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Yamaha MO6 61-Key Music Production Synthesizer

With voices, effects, and filters derived from the MOTIF ES.

Overall User Ratings

Overall:
          9 out of 10
Features:
          9 out of 10
Quality:
          8 out of 10
Value:
          10 out of 10
I Want It:
          8 out of 10
Sound:
          9 out of 10
Ease of Use:
          7 out of 10
Support:
          8 out of 10
 
 

"A Composer's Dream-machine"

Overall:
          9 out of 10
Features:
          8 out of 10
Quality:
          7 out of 10
Value:
          10 out of 10
Sound:
          10 out of 10
Ease of Use:
          7 out of 10
Support:
          5 out of 10
User: a customer from comcast.net
Submitted: 5/3/2009
Style of Music: Jazz, Ambient, Easy Listening
Musical Experience: Hobbyist - Soloist creating original compositions (see: www.reverbnation.com/mikehuntingford )
Location: Fountain, CO, USA

 

 
Feature:
Wow, where to begin? The 1700+ arps are so darn addictive and fun. For those wanting to record guitars that sound live (real) with strumming and picking, you will find loads of arps for guitars that simply sound like you have a guitarist right there! Pattern player is a real pleasure to work with, you can create on the fly snappy patterns right away - no delay, no manuevering buttons and menu on menu. Boom, its in. The USB connectivity to your PC opens a whole new world for this keyboard - from the editor software and manager software, it makes this keyboard that much more convenient and powerful. The included Cubase software seemlessly integrates with the MO... Being able to save to USB devices via the device connection is tremendoulsy conventient as well. Bravo Yamaha.

Quality:
I am rating this one a little lower as, unlike the MOTIF 6 I once had for a short time (which was metal body), the MO6 is a plastic case. For my purposes that is fine, as I use my MO in my home studio setup - it will not be moved. I'd be a little worried about it if I were gigging it! However, the fit and finish is good, the keys have pretty good feel (not as good as my EX5 or the MOTIF 6) but good nonetheless. For home use, this keyboard should last years.

Value:
For what you get, this keyboard is a composers dream. It is feature packed, sounds great, and should last for years.

Desirability:
This keyboard is desireable. I spent many many hours researching for the "best bang for the buck" and the MO6 is it. You will be hard pressed to find better - given its price.

Sound:
I use my MO both with a stand-alone digital recorder and Cubase. In both cases, this instrument is absolutely tops. The sounds put out by this keyboard continue to amaze me. Drum kits included in some of the combination settings that use arps do not record directly to the DAW software, at least not without significant work/tweaking. However, it sounds absolutely pristine when recorded into my TASCAM recorder. The keyboard (piano and the like) sounds are the usual exemplary Yamaha pianos/keys - just super. The guitars sound real. The sweet flute and sweet oboe are sololists dream. The synth-leads and pads are pretty good too. There's lots to explore here - all quality sounds.

Ease of Use:
For getting to your bread-and-butter sounds, its pretty easy. Yamaha has included a convenient "Category" button that lets you see all your sounds arranged by types (e.g., piano, guitar, bass, brass, etc). You simply dial or use "Inc" or "Dec" buttons and play away. The onboard sequencer is a big improvement over past Yamaha keyboards (I also own a Yamaha EX5 - its sequencer was hard to use). This one is very easy and you probably won't even need to crack the manual.

Support:
Unknown

Overall:
This instrument has been exceedingly useful and I have seen a benefit from using it. I can quickly create and capture new musical ideas.

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"Great board, great price, would buy again"

Overall:
          8 out of 10
Features:
          9 out of 10
Quality:
          9 out of 10
Value:
          9 out of 10
I Want It:
          9 out of 10
Sound:
          9 out of 10
Ease of Use:
          7 out of 10
Support:
          8 out of 10
User: a customer from peoplepc.com
Submitted: 3/9/2008
Style of Music: All around
Musical Experience: 20+ years
Location: Virginia

 

 
zZounds has verified that this customer bought this product from us.
Feature:
This one is power packed, the manual is a little hard to understand, but there is a lot of features on this board.

Sound:
Sound is really realistic. Have owned Korg, Alesis, Kurzweil, and this one is really good.

Ease of Use:
It is a little hard to get used to until you get the hang of it. The manual is really difficult to understand.

14 of 16 people (87.5%) found this review helpful. Did you?    
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"Great Sound Great Feature which enhance your creativity"

Overall:
          9 out of 10
Features:
          8 out of 10
Quality:
          8 out of 10
Value:
          10 out of 10
I Want It:
          7 out of 10
Sound:
          9 out of 10
Ease of Use:
          7 out of 10
Support:
          9 out of 10
User: a customer from yahoo.com
Submitted: 5/26/2009
Style of Music: Jazz/electronic
Musical Experience: hobbyist
Location: Michigan

 

 
Feature:
Everything I would want for my home studio,

Quality:
Very nice

Value:
Great value like all Yamaha product a lot of sound and features for the prices I am very please and that is why I am a Yamaha fan

Desirability:
Pretty Cool looking

Sound:
Great sound, very realistic sounding instruments, nice effects and many unique sounds to further explore your creative capability

Ease of Use:
Sometimes confusing especially the manual, but it takes a moment to get use to the process and understand the features that are present.

Support:
No support needed so far

Overall:
I love the sound and the ability to make the music sound like 4-5 guys playing real instruments, that was my goal when I purchased the M06 and I have not been disappointed, I love every minute of it!

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"MO 6"

Overall:
          9 out of 10
Features:
          9 out of 10
Quality:
          7 out of 10
Value:
          9 out of 10
I Want It:
          6 out of 10
Sound:
          8 out of 10
Ease of Use:
          6 out of 10
User: a customer from yahoo.in
Submitted: 11/7/2008
Style of Music: Dance, Hip hop, arabic stuff
Musical Experience: part-time musician, Hobbyist
Location: Lunglei, Mizoram, India

 

 
Feature:
loads of real time controllers (for it's price) it's just amazing. one of it's flaw is that only it is unable to put some plugin boards in it. (that's what they say) one drawback is that the polyphony is only 64 notes... sad

Quality:
i heard that the material used for the structure is some plain plastic (that's how my friend said) if that's true that could be serious. however inside, being a younger brother of the Motif ES. this makes it seriously good.

Value:
for price i say its 2 good. come on it's too much inside there already (controllers, built in sequencer, no. of voices, filter & insert effects etc etc) but that does'nt mean increase da price.

Desirability:
one unattractive thing of this machine is that it's lcd display. lessly the plugin boards make it a bummer.

Sound:
This's great, i say it's the bigger brother of mm6. realistic sounds. sounds and samples r all realistic & cool. (175 MB wave memory)

Ease of Use:
Well...the LCD is small, greeny, and it's reall hard to navigate around. well like the motif it's really complicated... i guess. for first time users it sucks. the realtime controllers could back it up a bit now...

6 of 7 people (85.71%) found this review helpful. Did you?    
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"Best money I ever spent"

Overall:
          10 out of 10
Features:
          10 out of 10
I Want It:
          10 out of 10
Sound:
          10 out of 10
Ease of Use:
          8 out of 10
User: a customer from yahoo.com
Submitted: 5/31/2006

 

 
zZounds has verified that this customer bought this product from us.
Feature:
It has got everything, it is just figuring out where they are! One of my favorites is the DAW remote control feature. Logice recognized it as a Logic control. Every button on the MO then becomes a button for the sequencer. Even displays track, plug in, instrument and other info on the built in screen. Only drawback with this is that you cant use the MO's sounds when in this mode. You can stil trigger soft synths though.

Quality:
Seems very sturdy Very clean. Get a good bag or case. You dont want anything to happen to this baby/

Value:
Yes a great value.

Desirability:
It is one of the most attractive boards Ive ever seen, The name could use a help>

Sound:
Pristine 24 bit clarity. Many sounds that are uniqe and professional

Ease of Use:
There is a learning curve but I am not going anywhere for a while.

Support:
Have not dealt with the company. There is a web site designed by users for users. Good start for people new to the MO

Overall:
I have not had much sleep lately, been to busy playing the board. I will probably wear out before it does.

8 of 10 people (80%) found this review helpful. Did you?    
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"Studio Connections Makes Learning This POWERFUL Tool Much Easier"

Overall:
          8 out of 10
Features:
          8 out of 10
Quality:
          8 out of 10
Sound:
          8 out of 10
Ease of Use:
          8 out of 10
User: a customer from yahoo.com
Submitted: 10/17/2008
Style of Music: electro
Musical Experience: New to the hobby

 

 
Feature:
Extensive Voice editor. Built-in sequencer, however I use it with a DAW. No Sampler. Polyphony limited to 64 which may not be ample enough for some.

Quality:
Yamaha is known for good quality. Motif engine.

Value:
Depends on what you need. Its price point is competitive with the rest of the market. Got mine used

Sound:
8/10. Not because I'm docking points, but because I don't feel justified in giving it higher because i haven't compared it to other boards. The presets are all good, some interesting and usable...others an example of what the board is capable of. The Motif engine is well regarded in the industry, and that is what is used here.

Ease of Use:
This is the main reason I'm compelled to write a review. Although powerful as a standalone tool, the MO is not easy to learn, especially if you are new to synths. If your going to figure out the interface, and aren't familiar with Yamaha products...get ready to spend alot of time with the manual. I'm new to synths, and therefore wasn't able to tap into 95% of its capabilities....UNTIL I discovered Studio Connections. Yamaha and Steinberg have developed some decent software to access the internal logic of the MO/Motif from your computer. This relatively easy to use and clean interface has opened up a world of sound design that would have taken months, if not years, to learn otherwise. Studio Connections also includes a multi-part editor, so that you can save mixing settings to your computer instead of to the MO. You can tweak your MO like you would a VST instrument. So even if you are new to synth programming, but will be using this as part of a computer based DAW, you actually can jump right in without having to spend months learning the MO's complex interface. Don't give up on it UNTIL you try Studio Connections.

Support:
Haven't dealth with it.

Overall:
Powerful tool. However, I can't emphasize this enough: had I not discovered Studio Connections, I wouldn't be using this for much more than its presets in a sequencer For me, that software is indispensible. If your studio is based around a computer, the learning curve is significantly easier to manage.

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"The best keyboard I've found, at any price...Yamaha has hit a grand slam"

Overall:
          10 out of 10
Features:
          10 out of 10
Quality:
          10 out of 10
Value:
          10 out of 10
I Want It:
          10 out of 10
Sound:
          10 out of 10
Ease of Use:
          9 out of 10
Support:
          10 out of 10
User: a customer from yahoo.com
Submitted: 5/9/2006
Style of Music: No category. My music can't be pegged. I strive to make new sounds. My own "new wave."
Musical Experience: Band Director, Song Writer, Arranger, Rock Guitarist, Pro Singer
Location: Hemet, CA

 

 
zZounds has verified that this customer bought this product from us.
Feature:
The USB connection to the computer is a lot better than using midi cords. The software editor is something that I haven't gotten into yet...but it appears to have layering, editing, and saving options that will free me from doing it with the keyboard. The edits and layers can be saved on my computer and used whenever. The sliders and envelope knobs are very cool and usable.

Quality:
Off the chart in all aspects. When I play the keys feel smooth, consistent, solid, just the right touch, and the sensitivity is fabulous. When I took it out of the box I said to myself, "hmmmmm, maybe I've found something here." It just feels like top-shelf engineering and design. No one makes better keys than this. Promise.

Value:
I've owned 3 workstations within the past few years, and I prefer this over the feel and the sounds of the any generation of Motifs, Rolands, Kurzweil, or Korg. Yamaha says that the voice engine is the same as their top keyboards. I disagree. These are better. I can't really explain it. It's something to do with the clarity and depth of sound, mainly with acoustic instruments like grand pianos, strings, guitars, and percussion. The price is very fair.

Desirability:
It feels like I'm at the helm of the Starship Enterprise. Others do this too, but this ranks right up there. I've been to a couple of LA studios and have seen this keyboard used as the centerpiece in both places. It's definitely a hot item in the pro world right now.

Sound:
State-of-the-art professional sounds that can be edited and shaped. The most impressive sounds to this point are the strings. There's no need to own any soft synth strings if you own this keyboard. It has the dark, full, light, ensembles, solos, and many combinations. The pianos are strong. The drums and percussion are strictly pro level. Haven't heard better. I've owned almost every keyboard known to man, and frequently return or sell them after a few weeks. I keep thinking that there just has to be a better one out there somewhere. This one is staying right here for quite a while. PS - If you're into the "beat," you'll find some amazing performance grooves, and arps. Off the chart. It's not my thing, but I've heard plenty, and this keyboard extremely fun. I've seen two major hiphop artists in studios with the MO6.

Ease of Use:
This is one area where Yamaha could do better, but the MO6 is an improvement over earlier keyboards. Maybe it doesn't bother anyone else, but the controls for changing voices are on the right side...so when I'm testing a sound I have to "octave-down" and test with my left hand while adjusting with my right. I'm going to buy foot pedals to get around this...so in the long run it's not a big deal. Everything else about the keyboard makes this a minor issue.

Support:
Called once. No problem.

Overall:
For me, a year or two is pretty darn good. I'll guess 2 years. Who knows. It's a good sign when I don't want to buy another one about a month after playing it. I have no desire to shop around for a while.

12 of 19 people (63.16%) found this review helpful. Did you?    
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