Word from Yamaha is that the Motif ES 6,7,8 will be appearing in stores on the 'West' coast in the 1st or 2nd week of September. The 'East' coast should be receiving them in the 3rd or 4th week of September. All in all the Motif ES should be an interesting Keyboard even for your typical Arranger Keyboardist because the Motif ES has a few Arranger keyboard type features. This Keyboard will probably be very appealing to those that are in a Band and don't use Arranger accompaniment in that setting. Plus some Arranger Keyboardist's use an Arranger 'plus' a non-Arranger in their repertoire during Gigs. The exceptionally good sounds on the Motif ES would come in very handy for some of the sounds on an Arranger that might be lacking or non-existent.

Kudos! to Yamaha for actually delivering a major Keyboard product ahead of schedule to the retail market. Something they were unable to do with the PSR 2000/2100 and Tyros. But maybe I should reserve my adulation until I actually see the Mo' ES with my eyes and play it in person and if Yammie is correct I should be doing that 'within' 3 weeks of today.

And although the LCD screen size on the Mo' ES is the same as the original Motif I had a look at the Motif's screen again recently and even though the screen size is 'small' the actual "Text" 'characters' within the screen are fairly large and pretty easy on the eyes. Of course more real estate is better and 'desirable' but at least the viewable area it has is useable in that the text characters, etc., are at least readable. I still think Yamaha goofed when they kept the same size LCD for the Mo' ES. Something I hope they don't repeat with the next generation Mo'. That's one of the reasons why the Korg Triton, Triton Pro, and Triton Studio's fly off the shelves is because of their "large" LCD screens. Oh well, I'll stop ranting.

Best regards,
Mike