Yamaha Motif XF8 Keyboard Workstation with Free Bundle

Overview

The stylish, new, black Motif XF8 is Yamaha’s latest-generation keyboard workstation. Announced in Aug 2010 and shipping shortly thereafter, the XF takes all that was great about its immediate predecessor, the Motif XS, and builds on two key aspects: the voices and the storage capability.

In terms of voices, Yamaha has both added new Wave ROM and forged even greater relationships with key third sound designers and developers to increase the Motif’s already-stellar third party support. In terms of storage capability, the XF8 comes with 128 meg of sample RAM as standard - not a huge amount but enough to do some quick sampling and/or check out and load one or two libraries - but the real kicker is that the XF8 can also house up to 2 gig of Flash RAM (see accessories). This means you can load in new sample libraries, switch off, turn back on... and there they still are!

And of course our associates over at Motifator.com carry the world’s largest selection of Motif XF-compatible voices libraries.

Other eye-catching new features include Tap Tempo, Drum Editing in Mix mode, and a cool feature that lets you customize the screen coloring/styling.

The Motif XF8 has an 88-note weighted action keyboard.

Sounds

Taking its lead from the XS, the voices is where the XF8 blows away the competition. With its competition-shattering 741 BM Wave ROM (double the XS and nine times the original Motif!) it simply sounds better than everything else. With its pianos, strings, basses, drums, woodwinds, vintage and modern synths, the XF8 has all the power and clarity of the XS, which become the envy of the world’s keyboard manufacturers, and then some.

Standouts are the keyboards, including new samples from two classic Yamaha acoustics - (9 foot CF3 and a 7 foot S6). But also there are flutes to die for, punchy basses (acoustic, electric, and synth), and enough pads and strings to melt the hardest of hearts. From the XS there are an additional 128 Voices and 8 drum kits, which adds up to a massive total of 1,353 high-quality voices. And of course everything is editable if you need to indulge. Not only can you edit internally, there are both official and third party software editors.

Effects

The XF8 uses effects technology that both sounds like and IS expensive. Yamaha’s proprietary VCM (Virtual Circuitry Modeling) technology simulates the effects of vintage EQs, compressors, and phasers - at the ‘circuit’ level. This has enabled Yamaha to increase the voice quality by modeling the "texture" of vintage analog compressors, EQs and stomp boxes right down to the component transistors and resistors. The XF uses the same high-quality effects found in Yamaha’s industry standard digital recording consoles. The XF also has a vocoder. By connecting a mic to the A/D input, you can apply effects to your voice or use your own voice to create harmonies. Also at your fingertips is Yamaha’s award-winning "REV-X" reverb, the same professionally renowned reverb found in the SPX2000.

Recording

Who needs a hardware ‘recorder’ these days? Well, maybe you do, even if you’re perfectly happy on Cubase, or Studio One. Several reasons:

The XF8 offers MIDI and audio recording in both Looping (Pattern) and Linear (Song) style. Pattern-based MIDI recording is ridiculously fast. You can build up beats in minutes, tapping into the XF’s gargantuan library of sounds, calling on the army of backing players (you have more than 7000 arpeggio-d drumbeats, basslines and more at your disposal), dividing stuff into different Sections, applying FX, mostly without ever having stop the groove from playing.

Performances - basically highly infectious, mutli sound+apreggiod grooves - can be played and then simply recorded into the Pattern or Song recorder complete with all the effects and real-time nuances you enjoyed while playing them in Performance mode.

This feature alone could keep you in business as a beat or library music creator. In fact many people in these fields literally do just that!

Performances can also be directly as WAV format audio files, and played back direct from USB.

The serious-minded can also spend hours tweaking and experimenting internally (features like Loop Remix are inspirational) and when you’re ready you can send MIDI or Audio out via FireWire or USB or save to a thumbdrive... for mastering or continuing work on a DAW.

Hardware

The XF8 is built like a tank. The keyboard is an 88-note, Balanced Hammer (BH) action, and it plays as close to an acoustic piano as you’re realistically going to get. Panel hardware includes a set of eight knobs and sliders for real-time mixing, real-time MIDI control (recordable internally or externally - extremely cool), or just hands-on parameter tweaking. A plethora of buttons flanks the good-size color (and color-switchable) LCD.

Finally, this is made by Yamaha. So, generally speaking, it doesn’t break or stop working. Yamaha has spent 100 years + on this type of attention to detail. But if anything untoward does happen, again, it’s made by Yamaha. We’re talking quality service and backup.

In Use

At time of writing it’s too early for sightings and user testimonials but new videos showing exactly how to manage the new Flash RAM capability, editors, and more is currently in production in the Keyfax video department.