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Welcome to the artissimo.gr pages of News ! |
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English Language : Music Technology : News : Summer 2007 
Saturday 25 August 2007 : Yamaha new synth family - 1st part : The Motif XS |
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Information As a synthesizer manufacturing company which holds a large market share, Yamaha is constantly launching new models in all ranges. In this article we will have a look at brand new Motif XS (XS6, XS7, XS8 are the actual models depending on the keyboard size), the more affordable yet powerful MM6, and, finally, the MO family targeting at semi-professionals (including MO6 and MO8). Motif XS  As already said, the model comes in 3 keyboard-sizes : XS6 (61 keys - synth-like keys), XS7 (76 keys - synth-like keys) and XS8 (88 keys - piano-like keys). Sound Generation Engine : The technology used is the old and good AWM2 (**) tone generation. The rest specifications are impressive : The polyphony is 128 notes and the multitimbrality is 16 parts. There are 355 MBytes of waveforms, that is 2670 waveforms in total. There are also 1024 ready programs (or presets) for you to use instantly, a lot of drums kits and user-presets available (General Midi voices are there too) and user performances (allowing you to split keyboard into zones etc.). The filtering subsystem includes 18 types of filter and other strong features (***). Sampling Subsystem : Here is the sampling block : up to 1024 waveforms, up to 128 key banks per waveform, up to 4096 key banks. Analog Input (Left/Right), Stereo Output for Resampling and optional digital output IEEE1394 (XS8 only). Both A/D and D/A Conversions are made at a depth of 24-bits. The oversampling is 64x and 128x correspondingly. The sampling data is finally stored in 16-bit format. The available frequencies range from 5,5kHz to 44,1kHz (stereo or mono). The sampling memory is expandable to 1 Gbyte ! Wav and Aiff file formats are supported. Sequencer Capabilities : The capacity is 130.000 notes, the resolution is 480 ppq (parts per quarter note), patterns are supported, user phrases are supported, 64 songs allowed, strong support for arpeggio functionalities as well. Other features : As a Master Keyboard, XS allows you to define up to 8 keyboard zones, and all knobs and slider settings. Besides the pitch bend and modulation wheels, you can also use ribbon controller, 8 sliders and 8 knobs ! The display is at 320x240 and you have one main stereo output and another assignable one (and, of course, there are also the sampling interface, phones, foot controllers, midi controllers etc. ; there are also usb and ethernet ports). Moreover, there is a good deal of additional features : Mega Voices : A lot of Mega Voices provided. Those are not meant to be played from the keyboard because they have complex velocity layers. They are triggered by recorded data instead. Can also be used with Mega Voice Arpeggios. VCM Effects : Stands for "Virtual Circuitry Modeling" : they are authentically modeling the elements in analog circuitry and they realistically recreate the special characteristics of older, vintage gear. Even a sophisticated vocoder is included.  Arpeggios : A powerful feature letting you to trigger a variety of sequenced phrases from the keyboard. Bundled Software : Notice that the product Cubase AI is bundled with the instrument. Extra Information Links : Yamaha Synths web site, Yamaha Motif web site .
(**) To be precise : AWM2 with Expanded Articulation. This helps you to change sounds while using a voice in real time. (***) 9 Reverb types, 22 Chorus types, many insertion capabilities, many master effects capabilities, equalizers etc. |
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