Roland Fantom G vs Yamaha Motif XS

To add a bit to what Jpscoey has said, consider this as a little more background:

A DAW (any DAW) is both a control surface, midi sequencer and digital recorder.

You can get "voices" ie' sounds into your DAW from a number of different sources. Primary "sources" are:

HARDWARE:

This can be like any keyboard or synth, module or rack or drum machine, sampler, and can generate sound and/or be triggered via midi data. Think of ANY keyboard or module that produces audio and transmits and receives midi and that fits into this category.

SOFTWARE:

These are soft synths, samplers and live in the computer domain as "virtual" instruments and "plug in's". They behave exactly like their hardware counterpart, except they require a computer to operate them and do not "stand alone". Examples are: Arturia Minimoog V, Prophet V, Kontakt, CORE, BFD, Strike, NI B4 and the list goes on and on.

These "instruments" are plugged into your track virtually and controlled via their individual control center on your PC.


HYBRID/COMBO:

These are hardware synths, modules and racks that can ALSO be recognized by a DAW as a plug in or "virtual" VSTi instrument. Motif XS is an example of a hardware/virtual synth. If you plug Motif XS into your PC and into your DAW with a USB cable, and launch it's control environment, you can control EVERY aspect of Motif XS from via your DAW, just like if you were actually twisting the knobs and pressing buttons on the synth. You can call it up in your DAW like any other "soft synth" and never touch the physical keyboard.

Other synths that can be controlled virtually are: Virus Ti, Korg M3 & M50, Roland G and many others.

If you're an absolute beginner with workstations and the depth of their functions, I would not recommend Motif XS. It's WAAAYYYY deep, powerful and can be daunting to even the most experienced workstation users to get the full power out of it.

I think the same can be said for the Fantom G, although it's user interface is easer to navigate, it's still a beast from a performance and function standpoint.

If you're not going to do any live performance with your workstations and have no need for onboard sequencing and sampling, I'd look elsewhere for a solution. If you buy Motif XS or Fantom G, you'll be spending a ton of money for features you'll never use. Rack modules to be coupled with Logic is the way you'll want to go if you want those fab sounds.

That said, if you want to get into learning an onboard workstation with advanced sequencing features, buy a used "original" Motif or an original Fantom FA-76 or Fantom Xa. You'll spend a lot less money to cut your teeth on the workstation and once you've mastered those babies, then the new ones won't be such a shock to the system.

I hope this didn't further confuse things!!

...not at all Meisenhower, you made this quite clear and both Jpscoey and you reassured me on that matter and I thank you for that because it is true I always aim too high and at the end of the day I get disappointed and loose a lot of energy and motivation in the process.

Now if I follow your advice which is what I think I will do...will I need a controller keyboard? If yes could you advice me on some models? Since I have a Roland FP-3
with a good hammer weighted key action, and assuming I need to buy a keyboard controller, what sort of key action would you say I should get?

Tolmon:

If all your looking to do is play and transmit midi data to your DAW and trigger a VSTi, soft synth of module, your FP3 will do just nicely (as it has both midi in and out)

As long as you're not expecting to control multiple modules, need to change midi channels on the fly or do splitting, layering or other function requiring zone mapping, you're already all set.

On the other hand, if you want more control (ie, assignable knobs and sliders) to map to your daw and VSTi's, you have many choice from Korg, M-Audio, Novation, E-mu and others.

Personally, for some quickie stuff, I have an E-MU Xboard 49 which is great for controlling soft synths and is easy to map. It has 16 control knobs and a nice PC interface. Since you don't need weighted keys, you can accomplish this pretty inexpensively. Shop around and talk to your local guys and see what looks good to you. Many many choices in this arena.

You can spend as little as $99 USD or as much as $2000 USD on this particular animal.

That very much depends on the type of music you are writing.
If, for example, you are in the electronic/techno/dance music field, than you
would not neccessarily need a keyboard at all - indeed my son does exactly this.

If, however, you are composing flowing passages of music with lots of expression &
subtle nuances that you play in 'real-time' (record from start to finish, then 'tweak' later) you definitely would want a good quality action.
This does not have to be a controller keyboard - any MIDI-compatible keyboard
could perform this task (I had a quick look at the FP-3 & it doesn't appear to have MIDI connections).

You should concentrate on the 'touch' if this is a requirement.

Things to consider are -

1. 'velocity sensitive' - the harder you play the key, the louder the sound.

2. 'aftertouch' - while holding a key down, you can press a little firmer & this
will activate such (programmable) things as modulation (tremelo/vibrato etc).

If you go for this option consider any in-built sounds a bonus!


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Apologies Meisenhower - I was obviously writing my reply at the same time as you!

As I said, a quick glance at rolands website & it only mentioned audio-out in
the blurb - so I stand corrected!

Jpscoey,

Actually the Roland FP-3 has Midi In & Out and it is already plugged into a 2x2 Midisport Interface which is connected to my Mac. This is the set-up I have been using until now

Regarding the music I will be writing...I am planning to try a bit of everything so I can learn and be fluent in as many styles as I can.

...I always thought that one would need a fully weighted key action only to be used for piano. Is that kind of key action really necessary for the other instruments? Also if I need to play the epiano or the organ, couldn't I use my FP-3 as a master keyboard and switch later to my controller keyboard?

I think I will go for a controller keyboard but I am still a bit confused about the kind of action I should get...

Meisenhower, I will look into the models you suggested...

I am new to forums and I just have to say that I am really amazed by the quality and amount of info one can get out of them...and I would like to insist on how much I appreciate the time you managed to give me in order to answer my questions and provide me with very useful advice. It almost makes me uncomfortable!

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For Heaven's sake, don't feel uncomfortable... these forums exist for precisely
that reason! - give & take!

Regarding the touch issue, as I said in my previous post, I was mistaken regarding MIDI on the FP-3 so you've got your bases covered on that score.

If you want authenticty whilst playing organ sounds & the like go for a synth-action
keyboard.

Bear in mind the point I made about velocity/aftertouch.

A real organ does not have these features of course, so you should de-activate them
when playing 'instruments' of this type (off the top of my head, piano-accordian also falls into this catagory - maybe somewhat appropriate as you are in Paris!).

If, however, you were playing, say, a saxophone sound, aftertouch provides a means of introducing that 'rasping' sound where the player 'over-blows' the reed. Very effective.

Considering that there is usually not that much of a difference in price between
61-note & 76-note keyboards, I would suggest you go for the 76.
It is very frustrating when you are in mid-flow and realise you are about to run
out of keys!

There are quite a few choices to consider in this area of the market, so let us
know what your thoughts are & we can take it from there.

PS- I admire your desire to not restrict yourself to one genre... after all, variety
IS the spice of life!


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By the way - you should take a close look at the Motif XS7 - I recently acquired one
of these magnificent instruments & the sounds are awesome, as is the playability.

Its' interface is also not as difficult to operate as you may imagine - most things follow a logical
path and, other than it's technical capabilities, it's great FUN!

Also, regarding an earlier post, I currently own a Roland FA76 and find the Motif much
more intuitive to operate - maybe it's just me!.... but as Meisenhower rightly said: you need to find
out for yourself which instrument you feel most comfortable with.


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Get the Motif XS, it is not impossible to learn and there is always www.motifator.com to help you with any difficulties that you may encounter. Trust me, you won't be disappointed.

I think they are very similar workstations for what your trying to do, however if you ever want to go further with the keyboard the motif will be more adaptive.

in the end its whatever you feel more comfortable with.

I know this is a bit late of a post, i would be interested in finding out what choice you made.