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Yamaha MOTIF ES8 88-Key Music Synthesizer

Web Item #YAMMOTIFES8

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Overall User Ratings

Overall:: 9.4 out of 10
Quality:: 8.5 out of 10
The Wow Factor:: 8.6 out of 10
Ease of Use:: 5.6 out of 10

Features:: 8.4 out of 10
Value:: 8.2 out of 10
Sound:: 9.1 out of 10
Manufacturer Support:: 8 out of 10

User Reviews for Yamaha MOTIF ES8 88-Key Music Synthesizer

Overall:: 9 out of 10
Features:: 9 out of 10
Quality:: 9 out of 10
Value:: 9 out of 10
The Wow Factor:: 10 out of 10
Sound:: 9 out of 10

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By a customer from ntelos.net

Submitted: 8/4/2004

Style of Music: Gospel and Bluegrass (surprised?)

"If you're looking for the latest and greatest all around workstation for studio and live use, you've got to get this one... PERI"

Sound:

If anyone says that this unit sounds "thin" or "tinny", they've apparently lost some of the very fine and precious hairs in the lining of their ears. Kurzweil is probably the king of overall sound, but for sounds right out of the box, this unit is hard to beat. Everything (except the saxes) sound full and lush, covering the entire audible frequency range that the particular instrument it is emulating is supposed to cover. The guitars are strong as well as the brass and string sections, and the electric pianos are done as only Yamaha can do them. The acoustic piano is fantastic and only slightly under that of the Kurzweil (and I've owned several K's), but when the new PLG150-AP expansion board arrives this fall, The CFIIIS piano will be hard to beat!

Feature:

No foot pedal, no sample memory, no digital outs (standard, that is), but the ability to create Arps and manipulate the sounds make up for those things that can be added. And look at the amount of wave ROM... and the number of wave forms, and the polyphony, and the sampling (after memory is installed) and the sequencer, the onboard effects (which are great too). With the addition of the mLan16e (which you can get for about 279.00 street now), you have the ability to have 16 DIGITAL audio channels and 3 ports of 16 MIDI channels each with only one IEEE1394 firewire cable!!! that gives you total digital to digital quality and the ability to route from your DAW to the Motif ES to use as an external effects processor! Big K can't do those things yet (not to my knowledge anyway!) Save songs, patterns, voices to SmartMedia (which is going away) or USB storage devices such as Cruzer Mini or the like. So overall, it has many many features. If you can't be creative with this thing, you can't just aren't creative!

Quality:

Seems rugged enough for road use, but I'll only use it in my Studio.

Manufacturer Support:

N/A (yet)

Value:

For the money, you'd be hard pressed to find a better deal, with this amount of wave ROM and the features it does have along with the expandability.

The Wow Factor:

Let me tell you... this is outselling the others (Triton, Fantom, etc.) by far in most stores, check it out for yourself. A lot of the pros are using this monster now and you're going to be hearing a lot of them on recordings (it's all over even now) in the future. It's one purchase I've made with NO regrets whatsoever. I don't long for other units now, this one really satisfies my needs.

Overall:

Technology is gaining by leaps and bounds all the time. No doubt Yamaha will again improve on what they've done here just as they did with the original Motif, and if they do and they offer something as different from the ES as the ES was to the classic Motif, I'll probably get that. If someone else does it better, I'd get that perhaps, but until that happens, I'd definitely replace this one with another very quickly as I'd rather have this than anything Korg, Kurzweil or Roland is offering at this time.

Overall:: 9 out of 10
Features:: 8 out of 10
Quality:: 10 out of 10
Value:: 9 out of 10
The Wow Factor:: 10 out of 10
Sound:: 10 out of 10

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Submitted: 6/7/2004

"Yamaha Motif ES8"

Sound:

It's got the best sounds I've ever heard in a synth. The main piano sound is the same as the Yamaha P-250 which sounds amazing. On the strings, you can almost feel the friction of the bow and the strings.

Feature:

I think the OS is a little bit harder to learn compared to the Fantom X and the Triton. A larger screen could've improved the performance a lot. The sequencer is pattern-based, so if you're used to linear sequencing, you'll have to experiment with it a little bit. Also I with Yamaha would expand the layering/splitting capablities soon. The ES series workstations still give you 4 parts (like the classic Motif; whereas Fantom X gives you 16 and Triton gives you 8). Yamaha also took out the optical output (you can still add it as an option though). They also took out the SCSI port, so now the only option is USB. Finally, you can add up to 1GB of sampling memory (SDRAM) which is quite amazing.

Quality:

It's built like a tank. Great construction and definitely road-ready. The action is awesome. Why? Because Yamaha have been making pianos since 1896. Longer than Korg and Roland combined. So they know an extra trick or two.

Value:

For the price I do believe it's the best choice. With most other workstations you'll have to spend a couple hundred dollars on the expansion boards in order to get the same sounds as the ES8.

The Wow Factor:

When choosing a new instrument, personal preference plays a big role. For the stuff I want to do, this is THE best workstation without a doubt.

Overall:

I feel I'm going to own this workstation for a very long time. I like the sounds, I like the action, I like the features (while missing the features it doesn't have). I definitely recommend that you try one out if you're thinking about getting a new workstation.

Overall:: 10 out of 10
Features:: 10 out of 10
Quality:: 10 out of 10
Value:: 10 out of 10
The Wow Factor:: 10 out of 10
Sound:: 10 out of 10
Manufacturer Support:: 10 out of 10

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By a customer from aol.com

Submitted: 10/25/2004

Style of Music: Rock, Rock, Rock, and some Roll, too

Experience: Active Musician

"A keyboard that fell from heaven"

Sound:

You can't beat the sound. Can't even begin to explain how many sounds it makes. Each catergory holds 128 sounds. There are over 8 catergories. You can convert sounds to make them sound higher, lower, louder, softer, or you can do just about anything. I can't put it in words.

Feature:

Features... Where do I start? Well, it comes packed with all of those sounds, not to mension applause, gunshots, swords, telephones, lasers, helicoptors, ocean waves, thunder. In the perform mode, you have a set drum beat laid down, & you can just start making music. You get this mode where you can record a piano song, then go back and add drums, go back and guitar, bass, up to 16 slots. It also has instruments from bagpipes to piccolos to ethnic instruments. You name it, it's there.

Quality:

I hope it lasts forever. It seems to be doing fine. At the time it came out and now, I think it's the best keyboard ever made. Ever.

Manufacturer Support:

One time the gear on the left side of the keyboard where you change the pitch broke. It took them 2 days to fix it. Then they gave it back to me. They were probably sad because they wanted to keep it for themselves.

Value:

It is priceless.

The Wow Factor:

When I first played it at the music store, I said to myself, "I will have this or die trying"

Overall:

I won't ever replace it. My favorite part was and still is looking at all the goodies the keyboard came with. My least favorite thing about it is all the buttons and knobs. You can get lost.

Overall:: 4 out of 10
Features:: 7 out of 10
Quality:: 6 out of 10
Value:: 5 out of 10
The Wow Factor:: 3 out of 10
Sound:: 7 out of 10
Manufacturer Support:: 1 out of 10

100% of users found this reviews helpful (1 vote).

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By a customer from msn.com

Submitted: 7/28/2005

Style of Music: r and b, sould, jazz, hiphop, gospel

Experience: 12 year musician, 3 year studio engineer

"CUT THE HYPE!!"

This reviewer purchased this item from Same Day Music.

Sound:

Great sounds, very nice guitar emulations.

Feature:

Good features, but not enough. They should have learned from Roland's FAntom X and make a bigger, colored screen for that price.

Quality:

Weighted keys are not as authentic as the Fantom X

Manufacturer Support:

Never heard from them, left messages, and when i did get through, they just gave a case number and said they'll call. By the time they do, I'll already have a refund. HAHA!

Value:

Not worth the price to me. I can get a softsynth from Native Instruments and an 88 weighted key midi controller to run beter sounds off my PC for less....which is my plan now.

The Wow Factor:

I want the rack, thats all. The screen is about the same... and I can get a midi controoler that will have more control than the motif board itself.

Overall:

Don't let these novice composers and producers fool you, they have no experience. I've been doin this for 14 years, and I'm 20! I grew up on music and have experience with Yamaha boards. Just get the rack if you like the sounds. The board will do you little good unless you got money like that. Otherwise i recommend the Fantom X8 which is much higher quality of use. You can always expand the sounds for either.

Overall:: 9 out of 10
Features:: 9 out of 10
Quality:: 10 out of 10
Value:: 9 out of 10
The Wow Factor:: 9 out of 10
Sound:: 9 out of 10
Manufacturer Support:: 9 out of 10

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By a customer from hotmail.com

Submitted: 7/22/2005

Style of Music: Rock, country pop

Experience: Ex pro, now semi pro

"Its the muts nuts"

Sound:

awesome sounds. i needed to edit the full piano to brighten it up a bit but that was just personal prefference.

Feature:

same again, excellent

Quality:

spot on

Manufacturer Support:

aint used them yet so no comment

Value:

worth every penny borrowed to pay for it.

The Wow Factor:

looks good, sounds great. what more do you want/

Overall:

I bought a triton 4 years ago and thought i would never have to buy another board again. Untill i heard the motif. so who knows.

Overall:: 10 out of 10
Features:: 10 out of 10
Quality:: 10 out of 10
Value:: 10 out of 10
The Wow Factor:: 10 out of 10
Sound:: 10 out of 10
Manufacturer Support:: 10 out of 10

25% of users found this reviews helpful (4 votes).

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By a customer from thss.net

Submitted: 10/29/2005

Style of Music: Anything but Country and Rap

Experience: none

"OMG this has been the best gagit I have ever owned."

Sound:

Makes all kinds of cool and weird sounds.

Feature:

They keys feel like a real piano. Tons of settings.

Quality:

Well, I have dropped the unit 7 times and once being down my stairs by accident. It still works flawlessly. Oh yeah almost forgot I left it in the back of my truck forgetting about it and it sprinkled a bit getting it lightly wet. I dried it for about a month standing upright and when I plugged it in I had no problems after resetting it.

Manufacturer Support:

Trust me all you need to do is reset it and you are jamming!

Value:

It was only like 3k that is cheap.

The Wow Factor:

It gets the chicks, I wish I could play a song but no problems so far just make some awesome noise and you are on your way.

Overall:

As long as everyone likes it I am down with it.

Overall:: 9 out of 10
Features:: 9 out of 10
Quality:: 9 out of 10
Value:: 9 out of 10
The Wow Factor:: 10 out of 10
Sound:: 10 out of 10
Manufacturer Support:: 9 out of 10

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By a customer from aol.com

Submitted: 4/21/2005

Style of Music: Funk, Soul, Motown, R&B

Experience: Musician

"Awesome"

This reviewer purchased this item from Same Day Music.

Sound:

The sound is phenominal. This is best synth I've ever heard. The sounds are so authentic and the Motif is pretty easy to edit.

Feature:

It didn't include much in the way of accessories, but there are several features that I want to get for the Motif.

Quality:

Very well made

Manufacturer Support:

Haven't dealt with them.

Value:

Excellent value for the money.

The Wow Factor:

Very good appearence.

Overall:

For along time. If one doesn't come out that is better I will probably still keep the Motif until I am familiar with the new one.

Overall:: 10 out of 10
Features:: 10 out of 10
Quality:: 10 out of 10
Value:: 10 out of 10
The Wow Factor:: 10 out of 10
Sound:: 10 out of 10

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Submitted: 4/3/2004

Style of Music: Almost anything

"Best addition to my recording studio so far and by far."

Sound:

Though has great synth sounds I love the quality of almost every accoustic sound in this unit as well and even then I am able to apply any of the overwhelming number of effects to tweak it more to my liking. The drum kits are some of the best I've heard as well. The weighted keys are great as I feel I have so much more control over my expression than with regular synth keys, though I did notice I couldn't do a drum roll as fast on the weighted keys but I usually do drum rolls in drum tracks which I record prehand using the handy loop recording capability.

Feature:

I love the pattern features in this unit and can spend hours and hours there thus I call it my pattern playground. I can within minutes create various patterns and then chain them together to create fresh new songs. I've started playing with mLAN and am very much looking forward to adding the mLAN16e card to the unit to integrate the keyboard 100% into my DAW (digital audio workstation). I'll be able to route any channel of audio in my DAW through the effects processors within the keyboard.

Quality:

Keys feel great, controls are smooth. Very solid (and heavy) unit.

Manufacturer Support:

Have had problems buying this unit as I didn't realize Yamaha has different divisions and the first Yamaha store I went in told me I should not by the Motif as I should stick to Yamaha keyboards and they Tyros was the best. (So you could imagine how confused I was that a Yamaha dealer was trying to tell me a Motif was not made by Yamaha). However I wrote Yamaha Canada and quickly got a phone call which helped answer my questions (and explain why that dealership didn't know anything about the Motif). He's been in contact since and has even sent me freebies.

Value:

Seeing the only other keyboard I know is the Korg Triton Studio 88 it is all I can compare to and this keyboard has much better accoustic instrument sounds more capabilities. (Though I had to add my own SDRAM for sampling - SDRAM is really cheap now, I threw in 1GB for under $125 - yes it will fully support 1GB though yamaha doesn't say this on their specs, the only reason why is that loading 1GB over USB will take you a good 20 minutes.

The Wow Factor:

I did lots of research before buying and then after going in to see it for myself (as well as the Triton Studio) I bought this one on the spot - no questions or worries.

Overall:

I don't expect to buy a new keyboard for some time. This does all I need it too and I don't see my needs changing keyboard wise. I'm more into analog recordings than the whole midi thing.