S90ES or T2

Yes, they're completely different animals, but that's the 2 boards I am now considering for our church music ministry. My keyboard player wants more than 61 keys, otherwise the T2 would be great. So I am considering the S90ES as an alternative. It's not nearly as complicated as the Motif, but still has great sounds, including MegaVoices. It lacks many of the features of the T2, however, such as a good screen, and a decent sequencer. It will play MIDI files via the USB. (I don't know if one can tweak those files to play the good voices in place of GM voices).
In the end, the S90ES would be limited in its versatility, but will make my keyboard player happy, and the T2 would open all kinds of doors to creativity and would make me, the minister of music guy very happy!
We'll see how it all pans out.
Tim

Why not a T2 and a 76 or 88 key controller via midi?

Those T2 voices would be wonderful in a Worship environment.

Al

Tim,

If all you will ever want to do is use the board at a worship service and you won't be needing any accompaniment, then the S90 is surely a good way to go. You'd be spending a lot more for pretty much the same sound palette with all of the added features of an arranger by going to the T2. If however, you ever think you'll want some backing, perhaps a PSR3000 would also do the trick, for a lot less, or... since your kb player wants 76 keys, you could even consider getting both an S90 and a PSR3k for roughly around the price of one T2. If you can wait a few more months, the 3k's successor will likely be announced.

I'm guessing there might be a reason why the 76 key PA1x isn't a possible consideration as well ?

AJ



[This message has been edited by Bluezplayer (edited 01-17-2006).]

Tim,
The new Yamaha Mo 8 will give you the sounds of the S90ES plus a great sequencer for $1595.00 and get a PSR3000 and you've spent aprrox. the same price as a Tyros2.
George Kaye
Kaye's Music Scene
Reseda, California

Last night I went to Sam Ash in King of Prussia, PA and after getting prices for the T2, the S90ES, and the Motif ES7 and comparing them to what my '06 church music budget will allow for a new keyboard, I ended up with the Motif ES7. I would have gone for the S90ES (it's one fabulous board and really beautiful in black), but I didn't need the 88 hammer action keys and wanted a sequencer. Now to learn how to operate this monster and then teach the basics to my worship band keyboard guy. I'm gonna need a lot of patience and grace.
I am very impressed with the voices on the Motif ES7 along with the hundreds of rhythms or patterns (or whatever they're called). I realize we will never delve totally into the depths of this keyboard, but I always tend to purchase equipment that will give me (or us) the potential of growing INTO it, rather than get something which we will grow OUT OF and wish we had more. This board is going to have to serve us well for years to come. Thanks to all of you who have guided me towards making the final decision. Even tho I did not make the purchase some of you suggested, you still were a valuable resource. BTW, I personally own a PSR3000 and we have used it once in a while because it has such great voices, too. But I like to keep it at home where I have access to it, and the Motif will more than replace it in the voice department. The strings and MegaVoices on the Motif are my favorite. However, I miss the "Sweet Soprano Sax" which the PSR3000 has. As far as I could tell, it's not on the Motif (at least not by the same name). Sorry for my rambling. I think I'll close by saying that over the years I have thouroughly enjoyed this forum and look forward to reading it every day.
Tim

Good luck with your new KB .....you made a good choice for Your needs....use it well & make beautiful music!

The Sweet! Soprano Sax is on the "CD" that comes with the Motif ES. You will have to load it into the Motif ES. The Motif ES has a Smart Media slot or you could load it via USB to Device. You will probably want to get an external Hard Drive or a Thumb Drive which you can load the Sound Library from the CD ROM onto then transfer them to the Motif ES via the USB to Device slot. Or if your computer has a Multimedia Card reader for Smart Media (you could also purchase a Reader), you could load the Sound Library onto it. Although you will find that the entire contents of the Sound Library will NOT fit onto a 128 MB Smart Media Card so choose your Voices wisely. Either that or like I said use an external HDD or Thumb Drive, etc. that holds more than 128 MB of data. PS: A 512 MB Thumb Drive is relatively inexpensive as are many external Hard Drives. A good Thumb Drive that will work with the Motif ES is the Lexar Jump PRO Drives. Any Thumb Drive that does NOT require a "Hub" driver should work okay.

Best regards,
Mike

Mike,

Thanks for that heads up. I did it. I found the Sweet!Soprano Sax on the CD and loaded it in. (I found out I had to go and buy 2 DIMM memory modules in order to load voices into the MOTIF.) And now I have another problem...the MOTIF keeps losing or corrupting the loaded voices after
I power down. Any ideas?

Tim

It might be that the Memory modules are bad or possibly not seated properly in the DIMM slots. Also, some Memory sticks may not be compatible with the Motif ES. A Brand name memory stick is usually of better quality than its generic counterpart and would most likely have a better chance of working with the Motif ES.

PS: The above statements were said because you said the contents of the Sound Library might somehow have gotten corrupted when you powered down. If something is getting corrupted then the Memory may be to blame.

OTOH, if you say you are simply losing the Voices you loaded when you power back up the Motif ES then the problem most likely is that you did not 'save' the Voices in the Sound Library you loaded into the Motif ES before powering down. It's been quite a while since I've had my Motif ES7 but the Manual should explain to you how to save the Voices you want. If my memory serves me correctly you have to transfer the Voices into the User Program Bank[s] first then initiate the Save function before exiting and powering down. But read the Manual as it will explain the process thoroughly. The Table of Contents in the Manual should point you in the right direction on "Saving Data that is Loaded into the Motif ES", etc..

Hope this helps,

Mike

On the ES7 all DIMM memory loads are lost on shut down. The only way to get it on start up is to use the auto load function, which is descibed somewhere in the manual. I've sold my ES7 so do not have it available to provide more detail.
Keith

Yes, you are correct. DIMM memory is for the Sampler function where created or edited Samples (Voices from the CD Sound Library), etc. can be stored in the DIMM[S] but must be transfered to a computer (via USB, etc.) or to a Thumb Drive or external Hard Drive or a Smart Media Card since all stored Data in the Sampling memory, i.e. DIMM[S] will be lost on power down.

But you CAN save Voices loaded into the Motif ES (from the Sound Library CD, etc.) and like I said previously they can be saved into the Motif ES's "internal Flash ROM memory" or even to a Smart Media Card which can be inserted into the Motif ES's Smart Media slot and left in indefinitely. You WILL have to load the Data from the Smart Media Card back into the Motif ES on power up but the Smart Media Card makes it very convenient and it is a very quick process.

Tim, page 85 of the Motif ES Manual will explain the process of saving and storing data. Saving and storing the data, e.g. Voices from the CD, etc. to the Motif ES's "internal user memory" will save the data from being lost on power down. Otherwise if you save it to the SM Card, Computer, Thumb Drive, etc. you will obviously need to reload that data back into the Motif ES.

And as Keith said there is an Auto Load function which can be used in conjunction with the Smart Media Card or an external Hard Drive/Thumb Drive, etc. On Power Up the Motif ES will automatically load the Data you instructed it to load.

PS: The Auto Load function can be tricky to set up. You may want to check the Motifator.com Forums for a "how-to" step by step procedure about the auto-load process since the Manual I found was less than detailed on how to do so. Although you may find the Manual's explanation adequate nonetheless.

Best regards,
Mike



[This message has been edited by keybplayer (edited 01-22-2006).]

Mike, thanks. I got it. I had to save the voices to an autoload file and store the files on a smart card, which has to be in the board at power-on. Tried it, it works!

Tim

Coaster Tim: congrats on getting the Motif KB. Would love now to hear how you & your church are utilizing the Motif with your band, perhaps by sharing a song produced by your ministry on it. - Scott