Members Vito Corleone Posted October 14, 2014 Members Share Posted October 14, 2014 Finally time to replace my old original Motif 6 and thinking the MOXF8 would be a better board for me. I want to move into 88 keys, but I don't need the sampler. (Or even the sequencer, really. I have both on my Kronos 61.) Are the sounds on the MOXF8 really as close to the XF8 as advertised? (I know FX routing can have a lot to do with the sounds.) And the fact that keybed is not as stiff is a good thing to me. (I'm fine with a semi-weighted type action like I have on my Roland A-37 controller. Even kind of prefer that sort of action since piano won't be the only thing I do with this synth.) I'll be missing out on the sliders but if the knobs are programmable for similar control that should be fine. Anything else I'll be missing out on that would make me think twice about not getting the XF8? Half the price. Half the weight. (I will be gigging with it.) All sounds good to me. But maybe there's some other major differences between the two I should consider? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members AnotherScott Posted October 14, 2014 Members Share Posted October 14, 2014 There's a pretty thorough discussion of the differences at http://www.motifator.com/index.php/forum/viewthread/469959/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted October 14, 2014 Author Members Share Posted October 14, 2014 thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RockPianoman Posted October 15, 2014 Members Share Posted October 15, 2014 The MOXF8 "steps" when you adjust filters from the quick edit knobs....that's a big strike against it....you can route it so you adjust filters from the modulation wheel which doesn't step but doing this for all the sounds (I think there's over 1100) sounds like a huge hassle.....the MOXF8 has a step sequencer in the sequencer that the Motif XF doesn't....I love creating music with step sequencers (even my Yamaha SY77 had one).....the weight difference is wonderful when it comes time to move it (30 pounds for the MOXF8).....one thing that worries me about the MOXF8 (I plan on getting one too) is that the build quality is so bad that I wonder if down the road the casing might develop cracking that could get worse and worse.....what do you do if this happens? Break out the super glue? Can you imagine how much it would cost to get the guts transferred into a new casing if this did happen?…..and the new casing might do the same thing eventually.... Spec-wise it is hands down the best budget Motif yet…..8 insert effects and 128 polyphony just like the Motif XF….it even takes 1 flash board so it would be like the Roland XV-5080 where it can load samples and wave files but it can’t sample….. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted October 15, 2014 Author Members Share Posted October 15, 2014 Hmmm.....well, I wouldn't need to edit 1100 sounds. I only use a couple dozen over the course of a gig. But the "step" thing sounds odd, I'll have to look into that. I don't really use sequencers, so the step sequencer doesn't interest me much, "build quality"? Well, I have a couple of cheap plastic synths I've used for years with no problem, so I wouldn't expect this one to be any worse. But on the off chance I DID crack it? I guess that's the chance you take with buying something that's half the price. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RockPianoman Posted October 16, 2014 Members Share Posted October 16, 2014 I saw a review of the MOX6 and the guy said it flexed.....that's pretty cheap.....the MO8 was built quite a bit better than the MOX8 or MOXF8.....I still want to get one....I never break my stuff so hopefully (fingers crossed)......on the "real' Motifs, the cutoff when using the quick edit knob is a smooth sweep.....here's videos that illustrate these things (it's for the MOX6 but it is very similar to the MOXF6 and I think the MOXF8 is probably the same) It sucks that Yamaha would make the quick edit knobs to step....they're probably trying to make people want a 'real' Motif instead......of all the functions in the Motif, cutoff is the most important to me and on my Motif ES6 I use it constantly through my shows live.....I still plan on buying a MOXF8 so I will have to program the voices I use to use the modulation wheel for cutoff....this is kind of a bummer as I usually like to set the modulation wheel to add vibrato and there is no aftertouch on the MOXF8 to use to add vibrato.....I'm sure there is another knob I can program to add vibrato on voices that I use.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted October 17, 2014 Author Members Share Posted October 17, 2014 Well, I doubt they'd do that to make people want an upgrade. It's only a small segment that would turn around and pay twice as much to replace a keyboard they already spent $1700 on just to get a smoother cutoff filter sweep. I'll probably be fine with it as long as I can program patches with it. I don't fiddle with cutoff much during live gigs and have other boards to use in case I want to. With any budget board, you're going to have to make sacrifices and compromises. My biggest disappointment is that it doesn't have aftertouch, but I'm not sure how much I'd want to use aftertouch on a hammer-action synth anyway. Getting this board will cause a major realignment of my setup. Right now I use the Kronos as my lower board---which means it gets used for pianos, organs and big pad stuff, and the Motif as my upper board---which means I use it for leads, brass parts and more incidental stuff. I'll be switching the two and using the MOXF on the bottom for pianos and pads and playing leads and brass on the Kronos. I use aftertouch for vibrato on brass parts, so those have to be played on the Kronos now, And it will still be my organ board. It has the separate outputs so I can run the organ through the Ventilator, and I don't really want to play organ on a hammer-action board. I will have to be careful with the case though. I don't drop stuff much, but the Motif did get knocked off the stand and fell on its end years ago. It survived just fine where a lesser case might not have? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RockPianoman Posted October 17, 2014 Members Share Posted October 17, 2014 That's going to be a really nice setup for you.....you should have an huge variety of sounds..... I think the keys they put on the MOXF8 are the same as the keys they put on the P-35.....I actually prefer those keys to the Motif XF8 keys.....the Motif weighted keys are a lot noisier and you can hear them a lot easier in small places than the less expensive type.....I played the MOX8 and the keys felt just like the keys on my P-70 piano..... I just bought a Korg Triton rack as my Korg Karma doesn't fit in my living room setup where the Triton rack will.....the Triton rack has way more user soundbanks than the Triton.....I added the analog synth board and the grand piano board and raised sampling to 96 MB which is maximum but I still will probably use my Motif ES6 for most of my sampling.... If I can ever find the mLan board for the Triton rack, I'll buy it....Firewire is really fast and one of my laptops has Firewire built in....I might add mLan to the Motif ES6 too.....I think some of the Motifs with weighted keys might have had Firewire stock....(I think it was the Motif XS8)....maybe the Motif XF8 does too....I'm not sure it it does but they are very similar.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members AnotherScott Posted October 17, 2014 Members Share Posted October 17, 2014 I'll be switching the two and using the MOXF on the bottom for pianos and pads and playing leads and brass on the Kronos. I use aftertouch for vibrato on brass parts' date=' so those have to be played on the Kronos now[/quote'] MIDI allows you to easily play any sound in one of those boards from the action in the other board, if you prefer. So if you happen to like a particular brass sound on the Yamaha but prefer to play it from the Kronos action with aftertouch, you can do it. (The MOXF can respond to aftertouch, even though it's own keyboard doesn't generate it.) (Kronos) will still be my organ board. It has the separate outputs so I can run the organ through the Ventilator' date=' and I don't really want to play organ on a hammer-action board.[/quote'] While, as I mentioned, the action doesn't have to be an issue, you'd still want to use the Kronos for organ because it is simply much better, it has a full tonewheel organ modeling engine in it (CX3), the Yamaha has nothing comparable. However, rather than put the MOXF on bottom and Kronos on top, I'd put the Kronos on bottom. It's a little less conventional to put the larger, weighted action board on top, but there's no reason you can't do it, and the angle of the Kronos screen is such that it will be hard to read if you're trying to operate it as a second tier board above the MOXF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RockPianoman Posted October 17, 2014 Members Share Posted October 17, 2014 Scott, I used to have a setup that is just the way you describe....I had my Yamaha SY99 on the bottom and had my Yamaha P-200 piano above it on the stand and I daisy chained all my other synths from the MIDI THRU on the P-200 and used the SY99 keys and wheels to play everything.... Another variation if you have more keyboards to add to the setup, is you can turn local off on the keyboards and this makes it so the keys on any board won't play the synth that that keys are attached to.....the keys can control any other synth instead...it's a nice option.....I play my Motif ES6 from my P-70 piano keys and the Motif ES6 keys play the Korg Triton rack....I daisy chain all my other rack synths into the picture as well.... MIDI Merges are great....since most synths only have one MIDI IN jack, a MIDI Merge will allow you to run out of your main set of keys into that jack and then off to daisy chain through the rest of your gear as well (this is especially nice if the gear you're running into doesn't have a MIDI THRU jack).....my Yamaha P-70 piano only has MIDI IN and MIDI OUT....no MIDI THRU..... In my situation a MIDI Merge lets me control all my other synths from both the weighted keys on my P-70 piano and I can use the keys and all the controllers on the Motif ES6 to control them all too.... I posted this a while back under my other name on here: http://www.harmonycentral.com/forum/forum/Keyboards/acapella-18/30997109-36428751 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted October 18, 2014 Author Members Share Posted October 18, 2014 MIDI allows you to easily play any sound in one of those boards from the action in the other board, if you prefer. So if you happen to like a particular brass sound on the Yamaha but prefer to play it from the Kronos action with aftertouch, you can do it. (The MOXF can respond to aftertouch, even though it's own keyboard doesn't generate it.) I midi out of the Motif into the Kronos now, but the original Motif doesn't allow the voices to be accessed via MIDI except when in "Song" mode. I presumed the newer Motifs (and the MOXF) would no longer have this deficiency. Glad to hear the MOXF doesn't as I like to have as many MIDI options as possible! While, as I mentioned, the action doesn't have to be an issue, you'd still want to use the Kronos for organ because it is simply much better, it has a full tonewheel organ modeling engine in it (CX3), the Yamaha has nothing comparable. That's what I was figuring too. I presume the organs are better on the Motif than they use to be, the Kronos organs are top notch. At the same time, however, the Motif does have some "alternative" organ sounds that I prefer to the Kronos simply because they cut through better. The Farfisa-ish patch I use on "Mickey", for example. However, rather than put the MOXF on bottom and Kronos on top, I'd put the Kronos on bottom. It's a little less conventional to put the larger, weighted action board on top, but there's no reason you can't do it, and the angle of the Kronos screen is such that it will be hard to read if you're trying to operate it as a second tier board above the MOXF. I guess I'll have to figure that out when I get to it. I'm just so used to having my "piano" board on the bottom and my "lead" board up top. I'll just have to see which way I end up preferring! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted October 18, 2014 Author Members Share Posted October 18, 2014 MIDI Merges are great....since most synths only have one MIDI IN jack, a MIDI Merge will allow you to run out of your main set of keys into that jack and then off to daisy chain through the rest of your gear as well (this is especially nice if the gear you're running into doesn't have a MIDI THRU jack).....my Yamaha P-70 piano only has MIDI IN and MIDI OUT....no MIDI THRU..... MIDI merges are cool, for sure. I used them a lot when I was running a lot of rackmount sound modules. The Kronos has so many different sounds and engines that buying that board allowed me to get rid of all my gear rack, though. Love that machine! Interesting side story: I think I might have invented the first MIDI-switch box. Back in 1983 (or was it 84?), I bought a Jupiter 6 when they first came out and it was one of the first boards to come with MIDI. I then went and had my Prophet 5 retrofitted for MIDI. I hooked the two together, but sometimes I wanted one board to control the other, or the other way around, or both at the same time, or neither. So my sound tech at the time built a little box which I plugged the MIDI connections into with two toggle switches so I could have either one as the controller as I desired. (As long as I didn't switch them off while holding down a key and getting the dreaded MIDI-Note-On lock, of course!) We also had built for us a very early "keytar" back around the same time. We needed to replace our bass player and a friend of mine was the perfect guy for the job except---he didn't play bass. He played keyboards. But we thought "hey, we'll just use key bass on every song." Problem was that the only "keytar" available at the time was the Moog Liberation which had a sucky bass sound. We wanted to use a Mini Moog. (Remember, this was pre MIDI and pre digital boards.) So we tore a Mini Moog apart and had a guy build the keyboard into a "keytar" design and controlled the Mini Moog brain through a longer CV cable. A couple of years later, MIDI keytar controllers and digital bass samples were available, so we switched to that for the bass. But for a couple of years there, we were pretty cutting edge! Necessity is the mother of invention, I suppose! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members AnotherScott Posted October 18, 2014 Members Share Posted October 18, 2014 I midi out of the Motif into the Kronos now, but the original Motif doesn't allow the voices to be accessed via MIDI except when in "Song" mode. I presumed the newer Motifs (and the MOXF) would no longer have this deficiency. Glad to hear the MOXF doesn't as I like to have as many MIDI options as possible! You still need to use Song or Pattern "Mix" mode if you want to play one (or more) Yamaha sounds from the Yamaha's own keyboard while playing other Yamaha sound(s) from another keyboard. I wouldn't call it a deficiency, though. It's just the way it works. I presume the organs are better on the Motif than they use to be, the Kronos organs are top notch. At the same time, however, the Motif does have some "alternative" organ sounds that I prefer to the Kronos simply because they cut through better. The Farfisa-ish patch I use on "Mickey", for example. Right... it is specifically the tonewheel (Hammond) style organ emulation that exists in the Kronos but not the Motif. Other organs are "rompler" style regardless. I don't know whether or not the Motif organs are better than they used to be, but regardless, they are still rompler-styles samples, not true drawbar organ emulation as in the Kronos. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted October 18, 2014 Author Members Share Posted October 18, 2014 Well, I guess that's just the way they are made, but it's unfortunate nonetheless. Not sure what advantage it gives the board to be set up like this, and I figured that enough people complained about it way back when that they probably would have changed it in later models. How hard would it be to allow you to access the internal sounds from another controller in Voice or Performance mode as well? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members AnotherScott Posted October 19, 2014 Members Share Posted October 19, 2014 How hard would it be to allow you to access the internal sounds from another controller in Voice or Performance mode as well? The Kronos doesn't let you do it in Program Mode (what they call their Voice mode) either. Both machines have different modes with different architectures designed to do different things. Another example is Yamaha's Master Mode. On a Kronos, some of those functions are in Set List mode, and some of those functions are in Combi mode. So each machine has some functions which can be done in one mode that require two modes on the other. But really, for live performance purposes, pretty much everything you can do in Yamaha's Performance mode can also be done in Song/Pattern Mix mode. Since you want the latter's MIDI functions, I would just suggest forgetting about Performance mode. Then you are not dealing with an additional mode, you're dealing with the same number of modes you would use on the Kronos... even if they're not the ones you first thought you needed. It is likely that you can find Yamaha's Performance mode completely unnecessary. Another advantage of doing it this way is that you get something closer to the Kronos' "seamless sound switching" function when you're in the Mix mode. You also can combine up to 16 Voices instead of 4. Essentially, use Voice mode on the Yamaha when you would use Program Mode on the Korg, and use Mix mode on the Yamaha when you would use Combi mode on the Korg, and you may find things working more the way you want them to. Some useful links: http://www.motifator.com/index.php/f...wthread/465768 http://web.archive.org/web/20130920014411/http://www.motifator.com/index.php/forum/viewthread/465634 http://www.motifator.com/index.php/s...our_live_setup Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted October 19, 2014 Author Members Share Posted October 19, 2014 Thanks for the tips! I had never really thought about Song Mode on the Yamaha being like Combi Mode on the Korg. I'll have to give that a spin. BTW, I just ordered a MOXF8 today. Hopefully I'll see it on my doorstep within the week! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted October 19, 2014 Author Members Share Posted October 19, 2014 Thanks for those links, Scott. You certainly seem to know your way around this board and those look to be invaluable resources. I can't wait to start digging into this machine and building some sounds! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted November 4, 2014 Author Members Share Posted November 4, 2014 Got my MOXF8 a few days ago. Haven't had nearly the time to spend with yet that I need to. As I'll be completely re-doing my patch and midi setup between my two main boards, I won't be able to use it for the gig on Saturday, but I'll be able to set it up after that. The sounds are great. The action is stiffer than I would like, but I'll get used to it I imagine. I think the build-quality is fine. For a plastic case board, it's more solid than my Roland A-37 controller, which I've been banging around for years with no issues. I think I'd have to pretty seriously drop it for something to crack on it. I wouldn't want to drop ANY keyboard that hard. It's cool that it has no boot-up time. It's almost 3 minutes for the Kronos to boot up and my original Motif takes about the same amount of time. There are some things that feel 'cheap' about it: the little push switch for power and the dinky wall-wart (really? Putting in such a small power supply would have added so much weight or cost?) feel like I'm using a toy board but there are going to be trade offs, for sure. I miss sliders, but I'll get used to the knobs. And a big touchscreen would have been nice, but the little screen on this is very much like what is on my old Motif, so I'm used to it. I don't like that for adding new sounds from other sources that I have to purchase a memory card. That adds a couple hundred dollars to the price of the board right there. Really, really good board for the money, overall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members keybdwizrd Posted November 4, 2014 Members Share Posted November 4, 2014 I've had an MOX6 for quite a while and absolutely love many things about it. The sounds are fantastic, and I love the fact that it is so lightweight and easy to carry around. Although I am not in a gigging band right now, I get together and play with other guys quite often, and carry the MOX6 around in the gig bag that Yamaha makes for it. I have never been concerned about the build quality, and wouldn't be concerned about the build quality on the MOXF8, either. All this being said, if I had the money, I would upgrade to the Motif XF7 in a heartbeat, if I could. (Although I am a pianist, I have been playing synths for many years, and prefer semi-weighted actions on electronic keyboards. I don't like playing synth and organ sounds on an 88-key weighted board.) Anyhow, I would upgrade to the XF7 for a variety of reasons, although all of them may not apply here: - The MOX6 can only do insert effects on three parts at a time, which is a big limitation. I think the MOXF increases this to eight parts, and I believe the XF will do 16 insert effects at the same time, but I am not 100% clear on this. Anyhow, the effects capability is much increased. - As has been pointed out, the stepping "feature" when turning the filter knob on the MOX is an annoyance that Yamaha should have avoided on these instruments. It basically renders it useless for real-time tweaking when playing synth solos. It sounds stupid. - The action on the XF6 and XF7 is vastly superior to that on the MOX6. And I have to say, I don't care for the action on the MOXF8 at all, even though I don't play weighted keyboards. Personally, I'd much prefer the XF8, but that's just me. - There's a lot of menu-diving with these instruments, and I'd much prefer the larger screen on the XF vs the MOX. Despite all of the above, the MOX and MOXF are great values. There is no arguing with the sounds, and the build quality seems vastly superior to that of competitive instruments such as the Roland FA or Krome (I originally wrote, Kronos, but meant to say Krome). At this point in my life, the benefits of the XF just aren't worth the significant cost increase. And for gigging, the lighter weight of the MOXF boards is a huge plus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted November 4, 2014 Author Members Share Posted November 4, 2014 All this being said, if I had the money, I would upgrade to the Motif XF7 in a heartbeat, if I could. (Although I am a pianist, I have been playing synths for many years, and prefer semi-weighted actions on electronic keyboards. I don't like playing synth and organ sounds on an 88-key weighted board.) I, too, have always been a synth player and have never had much of a desire for a piano-weighted board. But my current gig has me playing much more straight-up piano than I ever have before, so for the first time I've wanted one. I don't necessarily feel the need for 88 keys, and it does require extra space on stage. In a perfect world, my Kronos would be the 76-key fully weighted board and the MOXF would be a 6. I like the build quality on the MOXF8 well enough, but I wouldn't say it's superior to the Kronos. I know some people have complained that the knobs on the Kronos feel "chintzy", but after 2-3 years of gigging with it, I have to disagree. It's a solid machine. As far as weighted action goes, I actually really like the semi-weighted feel of my Roland A-37 controller. Light like a synth, but still just enough of an "action" feel to get the response I need when playing piano parts. I've never liked fully-weighted keys because they always feel heavy and sluggish to me. I suppose the intention is to create a similar weight as a real piano, but the action isn't the same. I never feel that point where the hammer is striking the strings. I suppose on some of the more expensive dedicated piano boards that they have a more realistic feel? I've never really tried any of those out. But synth playing has always been about compromises and adjustments it seems. I think I'll have a good one here: the MOXF8 for piano and synth parts that can easily be played on the keyboard and the Kronos for organ and leads and things that require a lighter feel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members AnotherScott Posted November 4, 2014 Members Share Posted November 4, 2014 dinky wall-wart (really? Putting in such a small power supply would have added so much weight or cost?) I think there are a bunch of issues to deal with. Putting the power supply inside can also create issues with heat dissipation, and the possibility of interference (i.e. hum/buzz) in nearby audio electronics, so there are additional potential impacts on the design. And there are FTC/UL regulations to meet. I don't think I've ever seen an internal power supply on a board with a plastic chassis, and I wonder if that's not coincidence. If an internal power supply ends up meaning you need a metal chassis, then you're adding a bunch of weight there, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members keybdwizrd Posted November 4, 2014 Members Share Posted November 4, 2014 I like the build quality on the MOXF8 well enough, but I wouldn't say it's superior to the Kronos. I know some people have complained that the knobs on the Kronos feel "chintzy", but after 2-3 years of gigging with it, I have to disagree. It's a solid machine. Sorry, my mistake. I meant to refer to the Krome, not the Kronos. I suppose on some of the more expensive dedicated piano boards that they have a more realistic feel? I've never really tried any of those out. They do get better, especially with instruments that are dedicated stage pianos. And the more expensive workstations seem to have better weighted actions than their less expensive counterparts, but they cost a lot more money and weigh a lot more, too. Roland did something interesting with their entry-level FA08 workstation - they put this "ivory touch" surface on the keys that is pretty neat. A slightly textured feel, perhaps like an older piano with aged ivory keys, as opposed to perfectly smooth plastic surfaces. I had a Yamaha CP33 stage piano for a while. It had very nice piano action, and the piano sound was very good. But that was about all it did, and it just took up too much room. I ended up selling it and putting the money toward my 76-key Roland Jupiter-50, which has a very nice synth action keyboard. I would prefer a weighted action for playing piano sounds, but I get by with the Roland, and I do like the Roland Supernatural pianos. And the Roland does 1,001 other things besides piano. If I were playing in a band and using a lot of piano sounds, I'd probably go with an MOXF8 and a second 61-key synth action board. And the MOXF8 sounds fantastic, and doesn't weigh a ton, like the 88-key XF does. The MOXF8 weighs 32 lbs, while the XF8 weighs a whopping 63 lbs. Put the XF8 in a hard shell case, and you've got one heckuva beast to cart around. No fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RockPianoman Posted November 4, 2014 Members Share Posted November 4, 2014 I still have my Motif 8 (the original series) and I was always shocked at how heavy and hard to move it was in it's hardshell case.....it was terrible to move.....I have my Yamaha P-70 piano connected to my Motif ES6 which is almost like having an MO8 but better,,,,,the acoustic piano in the P-70 is probably pretty close to what is in the CP33.....it's better than anything in the Motif ES6..... I made this P-70 demo recording straight into the Motif ES6 with no additional processing..... https://www.dropbox.com/s/ho44l6cs9h...-70%20Demo.mp3 If anyone is moving a Motif 8, what worked best for me is using a dolly with hard rubber (not inflatable) wheels and bungee cords.....my hardshell case had wheels but it was sooooo much easier to move with a dolly.....use enough bungee cords that it is like one with the dolly..... I had been using a dolly with inflatable wheels and I ended up with flat tires and it's REALLY bad to move with flat tires..... Other than the weighted keys being noisier than my P-70 keys, and how much harder it was to move, I really enjoyed giigging with my Motif 8.....once you were set up it was very luxurious to play....it did feel much more like you were playing a real grand piano.....I played a zillion gigs with it and the PowerGrand piano in the Motif 8 was my #1 acoustic piano sound at gigs at that time... Some of the keys on the Motif 8 and also on my P-200 started sticking after a while and Yamaha replaced the keybeds in both free of charge.....pretty cool since both were out of warranty when this happened..... Guido61......I also have a Roland A-37 and I really like it too but since I've always been a piano player first, I really like weighted keys more.....my Korg Karma is the top keyboard at gigs and covers the synth / organ duties and it's unweighted.....the Karma has aftertouch (so does the A-37).....the Roland A-30 & A33 boards that came before the A-37 don't have aftertouch and can only select 32 sounds where the A-37 can select all 128 in a bank......if you turn BANK SELECT off in your synths, then they won't always jump to the General MIDI bank when selecting sounds from it.....just select banks on the synth itself.... I found my Roland A-37 new, unopened last March.....it had been in the box so long that the Duracells they included were low on power.....it was $330 with free shipping on Ebay....I listed my A-33 right after buying it and it sold quickly.....I do miss the dedicated 2 MIDI on & off's on the A-33 and it also had dedicated Reverb and Chorus on & off buttons but those didn't work with my Yamaha gear (they worked with my Roland gear except my JV-1010)....... Program change chart I made for the A-37: https://www.dropbox.com/s/2z22kds3ji...%20Numbers.rtf I wish they had also put a 10 key on the A-37 to select sounds....it would be much easier than needing to use that chart. I do like that you can scroll up and down, one sound at a time from the A-37......the A-30 & A-33 couldn't do that.....I also like that the edges of the black keys on the A-33 and A-37 have corners......it's much easier not to slip of the edge of the key....the A-30 wasn't like that.....the edges remind me of how the black keys are with weighted keys but the edges are even better on the A-33 and A37 black keys.... My review of the A-37: http://www.harmonycentral.com/review...532cbea/721147 My A-37 is no longer my bottom board.....I use my P-70 piano now and with a MIDI Merge, the Motif ES6's controllers allow me to use all the Motif's controllers while playing from the weighted keys....I merge MIDI OUT and MIDI THRU on the Motif into one MIDI cable and then I daisy chain it through all my rackmount synths....now my P-70 has wheels and controllers.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted November 4, 2014 Author Members Share Posted November 4, 2014 Weight was the major issue for me to look at the MOXF8. I'm not a fan of "baby brother" keyboards, generally, but the idea of lugging around a XF8 in a case just seemed silly. And being SO much cheaper and not really needing a lot of the extra stuff the XF8 has (I don't really need the sampler or the individual outputs. I can get all the flexibility I need in that regard from the Kronos) and it wasn't really even a question. Nice board. I'm enjoying it a lot. Can't wait to get in up and into my rig. I'll party hard with the Motif this weekend though. One last hurrah for the old girl! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members dan88z Posted November 5, 2014 Members Share Posted November 5, 2014 The filter stepping is because the knob is detented, not smooth. My S70XS is the same way. It's really no problem to assign filter sweep to the mod wheel where you need it. No need to edit 1100 sounds lol, just the ones you need filter sweep on! Congrats on the new board, I had considered the XF8 but felt it wasn't a big enough upgrade for the S70XS, while a lot lighter, it didn't give me much more functionality, at least, functionality that I'd use. I opted for the Roland FA08 instead, I liked the supernatural pianos and synth tones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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