Blake, Blogging

I was really happy to hear that there would be a blog here on Motifator. I work so much better with blogging than forums. When motifator first started I replied for awhile until Bad Mister became the ultimate forum guy. I would post a response only to find that he responded before I could finish the post! Anyway, blogging is great for me because it allows me to be a bit more frank about Motif XS, a product that I have been working with now for almost 3 months.

You know, if this product were a dog I wouldn’t be up here saying the things that I am about to say. I would talk about features, why it’s cool, etc., using the same corporate lingo that you would get on any manufacturer’s website. But the truth is it is by a long shot the coolest workstation we have ever put out. It is, to me, what workstations should really be about: Making music. The performance record feature is brilliant and has to be experienced live to really get just how cool it is.

And sonically-speaking...well, put it this way: my background is jazz and music theory. A good piano sound is what I personally really need. The customer base in the US is very similar. The first question out of most customer’s mouths is “Can I hear the piano”, and that has been a cornerstone of the Motif line. I liked the pianos on the Motif ES, but I honestly wasn’t crazy about them although they were better than the original motif. The S90ES sounded better to me because of the new samples that were added and the damper resonance. But I have to tell you all: the XS is WAY better than even that. Key off sampling and better layering has taking the entire experience to a different level. That right there is enough for me, but there is more, and over the next few weeks my life here in Bellingham WA (where the sun has disappeared for what seems like 3 months) is creating some demo material that really shows off some of the “Xpanded Articulation” that makes this instrument really sing.

Speaking of demos: The ones everyone have been hearing are very preliminary. Franking, the product support team who have had the XS in there space (Athan, PC, Avery, Tony, and Myself) have been working more with the XS feature set and the evolution of prototype development. We have been concerning ourselves with looking at the “wholeness” of the product and not with creating demo content, but that is about to change. I had a conversation with Athan today about this exact issue, and trust me: Over the next few weeks we are going to put some content together that really will show you what the XS is about.

Lastly, the one thing that is so odd to me are posts from people who take a single specification and make decisions on something they have no idea. Some guy makes a statement about polyphony...How can an 8 element voice structure not be really detrimental to polyphony. I have done a lot of sequencing directly on XS and the one thing that I didn’t experience was note stealing or voices dropping out. And I am not a wimp sequencer: I was throwing some stuff at it and it worked perfectly. I’m not going to tell you that EVERYONE will have the same experience because some people are WAY too heavy about the sustain pedal (9 tracks of pads, all sustaining...). I once had a piano teacher in Seattle who cut the sustain pedals off of 5 pianos that were in the house--literally, with a chainsaw--to prove the point that control comes from the hands. His lot in life was breaking people of their addiction to sustain pedal. I can’t begin to tell you how great a lesson that is...anyway. XS is voiced really, really well to make polyphony a non-issue for the VAST majority of users.

Step Record is another issue. XS doesn’t have it. I understand why people like that feature, and I won’t be the snobby “try practicing sometime” guy. I don’t think that is fair because I have seen burning musicians who use step record. There were reasons why it wasn’t implemented that I won’t go in to, but they were valid reasons. Also, Cubase AI is IN THE BOX for Mac or PC users both...and it will have step record. And realize that Cubase AI is not LE: It has the same UI as Cubase 4, is slickly integrated with XS, does 48 tracks of audio, 64 tracks of MIDI and uses the Cubase 4 engine. And it’ll do step record.

Anyway, I have to split now, but I wanted to throw some thoughts up here about the new product. I really have to tell you all: This thing just sings. It is a very meaningful follow up to the ES. Remember: It’s all about the sound. Also remember how much difference there was sonically between the Motif and Motif ES. The move from ES to XS is just as profound, if not more. I am a VERY happy product specialist.

Later,

Blake (007 to Bad Mister)