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Yamaha MOTIF Rack XS Sound Module

1,152 voices. 65 different drum kits. 128-note polyphony. Studio-quality fx. USB connection.

Overall User Ratings

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

"An In-Home Orchestra"

Overall:
          10 out of 10
Features:
          10 out of 10
Quality:
          10 out of 10
Value:
          9 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 sbcglobal.net
Submitted: 7/10/2008
Style of Music: Hip-Hop, Rap, R&B
Musical Experience: Producer
Location: Kunsan AB, South Korea

 

 
zZounds has verified that this customer bought this product from us.
Feature:
Comes with Cubase, which is a great DAW that I've been using for years. Wish it came with the mLAN interface though that way you can transfer audio and midi signals with one cable.

Quality:
Only had it a couple days so I haven't given it a chance to break yet. It seems sturdy though.

Value:
A bit pricey but still worth the money

Sound:
I've played the Fanthom XS, Triton, and Motif XS before buying this rack. I thought the Motif had the most authentic and realistic sounds on it. The Motif really shines when it comes to the guitars also. Awesome sound overall.

Ease of Use:
I consider myself computer savvy for the most part and it took me a couple hours to get this thing working the way I want it to. You have to download the drivers off the website for your specific operating system before you do anything else. You also have to unplug every usb device except the rack and keyboard and mouse to install the driver. Then I had to reinstall my midi controller. It could've been easier. Knobs, buttons and navigation is simple though.

Support:
Never needed them.

4 of 4 people (100%) found this review helpful. Did you?    
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"all in all it should be cheaper"

Overall:
          8 out of 10
Features:
          5 out of 10
Quality:
          10 out of 10
Value:
          7 out of 10
I Want It:
          8 out of 10
Sound:
          7 out of 10
Ease of Use:
          5 out of 10
Support:
          10 out of 10
User: a customer from juno.com
Submitted: 5/9/2009
Style of Music: all types
Musical Experience: musician
Location: nashville

 

 
Feature:
No sequencer? what??? the motif xs8 sequencer is awesome.

Quality:
i could see it lasting for ever

Value:
for the money it could be expandable

Desirability:
its pretty i guess.

Sound:
Sounds are great for some things but not all. But what is? It has more "soft" sounds in it than those hard core raunchy sounds you might find in the M3. Better for hip hop and rnb and gospel than trance, breaks, techno or dnb. but mix it WITH other modules and your good.

Ease of Use:
easy to get to the sounds you need or are looking for . pretty straight foward

Support:
na

Overall:
ill keep it for a while

1 of 1 people (100%) found this review helpful. Did you?    
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"Avoid if you need much actual note polyphony!"

Overall:
          6 out of 10
Sound:
          8 out of 10
User: a customer from bellsouth.net
Submitted: 1/21/2009
Style of Music: Jazz fusion, Jazz standards
Musical Experience: Professional keyboardist, keyboard service tech.
Location: Raleigh NC

 

 
Quality:
Well made.

Value:
I am considering returning the unit for a different product and manufacturer because of the polyphony limitations.

Sound:
Do not be fooled by the 128 voice polyphony spec. I created a soequence using the Brush Drumset, Fretless bass, Vintage Rhodes, and Lyricon synthlead. I recorded the drums first. When adding the bass track, the bass tones were already being clipped! Polyhony actually refers to "Elements" not how many notes you can play at once. Apparently the brush drum set has multiple elements for each sound depending on velocity, whether or not it is stereo, what octave the note is in. So just a drum pattern and bassline used up all 128 elements. Sucks.

Ease of Use:
Easy to get around.

Support:
Good support. The techs quickly worked on figuring out the polyphony situation.

5 of 6 people (83.33%) found this review helpful. Did you?    
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"A fabulous keyboard with thousands of features that will drive you "Looney Tunes" trying to use it !!!!!!!!"

Overall:
          1 out of 10
Features:
          5 out of 10
Quality:
          10 out of 10
Value:
          1 out of 10
I Want It:
          1 out of 10
Sound:
          9 out of 10
Ease of Use:
          1 out of 10
Support:
          6 out of 10
Submitted: 10/14/2009
Style of Music: Jazz, popular, classical, R&R
Musical Experience: Hobbyist - musician - for 40 years
Location: Cleveland Ohio - U. S.A.

 

 
Feature:
It seems to have very good features -IF I CAN FIGURE OUT HOW TO USE THEM

Quality:
All of Yamaha products are of the highest quality - I know because I have three of their other keyboards.

Value:
Big deal the keyboard has all these features; but Yamah does not give you the tutorials or step by step instructions on how to use them. I found out after my purchase, from fellow musicians, to stay away from the Motif because it is to complicated to use.

Desirability:
Ugly color - It is not practical to use - I am trying to sell it!!!!!

Sound:
VERY GOOD

Ease of Use:
This keyboard is by far one of the worst keyboards I have ever purchased. I am a musician not a computer engineer. It is so complicated; if I had known how involved it is to use I wouldn't have purchased it. The instruction manual is great at telling about all the features but not how to implement them. I am going to try and sell this thing. If you play just for fun and like sitting in front of a computer buy this unique keyboard. If your a musician and want a keyboard with a lot of features that is EASY to use and play don't buy this piece of crap.

Support:
A Yamaha specialist offered to help me - I contacted him through an e-mail, he sent me his office phone number. When I tried to call him he was nowhere to be found.!

Overall:
Like I said I am trying to sell it - compared to the other Yamaha keyboards I own this one is not usable for me. I can't fool around with this thing at a gig.

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