SOUNDS: Korg M50 vs Roland Fantom G7 vs Yamaha Motif XS6

[Jay-C]

Hey everyone,

I'm new to this forum, but I've been playing music for 12 years and composing for 6. I'm 18 years old, I've been described as a cross between David Foster, Danny Elfman and Weird Al Yankovic (crazy combo, I know), and the time has come, after some local popular success of some of my songs, for me to purchase a new workstation to compliment my very modest existing setup (Sony Acid 7, Casio CTK-800 arranger, various other little tools). For the past little while I've been relying on mostly software (SF, VST) instruments to create my music.

So, this brings me to my question(s): Which keyboard (Korg M50, Roland Fantom G7, Yamaha Motif SX6) contains the best SOUNDS. I'd particularly like to hear opinions on the Orchestral instruments (strings, brass, plus individual patches).

I was able to play the M50 for a bit yesterday, and I'll try to get my hands on a Motif and Fantom, but I wanted to hear what people who were experienced in these keyboards thought as well.

Also, do the Motif and Fantom also have support for using their instrument's sounds as a VST plug-in? I know the M50 does but I wasn't able to get an answer about the other two.

I've sort of narrowed it down to these three because they all seem (hopefully?) to be under $2500 Canadian.

Anyway, sorry for the really long post, but if anyone has opinions to share about these three models or on these questions in particular, I'd love to hear them and I'm sure others would too.

Thanks again, I'd truly appreciate some help

 

[kanthos]

About VSTs, I know Yahama's MO series has plugin capabilities, and I'm pretty sure the Motif does as well.

For sounds, I've never been much of a Roland fan. Yamaha might be the better choice for orchestral sounds, but I was mainly comparing the MO6 to the M50 and TR, and went with the TR in the end because it was cheaper than the MO6 and had a few features the M50 did not (aftertouch, potential for sampling, and a much more sturdy build). You'll get far better results from a VST sampler or orchestral library than from any keyboard though. I use Native Instruments' Kontakt for orchestral sounds on stage; the EastWest libraries are quite good as well.

I'm curious why you're not considering the Korg M3, especially since you're considering the pro models from Yamaha and Roland. The M50 is better in most ways than the other mid-level entries (the Yamaha MO6/MO8 and Roland Juno series), but you'll almost certainly find the Yamaha and Roland to be better because you're comparing two pro keyboards with a cheaper workstation.

The M3 has got a much better set of features than the M50, and while the two sound identical, the M3 has, most importantly for you, higher polyphony. You'll be hard pressed to make an orchestral song from individual instruments without running out of polyphony if you try to play it all back at once on the M50, and recording the audio for each individual part so that the keyboard isn't overtaxed will be a pain. Mind you, if you use enough instruments, you may still have issues with the M3, but it does have double the polyphony as the M50, so you'll get a lot farther. It also has more and better physical controls (important if you want to capture the nuances of acoustic instruments in a realistic way), a much better keybed in the 61 and 73-note versions than the M50 (the 88-key keybeds are the same, I believe) sampling capabilities, and better piano and orchestral samples provided from Korg in the free M3 Expanded upgrade (though you'll need to get an expansion card to add another 256 MB of RAM to the M3 in order to load all their extra samples at once).

If at all possible though, I'd recommend you go to a music store. Bring your own headphones, so that you know the amps they have things routed through isn't a factor, and try out all the keyboards you're interested in.

 

[Jay-C]

Hey thanks for the qiuick reply Kanthos,

You made some great points; I forgot about the M3...the only reason I'm still not truly considering it as much is the fact that in Canada it seems to be the most expensive of the three, and I'm not sure I would pay that much for largely the same sounds as I could get on the M50.

And yes, I'm going to try to head down to my local music store; I'll try to take a listen.

That's also interesting about the software instruments, I hadn't really considered them...but I'm still leaning toward hardware though.

Thanks for the two cents, they were really helpful

If anyone else has anything to add, please do, I'd love to hear it

 

[Sargas]

When it comes to orchestral sounds, if you intend to play them all at once (like kanthos spoke of) I would definitely go with Korg. They have the very best menu system, that is really easy to understand (much thanks to the touchview display), and set up the way you want it. I have tried both Yamaha and Roland in the stores, and usually end up looking like a big question mark, since the menus (at least Yamaha, Roland is better) are really messed up...

So, if you want to play orchestral stuff, and don't feel like spending hours reading the manuals or guessing your way through the menus, I'd say Korg for sure

 

[kanthos]

The M3 is the most expensive? Really? I'm Canadian too (north of Toronto), and though it's been a few months since I've been in a music store, I remember the M3 being the cheapest of the three brands. I took a look at guitarcenter.com (yes, I know, US prices), and it seems consistent with what I remember. I've seen the M3-61 as low as $1600 CDN on sale last year (and if only I'd been able to sell my sax for a bit more, I'd have ended up with that instead of a TR).

 

[Jay-C]

Thanks for the input Sargas and Kanthos

That's great to know about the M50, Sargas, I'm glad you like it and you think it's a good workstation, too.

Kanthos, you're right about the M3's price, but I might be able to get a deal on the Motif xs6 ($2400) and the Fantom G7 at my local store is also $2400. I also remembered what you said about software instruments and found that Native instruments were giving away a free Orchestral starter set for the month of January, so it may come down to me purchasing Kontact 4 plus the M50, or I just might throw it all on the Motif...the Roland seems to be out of the question now

Anyway thanks to both of you, and if anyone else has any comments, please feel free to share them.

 

[elwoodblues]

Hi Jay,

As someone who has carefully considered all three(Yamaha Motif XS6,Roland Fantom G6 & the Korg M3),I had found the Korg M3 to be the clear choice.
While I do consider the XS6 to be the best keyboard Yamaha has ever made-I passed on it,as although it has exceptional bread & butter sounds,I found it fairly weak on synth sounds & flexibility with sound creation.
I studied the Fantom G-series relentlessly,because I was really impressed with the SRX & ARX expansion cards-but not only are the ARX cards incredibly expensive,there's virtually no other sounds on the keyboard that are usable,in my opinion.
I am aware that the G6 has some of the SRX sounds included,but Roland made a fatal mistake of not including ALL of the SRX sounds in the G-series(that was a major deal breaker for me).
Yeah...the 8 inch LCD screen is nice & the number of insert effects are impressive-but for me,it's all about the sounds & with so many SRX sounds missing...along with the added expense of the ARX cards,the G6 is a tremendous disappointment to me.
Another thing to consider,is that it's literally impossible to use even half of the midi & audio tracks without running into memory problems....what was Roland thinking.....128 tracks with no internal hard drive??
As for Korg...well..I used to own the M50 & it is clearly the best workstation on the market for it's price range,but I ended up selling it to buy the M3...because the M3 is the most bang for the buck I have ever seen,period.
The tactile aspect of the M3 is incredible....great semi-weighted key action and all of the other knobs,buttons,sliders & ribbon controller are all just as smooth & solid to the touch.
For the price,the M3 has the largest sound set with the expansion & the best sequencer functionality in the business,in my opinion.
I don't have the Radias synthesizer expansion as of yet-so I cannot comment on that,but it's just another reason why I really wanted the M3.
I don't know how things work in Canada-but here in the U.S.,the Korg M3 is the cheapest...a lot cheaper...by a margin of 4 to $500.
The M3 is currently going for $1899(USD)

Just some more food for thought....


-Elwood

 

[kanthos]

I also remembered what you said about software instruments and found that Native instruments were giving away a free Orchestral starter set for the month of January

Definitely download that whatever you do; it'll either need the free Kore Player or Kontakt Player (incidentally, download both of those and the one or two other free Kore Sound packs that NI offers to get some extra sounds). Just keep in mind that you're not likely going to get enough instruments to have a working orchestra out of the Orchestral starter set, let alone in a variety of articulations. They're not going to be giving away the most useful (in my opinion) part of Kontakt for free

 

[Jay-C]

I was mistaken, it's EastWest who are offering the free starter symphony. I tried it out last night, it's far superior to any free VST symphonic instrument I've ever seen, many of the samples are simply mind-blowing, considering the fact that it's free. For some strange reason though, no sounds will come out of my speakers when it's running as a standalone application, but when I use it as a VSTi in Acid, it works great...strange. But still an amazing deal

I took a look at the M3, it looks nice, but again I'm more into the acoustic sounds than workstations with an emphasis on synth sounds at this point, for me it's about realism in sounds.

Also, I found that the sampler in the Motif XS only works if you buy two 512MB DIMM RAM cards, which is kind of silly, in my opinion, especially the fact that it seems you need both installed for the sampler to work

However, I'm not really considering the Roland at all anymore, it's now a match between Yamaha and Korg.

Thanks a lot for the wicked input everybody, keep the comments coming if you can

 

[kanthos]

You'll definitely want the EXB-RAM for the M3 if you go that route; the onboard memory they have isn't all that much (64 MB, maybe?)

You're right about EastWest (though their orchestra is missing a lot of instruments; they want to get you to buy EWQL SO Silver, Gold, or Platinum), but NI does have a few Kore sample packs that are free too.

 

[Jay-C]

Kanthos - yes, I grabbed the free Kontact 4 player/starter soundset, also some amazing sounds; even though there are not very many, they blow any other free VSTis out of the water. That is unless I just don't have very good free VSTis

Also quick question...anyone had any luck ordering gear from the states? I'm particularly looking at buying the Motif XS6 from Sweetwater.com for 2500 Canadian, because even with the taxes, shipping and duties (I guess since the motif's made in Japan, there's another 7% tax on top of the regular 13%) it's still cheaper then the $2800 plus tax at any dealer in Canada (Darn lack of compitition). Also, they equip the machine with $1000+ worth of extras, including the RAM and flash drive

I'd just really like to know about any warranty or any other issues anybody might have had with ordering in a (specifically) Yamaha keyboard from the USA, and using it in Canada.

Also, I'm guessing Yamaha gear is pretty reliable, right?

Thanks again everyone

 

[Jay-C]

Thanks for all the great info everybody, I ended up buying the Motif XS6 from Sweetwater in the states; even with shipping, duties and taxes, it still worked out to be a little bit cheaper than if I had bought it in Canada (hopefully, it hasn't arrived yet so we'll see if that truly is the price :S)

But, since Sweetwater, adds 512MBs of RAM, plus 1GB of storage and gigabytes of new samples, I thought it was the better deal.

Anyway, though, Kanthos, do you know of any free soft-synths (VSTs or soundfont), that you like? I'm trying to increase my arsenal of sound lol

Thanks again everybody

 

[b3maniac]

Let us know what you think of the Yamaha XS6. I second the thought of Kontakt for orchestral sounds> One point no tmentioned is thatKontakt can import samples from other formats. You can find some good deals on sample CD's on Ebay and that could be potentially be a good way to build your orchestral resources (use them in Kontak). I occasionally do that myself.
B3

 

[Jay-C]

Hey everyone, sorry about the late reply.

The truth? I love the Motif XS6; it's an absolutely incredible machine, with brilliant sounds, fantastic sequencing and I've connected it (through a TASCAM external USB interface) to my humble, overworked laptop, used it in Acid 7 and it seems to work well so far, although I haven't done much MIDI stuff yet - mostly just direct recording.

The sweetwater package came with an internal USB drive (with some amazing samples) and lots of extra RAM, so it seems to be a great deal all around.

In terms of comparing it to the Fantom G and the Korg M3, I don't think I would ever choose one of those over the Yamaha line now, it's a great machine.

Thanks again for everyone's help