For me, the MODX is not a workstation keyboard.

However... for my daughter, who can creatively play and play well, and compose, it is very much a limited workstation-like arranger. She gets way more mileage out of the Pattern Sequencer because she can create her own patterns accurately with no need to edit them. I don't play well enough to do that, meaning it's nothing like a workstation, for me. The Pattern Sequencer doesn't have note editing. This means it's not a workstation, as far as I'm concerned.

If that makes sense, and you have the creative capacity to create on a keyboard without making any mistakes, and can play exactly what you want, the Pattern Sequencer's MANY foibles might be tolerable. But it's still very limited. You do need either an iPad or PC/Mac with a DAW if you want to craft songs to any where near a shareable state.

This is a HUGE difference to the Krome EX, which is a proper workstation keyboard, with a very good sequencer and note editing, and a workflow that's suited to composing fully fleshed out, 16 part songs.

The better you can play, and/or the more you like tweaking sounds in dynamic ways, the better is the MODX. The more you like thinking through and constructing songs on a keyboard, the better is the Krome EX.

THINGS YOU MUST BUY FOR THE MODX:

Two pedals - sustain pedal for your right foot, and a swivel pedal to control the SuperKnob with your left foot. These are so essential to the MODX/Montage that I'm very surprised Yamaha don't make a little combo pedal unit that is both of these things, with a couple of foot switches for the two assignable buttons on the left, too.

That superknob looks like a gimmick, and kind of is if you don't have a pedal to control it, until you figure out how to control it with the Motion Sequencer. Which takes time!

At any rate... the two pedals are the only things you really need. They're essential!

I just purchased a modx8 88 key, and my question is after weeks of comparing it and a korg krome, is the modx8 a workstation?

Hi Justin, Welcome to YamahaSynth!

The MODX is not like a traditional workstation in that it presents a different workflow from the the traditional synth workstation. Because you can construct music compositions using multiple Parts simultaneously, it presents many different possibilities. There is a linear MIDI Song sequencer and a loop recording Pattern sequencer, which work together.

The multiple Part Performances, the thousands of drum and arp Phrases, and multiple arpeggiators... invites jamming while controlling as many as eight Parts and eight Arpeggiators.

While you still can work the traditional one Track, one Part method, you also have the ability to construct your compositions in new interactive manner. Each of the 16 Parts of a MODX Performance has its own dedicated Track... this means at any time you are communicating with a Part, it has a dedicated Track that will document your interaction with it.

The Super Knob and the massive Control Assign system allows you to address any Part and its parameters in real time. You can directly command as many as 8 Parts, 1-8, simultaneously, via KBD CTRL (Keyboard Control). Morphing between active Parts can be recorded to the sequencer...

A single gesture can address your Performance Parts so that each does exactly what you design it to do. You can address parameters individually within each Performance Part, scaling the response so that each does exactly what you require from a gesture.

While you still can have a cc74 message open and close all Filters across all Parts, you can go way deeper and have each Filter change exactly as you desire, each doing a unique change in response to your control gesture.

Individual event editing is not apart of this Sequencer, rather a sophisticated ‘controller update’ feature allows you to rewrite just the specific control parameters you desire. It allows you to overdub just the controller movement you select without disturbing the other data.
MODX CONNECT allows you to move your Song or Pattern data (via a USB connection) to your favorite DAW for Note editing.

I used to own a Korg M50 which I think was very similar to the Krome/Krome Ex, so I can give you a brief comparison with the MODX, and the differences you can expect.

The Korg architecture had different modes for single voices and 16-part multi-timbral performances, called "Program" and "Combi" modes. The MODX dismisses this mode based architecture completely, and everything is a performance. Think of the MODX as being always in "Combi" mode with the single part performances being the individual voices of "Program" mode.

Korg Krome, in Combi & Sequence mode, had the capability of 2 simultaneous arpeggio tracks plus a drum track. In the MODX you get upto 8 arpeggio parts simultaneously, with the drum track also counted as an arp. But where the MODX really outshines the Krome is that each of these 8 parts can have 8 different arpeggios saved in different "scene" settings. I dont think the scene concept was there in the Krome.

As Andrew has pointed out, the MODX sequencer is limited, although the pattern sequencer is a very powerful creative tool. But where the MODX again outshines the Krome is in the DAW workflow and integration. It took me a while to get it, but the workflow is amazingly efficient once you have the correct settings. The MODX has a built-in audio interface that transfers upto 5 stereo tracks at a time. Of course, MIDI is also transferred, so you can do all your note editing in the DAW. Personally I find the DAW based editing better, but I understand that others may prefer to do everything on a workstation.

Finally, I may be mistaken, but I think the Krome could not import custom samples. This was certainly not there on the M50, but with the MODX you can load your own samples from WAV files and build your own sounds, not limited to what Yamaha loaded as preset samples.