MOTIF XF Workstation Review
Get your Motif XF from GuitarCenter.com today: Yamaha MOTIF XF8, MOTIF XF7, MOTIF XF6.
The Motif range of synthesizers from Yamaha has garnered quite a reputation and since being launched in 2001 has grown to be recognized as the top selling, best sounding and most requested music workstation on the market. The Motif XF range, including the XF6, XF7 & XF8 builds on the vast range of features of the previous models to offer a workstation of amazing music creation capabilities while providing unrivaled levels of integration for superior workflow, all the way from PC’s through to iPads.
Motif XF8
Motif XF7
Motif XF6
The list of features is long and impressive with each providing the facilities and capabilities to take your inspiration and put it down on paper, so to speak, in the quickest and most convenient way. Let’s step through the features for a deeper understanding of exactly what the XF is capable of.
Features
- Comprehensive high sound quality, including an enormous 741MB of waveforms
- An additional 128 Voices and 8 drum kits, for a total of 1,353 high-quality Voices
- Up to 2GB of additional content available through separately sold flash memory
- Realization of unique instrument performance methods through the XA (Expanded Articulation) tone generation system
- Reproduction of the unique, natural, warm sounds of vintage instruments through VCM effects
- 384 types of performances based on approximately 7800 types of arpeggiators
- Enhanced sampling through 128MB of onboard SD-RAM
- The popular FSX (MOTIF XF6/7) and BH (MOTIF XF8) keyboards
- Improvement of usability thanks to the use of a new GUI
- Category Search feature that provides instant access to the Voices you want
- Cubase AI — a DAW software application from Steinberg
- DAW integration through remote control, an editor software
- Scalability through standard-equipped USB and Ethernet and the FW16E option
Comprehensive Sound Engine
The Sound Engine in the Motif XF has got synth sounds covered from vintage to modern, with 18 different filter types, unique Wave Cycle feature, 6-stage envelopes that control pitch, filter and amplitude, and Control Sets for assignable modulation.
The tone generator that makes everything work uses the very latest technology to make an 8-element-per-voice structure possible with the basics of the generator being inherited from the world renowned XS. The 8-element structure allows you to create amazingly accurate acoustic instruments along with their natural expressive articulations with help from Yamaha’s XA (Expanded Articulation).
To give you some idea of the power of the system, you can re-create guitar slides and harmonics, key release noises of many instruments including pianos, string instrument articulations such as tremolo, pizzicato, spicato etc., and the natural legato of wind instruments. And to make all these articulations easy to work with and manage there are dedicated AF1 & AF2 buttons.
If you need to recreate sophisticated piano pedaling techniques then the XF can oblige with the addition of the FC3 foot pedal which works with the tone generator and supports half damper pedaling.
Superior quality keyboards
The Motif XF range, XF6 XF7 XF8, has a number of keyboards to suite various users, the XF6 has 61 keys while the XF7 has 76 keys and both feature an FSX keyboard while the XF8 has an 88 key Balanced Hammer keyboard.
The FSX keyboard featured on the XF6 & XF7, is all about playing comfort and responsiveness with a smooth touch which is all provided by a newly developed mechanism, Yamaha have also put a lot of work into making the FSX keyboard quiet to play.
The goal of the Balanced Hammer keyboard on the XF8 is twofold; it is perfectly suited to performing a multitude of synth sounds, while giving you the impression of playing a grand piano. If anyone has the knowhow of what it takes to create that genuine grand piano feel it would have to be Yamaha and with their experience gained the XS along with the knowledge of what is needed in the synth world, a satisfying middle ground has been found.
VCM effects
Yamaha have found a way to model just about every nuance of vintage stomp boxes, compressors and EQ’s right down the texture of these devices and included it in the XF workstation by way of their proprietary Virtual Circuitry Modeling (VCM). How it does this is by modeling every aspect of the vintage device right down to the component level, such as resistors and transistors, to provided a new level of accuracy and warmth.
The VCM has other handy features such as the award winning “REV-X” reverb, taken from the SPX2000, and vocoder effects. These vocoder effects allow you to create harmonies by applying effects to your own voice, sampled by connecting a mic to the Motif’s A/D input.
741MB of Voices
The collection of Voices on the Motif XF is comprehensive, to say the least and covers all the Voices you would expect, such as wind instruments, guitars, basses, strings, orchestral sounds, EPs, vintage and modern synths, drums, and of course pianos. Two Piano Voices that have been included and are worth mentioning are two Yamaha grands, the 9’ CFIII and the 7’ S6. Every little nuance and performance enhancing detail has been included so that the Motif XF can recreate either of these two “institutions” with a fantastic level of reality.
7000 pattern strong arpeggiator
When it came time to build the arpeggiator in the XF Yamaha took the extensive library of arps from the XS and took it to the next level, adding a number of new percussion, synthesizer, drum and ending arpeggios in the order of 1,200 to arrive at a total 7,881 types of arpeggios that are offered on the Motif XF. In addition to all the standard arpeggio patterns you would expect to find on a workstation of this caliber, the XF has a number of useful extra features, such as:
- Synth parameters can be modulated in time MIDI clock, including filtering and panning
- By combining keyboard MegaVoices and arpeggios the unit can simulate acoustic instrument performances
128MB internal SD-RAM provides more room for sampling
No need to purchase extra memory, with the 128MB internal SD-RAM you can do all the sampling you need to get just the right mix. The sampling feature allows you to add guitars, vocals and other acoustic instruments, load sample Voice libraries and import WAV files to your Motif sequences.
Sampling vocals is easy, just connect your mic to the A/D input on the XF and sample away, the Motif also allows you to easily manage samples once you’ve got what you want by matching the recorded audio perfectly to any changes you make to the tempo of a pattern or song. And if you want to process the recordings in minute detail that is easy as well with a redesigned sample editing user interface.
Flash memory can be upgraded to a total of 2GB
If you want to up-spec your XF so it can store your own samples or add some of the new Motif Voice libraries then Yamaha can oblige with a number of upgrade options. The XF has two memory upgrade slots and the memory modules come in two sizes, 512MB and 1GB. So there are a number of combinations available to suite you needs:
- 512MB
- 1GB
- 1 ½ GB
- 2GB
And if you add all the memory together on the XF, RAM, internal and Flash, the XF can be upgraded to a total of 3GB, giving you the option to take just about every sound you might need on the road. Plus if you want some inspiration there is a whole other world on offer with XF specific third-party Voice and sample libraries.
Instantly express your ideas with Performance mode
The Motif XF brings you the power to instantly express your ideas with Performance mode, which enables you to layer up to 4 Voices, and to make everything easy to manage, split the keyboard into 4 sections with different velocity and key range windows. The real power of the unit comes into play when you add the arpeggiator to the different voices, as the XF allows you to run four different arps at the same time and easily mix things up by allowing you to switch in real time between five different variations of arpeggio patterns. And if that is not enough the workstation also features Chordal Intelligence where many of the arps will create different phrases depending on the chords that are being played on the keyboard.
Total precision of your mix is afforded as you can record performances in real time to patterns and songs for further editing and refining.
Cubase AI from Steinberg
The Motif XF comes with a special Yamaha version of Cubase, the world-renowned DAW software. Cubase AI has the same engine as Cubase 5 but has been modified to integrate more efficiently with the Motif.
Straight forward DAW integration
If you have a visual bent and like to “see” your mix to make more precise Voice edits the Yamaha Motif XF DAW Editor allows you do easily edit your mix on a PC, and as the XF comes with fully functional bi-directional communication you can change parameters with the mouse or adjust knobs on the workstation and everything will be perfectly matched, allowing you to seamless go from one device to the other as the mood takes you. All of this is possible due to the seamless integration of the Motif XF with Steinberg’s Cubase 5, and if you want to use you workstation as a VST soft synth, you can with the VST3 editor, including AI.
And if you want to take full advantage of the integration capabilities of the workstation and record 16 tracks of audio to the DAW software, then there is an optional FireWire FW16E expansion board available.
Integrated Sampling Sequencer
Creating complete songs, including vocals, guitars and acoustic instruments, is easy and can be done all within the workstation thanks to the Integrated Sampling Sequencer. The sequencer allows you to do this by combining MIDI and audio samples (driven by MIDI events) and as the XF comes with 128MB RAM for sampling it is ready to go straight out of the box without needing to buy anything extra.
The unit even offers flexibility in the way you work by offering two sequencer modes:
A. First is a 16-track Pattern sequencer that allows you to build up sections of the song (verse, chorus, bridge, etc.) by working in loops and then chaining each section together to form the complete song.
B. Second is the 16-track Song sequencer, which acts in a linear tape machine style and lets you record then punch in and out as you would a tape machine with a DAW interface.
Not only does if offer these two modes you can quickly jump between the two depending on your needs and you can import finished Songs straight into Cubase along with all the samples for future editing and mastering using the bundled software.
Find Voices easily with Category Search
Finding just the right Voice to add to your mix is now easier than ever with Voices being categorized by instruments and featuring sub-categories, this superior sorting method also works with third party libraries. With the favorites feature you can tag Voices and Performances that you really like so you can get at them super fast. And with Performance Mode the Performances are sorted in musical genres so you can get at them on the fly.
Specifications
Physical Specs
| MOTIF XF6 | MOTIF XF7 | MOTIF XF8 | ||
| Dimensions | Width | 1,045 mm (41-1/8″) | 1,252 mm (49-1/4″) | 1,439 mm (56-5/8″) |
| Height | 122 mm (4-3/4″) | 122 mm (4-3/4″) | 168 mm (6-5/8″) | |
| Depth | 391 mm (15-3/8″) | 391 mm (15-3/8″) | 466 mm (18-3/8″) | |
| Weight | Weight | 15.1 kg (33.29 lb) | 17.2 kg (37.92 lb) | 28.9 kg (63.71 lb) |
| MOTIF XF6 | MOTIF XF7 | MOTIF XF8 | ||
| Keyboard | Number of Keys | 61 | 76 | 88 |
| Type | FSX Keyboard (Initial Touch/Aftertouch) | FSX Keyboard (Initial Touch/Aftertouch) | Balanced Hammer Effect Keyboard (Initial Touch/Aftertouch) | |
Common Specs
| Tone Generator | AWM2, with Expanded Articulation |
| Maximum Polyphony | 128 notes |
| Multi Timbral Capacity | 16 Parts (internal), Audio Input Parts (A/D, FW*) *1 stereo Part |
| Wave | 741 MB (when converted to 16-bit linear format), 3,977 waveforms |
| Voices | Preset: 1,024 Normal Voices + 64 Drum Kits GM: 128 Normal Voices + 1 Drum Kit User: 128 x 4 (Bank 1: original, Bank 2 – 4: selected and copied from Preset bank) + 32 Drum Kits (No. 1 – 8: original, No. 9 – 32: selected and copied from Preset bank) |
| Performance | User: 128 x 4 (up to 4 Parts) |
| Filter | 18 types |
| Effects | Reverb x 9 types, Chorus x 22 types, Insertion (A, B) x 53 types x 8 Parts (up to 16 units), Vocoder x 1 (uses both Insertion Effect A and B blocks), Master Effect x 9 types (Preset settings for parameters of each effect type are provided as templates; total 320) Master EQ (5 bands), Part EQ (3 bands, stereo) |
| Note Capacity | Approx. 130,000 notes |
| Note Resolution | 480 ppq (parts per quarter note) |
| Maximum Polyphony | 124 notes |
| Tempo (BPM) | 5 – 300 |
| Song recording type | Real time replace Real time overdub (with the exception of the Pattern Chain) Real time punch in/out (Song only) |
| Song tracks | Pattern: 16 Phrase tracks Pattern Chain: Pattern track, Tempo track, Scene track Song: 16 sequence tracks (Loop on/off can be set for each track), Tempo track, Scene track |
| Songs | 64 Songs Mixing Voices: 16 Voices per Song and up to 256 Voices for all Songs Mixing Templates: 32 for all Songs and Patterns |
| Patterns | 64 Patterns (x 16 sections), Measures: 256 maximum Mixing Voices: 16 Voices per Pattern and up to 256 Voices for all Patterns Mixing Templates: 32 for all Songs and Patterns |
| Phrases | User Phrases: 256 per Pattern |
| Arpeggio | Preset: 7,881 types User: 256 types *MIDI Sync, MIDI transmit/receive channel, Velocity Limit, and Note Limit can be set. |
| Scene Memory | 5 per Song |
| Sequence formats | Original format, SMF format 0, 1 (Format 1 load only) |
| Samples | Up to 128 Waveforms (Multi Samples) Up to 256 Key Banks per Waveform Up to 512 Key Banks |
| Sampling Sources | Analog input L/R, Stereo output (Resampling) FW (available when the FW16E has been installed) |
| A/D Conversion | 24-bit, 64x oversampling |
| D/A Conversion | 24-bit,128x oversampling |
| Sample Data Bits | 16 |
| Sampling Frequency | 44.1kHz, 22.05kHz, 11.025kHz, 5.5125kHz (Stereo/Mono) Sampling Frequency via FW (when the FW16E has been installed): 44.1kHz (fixed) |
| Sampling Memory | Internal SDRAM: 128M |
| Sample Length | Mono: 32 MB Stereo: 64 MB |
| Sampling Time | 44.1kHz: 6 min. 20 sec. 22.05kHz: 12 min. 40 sec. 11.025kHz: 25 min. 20 sec. 5.5125kHz: 50 min. 40 sec. *Mono/Stereo |
| Sample Format | Original format, WAV, AIFF |
| Master | User: 128 *8 Zones (Master keyboard settings), Assignable Knob/Slider settings, Program Change Table |
| Sequence Software compatible with the Remote Control function | For Windows: Cubase 4 – 5, SONAR 5.2 – 8 For Mac: Cubase 4 – 5, Logic 7.2 – LogicStudio, Digital Performer 5.1 – 6 *Functions to be controlled differ depending on the software. |
| Controllers | Pitch Bend wheel, Modulation wheel, Ribbon Controller, Assignable Control Sliders x 8, Assignable Knobs x 8, Assignable Function buttons x 2, Data dial |
| Display | 320 x 240 dot, 5.7 inch graphic color backlit LCD |
| Connectors | OUTPUT L/MONO, R (standard phone jack) ASSIGNABLE OUTPUT L, R (standard phone jack) A/D INPUT L, R (standard phone jack) DIGITAL OUT PHONES (standard stereo phone jack) FOOT CONTROLLER 1, 2 FOOT SWITCH x 2 (SUSTAIN, ASSIGNABLE) MIDI IN/OUT/THRU USB (TO HOST, TO DEVICE) AC IN ETHERNET (100BASE-TX) IEEE1394 (available when the FW16E has been installed) |
| Accessories | AC Power cord, Owner’s Manual, Owner’s Manual CD-ROM (containing Reference Manual and Data List), DVD-ROM (containing DAW software) |
Purchasing Peace of Mind
To purchase this highly recommended keyboard, simply go to GuitarCenter.com, they are your one-stop-shop for all your music needs. Peace of mind is assured as their Checkout is 128-bit SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) encrypted by VeriSign:
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Get your Motif XF from GuitarCenter.com today: Yamaha MOTIF XF8, MOTIF XF7, MOTIF XF6.
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