I have the Motif and have played a good bit on the 9000 ( the "predecessor" of the Tyros ) . I also demoed the Fantom but really don;t have a ton of time on it.

My impression of the Fantom was .... very nice board, but the built in rythyms were very limited and as you said no user arps. The sounds were quite good, but the Motif's sounds and features just "sang" to me a little more. It seemed to me that the Fantom was fairly easy to navigate though. It was a close choice and came down to spending several hours on each board before I decided on the Motif.

The Motif IS a bit difficult to learn, but not impossible. The sounds.... very good, but maybe a few of the acoustic instruments ( sax comes to mind ) sound better on the 9000. I'm going to add the vL plug in board to address that however. If you wanted electronic sounds, add the AN150- board ( I already added it .. by mistake.. I had ordered and thought I was geting the VL board.. but I decided to keep it anyway..... wow.. awesome electronic / simulated analog sounds ) User arps work well once you get the hang of it. I took some "grooves" ( midi file snippets that came from some of the better PA80 and Yamaha styles ) and made user arps out of them. An excellent way to make quick pieces. The board is well suited for composing, and a lot can be gotten from it, but it takes some work.

As far as a quick composition tool,, the 9000 ( and likely the Tyros ) is a lot easier to get around on. The sounds are very good ( not as cutting edge as the Motif especialy for synth oriented stuff, in my opinion ). The styles are right there and ready for use. A lot easier to make music " right away " than either the Mo or Fantom. The question is.. Will you tire of the styles ?

I have the Motif and the PA80 and together they make a nice tandem for both composing and live play. I could just as easily use and be happy with the 9000 ( the Tyros if it's as good ) or a ketron arranger instead of the PA80. I just happened to like some of the Korg sounds and styles. Mixing and matching style parts in it is very easy too.