FUQ (eff -yu - cue) - FAQ's with an EDGE

Tagged As: Roland Phantom Keyboard

Question:
I went shopping tonight looking for either a sequencer, workstation or synth that combined both. I looked at Yamaha Motif 6 and Korg Triton LE. Both instruments have 61 keys. The salesman also recommened the Roland Phantom, but there was not one on the floor. Does anyone have opinions about any of these instruments? They all are the size that I can lay on top of my Roland C-80 and use as an extra keyboard. The sequencers would be handy for uploading music. The Korg was on sale for $1299, the Yamaha was $1649. I will use the instrument mainly for classical music.

Answer:
I have a Yamaha Motif 6. The onboard sounds are largely wonderful, but I use many more than classical music sounds. The strings and brass are very good, IMHO.... so are some of the winds, but there aren't enough of them. Some of the best onboard sounds are the electric pianos and acoustic and electric guitars, but I don't know if you'll use these. The Motif does have an onboard sampler, but I haven't played much with this. The Motif also has an onboard sequencer. While you could load .mid files into it for playback, I would not recommend using the Motif to create sequences, especially if you're used to a PC-based sequencer like Cakewalk. While it has many of the features, navigating and using the small LCD screen is a real pain. I don't own a Triton, but I've played them, and they're great too. They have lots of great onboard synth patches, but once again, don't know if you'll use these. These kinds of keyboards are excellent values for people who play a wide variety of music... the Motif has an onboard arsenal of patches that could make it a workhorse for any gigging musician. Lots of stuff for new age, ambient, hip hop, jazz, prog rock, trance, funk, etc.... the whole nine yards. For purely classical music applications, you might be better off with a dedicated sampler and a bunch of sample CDs with libraries of acoustic instruments.