Yamaha Motif 8 Music Productions Synthesizer

Mar 1, 2002 12:00 PM, By David Battino

The dream is tantalizing: a single keyboard that can handle all your music-production needs, providing great sounds and effects and an intuitive sequencer to arrange and record them. I bought into the workstation concept years ago, but eventually, each of my workstations began to feel confining. To get the sound and features I wanted, I had to combine my underpowered instruments into an unholy alliance with various computers, sound modules, drum machines, mixers, and effects.

Just when I'd decided to start over with a single keyboard and a mass of software (admittedly still a trade-off), along comes Yamaha with a fresh take on the workstation concept. Not only does the Motif have compelling sound and features, including a sequencer that brilliantly combines digital audio and MIDI, but it's enormously expandable. Best of all, Yamaha designed the Motif to complement other gear (particularly computers) rather than replace it.

MEET THE FAMILY

The Motif family has three keyboards, differing only in the number and type of keys (and in price). The Motif 6 ($2,250) and the Motif 7 ($2,750) have 61 and 76 keys, respectively, and use the venerable Yamaha FS action, which has a snappy feel I've always liked. It's the same action found in two previous EM Editors' Choice winners, the Yamaha EX5 and the Korg Triton, the latter of which is the Motif's closest competitor.

The 88-key Motif 8 features a new hammer action derived from Yamaha's Clavinova digital pianos. To optimize the keys for playing the range of sounds that a synthesizer can generate, Yamaha added Aftertouch and made the weighting consistent across the keyboard rather than progressively lighter as on the Clavinova. Simply put, the Motif 8's keyboard feels fantastic. Coupled with its superb acoustic-piano sound and MIDI features, the Motif 8 is worth considering solely as a digital piano or a controller keyboard.

The Motif 8's construction quality is very good; the bulk of the case is made of metal, and the bottom is composed of thick pressboard. The Motif 6 and 7 — the light Motifs, as it were — have sheet-metal undersides. From here on, I'll refer to all models collectively as the Motif.

MAKE YOURSELF AT HOME

Contrasting with its angular lines and cold silver finish, the Motif has a friendly control layout. The buttons feel substantial, and the ones that toggle values (muting and unmuting sequencer tracks, for example) have integrated LEDs — a welcome feature. At the left of the front panel are four multifunction knobs, four sliders, and a bank of sequencer transport controls. By pressing the Remote Control button above them, you can assign those controls to operate a computer-based sequencer instead of the Motif's onboard sequencer. The front panel also provides handy bypass buttons for global and insert effects.

Moving to the right, you'll find the 240-by-64-pixel backlit LCD and its 11 page buttons that map clearly to tabs on the screen. An Information button lists settings such as the current pitch-bend range, but I wish it had gone further. Many parameters in the Motif have baffling names; it would be great if you could point to a term such as Normalize Play Effect or INS1P10, click on the Info button, and read what it means. The Akai MPC60 had that feature more than a decade ago, and it sure beats digging through the manual.

Still, I like the layout of the cursor buttons and Data wheel, and someone put a lot of thought into the matrix of buttons at the far right.

SOCKET TO ME

All of the Motif's connectors are on its back. I would have preferred the headphone and breath-controller jacks on the front, under the wheels. I'm also disappointed that the Motif accepts only normally closed footswitches rather than detecting pedal polarity on startup.

In addition to stereo analog outputs, the Motif has two individual analog outs and an optical S/PDIF output that duplicates the main stereo outs. (The digital output can be set to 20- or 24-bit format, and the analog outputs use 24-bit digital-to-analog converters.) Stereo analog inputs are available for sampling or real-time effects processing. You can plug a microphone, a guitar, or another electronic instrument in to the Motif and sing or play along; you can add as many as three effects to the input signal and record the performance (up to about six minutes) as a stereo sample.

One of the Motif's best features is its connectivity. The keyboard comes standard with SCSI, USB, and SmartMedia ports for transferring data (see for background about SmartMedia). For additional audio I/O, you can install an AIEB2 or an mLAN8E expander. The AIEB2 ($269.95) provides six ¼-inch analog outputs (configured as three stereo pairs) as well as stereo S/PDIF I/O. Coaxial and optical S/PDIF connectors are included, but you can use only one stereo input at a time.

The mLAN8E ($699.95) offers three FireWire connectors that support Yamaha's Music Local Area Network (mLAN) specification. It adds six assignable outputs, another stereo I/O, and a three-port (48-channel) MIDI I/O on a single cable; the extra two jacks facilitate networking with other mLAN gear. It's not possible to use the mLAN8E's stereo input at the same time as the Motif's built-in analog inputs, but the 8E does offer another feature: it can be used to route an additional eight audio channels from external mLAN devices, each with EQ and dynamics processing.

Perhaps the most exciting Motif upgrade option is Yamaha's PLG series of synthesizer and effects plug-in boards ($170 to $350); you can install three of them in the Motif. Unlike typical expansion boards, which simply add new waveforms, the instrumental PLG boards are complete synthesizers. For less than $350, you can add the equivalent of a DX7, a five-note AN1x, a VL70m, a digital piano, or an XG sound module to your Motif, simultaneously increasing the instrument's polyphony and multitimbral capability. A sixth PLG board, the PLG100-VH, adds an additional effects bus and vocal-harmony effects. More boards are in the works. EM reviewed five PLG boards in the November 2000 issue, which you can read online.

SYNTH CITY

The Motif is a sample-playback instrument; the basic structure in its synthesis architecture is an Element. An Element consists of an oscillator, a filter, and an amplifier, each with a five- or six-stage envelope generator, and a common LFO and EQ. The oscillators play mono or stereo samples with a corresponding impact on polyphony. As many as four Elements can be combined to form a Voice, which is the primary object you select and play from the keyboard. A four-Element Voice with two stereo and two mono oscillators, therefore, consumes six notes of the Motif's 62-note polyphony. For each Element in a Voice, you can specify the Velocity and note range to create layers and splits.

Multiple filter and LFO types provide a great deal of flexibility. With the included computer-based Voice Editor (Mac/Win), you can even change the filter and LFO shapes. The “analog” and bandpass filters have a satisfying moistness. You can sync LFOs to the sequencer or arpeggiator for a propulsive rhythmic effect. Check out some MP3 examples at .

Each Element can be routed through one or both insertion effects configured in series or parallel. You can then bus the composite signal to global effects (reverb and chorus, again in series or parallel) and a 5-band EQ. You could spend days exploring the effects (which sound great) and not just because they are woefully undocumented in the manual.

You can also layer and split multiple Voices to form Performances. Performances can also contain Voices from PLG cards and live signals from the Motif's stereo inputs. At some point, you could hold down two keys and use your entire polyphony, but it would be glorious. Another bonus of the Performance structure is that you gain an additional global effect called Variation, which offers algorithms designed to add an edge to the sound, including distortion, compression, wah, and EQ.

A second Voice type, the Drum Voice, is designed for constructing drum kits. For each key, you can configure panning (including dynamic panning), three effects, the physical output jack, highpass- and lowpass-filter cutoff and resonance, the amount of pitch change in response to Velocity, and even a three-stage amplitude envelope. When it's paired with the Motif's gargantuan supply of high-quality drum samples and its ability to play back user samples, the instrument is especially strong for drum parts.

The Motif also features the innovative Master mode, which lets you select Voices, Performances, Patterns, Songs, and four-zone MIDI controller setups from a single bank. For example, you could set Master preset 1 to call up Performance A15, preset 2 to select Voice D2, preset 3 to select Song 2, and so on. That is a terrific feature for live performance, when you just want to grab a sound or a backing track without having to worry about what type it is or its location.

SOUNDS ABOUND

Note the text under the top two rows of buttons of the Motif's 32-button grid. Voices and Performances on the Motif are organized into 16 categories, such as brass, strings, and organ. Finding the sound you want is simple; just press the Category Search button and then a category button. A menu will appear, and you can scroll down it to try each sound. Amazingly, this feature even works while the sequencer is running, though the Voice's effects settings will be replaced by the settings for the current track. If you find more than one sound you like, just click on the Set tab, and it will be marked as a Favorite. The sound will then be accessible from the Favorites menu.

My first impression of the presets was that many are piercingly bright. I suppose it's better to be shrill than dull, especially with the EQ knobs right at hand. As I started sequencing, the sounds blended well, which is the point on a workstation. The raw samples were often quite rich, in contrast to some synthesizers in which the samples need effects to sound good. Here's an overview of the presets in the 16 categories:

Acoustic pianos are excellent; I felt as though I was playing a piano, not a synth. Several presets exploit stereo samples, and there are some expansive layers, as well.

Keyboard presets include a heaping smorgasbord of tasty electric pianos and clavinets. Velocity switching and a juicy touch-wah are used to expressive effect. Organ sounds also cover a wide, usable range. I especially liked the thunderous Sunday, a layered church organ that showcases the Motif's reverb.

Guitar presets are especially strong, with many benefiting from the Motif's musical distortion effects. It's surprisingly easy to “play” the virtual amps with Velocity. Basses are well represented. You get a big palette of detailed acoustics and electrics — several with a top octave of performance effects such as thumps and slides — along with subsonic synth rumblers and succulent filter effects.

Strings often have built-in vibrato, which isn't very effective to my ears, but many samples feature an organic rasp that makes them quite evocative. Brass didn't thrill me, but I'm a former French horn player. The Motif's solo brass seems bland, and its ensembles lack depth. You can overcome such shortcomings by adding a few sampled licks or the expressive leads on a VL plug-in board.

Reed and pipe sounds offer more character than the brass. Some include an appealing bit of growl or controlled breathiness, but they still don't scream “Buy me.”

Synth leads ooze attitude and class. However, some, such as the luscious Singleline, exhibited gritty stair-stepping artifacts when I moved the pitch-bend wheel. Synth pad and choir sounds are satisfyingly deep and clear. Several exploit the Motif's fine-sounding filters for animation. Synth comps rate only a handful of presets, and chromatic percussion resembles an upscale General MIDI (GM) bank. The bell sounds are hampered by aliasing.

Drums and percussion are outstanding and extensive. From jazz brushes and stereo rock drums to crunchy hip-hop kits and grunts, it's hard to imagine that you won't find what you need. Sound effects and musical effects were included mostly to show off the Motif's synthesis prowess, I assume. A few might be useful as ambient backdrops, but many have a harsh quality that made me pass them by.

Combi patches offer the most instant gratification; many of them are splits and layers with arpeggios that play drum grooves. The cheerfully obnoxious GuitarRox, for example, plays a two-bar rock beat and splits the keyboard into one-finger power chords at the bottom, guitar chunks and noises in the middle, and a distorted lead sound at the top.

ARPEGGIATE EVERYTHING

Because I reviewed the Korg Karma shortly before receiving the Motif (see the August 2001 issue), I was intrigued by this line in the Motif press release: “On top of an extensive range of rhythmic sequences, [the Motif] also features ‘human’ patterns such as the strumming of a guitar or the trilling of a flute. Instead of trying to duplicate these performances with complicated algorithms, Motif creates them by using real MIDI data recorded by real musicians.”

A motif is a short musical phrase. When I learned that many of the Motif's arpeggios were derived from Keyfax Software's excellent Twiddly Bits MIDI Samples, I expected the arpeggiator to be the highlight of the instrument. The Motif's preset phrases are handy, but they hardly compare with the Karma's “complicated” algorithms, which evolve as you play and respond in inspiring ways to numerous performance gestures. In contrast, the Motif's arpeggios just lope along. You can alter the pattern by changing the number of keys you're holding down, and you can trigger new arpeggios (such as the flute trill) with Velocity, but that's all.

However, the Motif's arpeggiator has one feature the Karma doesn't have yet: the ability to load user-created arpeggios. You can even export licks from the sequencer, though it was hard to predict the results. Keyfax plans to offer new arpeggios — including natural instrument articulations and synth effects (gating, portamento, and other gestures) — so it's worthwhile keeping an eye on the programmable-arpeggio feature.

IT PAYS TO RECYCLE

The true highlight of the Motif is its sampler, which works in tandem with the onboard sequencer to create a music-production environment that rivals a computer. As a sequence plays, you can sing or play another instrument into the Motif's inputs, recording onto any one of its 16 tracks in mono or stereo. New samples are saved along with the sequence, and the Motif records a single MIDI note on that track to trigger it at the right moment during playback.

Now suppose that, after refining your song, you decide it should be faster or slower. You don't need to mess with time-stretching algorithms, but if you prefer to use them, the Motif offers them in both real-time and file-based varieties. Instead, invoke the Slice command, and your sample will be chopped into individual beats and subbeats — each mapped to an adjacent MIDI note — while the Motif stealthily updates the MIDI sequence with the new notes. You can then change the tempo over an astonishing range (sometimes as wide as 100 bpm), and the sample stays in sync, without watery artifacts. You can also choose to have the Motif slice the sample as it's recording it.

The beat-dicing technique, pioneered in Propellerhead ReCycle, works best with rhythmic samples, though it does impart an interesting pulse to sustained tones. A related function called Loop-Remix can shuffle and reverse random slices, which is handy for turnarounds. For straight vocals and acoustic overdubs, you can simply use single-note sampling as you would use tape or a hard-disk recorder.

The Motif's stock 4 MB of RAM provides about 24 seconds of stereo recording time at the maximum audio quality of 16 bits and 44.1 kHz. You can increase that to a bit more than six minutes by installing two 32 MB SIMM boards. The 64 MB maximum might seem skimpy, but remember that the Motif already has 48 MB of sounds onboard. It can also resample its own output, so you can load up a lavish multisampled instrument (the Motif reads Akai and Yamaha sampler CD-ROMs, including program parameters) and resample your performance. Most likely, the performance will use far less RAM than the source multisample. Resampling is also a good way to overcome the Motif's relatively small number of effects sends. You can keep altering the effects and resampling a track until you get the sound you want.

The Motif is not designed to replace a high-end sampler. Creating complex multisampled instrument voices is cumbersome; it lacks crossfade looping, and even adjusting loop points or trimming samples is frustratingly difficult. Fortunately, the Motif's computer connectivity makes it simple to blast samples over to a software editor, massage them, and dump them back. Yamaha provides Tiny Wave Editor (Mac/Win) for just that purpose. I wish the Motif supported more loop types than just forward looping and that it had the option to play material after the loop-end point when the key was released.

HIDING SEQUENCER

If sounds are the heart of a workstation, the sequencer is the brain. Unfortunately, it took me quite a while to learn to think like the Motif. On the surface, the sequencer provides Song and Pattern recorders, each containing 16 tracks. The idea is that you string a sequence of patterns into a song, and the manual claims you can do that in real time by pressing a single button corresponding to each pattern.

In reality, there is no object called a Pattern, though many screens use that word. Instead, you have Styles, which are 256-bar, 16-track sequences. Each Style has 16 variations called Sections, which you'd typically use to hold a verse, chorus, or fill. Each track of a Style or Section that contains data is called a Phrase. Each Phrase can be a Preset Phrase (meaning a drum pattern) or a User Phrase, which previous generations might have simply called a track, as it contains editable note and Control Change data. (If you wish, you can convert a Preset Phrase into a User Phrase.)

Once you've sorted that out and recorded some music, you can use Chain mode to sequence your Styles or Sections into a Song. Like a groove box, the Motif has you do that in real time by sequentially pressing the 16 corresponding buttons in the grid as the sequence plays. That is a slick way to arrange songs, because you can weave individual multitrack sequences in and out on every 16th note if you want to. What the manual doesn't mention is that switching between Styles rather than Sections will create substantial glitches because the mix parameters have to be reprogrammed on the fly. That was a real hair puller until I stumbled onto a tutorial at Motifator.com that explained how to disable mix changes (see the sidebar, “Getting Motifated”).

In general, the Motif's sequence editing is unwieldy. One saving grace is that the keyboard can export and import Standard MIDI Files, enabling you to do more involved editing on a computer. In fact, the Motif plays especially well with external sequencers, thanks to built-in support for Emagic Logic Audio, Steinberg Cubase, Digidesign Pro Tools, and Cakewalk Pro Audio and Sonar. Connect the Motif to your computer with MIDI or USB and configure the host program, and then you can use the keyboard's knobs, sliders, and buttons to control panning, effects-send level, EQ, volume, and muting for each of 16 tracks on the remote sequencer. The Motif's Track Select buttons determine which of four channels (1, 5, 9, or 13, for example) a given slider will control at any moment.

MORE FILING, TASTES GREAT

In addition to Tiny Wave Editor and Voice Editor, the Motif comes with a utility that lets you transfer files between a computer and a SmartMedia card in the Motif or a SCSI drive that's connected to the Motif. Although I had no problem (other than a long wait) loading Akai samples from a SCSI CD drive to the Motif, my elderly SyQuest SCSI cartridge drive crashed the instrument in endless ways. (The Motif officially supports only Zip, 640 MB magneto-optical [MO], and 2 GB Jaz drives. Yamaha does not recommend SyQuest drives, and the Motif can render 1 GB Jaz cartridges permanently unusable.) Consequently, I mainly used the file utility with the SmartMedia card, which involved connecting the computer to the Motif with a USB cable, manipulating Open Music System (OMS), as well as toggling the Motif between MIDI and USB mode — sometimes repeatedly — until communication was established.

The Motif's USB connection is configured as an eight-port MIDI interface, not a standard USB bus, so file transfers are about the speed of a 33.6 kbps modem. It's more efficient to whip out the memory card and plug it in to a SmartMedia reader connected to your computer. But the file utility also lets you rename and delete files on the card, and for that it's far faster than using the Motif's front panel. If you're using the Motif with a Mac, be sure to upgrade to the latest Motif firmware (currently 1.4 for the OS and 1.1 for the internal USB controller). You can update the Motif's firmware from a SmartMedia card only, which is a good reason to buy a computer card reader, which costs less than $20.

GO THEME, GO!

Feature creep is a dangerous thing. The more functions you pack into a device, the more difficult it becomes to use; by their very nature, workstations are prone to that problem. By building on the features of other groundbreaking instruments, the Motif could have become a Frankenstein's monster — big and powerful but also awkward and ugly. Fortunately, Yamaha's bionics team did a bang-up job, implanting a killer voice box in a compact body that's far more affordable than competing instruments. The team supercharged the Motif's creative potential by cleverly melding MIDI and audio, even leaving sockets to attach additional limbs.

Getting the Motif to do exactly what you want requires patience and experimentation, and a computer is nearly essential for high-powered sampling and sequencing. The Motif is highly conversant with computers and remarkably powerful on its own, however. Learning to use the instrument is worth the effort.

I doubt that I'd feel as positive about the Motif if Keyfax's support site (www.motifator.com) didn't exist, though. The owner's manual, while well organized and bursting with illustrations, is short on application tips and glosses over significant areas. For example, effects are only listed, not described, and the sequencing section neglects to mention some obscure settings you have to tweak to avoid playback glitches. I spent a lot of time with the manual trying to decipher the terms I saw on the screen and even more time online attempting to make sense of the manual.

If you're searching for a portable, great-sounding means to produce music, follow your theme to the Motif. It doesn't take the “work” out of “workstation,” but it does deliver the sound, features, and flexibility you need to get the job done in style.

Motif 8 Music Production Synthesizer Specifications

Sound Engine	AWM2 (sample playback)
Keyboard	88-key; transmits Velocity, Channel Pressure
Polyphony	62 notes + polyphony of any plug-in boards
Multitimbral Parts	16 plus maximum of 18 from plug-in boards
Voice Memory	ROM: 384 preset + 48 preset drum kits; 128 GM + 1 GM drum kit RAM: 128 user + 16 user drum kits
Performance Memory	RAM: 128 user
Master Memory	RAM: 128 user
Waveform ROM	48 MB, Linear Predictive Coding (LPC) compressed; 1,309 total multisamples and drum samples
Sample RAM	4 MB standard; 64 MB max.
Sample Rates	5.5125, 11.025, 22.05, 44.1, and 48 kHz; 16-bit stereo
Sample Import Formats	Akai S1000/3000; Yamaha A3000/4000/5000 and SU700; AIFF; WAV
Filters	(1) 4-pole resonant multimode; 21 types
Effects Processing	(2) insert effects (104 types); (3) global effects; (1) global 5-band EQ
Arpeggiator	256 ROM patterns; 128 user patterns
Sequencer	(16) tracks; (110,000) notes; (64) songs; (1,024) patterns; 128 ROM/256 user phrases; 480 ppqn resolution; SMF import/export
Real-Time Controllers	(1) pitch-bend wheel; (1) mod wheel; (4) assignable knobs; (4) assignable sliders; (1) rotary encoder
Audio Outputs	(4) unbalanced ¼" TS; (1) optical S/PDIF; (1) ¼" stereo headphone
Audio Inputs	(2) unbalanced ¼" TS
MIDI Ports	In, Out, Thru
Additional Inputs	(1) SCSI; (1) USB; (1) sustain pedal; (1) assignable footswitch; (2) assignable footpedal; (1) breath controller
Expansion Board Slots	(3) Modular Synthesis Plug-In System (PLG series)
External Memory	SmartMedia (128 MB max.)
Display	240 × 64-pixel backlit LCD
Dimensions	57.4" (L) × 6.5" (H) × 18.3" (D)
Weight	59.4 lb.

GETTING MOTIFATED

One of the best reasons to consider the Motif isn't packed in its oblong cardboard box. To complement the instrument, Yamaha hired Keyfax Software to create Motifator.com, an outstanding information resource for the Motif series. Along with the expected audio demos, you'll find downloadable patterns and patches, detailed tutorials, a schedule of upcoming clinics, and MotifMart, a comprehensive collection of Motif accessories and upgrades. Although the prices for some items (notably RAM) are higher than elsewhere on the Web, all products are guaranteed to work with the Motif.

What makes Motifator.com essential viewing, though, is the lively Motiforum, a categorized discussion area with thousands of opinions, answers, and tips from Motif owners. Want to know how others think the Motif stacks up against the Korg Triton, how to prevent parts from cutting out in dense sequences, or how to configure Cakewalk Sonar for remote control? Punch up www.motifator.com.

Keyfax President (and EM “Vintage Page” columnist) Julian Colbeck and I spoke at length about Motifator.com. Colbeck was brought in to consult on the Motif when it was still code-named Kangaroo. In the midst of wrapping up a two-hour tutorial video to be distributed free through the site, Colbeck noted that what Keyfax and Yamaha are doing isn't rocket science. The forum and the e-commerce sections of Motifator.com are built on publicly available templates. What's surprising, he said, is that synthesizer manufacturers have historically treated their instruments as disposable, churning them out and then moving on to the next model.

Surfing through Motifator.com, it's easy to see how seriously Yamaha is taking its customers. As I completed this review, Yamaha representatives had contributed more than 1,000 authoritative postings on the inner workings of the Motif and were even soliciting ideas for new sound banks — to be distributed free. That level of support is virtually unprecedented, but for an instrument as powerful and complex as the Motif, it's welcome.

PRODUCT SUMMARY

Yamaha
Motif 8 Music Production Synthesizer keyboard workstation
$3,250

FEATURES	4.5
EASE OF USE	3.0
AUDIO QUALITY	4.5
VALUE	4.5

RATING PRODUCTS FROM 1 TO 5

PROS: Excellent sounds and search feature. Tightly integrated sampling and sequencing. Highly expandable. Outstanding online support.

CONS: Only two insertion effects. Baffling nomenclature. Convoluted sequencer. Slow file transfers. Rudimentary sample editing.

Manufacturer

Yamaha Corporation of America
tel. (714) 522-9011
e-mail info@yamaha.com
Web www.yamahasynth.com