Help! Looking at keyboards and I'm confused

[jdon]

I'm looking at new keyboards for the first time in a long time (started a few months ago), and I'm confused as to a bunch of things. I've looked primarily at the Motif XF8 and the roland fa-08 but also checked out a bunch of others online. I have a roland a-90 now, which I bought new, which should give you an idea of how long it has been. I like the feel but it is obviously nowhere near as good as the newer keyboards, which blew me away.

 

I've noticed that everyone seems to say how the Yamaha MOXF8 has the same sound engine as the XF8 (and the roland FA-08 has the same sound engine as the integra-7) however to me it seems like there is a major step up in sound quality between those. Is there a reason for this or can you somehow upload the XF8 sounds to the MOXF8? I wasn't really impressed at all with the FA-08 or MOXF8 sounds, at least when compared to the integra 7 and motif xf8.

 

After seeing these I heard the tyros-5 sounds online, and they sound amazing, though I don't really need or want the other tyros 5 features and I prefer a weighted keyboard (and really everything else about the motif xf8). I'm waiting for NAMM too in case if they come out with a better one or a combination of the two. But otherwise I'm pondering either a combination of the MOXF8 (or even sticking with my A-90 and a DAW) and an integra 7 or else a MOTIF XF8

I'm also wondering if the integra-7 and tyros-5 sounds are really as good as they sound online, as I've never found them in person

 

 

I also am looking a lot at the sequencing abilities, though I'm wondering if people in general use the on board sequencers or if everyone eventually switches to DAWs for ease of use.

[AnotherScott]

I've noticed that everyone seems to say how the Yamaha MOXF8 has the same sound engine as the XF8 (and the roland FA-08 has the same sound engine as the integra-7) however to me it seems like there is a major step up in sound quality between those. Is there a reason for this or can you somehow upload the XF8 sounds to the MOXF8? I wasn't really impressed at all with the FA-08 or MOXF8 sounds' date=' at least when compared to the integra 7 and motif xf8..[/quote']

The MOXF does have all the sounds (voices) of the XF8. However the FA-08 is nowhere near an Integra. The FA and the Integra do have some sounds in common... they both include the 15 year sound set from the XV-5080, they both have the same VA synth, and some other sounds... however much of the "meat" of the Integra comes from its large library of SuperNatural Acoustic instruments, and very few of those are in the FA.

 

[jdon]

Are the sounds identical on the MOXF8? For whatever reason they sounded different to me, though it could have just been the setup in the music store.

 

As for the integra and FA-08, there was a roland rep in the store that said that the sound engine itself was the same and that you could download the integra 7 sounds for the FA-08. However the sounds for the FA-08 just didn't sound anything close to the samples that I've heard for the Integra-7 online (though again maybe there are some online tricks to make it sound better), and after searching around the axial libraries I haven't found any with the more impressive supernatural sounds from the integra-7

 

Also, how would you say that the tyros-5 sounds compare to the integra? I do wish they would at least give the ability for the motif to somehow import the sounds of the tyros, from what I've seen it just sounds incredible, though I'm not a huge fan of the platform as a whole (don't need all of the auto-accompaniment, I do like the sequencer and arpeggiator of the motif, and like weighted keys)

 

[AnotherScott]

Are the sounds identical on the MOXF8? For whatever reason they sounded different to me, though it could have just been the setup in the music store.

Well, you do need to compare them through identical playback systems. And make sure you're calling up the same patches. They might play different from different actions, there may be a subtle difference in the electronics (i.e. DAC), but fundamentally, they should sound basically the same.

 

As for the integra and FA-08, there was a roland rep in the store that said that the sound engine itself was the same and that you could download the integra 7 sounds for the FA-08.

The *synth* engine is the same. So you can get the same synth sounds. For the most part, you cannot get the same ("SuperNatural") acoustic instrument sounds (brass, winds, solo strings, chromatic percussion, elec guitars, etc.)

[jdon]

Thanks! that is very useful, I was looking primarily at the acoustic instrument sounds on the integra so that would totally explain the discrepancy. I guess it will be another trip to the music store, after NAMM, to check out the 3 keyboards. The integra does sound appealing (in combination with one of the two cheaper keyboards) as it did seem to have the best sound quality of the three (not including the tyros). I suppose all of this might not be relevant though if something impressive comes out of NAMM in a week (and for Yamaha at least it certainly seems due, and they could easily do it by combining the tyros and motif)

[The Pro]

Have you even looked at the price of the Tyros 5? It is a high-end arranger, perhaps the "highest" of the high-end arrangers. It's not in the same category as workstations. If you can afford the Tyros 5 and you know how to use it then you don't need anything else. It's not something you would find in a music store because the stores don't want hacks coming in a beating up such an expensive keyboard.

 

 

 

[AnotherScott]

The integra does sound appealing (in combination with one of the two cheaper keyboards)

By two cheaper keyboards, I assume you're talking about the MOXF and the FA? I would lean against the FA because every sound in the FA can also be gotten out of the Integra (though not the other way around). OTOH, I think the MOXF would be a particularly good board to pair with the Integra. Not only does it give you an entirely different sound set, it also lets you put in a flash card that allows you to add up to a gigabyte of custom sounds (additional sounds from Yamaha, sounds from third-party libraries, or sounds of your own); and also, the way its front panel works is that you can also set it up so that its 16 main patch select buttons can function to turn the 16 MIDI channels on and off, which gives you a great way to control the Integra, which allows you to assemble "Studio Sets" that are sets of 16 sounds each on their own channel.

[jdon]

I'm talking about the FA and MOXF, yes. That is what I was thinking too about the FA, that there would be massive overlap, but at the same time I wonder if the function keys are set up better to integrate with the Integra, though it sounds like you can program up the MOXF well enough to handle that too

Also I do want a decent sequencer but it sounds like they both have that, so probably the MOXF/Integra combo would be the way to go.

 

Do you agree that the Integra sounds are superior to the Motif soundset? I have never heard an integra in person so it would be somewhat of a gamble, though online the sounds sounded amazing.

 

As for the Tyros price, I do agree it is a bit much for me. However I'm just hoping that they would put some of the tyros sounds into a Motif type platform for a lower price sometime soon, which would be a perfect all in one platform for me. I do realize this is a longshot though (at least in the short term). But I definitely don't need all of the auto-accompaniment features of the Tyros, I am more into the sounds.

[The Pro]

The Tyros series relies strongly on the way the keys are played to get the sonic realism that makes it a $5k+ instrument. Some of that technology does trickle down into the Motifs and Mo's but it's not realistic to expect Yamaha to put Tyros sounds into anything but a Tyros... otherwise why buy a Tyros?