Sujet Yamaha annonce les nouveaux Motif XS et Mini Mo

Citation : The official announcement of the XS is scheduled for January 10th so there will be more information coming in the next few weeks and then at NAMM, people will get a chance to see the XS in action via web casts.

The XS is a part of the Motif tradition and so as with all Motif products if focuses on three things.

The sounds
The ease of song creation
Computer Integration

In terms of the sound, there are a lot of things that are new.

The 355MB wave ROM includes a huge amount of new wave forms. These were developed based on the priorities for sounds that came out of the research surveys that we did here on the site.

There is a new, very large three velocity layer Acoustic Piano that includes support for half damper and the insert effect for sound board resonance found in the S90 ES. There are also new Electric Piano waves as this has always been a request.

One of the other major areas that we focused on was orchestral sounds. There are brand new ensemble and solo strings and a complete set of woodwinds. People on the site had identified this area as one that they wanted improved from previous Motifs.

The orchestral waves take advantage of the new Articulation TG System. This allows for 8 element voices and includes key off samples, true Legato wave switching, wave cycling and a new assignable function. It is simply impossible to get the level of sonic detail that the Motif XS achieves with a 2 element architecture like that found in some of the competition.

Each Voice can have three groups of elements that can switched on or off by the 2 assignable function buttons above the pitch and mod wheels.
These can be used to create one voice that has normal strings, pizzicato and spiccato in one voice that can switched via the AF 1 and 2 buttons.

Another technical improvement to the sonic palette is the inclusion of Virtual Circuit Modeling effects like those found in the DM2000. Virtual Circuitry Modeling technology rather than simply attempting to approach the desired sound using conventional digital audio methods, actually models the analog circuitry... right down to the last resistor and capacitor. This technology was originally developed at Yamaha by Toshi Kunimoto and his group, the same sonic wizards who created the VL1 and VP1 — the world's first physical modeling synthesizers. VCM technology goes well beyond simply analyzing and modeling electronic components and emulating the sound of old equipment. It is capable of capturing subtleties that simple digital simulations cannot even approach, and in fact creating ideal examples of sought-after vintage gear. This includes not only studio effects like vintage compressors and EQs, but also vintage pedal effects including flangers, wahs, phasors, etc.

On the synth side, there are four intelligent arpeggiators that can be used in each voice and many of these Arps actually have 8 velocity zones. Again you’ll have to hear these to evaluate for yourself. As far as other synth features, there is wave cycling so that elements can transition between different waveforms (think Korg Wavestation).

Okay, now for some news that may stir up some posts. The Motif XS does not support PLG boards. We looked at this long and hard. We supported the forum when there was a call for a new Piano PLG card and got Yamaha Japan to develop it. However, the PLG cards were not particularly successful in the market. The basic architecture was developed almost 10 years ago and had certain inherent limitations. The ones that some people are most passionate about (the VH and VL boards) were not that successful partly because they need more expertise to use (knowledge of vocal harmony settings in the former and use of a breath controller in the latter). The VL which focused on solo wind and brass is partially addressed by the new 8 element voices with note offs and legato.

The VH is replaced by an on board, built in 10 band Vocoder. The Vocoder allows up to 128 notes of harmonies to be created from the keyboard and also is of course useful for cool synth effects as well. It can be used in Voice and Performance mode and recorded directly into the Integrated Sampling Sequencer.
We realize that the decision to stop support for PLG cards in the XS will not sit well with some people, but we always have to balance legacy support with the need to move forward.

As far as easy of song creation, this is where the XS has taken huge steps. There are 4 intelligent arpeggios that care run simultaneously. There are over 6000 arpeggios included.
There are two kinds of Arps. ES raps work exactly like the Arps on the current ES. XS arps have chordal intelligence so they can do a lot of things that were not possible. Combining these two types of arps along with Performance Controls to control them allow a level of interactivity that has not been available before. You’ll have to wait and see it to understand how powerful it and direct performance recording really are. Rather than trying to detail how to tie your shoes in the next few weeks we’ll show you just how easy it and powerful it is. This is what is really new and unique about the XS and you’ll just have to wait a bit to see it in action.

We did not include a hard drive or RAM because these are much more inexpensive to purchase as computer accessories. The XS supposrts standard DIMM for RAM and both USB 2.0 and Ethernet for external storage. However all of the sequence memory is now flash so MIDI data is retained after power down.


For computer integration, the XS features complete Digital Connectivity (USB 2.0, Ethernet, Firewire, and SPDIF). The MOTIF XS8 features built in Firewire connectivity based on mLAN but focused on easy to use peer to peer connectivity. There is very fast loading and saving via USB2.0 and even faster load and save via Ethernet. The Motif XS is a true Ethernet network device and can be accessed via standard Ethernet network protocols. The DAW Remote Control has vastly improved partly because of the 8 knobs and 8 faders, but mostly because of the Full-Dot Color Graphic LCD (320x640). There is a special version Cubase that will be included with the XS that we will be talking about in the coming weeks. It has features specially designed for the XS in it.


The display gives you access to much more information on each page and the hand on user interface gives you the speed to work quickly.

If we can summarize the general consensus of opinion here on the site , it is that Motifs have a learning curve , but after that they are quicker to work on than other workstations. With the XS, with the larger displays and some core improvements to the user interface and work flow we think we have achieved something that can be instantly gratifying , yet still allow you to work in depth when you need to.