Hi,

the main piano voice in the MX88 is the Full Concert Grand coming from the Motif XS. I use that piano a lot on the Motif XF. Is has a nice sustain. As far as I could see the total wave rom of the MX series is 166 MB.

My Question is: Has that particular piano voice been reduced in size to fit the wave rom of the MX (compared to the XS)?
Does it sound very different to the Full Concert Grand in the XF?
I´m thinking about getting me an additional lighter alternative board and the MX88 seems to be a good choice.

Thank you

In the Motif XS/XF you are provided many additional Waveform sets concerning many of the instruments; example, take the CFIIIS Concert Grand... in fact, the first 43 Waveforms in the XS/XF, for example, are of the Yamaha CF3 acoustic grand ... they give full sets, some stereo stretched tuned, stereo flat tuned, mono stretched tuned, mono flat tuned, soft, medium and hard sets of each, some shifted to cover lower pitches, some shifted higher... there are even multiple velocity Key-Off noises... the MX88 is truly the best of... instead of giving you every possible variant of the CF3 sample session, they selected just one set that serves to recreate the Full Concert Grand VOICE.

The bigger siblings offer more in depth editing, to where you can construct your own piano from the copious amounts of provided raw CF3 materials. The MX88 feature the same basic 8 Element architecture as the XS/XF. Four Parts (instead of 8) can have dual Insert Effects, two Parts can be under Arpeggio control (instead of four).

The MX88 Customer just wants the best well-rounded sound set in a sample-playback engine. At just 32 pounds it means you can take heavyweight sounds with you in a lightweight package. We have observed that many purchase it for exactly that reason. They want the best sounds at rehearsals, small gigs, etc. yet don't want to compromise on what they sound like...

Ok, does that mean that this particular voice is the same in the XF and the MX?
Without any loss of sound quality? No reduced wave rom?
Does the FCG in the MX have 8 active elements?

The data from the Motif series has been selected and formatted to fit the MX engine. They are different engines, thus the name difference. The data that was selected from the 355MB XS Wave ROM was specifically selected for the MX engine (166MB)... it was then programmed to work for the MX.

If your question is, is the MX a Motif, no, it is not. It's a configuration of the data from the Motif series to create the best bang-for-the-buck synth engine even when comparing it to those at several times the price. The data not included would be many of the variations mentioned in my post above and the data for features not implemented in the MX engine. Instead of 43 Waveforms of CF3, you get about a dozen in the MX. Voices were built (voiced) specifically for MX.

For example, the MX engine does not feature the XA CONTROL... Expanded Articulation Control, which is several MBs of data used in the Motif engine to recreate several unique functions such as Legato (samples without attack portion), Wave Cycle, Wave Random, Key-Off (samples triggered at Key release) and other Element manipulation modes. So the Full Concert Grand in MX series does not have the Key-Off noise feature... so the piano VOICE is seven Elements instead of eight.

The proof is always in the pudding. We think the MX88 is the best sounding, 88 key weighted action synth under $1000 (USD), period. You need to play one and hear for yourself.

Thank you Bad Mister,

you answered my question perfectly. I was wondering if the Full Concert Grand in the MX was reduced to 4 elements or so...

I always turn off the Key-Off sound in the Motif. I don´t need it. So that wouldn´t bother me at all.
With many of the lower-priced synth you´d often just get a poorly shadow of the high-class original sound.
And then when plugged to a good PA you immedeatly can hear the difference.

So, I´m a happy Motif XF8 user. I like the Full Concert Grand like I mentioned above.
Would you say that the 2 steps down from the XF8 to the MX88 are not to far in relation to touch and Piano sound when
I would use the MX88 just for small occassions with a pair of DXR10?
And for that I would mostly play A- and E-Pianos layered with some pads and strings...
I would never part from the XF8 for the MX88... just additional to it. Would it be a good choice?