Korg Forums

[valmundo]

Hello to all. I'm new here and am in the market to buy a new workstation. As you can tell from the title of this post, I have narrowed down my options to the Korg Kronos and the Yamaha Motif Xf.

I'd like to get feedback from anyone here who has or has had a Yamaha Motif and how it compares to the Kronos. (I know they probably won't sound the same as no workstation sounds like the other) but I'd like personal feedback from those who have both or those who switched and why.

Input is greatly appreciated.
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Gear: Motif XF, Korg Analog Synth Plugins, Korg Digital Synth Plugins, Yamaha n8, Cubase 8, Live 9, Maschine, Roland Varios w/ TB303 and Jupiter 8 emulations, Halion Sonic, Epiphone Les Paul Studio

[ScoobyDoo555]

welcome

I looked at XF, Fantom, M3 and Kronos......

XF was omitted pretty quickly simply because I didn't like the quite harsh sound.(imho)
A hugely powerful machine that didn't look that easy to use - certainly not in comparison to the rest of them.

The Fantom was quite impressive tbh - quite a generic sound-set though, which I wasn't sure I needed. The user-performance memories were appealing as was the vivid screen. Not touch (neither is the XF)

The M3 was #1 on my list, and I was about to buy it.... then Kronos was announced....
And since January, I've been battling with what to get - UK users still haven't got a firm release date for Kronos.

But what swung me over the Motif was the touchscreen, synth engines and sheer amount of sounds for the money.

Hope this helps in SOME way!!

Dan
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Yamaha SY77 & KX88, SSL Nucleus, Korg Kronos 61, Wavestation A/D, Access Virus B, Roland XP30, DeepMind12D, System 1m, V-Synth XT, Focusrite Red16Line, Unitor 8, Akai S3000 XL, Alesis Quadraverb+, Focal Shape Twins, Full fat iMac, Logic Pro X, ProTools 2021, loadsa plugins.

[sparkie]

[mjames4208]

i have the motif xs8 and a kronos 61. i'd do anything for a kronos 88, now. i should have waited and just sold my motif xs8. the sounds on the kronos are so refreshing for me after having the fantom & motif for all of these years. i honestly have new found creativity.
the learning curve is killing me on the kronos, but it's worth it.
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NeKo LX5, Liquid Saffire 56, Motif XS8, Kronos61, A-70, Motif-Rack, FantomXR, MPC5000, R8mkii, Komplete5/6/7/8, Trilian, Total Workstation 2, EWQL Complete Composers Collection, Arturia Mini Moog V, CS-80V, ARP2600V, Jupiter-8V, Oberheim SEM-V, Analog Laboratory, Vienna Ensemble Pro, Yamaha Montage, Epic Orchestra, Flugelhorn, Sonar X2, FW-1884, MIDI Express 128, MPC Renaissance, MachFive3, Komplete 9 Ultimate, Korg Legacy Collection, Machfive 3, Jupiter-80, Moog Sub 37,

[rderderian]

I have owned the Korg M3, Yamaha ES and XS, not the XF, but have played the XF. I have the XS now until by Kronos comes next month.

The Yamaha has some great horns. Kronos and the M3 has better synth sounds and has Karma. Karma is what I miss most now that I have the Motif.

Karma is going to be available to the XS and XF within a few months, I believe and that will make the Yamaha a better keyboard. However, with the Kronos and M3 its built in which I feel is an advantage.

The XF has flash memory which makes for easy access of sounds and quick loading.

The Kronos has the best piano I have heard and the synth sounds seem endless.

9 engines...offers so many sounds and remember that these can all be edited in so many ways to create even more sounds.

For the same money I could keep the XS and get a Krog M3 and have 2 different keyboards that could accent eachother fairly well. Not a bad way to go, but I think the Kronos beats this combination hands down.

Bottom line-I am selling the XS and getting the Kronos. I could buy the XF for the same money as the Kronos, but I feel the Kronos offers so much more than anything else in its price range. If you want a Yamaha, I would say wait. I beleive they will have to come out with something completely new to compete with Kronos. The future will tell.

[panrixx]

[EXer]

[mjames4208]

Motif is still a helleva workstation..... I'd just prefer a 61 or 76 key motif and a 88 Kronos. and tired of the Roland sound all together.
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NeKo LX5, Liquid Saffire 56, Motif XS8, Kronos61, A-70, Motif-Rack, FantomXR, MPC5000, R8mkii, Komplete5/6/7/8, Trilian, Total Workstation 2, EWQL Complete Composers Collection, Arturia Mini Moog V, CS-80V, ARP2600V, Jupiter-8V, Oberheim SEM-V, Analog Laboratory, Vienna Ensemble Pro, Yamaha Montage, Epic Orchestra, Flugelhorn, Sonar X2, FW-1884, MIDI Express 128, MPC Renaissance, MachFive3, Komplete 9 Ultimate, Korg Legacy Collection, Machfive 3, Jupiter-80, Moog Sub 37,

[aron]

The Motif is a great sounding keyboard. Look on the stages of players and lots of them have it. It is a great sounding keyboard for POP music. Many Jazz players like it too. The sounds are very good and despite people saying samples are dead, they are not. Even on the Kronos, some of the HD samples sound just as good as the synthesized variants.

The problem with the Motif is the polyphony. It just doesn't have enough. If you want to play one sound at a time, it's fine. Two layered sounds and it starts getting voice stealing.

The best part about the Motif is to use it onstage is very fast and all of them share the same button presses - even the S90 series. I program them during sound check because it's that fast.

The Kronos sounds better for most sounds and has more polyphony.

The Motif has pitch bend and mod wheels! Yamaha always got that right
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Korg Kronos, RD-88, Yamaha VL1, Deep Mind 6, Korg Kross, author of unrealBook for iPad.

[JPWC]

Now that I've spent a few day's with my new Kronos, it is one excellent keyboard with more functions (possiblilities) than the any of the rest.

But my choice for one over the other would depend on my application and not the specification sheet.

If your playing with a band, doing rock & roll, I would perfer the Motif XS. If I was playing solo, or doing more modern styles of music the Kronos would take the lead position.

But of course, either the Motif XF, KRONOS, Fantom G, or even the PC3 would work in any situation, they have different work flows that are more efficent and suited for different applications.

Having said that, I find most people tend to perfer the operating system they learn first, regardless of the other aspects of the OS. (Kind of like the Mac vs PC question)
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Kronos-6, Krome, M3, Radias, KingKorg, microKorg, KP-2, KP-3, KO-1, KO-1 PRO, Karma, microX, monotron, monotribe, PadCONTROL, Wavedrum Mini, Volca Keys, Beats, Bass, Sample, monotron Duo & Delay, microArranger, M1, Wavestation, Volca Sample, Keys, Beats & Bass, MS-20

JD-XA, JD-Xi, Aira (system 1, TB3, TR8, MX-1), Prophet 12, Mopho X4, Jupiter-80, FA-06, D50, CS1x, CZ101, DX200, AN200, analogFOUR, MachineDrum, MonoMachine, Motif XF6, Virus Snow, Nord Lead 2X, OP-1, MFOS, Tenori-on, QY100, QY70, meeblip se, miniBrute, microBrute, Bass Station 2

[kbrkr]

The Motif is probably the BEST rompler on the market today. For LIVE gigging and using Acoustic Samples it is probably the BEST board on the market today.
You can play a modeling synth and sample it and throw those samples on to the Flash cards and cart it off to a gig and your all set. There are LOTS of very fine 3rd party libraries out there for the MOTIF that save you hours and hours of programming. If you had to bring only ONE board to a live gig, which one would you bring?

The Kronos is not battle tested on live gigs; YET! I can see a lot of opportunities for creativity with the Kronos. I also see a lot of value in the SETLIST function, but you can setup any synth with setlists. I do it on the XF all the time using performances.

I would probably have both, If I could.

[kron]

[Randelph]

Valmundo,
You didn't say what your primary uses are, and how technically oriented/capable/willing you are.

I had the Motif XS for 2 years before selling it. It's actually not that bad of an interface if you're staying on the top layer of the user interface- lots of button type instant access. But underneath the top layer, I struggled with it. I hate getting too technical with music technology, and felt like the XS was designed by engineers, not musicians, and ended up hating the XS as I struggled with the workarounds and overly technical nature of it.

I'm in the minority here, but I wasn't that turned on by the sounds. The guitars are really something, but I don't usually play guitars on my keyboard. But in general, I'm just really tired of rompler sounds. They lack the inner animation, sparkle, dynamism and expressiveness of most clones and virtual engines.

But if you pay for the Flash memory (which makes the Kronos and the XF about the same cost), and pay extra for the many great sounds available on Motifator.com, take the time, etc., you can have a pretty fantastic sound set available with the XF.

That is an extra step though- with the Kronos, even excluding the large streaming pianos, it has more INCLUDED sounds (number of MB's) than the XF, even when the XF has the Flash memory (all loaded up). And that's just the start of it. Because it has all these great sound engines, you can roll your own unique, dynamic sounds in a way the Motif can't even begin to touch.

There are treasure troves of great demos to listen to of the Oasys. They demonstrate the incredible sonic clarity and beauty of what the Kronos is capable of- and it doesn't even have all the sound engines of the Kronos!

The Kronos is in a league of its own as regards number of high quality sounds and high quality sound engines, and by contrast the XS/XF has been getting by with rehashing rompler technology. But to each his own- personally, I can hear the difference between a rompler playing back a sample of an analog synth, and a keyboard like the Kronos that has actual analog synth engines in it.

And then there's the simple matter of how accessible having 16 parts to a Combi is. You CAN access 16 parts in Song mode on the XS/XF, but not in their Combi/Performance mode, which is where the interface is optimized.

If you're a live player, there's no substitute for what the Kronos can do with the seamless sound transitions, and with the larger screen and set lists on the Kronos, it's pretty much a dream come true for live players. Also the vector synthesis and joystick goes beyond what is available expressively on the XS/XF.

Also, if you're looking to get the 88, the XF weighs 63 pounds, the K88 weighs 50. On the other hand, the 73/76 note versions from these companies are weighted/semi-weighted, and for some folks that's really important.

You also get 16 tracks of audio recording, and only in-track sampling on the Motif, which has a lot of limitations.

And KARMA is way beyond the arps on the XS/XF. And the drum track is a very useful thing to have included.


Personally, I'm glad the Kronos has raised the bar- Yamaha can't just rehash its old rompler technology, they've got to actually use engines they've just been sitting on and make them user friendly. I'm guessing that as the technology has become more affordable and advanced, that the big 3 will be getting a lot more competition!
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Keyboards: Kawai ES920 / Casio CT-X5000
Instruments: Keys / Alto Recorder and Melodica

[Rocness]

[MartinHines]

Go to a store and demo both keyboards. Take a pair of good headphones with you.

Only you can decide what features are most important to you.

For example:
-- how important are the sounds? Which sounds are important, in what priority?
-- will you be loading your own sounds?
-- will you use the onboard sequencer or a computer-based sequencer?
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