M3 or Motif XS ?

[Daz]

It's the big question ... someone had to ask

Personally I think the Motif XS actually looks pretty good and is an interesting development on the previous Motif Classic and ES.

What do you think ? How do these compare for your needs ... which is floating your boat ? Difficult question with so little audio material to get your teeth into and no physical units to get hands on with.

KARMA is clearly a significant USP for the M3 and from my Oasys experience I can say that this new EDS sampling engine is inheriting a sweet sound from the HD-1 engine in the Oasys and will be substantial improvement over ye olde Triton.

Daz.

[bkboy]

Answer Daz, is simple...BOTH!!!

They both sound very distinctive, as usual. Yamaha XS sounds very natural and less produced - its natural quality is hard to beat - guitars sound like guitars, pianos sound like pianos etc.

M3 is another beast - its synthetic sounds and Karma etc make it very artifical and produced, with mind-blowing soundscapes....great for electronic music.

As always in the past, if people can afford the money, time and space, they would get both...

but if you ask me, which one would I get first....I would say the M3....because of my style of music: I don't do jazz, pop, rock hip hop and some other styles that the Motif series is famous for.

[ReIgnition]

Does either workstation have balanced outputs?

I was hoping for a VGA / Mouse output similar to the MV8000/8800. Even though the color screens are nice it's not like using a 24" wide-screen. I guess that can be added later on.

I want an "all in one" workstation to start on... from creation to CD without the use / or minimal use of a Laptop/PC.

So far this neophyte prefers the M3 to the XS... just on 6 hours of research :/wink:

Oh... the Korg looks so much better and has Radias Synth, while the XS dropped the PLG's

How long do I have to wait !?!

Style of music: Hard Industrial, Gabber, & Darkwave

[Vadim]

if M3 wouldn't have a Karma, than definatly MOtif XS...

look:,M3 also has the look of "second synth" , or "add-on synth" but not a Workstation, buttons on M3 look very ugly.

controls:that joystick looks very cheap, it's probably both a vector control and regular, i like standard Triton joystick, but also hate wheels.

display: M3's is kool cause of its X-Y feature, and it doesn't have childish pictures like MotifXS's effect pics...

Sounds: I think Korg has better for production, Yamaha was always good at piano sounds and stuff... but Korg also had bad Reverbs...
but i think Motif has more patterns and SEQ edditing, but anyway KORG has Karma... Yamaha has lots of sounds but i care more about Quality not quantity.

[bkboy]

Yamaha's new effects processing capabilities are amazing. Their new reverb will be hard to beat. Yamaha's super articulation will beat M3 hands down for natural stuff.

As I said, overall, Yamaha always had better acoustic samples, while Korg had better effects and synth sounds.

The new Motif XS looks more professional than the M3. I don't know why they designed something without knobs.

But I heard the M3 and XS sounds and I love both of them. I like the option of having Radias in the M3, that is a strong selling point for me, because I simply love the radias.

[Sharp]

In my opinion, the XS is clearly a bread and butter rompler and I’m sure it’s going to be a roaring success for Yamaha. Overall it should prove to be a great workstation, love the fact that they finally installed a proper screen

As for the M3. I’m not sure how the XS is going to compete with HD-1, EXB-Radias, and KARMA v2, so in my opinion the M3 is the winner hands down without a shadow of a doubt. If the price is right, I bet Yamaha will be VERY worried.

The only thing that has my head in a spin with the M3 is its design. I totally understand the point and advantage of this system since you can install a Radias rack along side the M3-M in the likes of the 88 key edition and so on. But I just don’t get the feeling of Triton Series / workstation replacement here. It just looks more Synth than workstation to me.

Does that make any sense ?.

Regards.
Sharp.

[Francois]

I would say this.

If you haven't got a workhorse with bread and butter sounds, then a Motif XS is the logical choice to get all those basic instruments, with a near-real quality.

If you already have an excellent main workstation, be it Triton, Motif, Fantom... then the m3 makes a lot of sense.

[Vadim]

It just looks more Synth than workstation to me.




Sharp.

Can't agree more.

[bkboy]

Francois,

I dont' think its fair to compare the bread and butter sounds of the old workstations with the new XS. XS will simply blow them away for realism, esp because of super articulation and VCM (modeling) effects processing.

i like the XS control surface much better, but to get the great HD1 synth engine, radias expansion and karma, i would like to get the m3 rack (shouldn't be hard for them to make one).

I don't have space for 2 keyboards!!

[Francois]

There is a progression from ES to XS from what we can hear, but I think my assertion is still valid. If you already have a Motif ES or Fantom X as your main workstation, what's the point in buying a Motif XS ?! You're better served by expanding your sonic arsenal with a synth like the m3, or V-Synth for that matter.

Unless you're only interested in "real" sounds. In which case, Kontakt 2 may well be the solution in addition to your Fantom/Motif/Triton.

[laughing_bear]

Does that make any sense ?.

Yes! ....and quite frankly.... I miss knobs....

As for design, it sure is a matter of taste, but that silver pink scheme doesn't float my boat.

Well, there are always those Tokyo Drift car modders who could do a custom paint job.

[Khazul]

It also depend I think on what kind of music you do...

I have a Motf ES rack at the moment and a Fusion. My use for a workstation is really down to a need for a decent piano-like weighted keyboard and stock rompler sounds and a useable piano thats is not going to sound like hell when heavily processed - think housey dance music, but alot of ambient/chill stuff as well.

Sequencer etc - Im not fussed about to be honest, unless it is trivially easy to use - otherwise Ill use a computer. If its simple and quick and allmost transparent use then ill use it for quickly capturing stuff for jamming session when a computer is too much of a pain to mess with.

So nothing about the Motif XS exactly screemed flog the fusion and es rack and get one... Im sure it sounds better - but who cares - Im not a jazzer, and TBH - the yamaha sound on the motif es has never really grown on me though there are some excellent sounds in there.

As for the fusion, well - I really liked that to start with to play, but mixing with its pianos is a pain - I tend to run alot of compression, reverb, delays etc and that just seems to bring out every nasty artifcat in the fusions pianos, so I use the Motif ES pianos mostly along with loads of its pads and otehr noises ive programmed on it for layering acroos other synths for pads etc - typically the kind of stuff that needs a sample as a base - glassy vox etc... Its arps are cool, but dont really use many of them. Its performance mode is alot of fun, its fx are well... crap is the word that comes to mind (I have a fireworx, so no contest really).

The XS as a sound engine would therefore have to do something very significant to grab me. Is fookin ugly too and nothing much grabs me as a practical reason for it to be so big and ugly.

Fusion - excellent organs, wurlys etc - not that I use them that much. Sounds are very raw very fun to play. Loads of very varied sounds in it. - but I dont use much of them. Its VA is quite decent, as is its FM blah blah... fx decent too. Its brutal sample switching sux - urrrgh!

So why the M3? Well - korg workstation sounds seem to suit electronic music better than roland and yamaha to my taste, I allready have a radias-r - sticking that thing that thing next to the M3 module would be a great workflow improvement.

And of course the karma engine - for background stuff - that just saves so much programming - its what I like about the radias too - its a great synth for creating lots of interesting background texture to your music.

X/Y pad on the display is cool too - im a huge fan of X/Y controllers - Remote 25, V-Synth and a KP3 here

If the sounds are good, the sample switching isnt bad and of course the price is sensible, then yeh - I can very easily see myself sending the Fusion 8HD and Motif ES rack to ebay for an M3-88 - one less synth to worry about is nice too. I just think the end result will make a completely wicked performance combo that no other workstation can match if you consider the benefits of having your companion synth panel there as well. I like tilt up screens to, and the touch screen - you know - this thing just seems *right* like someone sat down and gave the end user some thought for once...

So long as the sound is on a par wioth the others, then having a good easy to use performance machine can be way more useful than the best sound engine behind some hideous UI - and you never - this thing might actually sound good next to the others as well.


** Hideous UI refers to early Yamaha oferings - the XS may actually be better... ...nah - then it wouldnt be yamaha...

[salcerin]

I will defenitively go for the Motif xs!!!

The M3 Looks so bulky, like secondary keyboard!!

[MrT-Man]

I hate to be superficial & all, but the XS is just too fugly... I can't see myself spending serious cash on something that's going to be an eyesore!

[bkboy]

"I hate to be superficial & all, but the XS is just too fugly... I can't see myself spending serious cash on something that's going to be an eyesore"

I feel the same about the M3 - i thing it is fugly. XS looks much more professional and good looking in my opinion. However, I don't care about the looks. People hear music, not see music.

Ideally, I would like to get XS+M3+V-synthGT = 8000 bucks atleast lol!!