MESSE:Yamaha's New Motif Scoop.

US We knew they were up to something.. 09/03/01

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Yamaha have released the specs for their new flagship series- the Motif. - the Integrated Sampling Sequencer Workstation - sounds grand don't it? The Motif will be available in three models: the Motif 6, 7 and - wait for it Motif 8. The main difference being the number of keys - presumably so that those of us who don't need 88 hammer action weighted keys can opt for the more modestly equipped 61 key Motif 6 or 76 key Motif 7. The Motif's 62 note polyphony is shared between the built in sampler and AWM2 tone synthesis engine. Synthesis is further expandable with plug in boards of the VL variety.Yamaha are to release boards based on the AN200 virtual analog and DX200 (DX-7 engine). There are three slots for voice expandabillity, one for mLAN or analog and SPDIF I/O expansion and two for taking the standard 4Mb of sample RAM to a maximum of 64Mb - we think you'll probably need it - 4Mb seems a little meager to us. Storage is taken care of by a Smart Media slot - like you may have in your digital camera. The Motif comes with SCSI as standard so you can hang your preferred device off the back without too much trouble. The Motif shares much of the functionality of it's sequencer / sampling sections with the forthcoming RS7000 music production studio. I quote: "Slice with Sequence takes the Integrated Sampling Sequencer concept even further. In this case, when you record audio phrases, MOTIF will analyze the recorded audio, slice it into pieces (based on amplitude peaks and divisions of the beat) and then generate an extremely accurate MIDI sequence to perfectly re-trigger each of the pieces. This is the key to MOTIF’s seamless integration of audio and MIDI. Once this process has completed, you can change the tempo of your sequence without changing the pitch of the recorded audio, or use grids to change the clock, gate and velocity values of notes within a sampled drum loop, for example. Simply put, you have all the flexibility of MIDI with the accuracy and realism of audio." The sampler will be able to read a AIFF, WAV Akai and Yamaha A-Series sample discs. Yes indeed. What's more there's a pretty interesting arpeggiator - sort of similar in concept to the Korg Karma only different. (Factoid: One of the product specialists who worked for Korg has been involved in the development of the Motif) Not only can the arpeggiator be of the usual variety (octave up down etc) it can also be based on any kind of midi performance data - the feel of particular drummer or the hot licks (sorry about that) or strumming of a midi guitarist. It's actually pretty powerful and in the right hands sounds very effective. INs and OUTs
1 x phones
1 x L-R out
1 x assignable L-R out
More outputs available with the optional AE1B board6 analog, 1 x optical, 1 x SPDIF board
1 x USB provides more MIDI I/O (hooray!)
1 x Optical TOS-link out
2 x foot controllers
1 x foot switch
1 x SCSI
1 x Midi In, Out, Thru
1 x Breath controller
1 x A/D mic/line in
We attended a demo which was excellent- the chap who was performing really knew his stuff and showed the Motif in a very positive light.

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