Please advise which is better workstation

[musician24]

Friends,

Wishes for all of you,
I would like to buy a keyboard workstation, but I am quite confused between Korg Krome 88 , Korg M3 and Yamaha MOX F8. Please add your genuine advises and recommendations, which key board is best for compositions.

Really I need your help. Thanks in advance.

 

[Ted Nicoson]

I can not help you directly, as I have no experience with Korg units what-so-ever, but you may get some questions on the Yamaha unit as you have mixed the names of two different models. The Motif XF8 is Yamaha's current 88 key TOTL workstation that sells for $3600 USD. The MO X8 is an 88 key MOTL workstation that uses the PREVIOUS XS (NOT CURRENT XF) sound engine and sells for $1500 USD. I do not know if the MO X uses the same graded hammer action keybed as the XF, but for the huge difference in cost, I doubt it very much.

 

[happyrat1]

While I have no direct experience with the models you listed, general wisdom favors the Yamahas for natural sounding acoustic instruments while the Korgs are better suited to techno and synth pop styles of music.

One other minor item which could be considered a dealbreaker depends on whether or not you plan to do your sequencing on a computer or not.

While both the MOX8 as well as the Korgs can interface with a computer via USB MIDI, the Yamahas tend to use proprietary drivers which force you depend on Yamaha to write the drivers and support future OS upgrades while the Korgs are USB MIDI Class Compliant Devices which can be used with generic drivers on ANY operating system including Linux.

I've always used Linux on my computers for the past 15 years so Yamaha's lack of Linux support has always been a dealbreaker for me.

Hope this helps,

Gary

 

[Ted Nicoson]

musician24

I apologize. I posted in haste and in error. I stand corrected.

I just visited the Yamaha US website and see that they ARE offering, in fact, a MOXF series that I assume will replace the MOX series with the XF voice engine instead of the XS engine.

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Gary

Little by little, Yamaha is coming around, but in a very sideways fashion, sort of. Their current MOTL arrangers, the PSR-S750 and S950, and their TOTL behemoth arranger, the $5000 Tyros 4 are all Core MIDI and Fully Class Compliant, but I don't think you will find that listed on a spec sheet anywhere. Most users, who know it, found out by just trying it and getting pleasantly surprised. About the only place you see it printed is on the sides of the boxes of the entry level arrangers and low end stage pianos that ARE Compliant, which is a continually growing number. The availability of downloadable drivers is no longer an indication. In order to overcome the limitations of Core MIDI and Class Compliant operation they still offer full fledged drivers in case you want full featured connectivity with a PC (Casio and Roland do the same.), but it is almost like they are ashamed to admit that some of their higher end equipment is Compliant, less it be relegated to the ranks of entry level gear. So, at this stage, it is very difficult to tell if their new Motif XF and/or MOXF and high end stage piano and Clavinova units are Compliant or not, and like you said, THAT would be a show stopper for me. What makes this even more difficult to understand is that Yamaha now has a full line of apps in the APP Store, but where Casio and Roland really tout the few apps they have that work with their gear, Yamaha has only a mute voice for theirs. Go figure !

 

[happyrat1]

Ted >>> Interesting. Like I said, I've avoided Yamaha keyboards like the plague over the past ten years mainly because of the USB MIDI Class Compliance Issues and mainly because running an all Linux network at home has made me gun shy of proprietary drivers and hardware to begin with.

It's highly unlikely I would sink 2 grand into a keyboard on the hope and a prayer of it working with my system

If Yamaha hasn't figured out their marketing strategy here, then I'll happily go with the M-audio and the Casio and the Korg and the Kurzweil "Bottom Feeders " who realize that not everybody in the whole wide world fits into either a Redmond or a Fruit Flavoured box

It's always the way it is with industry standards and proprietary hardware. There's always one corporation who feels too big for their britches and decides to buck the trend and try to build a monopoly out of a single product or product line.

Sony tried it with Betamax and failed miserably for 20 years. Then they tried it again with Bluray and honestly I still feel the jury's out on that one. I probably won't own one myself until their patent on it runs out

Anyway, the upshot is that my systems have been running mainly Linux for the past 15 years or so with the occasional need to dual boot when some oddball piece of hardware needs a BIOS update, but by and large, I stand by my principles and to be honest, I haven't felt deprived running Linux for almost a decade now. Open Source Software keeps getting better and more stable and flexible every day and I look forward to the day that consumers stand up for themselves and make the sensible, economical choice and say "No!" to the software monopolies.

(Whew! /end soapbox mode)

Take care and keep on a rockin'

Gary

 

[musician24]

Hi frnds,

thanks you all for your views. Since I give preference for strings and piano ( and ofcourse the techno stuff) , I wanted know from your experiences, whether korg krome is best or Yamaha is best in terms of strings ( basically used in Indian film music as lead in the vocal background) and natural piano music. Please guide.

 

[happyrat1]

If you are into strings and pianos and goa style music then you might also want to consider the Kurzweil Artis or the SP5-8. Excellent strings and pianos and the ability to configure microtunings for Asian scales as well.

http://kurzweil.com/product/artis/

http://kurzweil.com/product/sp5-8/

Then again neither one has an onboard sequencer so if that's a dealbreaker then never mind.

Gary