Thanks for posting that direct link Bryan! lol! I didn't know how to slap direct links into emails like that! Way better than me having to type out step by step how to get somewhere, tabbing here and entering there! lol! So sad! holla! What Da Hzzy! Driza aka Drizabizeats ----- Original Message ----- From: Bryan Smart To: ddots-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Wednesday, January 03, 2007 6:17 AM Subject: [ddots-l] Re: Get ready, get ready, get ready!!! The Motif fx Info about the Motif XS has been prematurely leaked due to a slip up at one of the online stores that would have carried the Motif :]. The official announcement will be on Jan 10, and there will be demonstrations and live units at NAMM. Expected availability is in April. MSRP for the various models: XS6 $2800, XS7 $3400, XS8 $4000. The new Motif should be as accessible as the classic and ES. Yamaha did not move to a touch screen, as some feared. The system is still navigated by the function/subfunction approach. Further, this Motif has many more dedicated buttons/controls, so this means that it will be even more hands on than earlier Motifs. The only small drawback is that, since the screen is larger, there will be more arrowing around the various screens to reach a specific parameter that you'd like to change, but my old system of describing the display with tables should still work on the XS. In summary, there is no reason that we shouldn't expect the same, or better, access to this iteration of Motif. If you'd like to read the Motifator thread where the Motif XS was leaked and Yamaha Product Management started spilling the details, then go here: http://www.motifator.com/forums/showflat.php?Cat=1,2,4&Board=MotifES&Number=299412&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=&fpart=1&vc=1 The real dirt is on page 6 of that thread. Here is a quick summary of some of the big new features: Motif internal sample ROM upgraded from 175MB to 350MB with primarily an upgraded piano and new orchestral sounds Motif now supports Extended Articulation voices (an upgrade over the Tyros 2 Super Articulation voices). Voices now have 8 elements instead of the 4 on earlier Motifs, with release trigger, legato trigger, and better portamento. There are buttons for keying on/off groups of these elements. With 8 elements for programming sounds, whole new possibilities are available: string patches that switch from staccato to Mercado to pizzicato with a button press, 8-layer sampled instruments, patches that can trigger all sorts of alternate samples during performance based on controllers, etc. Controllers: Motif now has 8 knobs, 8 sliders, several one-touch voice adjusting/performance controls, and more. The extra controllers have expanded the Motif's DAW remote capabilities, also. I/O - Motif now uses USB 2.0 (for rapid loading and saving of sounds), sounds can be directly moved to/from the Motif over ethernet (Motif will work as a file server), mLAN is standard, SPDIF is standard. Other misc features - 1GB of sample RAM supported, new component-modeled insert effects, wave cycling in the synth engine (do wave sequencing like on the Korg Wavestation), 2 more banks of presets and an extra user bank of presets, an updated arpeggiator system, arpeggiator phrase factory expanded from 1700 phrases on ES to over 6000 in XS, can use up to 4 arpeggiators at once. It looks like quite an upgrade. Of course, we don't know what's coming from Korg and Roland at NAMM, but Korg's offering will probably have a touch screen, like everything else they make recently. Start saving your pennies. Dancing Dots will most likely be carrying the Motif XS. Bryan ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ From: ddots-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:ddots-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Omar Binno Sent: Wednesday, January 03, 2007 6:03 AM To: ddots-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [ddots-l] Re: Get ready, get ready, get ready!!! The Motif fx it's not motif fx, it's motif xs. Omar Binno ----- Original Message ----- From: James Murphy To: ddots-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Wednesday, January 03, 2007 5:34 AM Subject: [ddots-l] Get ready, get ready, get ready!!! The Motif fx Check on the motifator website www.motifator.com January 10th. It's Crazy!!!!! The motif FX," a new generation Motif!!! An the Motif Goes on!!!!!!! Holaa!!!!