Can anybody share your opinion of your comparison of these two keyboards, what you like and didn’t like about each?

I haven’t tested the FA, but AFAIK it’s based on the same technology than my Integra-7, which is a really nice synth. It’s a good companion for my MOXF and I wouldn’t sell neither of them.

The FA has a subset of what’s in the Integra… the Integra has lots of stuff that the FA does not. And yes, a MOXF + Integra is a nice combination.

To me, notable advantages of the FA over the MOXF are simpler operation (nicer interface), trigger pads, and an assignable out. It also has some clonewheel and VA synth functionality built in. OTOH, Yamaha has the ability to add up to a gigabyte of new playable samples (some available from Yamaha, others from third parties, or you can create your own), and it has more flexibility as a MIDI controller… and personally, while they each have sounds I really like, overall, I prefer the Yamaha sounds.

Thanks. I am going to play them both soon.

Just sold my moxf for another FA(i have two now), roland is very easy and quick to program, I personally find the roland punchier and clearer sounding, cuts through the mix a lot better, even my band mates notice the difference. Roland cannot get close to yammy in the guitar department but I dont use guitar sounds anyway as I play guitar in some songs.

shinenz - 06 September 2014 04:57 PM

I personally find the roland punchier and clearer sounding, cuts through the mix a lot better, even my band mates notice the difference.

I don’t think that Yamaha excellence is just in the guitar section. There are many more areas. MOTIF sounds are used in productions every day and you often find Yamaha MOTIF (and sometimes MOXF) stuff on worldwide stages. For acoustic emulations, let’s say there are no peers. Yamaha is above the others head and shoulders.

Yes, to be able to cut thru a mix is important. When playing Yamaha MOXF, just adjust keyboard sensitivity and you’re done.

This is my view.

Floydtom - 24 August 2014 08:45 PM

Can anybody share your opinion of your comparison of these two keyboards, what you like and didn’t like about each?

Well piano, epiano, pads, few others (drums and percussions) in Yamaha they sound pretty crappy IMHO.
Roland does good modelling of a piano much superior than Yamaha.
Look at the end of this page and you’ll find the major difference:
http://www.roland.com/piano/SuperNATURAL_Piano.html

Roland integra 7 is much much more expressive than MOTIF. This is my humble opinion. Yamaha will never get to this detail.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p86K50ipGnA
You can’t achieve some of the capabilities of integra 7 through sampling no matter what you do.
For example sympathetic resonance, that simply does not exist in any Yamaha keyboard. Even CP1 doesn’t have it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xebzA__IpPc
Bare in mind that you have to spare at least an extra $300 for 1gig of flash.
See what is your requirements are…

JoelFan - 08 September 2014 06:38 AM

shinenz - 06 September 2014 04:57 PM

I personally find the roland punchier and clearer sounding, cuts through the mix a lot better, even my band mates notice the difference.

I don’t think that Yamaha excellence is just in the guitar section. There are many more areas. MOTIF sounds are used in productions every day and you often find Yamaha MOTIF (and sometimes MOXF) stuff on worldwide stages. For acoustic emulations, let’s say there are no peers. Yamaha is above the others head and shoulders.

Yes, to be able to cut thru a mix is important. When playing Yamaha MOXF, just adjust keyboard sensitivity and you’re done.

This is my view.

I disagree with your view my friend! The guitars doesn’t sound that terrible. Actually the steel guitar is nice. Acoustic I’ll give it to you. There is no acoustic emulation or simulation in Yamaha. It’s just a sample table. Each sample is 1-2 seconds and it will be looped after that which makes it super unnatural.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P52w5h1WJLk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P52w5h1WJLk

abdol - 08 September 2014 11:47 AM

There is no acoustic emulation or simulation in Yamaha. It’s just a sample table.

Thank God for that. Otherwise Yamaha keyboards’ guitar voices too would have sounded as poor as every other guitar emulation. In fact Yamaha’s guitar voices sound more close to real guitar sounds than many multi-GB guitar sample libraries do.
I have been using Roland products and different VSTis. In search of decent guitar sounds, I have come across Yamaha Motif and now am eager to buy my first Yamaha synthesizer.

Well I had both the fa and moxf plugged in, same system, same mixer excellent quality speakers (DSR112’s), the roland blew away almost everything on the MOXF, not trying to push either brand, the yammy is great for guitars, and brass is pretty good, and I owned a lot of aftermarket banks which were pretty good, however anything synth orientated sounds weak on the mo. I previously owned the Motif XF last year aswell, and I recall the sound quality being somewhat clearer, the moxf convertors must have been downgraded as the mo to my ear sounds lower quality. The moxf does make a more flexible master controller though.

The FA is a breeze to program though, for what I do (play covers) its twice as fast as any other synth Ive owned to replicate popular sounds, and I play anything from classic 80’s to Rihanna, so its very flexible.

abdol - 08 September 2014 11:40 AM

Floydtom - 24 August 2014 08:45 PM

Can anybody share your opinion of your comparison of these two keyboards, what you like and didn’t like about each?

Well piano, epiano, pads, few others (drums and percussions) in Yamaha they sound pretty crappy IMHO.
Roland does good modelling of a piano much superior than Yamaha.
Look at the end of this page and you’ll find the major difference:
http://www.roland.com/piano/SuperNATURAL_Piano.html

Roland integra 7 is much much more expressive than MOTIF. This is my humble opinion. Yamaha will never get to this detail.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p86K50ipGnA
You can’t achieve some of the capabilities of integra 7 through sampling no matter what you do.
For example sympathetic resonance, that simply does not exist in any Yamaha keyboard. Even CP1 doesn’t have it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xebzA__IpPc
Bare in mind that you have to spare at least an extra $300 for 1gig of flash.
See what is your requirements are…

just did search for that 7 module to midi with my yamaha..
more bad reviews on it than good…
most saying it sounds worse than stuff 10 years ago…
almost toy like on most sounds…
thanks, but ill stick with my yamaha…

I have tested both of them with headphones (not the same headphones) in a music shop before buying. Roland FA06 sounded like a toy piano, so I decided to go for the MOXF. Anyway, check this video with a side by side comparison: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTXRMFFkkaI

My main problem with MOXF is that I cannot get that piano sound quality that you hear in many youtube videos (I doubt if you can get it even with Roland FA06, based on what I heard in the music shop).

One area that MOXF outperforms is the ARP section: 4 simultaneous running ARPs, 7,981 factory ARP patterns to choose, 256 user ARPs.
Compare that to the single Arpeggiator of FA06 with 128 factory ARP styles and 16 user ARPs plus the rhythm pattern playing section with 354 factory rhythm patterns.