Originally posted by keybplayer:
[QUOTE]Originally posted by The Pro:
[B]
Not to get picky or anything but the Roland Fantom S/88 are actually cheaper in price than the comparable Motif ES's. Roland just dropped the price of the S and I'm sure it was AFTER the Keyboard Mag review. But I still wanted to point that out. You can get the Roland Fantom S for $1,499 and the S88 for $2,399 at Gutiar Center. The Motif ES6 is 2 Grand and the ES8 is $2,800. But I agree the Motif ES blows the Roland Fantom away in regards to sounds in Most categories. The Fantom has a very decent Piano and some other very good Voices too but overall the Motif ES takes the cake for sure. And with the Motif ES's you get 'double' the Polyphony of the Fantom S/88. But if you know how to use the Sampler on the Fantom S/88 you can basically eliminate the note drop off in your compositions by Sampling a lot of your sounds you use in the Mix. A little hassle to do but it can be done. Kudos to Yamaha though for giving the Motif ES's 128 note Polyphony. That is a BIG plus and advantage imo.
Best regards,
Mike
Yep, the fantoms are cheaper now, but so are the Motif classics. I listened to both of the updated models, and while I'm happy that the ES is priced competitvely, even if it were a lot more than the Fantom S, I'd still easily choose the Motif. The Fantom has an easier interface for me to work in and figure out, and it has very good features, including some that I'd have liked to have on the Es, but I just didn't like it's sounds at all when I compared them with the ones on the ES, so at the end of the day it was the ES that I took home.
The added polyphony has made a huge difference for me. I'm not seeing all the note drop offs any more. Of course the acid test is yet to come, when I load a full s3quence and a user voice with 4 elements, but ..so far so good.
There are a number of tools in it to help the creative musician, I agree with what Terry says too. It's not as convienient as the Tyros or other good arranger for someone who wants to "plug and play", but a lot can be gotten out of this board with a little extra effort.
AJ
[This message has been edited by Bluezplayer (edited 11-04-2003).]