I know the tendency for me was to want to have one of each from the big three. ( Roland , Yamaha and Korg ), but after playing th Fantom S and the Motif Es side by side, there was no comparison. For me, the ES won hands down in almost every sound category. In fact, the Motif classic ( some 2+ years old already ) won for me vs the "brand new" Fantom S.

About the OS.. complicated, yes it surely may be for some.. but I don;t see that it should prevent someone from playing the many marvelous ES presets right out of the box. I find that the OS makes sense now that I understand it, but it is deep and there is a learning curve. It stands to reason, as there are so many features and functions here. Could they have been laid out a little better. Maybe, and yes the Fantom seems like an easier OS to navigate and learn, but I'd never take the tradeoff in sound quality because of it.

AJ