Roland Fantom s-88 vs Yamaha Motif vs Triton Studio

[wacho]

Need opinion about this three keyboards Which do you thing have more options and which one sounds better?

[Justin]

Although I do not own any of these boards, I played all three 88 note versions in a shop for a fair while (Thought I was gonna get chucked out at one point !) I thought the Roland S88 had a good keyboard action and I always prefer the roland pitch stick to wheels, the sounds were good but not great, and there is a little pause when switching presets which is really annoying. The Triton had an o.k key action, I did'nt like the design of the keyboard and the sounds were good though, but polphony is limited.
The Yamaha Motif ES 8 has way the best keyboard action, the most interface options built in e.g. Two types of USB, SCSI etc. The sounds are amazing, really large sampled based sounds, the guitars and piano's are the best I have heard and the operating system layout is not too bad either, I was blown away by it but not the others. I also played the Kurzweil K2600 which again is nowhere near as good as the motif8.

Hope this helps, its an unbiased opinion, be it my personal view, but the Motif ES 8 is definately the best and has the most varied upgrade options too and true 128 note polyphony. If you're spending money on one of these boards, you really need to spend some quality time yourself with all of them to make your mind up. Just don't settle for anything becuase of money, wait until you have enough and then get what you want, I've always regretted settling for a keyboard because I could afford it at that time.

[Scrap]

In that price range, it all really comes down to personal taste and opinion. See synthguy's Instrument Overview for a good idea of each board's features.

It's sort of like comparing cars. You can argue over specs forever, but in the end it's all about what you personally like.

[Deceit]

Go for Triton Studio 88 if it's in your price range. It's the best out until the next beast to be released on the 15th of this month (so WAIT :D). Motif engine comes only after Triton's HI and Kurz's VAST, and I'd even go for a Nord Lead with a KSP8 or whatever, even a good new pc music setup before buying any Motif.
Deceit.

[Shreddy]

Your going to get lots of biassed comments from people here.

I'm from the Roland camp.

The Motif will have the better feeling keyboard, the Fantom is the second best feeling of the 3. Other controllers the S88 has dbeam contollers which is pretty neat, the Triton has a ribon both have sliders and/or knobs.

All the boars offer sampling, the Roland has a nice option that samples what you play in real time and allows you to replay what you just played and you can layer on it then layer more etc.. Its cool because you can site around a practice and improv for a bit and its all saved on your board.

Wait till after NAMM, the should be some newer products out and that may cause price wars between Korg, Roland, Yamaha.

ed

[Tigerfolly]

Although I do not own any of these boards, I played all three 88 note versions in a shop for a fair while (Thought I was gonna get chucked out at one point !) I thought the Roland S88 had a good keyboard action and I always prefer the roland pitch stick to wheels, the sounds were good but not great, and there is a little pause when switching presets which is really annoying. The Triton had an o.k key action, I did'nt like the design of the keyboard and the sounds were good though, but polphony is limited.
The Yamaha Motif ES 8 has way the best keyboard action, the most interface options built in e.g. Two types of USB, SCSI etc. The sounds are amazing, really large sampled based sounds, the guitars and piano's are the best I have heard and the operating system layout is not too bad either, I was blown away by it but not the others. I also played the Kurzweil K2600 which again is nowhere near as good as the motif8.

Hope this helps, its an unbiased opinion, be it my personal view, but the Motif ES 8 is definately the best and has the most varied upgrade options too and true 128 note polyphony. If you're spending money on one of these boards, you really need to spend some quality time yourself with all of them to make your mind up. Just don't settle for anything becuase of money, wait until you have enough and then get what you want, I've always regretted settling for a keyboard because I could afford it at that time.

I'm surprised Keyboard Magazine hasn't run another Fantom/Motif/Triton shootout with the new versions of the Motif and Fantom.. maybe they're waiting for Korg to do something, like the rest of us are :)

After another trip to the store I used to work at, I'm -really- digging the Motif ES8. I've always liked the Motif, and the 88 key action on the Motif 8 and S90 are just wonderful to me. I know that the Triton 61 and 76 key versions are Yamaha action, and if I remember correctly Korg's RH2 action is licensed from Yamaha, but the action on the Yamaha boards has always been better than everything else I've played.

I'm a huge fan of Korg instruments, but if I had to choose between one of these three, the Motif ES8 would be mine without hesitation, with the Triton a close second. I would never buy a Fantom, because the other two boards do everything it can and more, and do all of it better.

[Over The Edge]

They just did one for the Fantom, Motif and Triton Studio in late
'02. It's still too early to do what you requested. Keep an
eye out for the latest from Korg so you could do your own
shootout.


FL
www.franklucas.net

[Tigerfolly]

They just did one for the Fantom, Motif and Triton Studio in late
'02. It's still too early to do what you requested. Keep an
eye out for the latest from Korg so you could do your own
shootout.


FL
www.franklucas.net

When I was at GC, the Triton was my thing. I know that thing inside and out. I'm really excited to see what Korg's coming out with. An updated workstation with awesome sounds, a decked out sequencer, incredible sampling options (you can get some pretty big hard drives for cheap nowadays.. they could drop a 20gb drive in there and the price will still be low), and an improved interface? The touchscreen is always a favorite, but imagine a screen as pretty as the Fantom's as a touchscreen. It's easily done..

Yeah, I can't wait :) And there's no way I can afford one for several years down the road.. and I'm still this excited. Here's hoping one falls off a truck in front of me on the highway. *crosses fingers*

[wacho]

Hey thanks to all of you guys hmm i have been analaizing this three keyboards and for the money range the one i think was the best is the fantom s 88 i played in a store and the sounds were great :o plus the 16 pads makes you see an other compleatly part of the keyboard i mean its a compleatly diferent controler plus the d beam with the solo synth that is great the four knovs etc

I wondered if korg was going to realease a new keyboard for this year ?

well all opinions are acceted here so thanks

[Spacehog]

Both Roland (Fantom X) and Korg (Triton Extreme) have new keyboards out this year... if I were in the market for an all-in-one workstation, the choice's never been better. I guess we'll probably see both keyboards around April time... the Roland looks the better buy from the specs, although the Korg is at least not a horrid pale silver colour any more!

Martin

[wacho]

Yeah i just went into the rolandus page and saw the roland fantom x it seems to have the same specs that the fantom s does just with more memory and stuff but nothing new i think i really would have to see it, the only thing is that the lcd screen is now full color but the controllers and stuff are the same

[mmvrs09]

With the new keyboards, you're basicly looking at better sounds, new options, and better processing power. The key action probably won't change for either the Triton or Fantom... But, looking at what's available now (Motif ES8, Triton Pro studio, Fantom S-88 ) the Motif is the best..Sound wise, it is FAR supirior to the other two synths and key action is extremely close to a piano.