NAMM: Motif Coming to a Rack Near You

(Click for a close-up)

Yamaha builds on the legacy of Motif with the debut of the Motif Rack at Winter NAMM 2003. Loaded with the same great sounds as the ground-breaking Motif Music Production Synthesizer and updated with expanded polyphony and effects, the 1-RU unit is an addition to a personal studio, a keyboard workstation or performance system. The Motif Rack is scheduled for February delivery and carries an MSRP of $1,250.

The Motif Rack features full 128-note polyphony and, like its keyboard counterpart, 48MB wave ROM. An intuitive user interface provides quick access to all functions and includes a 160 x 64 dot LCD.

The Motif Rack contains 896 normal preset voices (including the General MIDI bank) and 65 preset drum kits; user voices include 256 normal/32 drum kits, plus 128 user multi setups. In addition to the same chorus and reverb as found on the Motif Synthesizer, a significant new feature is the expansion of Insert effects in Multi Timbral mode so that up to four Voices can have their Inserts Effects enabled.

Two expansion slots will accept Yamaha's PLG Modular Synthesis Plug-in Expansion boards, resulting in new sounds, effects, additional notes of polyphony and new synthesis engines. Connections include a built-in USB MIDI interface and MIDI IN/OUT/THRU connections, Stereo OUT, four individual OUTs and a Digital OUT. A bundled application CD-ROM contains a Voice Editor and Multi-part editor for Windows and Mac platforms.

"The additional 128 notes of polyphony and the extra inserts are really attractive features," states Avery Burdette, Product Manager, Digital Musical Instruments. "The Motif Rack makes a perfect complement to a Motif or any other music production system."