Kronos 61 vs the Motif XF7- From someone new to workstations

[music_avijeet]

My Kronos 61 arrived about 12 hours back, it also happened to be my country, India's 62nd Republic Day.

I've been arranging and composing tracks, jingles, songs, etc on Logic, commercially since I was 16. But last year on my 20th bday I decided to get into live music, my choice of genre being Fusion.

Last August I got my Motif XF7, have used it and now my Kronos 61 has just arrived.

After fiddling with it, I've just drawn some opinions. Now I know people in this forum are FAR more experienced than i am and I'd appreciate if anyone corrects me if I make any mistakes regarding the same too.

1. The Looks - While the Motif XF7 looks like clearly just like an evolution to XS, the Kronos which succeeds the OASYS looks too brilliant. With the shiny finish, the touchscreen, the curves, it's got the looks to die for.
Point - Kronos

2. Keys - I was a bit disappointed with the Key quality of the Kronos, while all the keys function properly (i did read about some users having that issue) I find the keys to be a bit 'noisy' especially while playing stuff at 1/32, 1/64 or simply sliding down. The Motif keys are little heavier and less noisy in that sense. Maybe technically the Kronos keys are more advanced but just as one performer's point of view.
Point - Motif XF

3. Volume - I love the feature of 'Main Volume' in the Kronos, with the Motif XF it's just the slider but here there's an additional knob to the slider. Works good.
Point - Kronos

4. Display - While everything is getting touchscreen it was pretty surprising that the Fantom G or the Motif XF didn't have it. It's an pretty nice but here's the problem. I'm 5'3'' and the Kronos mounted above the motif on my stand while performing makes it difficult for me to select anything except in Set List mode, in the Prog mode, browsing becomes difficult. Sometimes in Live shows I just go outside my usual tones saved and play something depending on the crowd, this might be a bit difficult. i just hope there is an option to increase the font size.
Point - Both actually.

5. Joystick - Always good to have an additional knob or slider or even a joystick while playing Live but I feel the knob is too fragile and afraid it might snap if I get a even a bit too hard.

6. Voices - Love the voices/patches on the Kronos, hunting out more banks available on the net. Will ultimately sample some stuff I've designed in Logic and Ableton Live. But the Kronos German Grand Piano is orgasmic!

Overall, I just got it and I'm in love with it! Worth all my last bit of savings from 5 years of earning.

[Rocness]

So if you own both of them why compare , just have fun .

[music_avijeet]

Have been having absolute fun Sir, missed my meals on account of the same! but I just thought I'd share some thoughts I had.

[Rocness]

Have been having absolute fun Sir, missed my meals on account of the same! but I just thought I'd share some thoughts I had.

You are very fortunate .

What I have learned about synths is that none of them can do it all .
They all have there strong and weak points but when you bring them together is when you really start to become deadly .

Don't force one to be better then the other, right now both are the best in the world at what they do but tomorrow is another day so have fun today .

Sweet setup by the way, sexy black on black .

[music_avijeet]

What I have learned about synths is that none of them can do it all .
They all have there strong and weak points but when you bring them together is when you really start to become deadly .

Sweet setup by the way, sexy black on black .

Very true. And thank you too!

[michelkeijzers]

Very nice setup you have there.

[music_avijeet]

^ Thank you

[EXer]

The sonic characters of these instruments complement each other well (as the Trinity and the EX5 did a decade ago...) A very attractive set-up!

As to the keyboards, the FSX keybed of the Motif XS is quite similar to the older FS keybed of the DX7, EX5, Motif, Trinity, Triton and OASYS 76, still the best semi weighted synth type kbd ever.

I'm not trying to convince you, you own both so you can make your own opinion, but personnally I really like the very pleasant feeling of the Yamaha keyboard: when you depress a key you have to overcome a certain resistance first, then it becomes lighter, giving the sensation of "throwing" the key, a bit like on a piano. That's very different from the "springy" sensation of ordinary synth keyboards on which the resistance is simply proportional to the depressing of the key, hence the unpleasant and cheap "plasticky" sensation you can feel e.g. on a M3 61...

[music_avijeet]

A very attractive set-up!

I'm not trying to convince you, you own both so you can make your own opinion, but personnally I really like the very pleasant feeling of the Yamaha keyboard: when you depress a key you have to overcome a certain resistance first, then it becomes lighter, giving the sensation of "throwing" the key, a bit like on a piano. That's very different from the "springy" sensation of ordinary synth keyboards on which the resistance is simply proportional to the depressing of the key, hence the unpleasant and cheap "plasticky" sensation you can feel e.g. on a M3 61...

Thank you!

That's exactly what I was trying to say, the keys in the Kronos feel a bit "plasticky", I find the Motif XF keys way superior to that, very smooth to play on.

[SanderXpander]

I hate that resistance on modern synth keybeds. But maybe that's because I play actual piano parts on piano keybeds, and synth parts on what I expect to feel like synth (or organ) keybeds. I don't have a Kronos or M3 61 but tried the latter extensively and thought it was as good as it gets, for a synth bed. Another I really really like is my Moog Voyager - also no extra resistance.

Still seems like a dreamy setup you have!

[music_avijeet]

The Moog Voyager certainly has a good keybed. I played on a Voyager which was very badly used but the keys still were in a very good shape.

And Thank you!

[JPROBERTLA]

Since you have both, I assume your comparison is purely academic and for those who might want to hear it from a singular prospective. As far the keybed, I have a K61 and actually like the keybed for synth and organ parts. It feels sturdy, smooth and responsive. My last Yamaha was a DX7 and I thought its keybed was a little springy for my taste. Currently I use a Triton Studio88 with the Kronos 61 and find the two very complementary of each other on many levels.

I don't have any problems with Yamaha, Roland or Kurzweil products and have owned them in the past. Since O1W/fd however, I have stayed with Korg. The Korg UI is essentially the same for the past 20 years and for me, it is easy to use and especially easy to transition from one to the other. And since the Trinity, I can't imagine working without a touch screen.

All that said, the Korg's do have some inherent weaknesses; especially and specifically the guitars. I sequence a lot, so this is important to me. I believe Roland and Yamaha are hard at work developing something they hope will equal the Kronos. Roland and Yamaha usually do a module of the workstations. Depending on which one does a module and which module sounds the best, is the module I will add to my rig; can't fathom using 3 keyboards again - 2 is the maximum.

[michelkeijzers]

I once did gigs with three keyboards, but it took longer to setup and break down (not that I had that many gigs).

One of them was a Hammond XK2 that did not have aftertouch/velocity so I couldn't use it to connect to the Korg N264 (I had at that time). I'm glad I sold the Hammond, especially since the Kronos sounds as good.

Regarding keybeds: I actually never had any problems with any (maybe I'm easily satisfied regarding this topic). I only disliked the missing aftertouch on my M50.

[music_avijeet]

About the keybed, I'd have to agree that playing organ tones is quite nice on that but since I used a Yamaha keyboard for a long while now, I guess I got a bit more comfortable with that.

About 3 eyboard setups, here in India, you can get people to carry/lift and place your equipments for as low as $10 a day, so many keyboardists (ofcourse the highest paid ones) use a standard 3 keyboard setup including minimum one 88 key. As for me now a 2 keyboard setup that to these two are more than what I could've asked for.

[michelkeijzers]

About the keybed, I'd have to agree that playing organ tones is quite nice on that but since I used a Yamaha keyboard for a long while now, I guess I got a bit more comfortable with that.

About 3 eyboard setups, here in India, you can get people to carry/lift and place your equipments for as low as $10 a day, so many keyboardists (ofcourse the highest paid ones) use a standard 3 keyboard setup including minimum one 88 key. As for me now a 2 keyboard setup that to these two are more than what I could've asked for.

I have thought a moment about using only one synth (Kronos) since it has SST, however I like the possibility to switch very fast between two sounds without the need to split (sometimes not possible, due to hammond glides over multiple octaves).