Yamaha MOTIF 7

The Yamaha Motif 7 blew me away when I was in guitar center playing around with it. I knew I had to get it. The Yamaha Motif 7 has 6octaves and a ton of options and presets for you to explore around with. You can pretty much build a sound from scratch with this thing. It can be a little overwhelming at first because there are so many options. But the manual is very clear and extremely easy to understand. I used the Motif why my windows vista computer and there where no issues. I basically used it as a VST instrument.


UTILIZATION

You can create, arrange and complete a whole song with this board without having any other piece of equipment. It runs just like most computer music creation software that there is out here. It has all the in outs and midi that you will need for our set up. You will be blown away with the sounds that this board can produce.


SOUNDS

The sounds are very nice, they are very techno and R&B related. So if that’s up your alley go and get this board asap! There are a ton of presets that are ready to go and you will actually hear a lot of these presets in today’s music that you hear on the radio. The board itself is very sturdy and strong. Its built to last, and I haven’t had a single problem with it.


OVERALL OPINION

I am extremely happy with my purchase of this, I wouldn’t have chose any other board over this one, the quality of the sounds are crazy! This is a industry standard board, all you have to do is apply some of your creativity and you will be on your way to the top 40! The price is kind of high, but you have to play for good quality.

The Yamaha Motif 7 is a seven octave portable keyboard synthesizer and music work station. It has a variety of sounds, emulating virtually any instrument you can think of. It has wheel controller for pitch and modulation and has an out for sustain. It has both audio and MIDI inputs and outputs. The sounds include all types of pianos, organs, and strings as well as loops and all other sounds you would expect a keyboard like this to have. It can be either polyphonic or monophonic and has a bunch of onboard effects.

UTILIZATION

The set up of the Motif 7 is pretty basic overall, but it can take a little while to learn exactly what does what, as there are a lot of ins and outs of this pedal. While it is easy to get a good sound and to see your way though the presets, it is easy to get lost in the windows within the windows as it is sometimes hard to navigate. This being said, if you are experience with keyboards like this, you probably won't have too much trouble. The manual is thorough and is definitley good to have around when learning this machine.

SOUNDS

The sounds of this keyboard are varied and eclectic. It comes a wide range of sounds, suitable for all types of music as I have found it to be useful in rock, pop, folk, and dance. It has all types of pianos - acoustic and electric, bass guitars, guitars, organs, strings - cello, violin, orchestra, and a variety of percussion. There is something for just about everyone on this, and most a quite high quality. I use it mostly for electric piano, acoustic piano and organ, but the strings are pretty good sounding too. I'm not a huge fan of the guitar tones on this, but it is hard to emulate a guitar on a keyboard.

OVERALL OPINION

I've been using the Yamaha Motif 7 for about four years. It provides me with an all in the box, portable keyboard that gives me a variety of high quality sounds with the click of a button. I would compare this to a Korg Triton as both have similar qualities. To me I like the Motif better, but both are very high quality synthesizers. The price is reasonable when you think about what you are getting, which is a high quality instrument, perfect for both live and studio settings.

As far as features on the motif, none impressed me more than how well designed the effects integration worked in record mode. If i was sampling a guitar in i could throw a great wah or a phat distortion effect on it like it was a sound originated on the motif. Great mixing facilities in mix mode for all of your sequences as well. I ended up with very pro sounding mixes with some practice and time. The sampling feature is great but it is a bit slow to work out and i wouldnt really recommend for chopping or stretching samples unless you are extremely patient.

Price paid

$2,200 USD

UTILIZATION

On the outset, this board can seem extremely daunting because of the layout and the small size of the screen. With time i discover that all of the most frequently used functions are well lain out across the board. the rotary encoders and faders all assignable with diverse functions. Perfomances able to be edited LIVE and on the fly to craft yrou sounds in the middle of a song is easy and rewarding. With the addition of supplemental instructional videos made by the geniuses at keyfax you can master your motif workstation in every fascet with a great visual aide and partner in the video instructors using easy to undestand layman terms if you aren't privy to the "geek speak".

I never had to repair anything on this motif yet. The keybed is extremely solidly built with a welcoming aftertouch to the more aggressive or heavier handed of us. The only gribe i have is with the usb noise when using usb as midi with any daw it emits a high pitched whine that has had me reverting to the optical oout that has NO floor noise at all. Jacks are all solidly built and the keyboard is hefty.

SOUNDS

The strongest part of the motif sound experience is in the well articulated acoustic and orchestral sounds. They are full and emotive enough for you to express yourself as well as the character of the intrument that you want to emulate with ease and versatility. This is the first time i was ever blown away by organ sounds on a workstation. The rotary effect is pristine and comes across as very lush and natural. The organ sounds are round and full and never sound out of place at all. The bass sounds are a far cry from what's usually offered in the workstation arena as they are extremely realistic and versatile and allow you to cover almost any bass technique you wish to recreate. The only letdown on it was the thin synth sounds. They lacked the full body of some similar sounds found on other boards like the triton, but after some tweaking they were to my liking.

OVERALL OPINION

I love this keyboard so much because i got it right as my old board of 10 years was stolen (korg X3) and it's never ceased to help me look like a superstar. The sounds and the feel are totally MY style and i feel like it's now an extention of my person. I dont know what i'd be doing if i hadn't gotten it. I have fallen back in love with music and have began a great relationship with the art of production and sequencing. It's a love thing through and through. THANKS YAMAHA!!!

Originally posted on FutureProducers.com
Posted by: j-traxx ( 6-, 2005)

I wish you could change the arp tempo in song mode. you can in performance mode, but not in song mode. I don't get it. I also wish that you could change the note duration in groove mode. But there are not any sort of main features that I think the board is missing. wait, i want individual eq control on each track.

Price paid

$2100

UTILIZATION

It took me about 6 months of everyday use to delve deep into all of the different functions the keyboard has to offer. At first it was a little confusing, but i just kept playing with it and i would open the manual every once in a while to learn something new. sampling is really easy with the motif, but it is time consuming to anything more than record a sample and loop it. Even though it was hard to learn at first, I don't consider that a negative trait for this board. It's sequencing and recording functions are really easy once you start to think about what it is you are doing and what you want to accomplish.

SOUNDS

The instruments sound great! My mixes straight outta the board sound pretty good. I have no complaints.

OVERALL OPINION

I don't have a case for it and I've moved to three different cities with it. I have not had any problems inside or out.

This was my first workstation. I'm still a newbie to sequencing, arranging, and composing. But not new to recording and editing music. I feel like I still have a lot to learn (not with the keyboard, but with making beats) and that's holding me back from really loving this board. Comparing it to the other workstations, I like this one the best based on sounds, sequencer, functions, and mixing capabilities.

Originally posted on FutureProducers.com
Posted by: Jay Towns ( 6-, 2005)