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Yamaha Motif Mox8 or ES8?


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Hi Everybody! Wanting an additional 88 key for gigging and church use... Tired of lugging around so much stuff...

 

Looks like pricing for the new MOX8 and a used ES8 on Ebay are about the same. I use piano sounds alot with an organ or string/pad layer. Hoping to get some advice from folks who might have played both.

 

I love the weight and sounds of the new MOX... Looks like a great board except for the fact that it doesn't have the faders which could be a problem for the layers.

 

Point me in the right direction!

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I'd take the MOX over the ES. It's got the XS voice architecture and sounds. Plus its a lot lighter weight. MOX is 64 voices but that shouldn't be too big a deal unless you are using some real heavy layers. No aftertouch on the MOX, that would be the dealbreaker for me as I use after touch a lot.

 

There is a way around the lack of faders for volume control of layers. Someone on the other keyboard forum figured it out and it's easy to find.

 

It's a nice sounding board:

[video=youtube;ofoVHTcHO-A]

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Thanks guys! I appreciate the responses! Particularly the links and the info about adjusting the layer levels... For those that are gigging regularly with the MOX8, what are you using for a case... I've always went with hardshell ata cases but I don't want to lose the benefit of the light weight...

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The keybed and aftertouch are important, but you are looking at nearly double the weight and almost 10 year old technology in the Motif. I'd take the MOX. Personally, I can adjust to any keyboard action as long as it's not too heavy or stiff (like an old Rhodes), so the keybed would be lower on the list of priorities for me. Aftertouch is way more important, but the soundset that the MOX offers at the price point, it's a pretty good package.

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Aftertouch is way more important, but the soundset that the MOX offers at the price point, it's a pretty good package.

 

Aftertouch is something I prefer as well, especially since my left hand is usually busy on another keyboard, so use of a wheel is often not practical. But using a foot pedal for modulation is often a workable substitute. I did this for pitch bend on a Kurzweil recently, and I used a sustain pedal (continuous controller type, not simple on-off) so that I could press on it for effect and have it spring back without having to use my foot to bring it back, and it worked very well.

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That's definitely an option.

 

How hard was it to control the bend with the pedal? I guess you can only bend one way like that, which would be useful for certain effects and if you set the bend range to only a whole step or something like that it wouldn't be too difficult to use.

 

Now- using a continuous controller pedal for modulation, that might be interesting!

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Now- using a continuous controller pedal for modulation, that might be interesting!

 

I agree. And that's one of the criticisms I have of most boards, too few pedal inputs! I really want 3 continuous pedals... pitch, modulation, and expression/volume... and most units only have one jack. You can put an analog pedal on the audio output to get a volume pedal, but an expression pedal is more flexible, in letting you do things like fade in strings under piano, or increasing distortion along with volume on an organ patch. Adding a Behringer FCB1010 is one way to get a couple of extra pedals, but it's a bit big and heavy if that's all you want it for, plus as I mentioned, I want to be able to use spring-back sustain-style CC pedals too. So the better answer might be to get a couple of MIDI Solutions pedal boxes, albeit at double the price of the Behringer approach.

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