Need some opinions and info on a synth workstation

Am trying to decide between the fantom x or motif. If I had my way I get both. Which one should I go with, like I say I love how both sound, the only thing is I which that the motif had a more friendly interface like the fantom. What are some opinions or thoughts of each one ??

ive seen the motif frequently by famous artists.

i think the roland looks cooler.

I think the pads are a waste because they are trying to add too much, and copy akai.

the motif pianos are better, and it sounds jazzier to me.

i like the crispness of roland.

i dont like the color screen, i think its a marketing scheme.

the sequencer buttons on the motif are lame, they are buttons like you would find on a computer keyboard.

The keys on the motif feel nicer

the motif is a second generation motif

the fantom is a 4th generation

stevie wonder endorses yamaha

steve vai endorses roland

the motif has a smaller screen

the original motif still competes with roland

roland phased out is other fantoms........why?

Roland has better expansion boards

when yamaha came out with the new es, it sponsered a buyback program for current "regular motif" owners....so they didnt feel left out.

I agree with you as far as those hard pads on the fantom ( I dont plan on banging them much anyways but they might come in handy) and also i thought the same about the screen being a marketing thing, but its not a bad idea its the 21st century . Am not looking for the cosmetic features because my concern is more towards the sounds but I still dont want something with a poor interface. i like your opinions though.

cyrus wrote:the motif pianos are better, and it sounds jazzier to me.

i dont like the color screen, i think its a marketing scheme.

the sequencer buttons on the motif are lame, they are buttons like you would find on a computer keyboard.

I actualy like the Roland piano better, the color screen is actualy pretty intuitive, the Mo transport buttons are the same transport buttons you'll find in pro studios, I love 'em. Just my .02

Mo accepts more ram, has more insert fx(8 to Rolands 3), Mo can be expanded with options making it a VA board and HD audio interface. I'd dl both manuals and see which one seems to make more sense to you and of course most importantly go to your nearest music store, take some headphones you're familiar with and listen for yourself and see which sounds better to you.

Yea I been to the store a few times. The reason why i ask for input in here is because I dont really know people that can give me good info and I can tell the cats in the store are just trying to sale me something more than giving me good input on each unit. thanks

Also am trying to save a lil cash so if anyone knows where I can get one for at least under $1400 ( which ever unit ) besides from Ebay let me know

the fantom is pretty cool. dont it have that skip back sampling? like it can recall the and record the last ish u played as a sample. Oh and u right bout the guitar center cats. they borderline retarded and really dont know what they talkin bout.

My first synth workstation was a Roland XP-50 i bought back in '96 to do mostly industrial and ambient electronic based music. While the sounds and features were good, i was extremely dissappointed with the not so user friendly interface and half assed tech support offered by Roland. It's true i was on a learning curve and this was almost 10 years ago before "electronica" hit the mainstream and everybody and their grandma started making techno cuts. Still, the XP series was a nightmare to navigate (and i'm not alone on this one). Roland saw the market for easy to use gear and attempted to follow suit. I personally think those attempts have been much like my experience with their tech support (pretty half assed). In '02 i started to revamp my budget studio. I bought a Roland CDX-1 (digital 8 track recorder/sampler workstation w/ CD burner) under the impression that their user interfaces would be signifigantly streamlined. I was kinda right. While the CDX-1 was fairly easier to operate than older Roland gear i've used, i still think it's below par to comparable gear available at the time. (a brand new MPC-1000 is now on the way to replace it's role as my main sampler)

Enter the E-MU Command Station (128 voice synth/sequencer worksation)-
I also bought one of these in '02 for a steal. This MIDI monster is everything and more than i wanted in a synth. It's EXTREMELY easy to use and the programmabilty factor and sounds are UNREAL. True some of the presets are tad cheesy and the beginning OSs were a bit buggy, but this beast shines when sound sculpting and the version 2.0 OS has fixed 99.9% of bugs and added some slick new features. The drum samples BTW are excellent. The Command Station is a dream for those of us who use purely hardware to mangle our sounds and beats.

http://www.emu.com/products/category.as ... tegory=628

I'm obviously biased, but I'd recommend finding a slightly used Command Station (as they are harder to find new) and buy a Keyboard contoller. The Proteus 2500 sound module is the same thing in a rack mount version without the pads. You'll be saving a @#$% ton of Federal Reserve Notes and have way more synthesis power and flexibility. But I understand if you're after new-in-the-box gear and an integrated keyboard. If this is the case, I'd at least thoroughly check out the KORG Triton Extreme before making any major investments in a Roland.

E-MU XL-7 Command Station/Proteus 2500:

• 128 voice polyphony
• Z-Plane Filters: 6/12th order (50 types)
• 16 syncable arpeggiators
• 24 bit stereo effects
• 13 velocity-sensitive pads with aftertouch
• 512 on board sounds (expandable to 128 MB with E-MU's massive library of Proteus® SoundROMs)
• 40 assignable knobs and buttons
• Over 100 BPM-based synth parameters per preset
• Effortlessly control all of your external MIDI gear
• Real-time/Grid/Step interactive performance sequencer (300,000 notes)
• E-Loader, host software to easily download sequences and to take advantage of USB