to an arp using the "put track to arpeggio" function as well. Its VERY easy.

The beauty is that when you use an arpeggio in the performance mode, you can assign it to respond to chord recognition or not.

Please dont take me wrong i am not trying to cut you down or be defensive, but I want to clarify this to any people who are genuinely interested or curious in case they are mislead.

Nick


I am sure this Motif is an excellent instrument. I myself have been into synth workstations for years, (Kurzweil K2000, Korg Trinity, Roland XP80....although that stuff is prehistoric now )

I guess there is no point in wanting a synth workstation to become and arranger, and vice-versa...it's just two different type of instrument for musicians with different attitudes. The synth WS offers a lot more in terms of sounds and control over it, better keybeds, and a more professional build.

Arrangers don't have all these advanced controls for sounds ,most of them have terrible keybeds in comparison , and lower build quality ,although they do have all the real-time style stuff....that's really the only reason why I'll keep using them, otherwise I think the arranger WS is behind the synth WS, especially in terms of expandability and build quality.

Believe me I'd be very proud to own an XF, though....even if I'd have to write almost everything from scratch, I am sure it is a very inspiring and highly capable instrument.

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#297191 - 10/23/10 07:26 AM Re: Received my Motif XF6
to the genesys Offline
Member

Registered: 10/22/03
Posts: 1155
Quote:
Originally posted by Nick G:
Hi Miden,

I just want to add because maybe you missed this feature when you used the XS:
firstly to clarify - the XS had about 6000 arpeggio patterns already out of the box. the XF has over 7000.

The arps are all categorized and there are already pre set arps for 8 beat, rock, trance, jazz, latin for all types of instruments (drum arps, bass arps, pad, guitar strums ETC ETC)

ANY sequence that you make in the song or pattern mode CAN be converted to an arp so you can call it up in your performance and play it in a live situation with CHORD RECOGNITION (something the ROLAND Fantom doesn't have and I don't know about the Korg M3)

You can also import ANY midi file into the keyboard's sequencer and convert that to an arp using the "put track to arpeggio" function as well. Its VERY easy.

The beauty is that when you use an arpeggio in the performance mode, you can assign it to respond to chord recognition or not.

Please dont take me wrong i am not trying to cut you down or be defensive, but I want to clarify this to any people who are genuinely interested or curious in case they are mislead.

Nick


+1. I have always said that Motif XS and XF are very poor arrangers. The styles only have 4 tracks and the real time controls needs to be improved. But there is still a lot you can do with the arranger section of the XS and XF. Hopefully in the next workstation for Yamaha, they will improve the arranger section.

------------------
TTG
_________________________
TTG

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#297192 - 10/23/10 02:41 PM Re: Received my Motif XF6
Diki Offline


Registered: 04/25/05
Posts: 14269
Loc: NW Florida
Quote:
Originally posted by Nick G:
What this means is you can make 1 or 2 or more of the variations very short so they act as fill ins and you can set thats variations to "Realtime" so when you press the variation button it will INSTANTLY go into a fill. OR if it is configured to be my "Measure" it will change to the fill in timing at the next bar.



Sorry, Nick, but my understanding is that, unless you cue up a fill a bar in advance, if you set it up for instantly, it WILL go instantly to the fill loop, BUT.... it will start one the 'one' of the loop, regardless of where in the bar you pressed for the fill loop. With an arranger, you ask for a fill on the 'two', it will START on the 'two'...

That's the only thing that rules it out as an arranger substitute, to be honest. The rest you can SORT of workaround (but it's a pain), but this one is a complete deal-breaker, IMO.
_________________________
An arranger is just a tool. What matters is what you build with it..!

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#297193 - 10/23/10 02:47 PM Re: Received my Motif XF6
miden Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 01/31/06
Posts: 3354
Loc: The World
Quote:
Originally posted by miden:
I HAVE used an XS pretty extensively even to the point of TRYING to get use it as an arranger.

It did not really come close. I mean, some of the arps are cool for about 16 bars, but try running even four different ones over a 5 min jazz tune, and they soon get tiresome. No half-fills, no variation fills, even the arps within a category are very similar.

And, live, I found the only way that really worked without too much forethought was having the variation start immediately on the button press.
Having to think a bar ahead was a pain.

LOL, I can tell you you really need to have good button pushing timing!!! I had some funny segues at times

Dennis


As I said originally Diki

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#297194 - 10/24/10 05:48 PM Re: Received my Motif XF6
Diki Offline


Registered: 04/25/05
Posts: 14269
Loc: NW Florida
Thing is, if the fill ALWAYS starts on the 'one', whether you cue it up or ask for it immediately, might as well always ask for it in the preceding bar... Unless you are talking about two or three beat fills, with the 'one' missing, that you have to hit on the 'two' or the 'three' to get them to work...

Oy veh! That has GOT to be a pain!
_________________________
An arranger is just a tool. What matters is what you build with it..!

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#297195 - 10/24/10 06:35 PM Re: Received my Motif XF6
Nick G Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 11/16/05
Posts: 1115
Loc: Sydney, NSW, Australia
Quote:
Originally posted by Diki:
Thing is, if the fill ALWAYS starts on the 'one', whether you cue it up or ask for it immediately, might as well always ask for it in the preceding bar... Unless you are talking about two or three beat fills, with the 'one' missing, that you have to hit on the 'two' or the 'three' to get them to work...

Oy veh! That has GOT to be a pain!


If you are trying to make a synth as close to an arranger as possible you will always encounter alot of pains thus why I have an S910 sitting next to it.

From my experience and what I have seen in the industry, the Motif XS/XF offer the closes features to an arranger amongst other Synths on the market today.

The Pads on the Fantom F8 are quite good and you can get very tricky with them but the fact that they don't respond to any chord recognition in realtime is a Pain...

Hopefully as models keep coming amongst the brands, better arranger-type functionality will be included.

Nick
_________________________
Roland G70 / Roland BK9 / Roland GW-8L / Roland Fantom O6 / Yamaha Motif XS / Technics KN6500

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#297196 - 10/24/10 06:36 PM Re: Received my Motif XF6
miden Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 01/31/06
Posts: 3354
Loc: The World
Quote:
Originally posted by Diki:
Thing is, if the fill ALWAYS starts on the 'one', whether you cue it up or ask for it immediately, might as well always ask for it in the preceding bar... Unless you are talking about two or three beat fills, with the 'one' missing, that you have to hit on the 'two' or the 'three' to get them to work...

Oy veh! That has GOT to be a pain!


Yep!! Was no-where near as easy to do as on an arranger. If a user is happy with two variations only its sorta do-able...But as you know there are only 5 slots available...

If you want an intro and an end, as most would because I tell ya, fading out all the time gets REAL boring, that leaves three spots, two for your vars and then one for a fill..

Not much to work with is it

Not to mention loading up midi files for live use is a real pain as well...You have got to go through about 3-4 steps to load ONE file.

If they had released the S70 XS with basic arranger functions it would still be with me and I would have dealt with the MIDI issue.

But Yamaha's claim that the S70 XS was a "Live Gigging" keyboard are quite exaggerated in my view.

Its essentially a "cut-down" Motif, which Yammie wiht a weighted (beautiful!!! to play) keybed.

Dennis

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