Yamaha MM6 .v. Roland GW-7

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Hi everyone I've just joined the forum. I'm looking to buy a keyboard; I have some limited experience so was looking into buying something like the MM6 or GW-7. What's your opinion on these? Are there any others at this sort of price range (£350, or about $700 I guess!). Thanks a lot.
 
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Kris,

Both the Roland & Yamaha you speak of are pretty much on par with each other,as the are very comparable feature & sound wise.

With regard to sequencing on these keyboards..well..neither one of them have pattern sequencing which is very useful & a feature no programmer wants to live without because this particular mode of sequencing allows you to build songs quickly,easily and gives you very flexible editing features that allow you to fix timing errors in your playing,while also using up less internal memory.

This is a method of workstation recording that is for the advanced user,so this is not really any of your concern at this point,but the reason I mention it now,is that if you posess the desire to become a seasoned programmer in the future,you may want to consider making the investment now.

The overall sound quality of these two boards are very decent for the money & if you are interested in connecting either one of these boards to a computer for the purpose of advancing your sequnecing,that of course is a viable option.

Online demos are not always the most accurate display of sound quality,as they sometimes can be hyped up with external devices for the demo,and then when you get your hands on the keyboard,the results can vary.
At the very least though,this link will give you an idea of what the Roland GW-7 is like;

http://www.roland.com/demos/en/i0031/index.html

Along with Yamaha's rebate that they are currently offering which is $100,you can get the Yamaha for a couple hundred dollars cheaper(USD),so that's something else to consider.

If you want to step up to a Korg TR-61,you can pick one up for $999.00(USD) and Korg is also offering a $100 rebate as well.

Good luck with your quest,

Elwood
 
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Elwood,
Thanks for your advice. I've watched videos of the GW 7 and MM6 now and from the videos, even though they may be a little unreliable, I think I prefer the sound of the MM6. I appreciate that I could go for the Korg but I don't think my budget will stretch (just a lowly university student). Anyway, I think it'll be the MM6. Do they both have general midi 2 voices? In the specifications of each, only the GW 7 appear to. Thanks
Kris
 
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The MM6

Hi everyone I've just joined the forum. I'm looking to buy a keyboard; I have some limited experience so was looking into buying something like the MM6 or GW-7.

Hi!
I just bought a Yamaha MM6 last week, I'm still learning how to use it.

When I was trying out keyboards, I got the impression that some of them had lots & lots of voices and others were loaded with effects. It was a choice between one or the other. Some seemed geared toward a particular style, like hip-hop & trance. Most of them were way beyond my budget. The MM6 was $595 US dollars and the only other board in that range was the Roland Juno-D. ($495).

Between these 2 I liked the interface on the Yamaha a lot more. It felt more intuitive & easy to use. The voices can be selected with a dial rather than a button. I don't like buttons. The display is a lot easier to read. I also liked that the effect knobs (cutoff, etc) were on the left side. That meant I could keep playing with my R. hand while tweaking the knobs.

The salesman told me the Juno-D was geared toward the hip-hop, club/dance type sounds. I really liked the selection of ethnic sounds on the MM6 including Sitar. ;) There are Indian & Arabian drum kits. Way Cool!!! I love the wide variety of sounds. I had to choose between a lot of voices or a lot of effects and I went for the voices.

I think the MM6 sounds great and will probably sound better when I get a keyboard amp. The purists on the Yamaha Motif forum are trashing the MM6. Don't listen to them. They are expecting it to be just like the Motif which is probably $2000. Forget that.

I think the MM6 is a great entry-level synth. It is for someone like me, who is already a musician and wouldn't be satisfied with a $200 'home keyboard', but who is not expecting to compose hits or play concerts right away.

The MM6 also has some sequencing capability (I haven't tried it yet) whereas I don't believe the Juno-D does. I can record tracks in Cubase, but I wanted the ability to play along with myself on the board because I'm a beginner. Oh, also when I bought my MM6, there was a copy of Cubase LE with it.

Good luck,
Laura
 
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Thanks for your help. Could you just explain one more thing to me?
The Roland has
'Tones: 606 + 256 (GM2), Drum Sets: 51 + 9 (GM2), Performances: 110' and the Yamaha 'Preset: 418 normal voices + 22 drum kits
GM: 128 normal voices + 1 drum kit.'

What exactly does it mean to have General Midi/General Midi 2 sounds? The Roland has more of them and they are GM2. Could you please explain what this would mean to me? (The last thing I had was an ancient Yamaha FC-10 organ so I don't really know too much about keyboards!)

Thanks, Kris
 
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Thanks for your help. Could you just explain one more thing to me?
The Roland has
'Tones: 606 + 256 (GM2), Drum Sets: 51 + 9 (GM2), Performances: 110' and the Yamaha 'Preset: 418 normal voices + 22 drum kits
GM: 128 normal voices + 1 drum kit.'

What exactly does it mean to have General Midi/General Midi 2 sounds? The Roland has more of them and they are GM2. Could you please explain what this would mean to me? (The last thing I had was an ancient Yamaha FC-10 organ so I don't really know too much about keyboards!)

Thanks, Kris

Forget the GM sounds... you won't be using them unless you're planing to play MIDI tracks. (this is just my inner I-hate-midis talking :)).

If you have an instrument try to play it yourself and not let some track do it for you ;)
 
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Forget the GM sounds... you won't be using them unless you're planing to play MIDI tracks. (this is just my inner I-hate-midis talking :)).

If you have an instrument try to play it yourself and not let some track do it for you ;)

Yeah. I have been wondering a lot about this MIDI thing and what is the point if you have a real keyboard.

I spose it is possible in MIDI to create a flawless rhythm or chord track? I have been recording some little pieces and my biggest problem is rhythm tracks that are a bit 'off'. Plus there are those dance tracks with a beat of like 160 bpm. Things that would probably be impossible for a real human to play.

I have not been playing/writing anything with MIDI because I have no clue how to do it.:confused:
 
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:) Thanks everyone

One last and very final question. If you were me, would you get the Roland GW-7 or the Yamaha MM6? Sorry to be such a hassle. Thanks
 
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:) Thanks everyone

One last and very final question. If you were me, would you get the Roland GW-7 or the Yamaha MM6? Sorry to be such a hassle. Thanks

Although i'm a big yamaha fan, i can't make up my mind about this... Why?

Yamaha - 32 poliphony, Roland - 64 (VERY Important)
Yamaha - 8 track sequencer, Roland - 16 track sequencer
Yamaha sounds - 70MB + GM, Roland GM2 ONLY (yamaha beats the crap out of roland in this part, even though roland has more presets, but still they are just GM2 sounds, not sampled sounds like on MM6).

Just for comparison... Korg TR (mid range workstation) has 64Mb of samples, Motif ES has 175Mb, and Motif XS has 355Mb :)

In other words, the MM6 sound much better but has lass poliphony which may lead to note drops (when you play a bigger arpeggio with a sustain you might loose the first notes as you play the higher ones)

So if you're looking for a good sounding keyboard and you wont use it extensively - go for the MM6
 
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Although i'm a big yamaha fan, i can't make up my mind about this... Why?

Yamaha - 32 poliphony, Roland - 64 (VERY Important)
Yamaha - 8 track sequencer, Roland - 16 track sequencer
Yamaha sounds - 70MB + GM, Roland GM2 ONLY (yamaha beats the crap out of roland in this part, even though roland has more presets, but still they are just GM2 sounds, not sampled sounds like on MM6).

Just for comparison... Korg TR (mid range workstation) has 64Mb of samples, Motif ES has 175Mb, and Motif XS has 355Mb :)

In other words, the MM6 sound much better but has lass poliphony which may lead to note drops (when you play a bigger arpeggio with a sustain you might loose the first notes as you play the higher ones)

So if you're looking for a good sounding keyboard and you wont use it extensively - go for the MM6

Price should also be a factor. I don't know the price of the Roland & Korg machines you mention, but it is probably a lot more than $599. You definitely have to pay for those extra features.

The only keybds I could find in the $599 range were the MM6, and the Roland Juno D which was $499. I just liked the interface on the MM6 better and it seemed like the sounds had more variety. The salesman told me the Juno D was geared for the 'dance, club, hip-hop' type sounds. I don't know if the polyphony and arpeggios are better on it or not.

Sure I'd have liked to have the 64 polyphony & all that... but as a beginner, I'm most concerned with something that is easy to use & sounds great. To be honest I haven't yet figured out a real use for the arpeggio's except as a gimmick. I don't believe it's possible to split them so as to play regular notes and arpeggios together. If it is possible, I hope someone tells me how. :D
 
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If it is possible, I hope someone tells me how. :D

I have over 1700 preset arpegios + room for 256 more on my Motif ES and I enver use them :)

I just don't think they were made for live performance... but you can use some of them to learn to separate those chords.

Turn on the arpeggio mode, select a piano sound and press something like A/C chord or E/G and listen what the keyboard plays... Then try to copy it yourself. It's not that much but it's a good way to learn easy arpeggios.
 
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I have over 1700 preset arpegios + room for 256 more on my Motif ES and I enver use them :)

I just don't think they were made for live performance... but you can use some of them to learn to separate those chords.

Turn on the arpeggio mode, select a piano sound and press something like A/C chord or E/G and listen what the keyboard plays... Then try to copy it yourself. It's not that much but it's a good way to learn easy arpeggios.

Yeah!! That's what I've been doing!
Also I spoze you could record them in Cubase & try to make loops.

Some of the arps are things you couldn't possibly play...they must be computer generated?
 
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Yeah!! That's what I've been doing!
Also I spoze you could record them in Cubase & try to make loops.

Some of the arps are things you couldn't possibly play...they must be computer generated?

If you're thinking about guitar arpeggios then you're right... But i'm sure you can play every single piano arpeggio all by yourself if you give it a try :)

The ones recorded inside are not that complicated
 
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If you're thinking about guitar arpeggios then you're right... But i'm sure you can play every single piano arpeggio all by yourself if you give it a try :)

The ones recorded inside are not that complicated

The piano arps are great! I'm talking about some of the trancey ones that are super fast. I don't even know if the keys work that fast.
 
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Yamaha MM6 ordered! Thanks very much for all your help everyone, I will try to continue to contribute to the forum - albeit probably in a musically limited fashion!
 
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The piano arps are great! I'm talking about some of the trancey ones that are super fast. I don't even know if the keys work that fast.

I am just beginning to experiment with recording in the mM6. I'm thinking here's what to do with the arpeggios. Since you can record up to 8 tracks per song, I could record a rhythm track, then a progression of arpeggios and then play a melody along with them. Or, record a melody first & then jam along using the arps.

Having the ability to record & play along with yourself is really great training for a beginner.
 
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Been watching this thread....now that you have made your decision, let me say that IMHO, i think you have made a real good choice....in october, i purchased a roland GW 7...had it for about 2 hours, packed it up and took it back....it was too much like a "toy" to me....i didnt want to say anything cause with this being your "first" board, maybe it would have been ok for you i you chose it...as for me, i was wanting something with a hardware sequencer in it....but i just couldnt take the sounds in it, so i spent a little more and bought a juno g to go with my other stuff

Anyway, congrats on your decision
 

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