I own a music store and I sell the Tyros, Motif, Triton and Fantom keyboards. Many of the sweet sounds are in the Motif. Sweet Flute, Romantic Trumpet are direct comparisons to the Tyros and PSR2000 sounds. There are others as well. Here's my take after reading some of the different opinions on this subject.
Many years ago, Korg, with their M1, showed the music industry they could do really good acoustic sounds using samples, while Yamaha stayed with their FM digital technology which did fine electric pianos, organs, decent horns, but didn't really do great Pianos, Strings and Guitars. Roland followed with their sampling technology in the JV and XP series synths which highlighted acoustic instruments, and they continued with expansion boards covering all types of Genres. Yamaha moved into the sampling world, but in most players opinions, were still stronger in the synth type sounds(analog filtered sounds) and weaker in the acoustic area of sounds. It was not until the S80 keyboard came out that many die hard Korg and Roland players started listening to Yamaha's again. Many top players touring with major bands,continued to choose Yamaha SY's and EX's, but more were buying Korg Trinity and then Triton keyboards, and that is what you saw on stage. When Yamaha introduced the Motif, they again retained a strong hold on the market of musicians who liked having great Piano's, Guitars, Horns and Strings and still were able to give you that great Synth power the older series were known for. Korg has had a firm hold on the Hip Hop market as well as the more traditional music market and now Yamaha has shown they can do the same. So, what's Roland doing? The Fantom has done well, but it seems that more of my customers buy Roland XV modules more then they buy keyboards. The Motif, like the Triton, can also sample anything you would like, and until the just released Fantom S came out with it's sampling capabilities, the Roland hasn't done quite as well as the Motif and the Triton. You will find that salesman in the music stores will probably go to whichever they are more comfortable showing you. All three are great boards. The buyer that usually buys the Tyros is looking for more "preset" sounds and features, where as the motif,triton or fantom buyer thinks they want to "tweek" more things.
George Kaye
Kaye's Music Scene
Reseda, California

[This message has been edited by George Kaye (edited 05-24-2003).]