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How is Your MODX(8) Holding Up?


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It"s been awhile since the MODX came out. Now that the excitement has abated, and given the comments about the MODX8 keybed, how has your board done for you? Did you buy it and return it? Or did you buy it and still use it?
CA93, MODX8, YC88, K8.2
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After gigging with it for a year, my opinions:

 

The keybed DOES suck, but its light weight is hard to beat

 

If you use it with lots of splits layers, the polyphony runs out pretty quick (using it as the only sound source)

 

I've never really been able to come up with a 'single' patch/voice piano that sounds good through a big FOH/PA ( I need 'single' as I often layer pads/strings in parts of the songs (see the polyphony ref))

 

The plastic jacks seem flimsy, but I haven't had any problems with them ( had a moxf8 and never had any issues with them, either)

 

I have had weird things in the sound every once in a while like small distortion in the sound, but these were at times when I was using max polyphony and could be voltage related

 

We do play a gig with voltage issues yearly, and the sound distorts and then dips down in volume but immediate comes back. I bring this up because it appears to take a voltage beating and continues to work (still on the same power supply) so that says a little about road-worthiness?)

 

I've said this before, but while i'm playing it I wish I had the cp4 (for the keybed). But at load-out, nice having the lighter board... :idk:

 

I've used it in 99 degree heat (and it was in direct sun for a bit), no issues with the screen or the operation (well the screen was hard to see, but it didn't do anything weird like my motif xf used to...)

 

I was thinking of using it with my computer setup, but it seems to "Yamaha-color" the sound? Not as clear/quality sounding as when a good audio interface is used? But then again, live FOH can destroy any high quality, so jurys still out on this. Also the latency/drop out is not as good using the Yamaha/MODX audio interface (compared to the motu I normally use).

 

I haven't dropped it from a tall height (as happened to my xs7 years ago) or filled it with rainwater (as a storm did to my moxf) yet, but so far no problems.

 

Hope this helps...

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14 months in ... no issues to report. I don"t play as much as most here - maybe 2 gigs a month. Enough practice to be ready for those gigs.

 

Roughly the same with my MODX8; have gigged it a large handful of times, though it's mostly a home studio piece. Hey, the actions not like that of a grand piano, but I can live with it. There's a Kawai upright at home too; that helps.

Sounds-wise, I moved some of my Motif XS/S90XS sounds forward (original and 3rd-party stuff), so it reminds me a lot of my my S90ES, etc.. Then there's all the new material from the Montage, plus the new OS (which I've barely dug into). Don't miss the weight of a Montage 8 at all..

'Someday, we'll look back on these days and laugh; likely a maniacal laugh from our padded cells, but a laugh nonetheless' - Mr. Boffo.

 

We need a barfing cat emoticon!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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14 months in ... no issues to report. I don"t play as much as most here - maybe 2 gigs a month. Enough practice to be ready for those gigs.

 

Roughly the same with my MODX8; have gigged it a large handful of times, though it's mostly a home studio piece. Hey, the actions not like that of a grand piano, but I can live with it. There's a Kawai upright at home too; that helps.

Sounds-wise, I moved some of my Motif XS/S90XS sounds forward (original and 3rd-party stuff), so it reminds me a lot of my my S90ES, etc.. Then there's all the new material from the Montage, plus the new OS (which I've barely dug into). Don't miss the weight of a Montage 8 at all..

I still haven"t updated my OS. I really should do that this month while I have a lull before next set of gigs starting in Mar.

The baiting I do is purely for entertainment value. Please feel free to ignore it.
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I did not care for the action on the 8 at the local outlet...heavy and sluggish. I'm a lifeâlong synth and organ player anyway and knew I wanted the 7 when it was announced. Close to six months of bar gigs almost every weekend...rock solid. Keybed on the 6/7 bottoms out uncomfortably, but one can still get quite expressive with the velocity with a bit of practice. The sound set is vastly comprehensive. The knobs and sliders are fantastic for live use, though the filter resonance is VERY touchy and gets far to squelchy far to quickly. It is best to figure out how to program the SuperKnob for those settings before-hand. Takes a while to get the programming done, but it is well worth the time invested to make the show go smoothly. It has become the one and only board I need for any gig. I get to pick and chose what other board to bring if and when I want to...depending on the venue, style, and genre the gig requires.

MODX is just a dern good gigging workhorse; light weight and sounds great. Quick and easy navigation after a bit of programming to get your bread and butter sounds in the Live Set. Still liking it more and more each time I fire it up.

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I did not care for the action on the 8 at the local outlet...heavy and sluggish. I'm a lifeâlong synth and organ player anyway and knew I wanted the 7 when it was announced. Close to six months of bar gigs almost every weekend...rock solid. Keybed on the 6/7 bottoms out uncomfortably, but one can still get quite expressive with the velocity with a bit of practice. The sound set is vastly comprehensive. The knobs and sliders are fantastic for live use, though the filter resonance is VERY touchy and gets far to squelchy far to quickly. It is best to figure out how to program the SuperKnob for those settings before-hand. Takes a while to get the programming done, but it is well worth the time invested to make the show go smoothly. It has become the one and only board I need for any gig. I get to pick and chose what other board to bring if and when I want to...depending on the venue, style, and genre the gig requires.

MODX is just a dern good gigging workhorse; light weight and sounds great. Quick and easy navigation after a bit of programming to get your bread and butter sounds in the Live Set. Still liking it more and more each time I fire it up.

 

thats me. I never wanted the 8 but while waiting for sales guy to process my discount code coupon for the 7, i tried out the 8 floor model (the only one they had set up). felt like running in mud ... slow, heavy, very hard for me (who notedly was used to light synth/semi feel) play at all. i wondered if its really that bad or just a beat to shit floor model but i didn't care, i'm a 7-synth guy.

 

i love the 7 but i'd be gigging my Motif XF7 local and MOXF6 travel gigs if not for it. Much lighter and easier to schlep than Motif XF7, better UI and easier to set up gig set lists on the fly. its better in all ways than MOXF6. It feels like a mid-level value board action to me, comparable to others in that range. its not a toy but several notches below top shelf. For me, all the positives far outweigh this for me but thats a very personal opinion.

The baiting I do is purely for entertainment value. Please feel free to ignore it.
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Had the 8 but sold it for the 7 since I also couldn't find a piano sound I liked for live playing. So got n Electro 6 on bottom tier for that and EP/organ duties.

 

For synth duties it's great; I mainly use presets and the Scenes are invaluable for live work. Have learned basic programming of Superknob for volume / bringing in strings/pads. FM engine is powerful but haven't got into programming. Strings and brass also A1.

 

Touch-screen works fine for me (and makes the Nord seem stone-age) but keybed as mentioned above is really bad. Plasticky, narrow keys and bottoms out horribly. I've made a few mistakes because of it and cursed it, but overall the board's power outweighs all that.

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  • 1 year later...
I have a MODX8 that I bought used 4 months ago from Guitar Center. Last night, it stopped booting. When I power it on, the blue super knob light turns on, then off and it appears the board is dead. Nothing happens on the screen and I get no sound. If I power off and on again, it repeats the same behavior. I actually have two PA150 power adapters. Keyboard is behaving exactly the same way with both adapters. I also tried different wall plugs in different houses (it started doing this while I was at band practice). I just contacted Guitar Center and, not surprisingly, they informed me that it is not covered by any warranty under them. Yamaha told me the same thing; factory warranty doesn't transfer to a new buyer when the item is sold used. I'm currently getting it looked at by a local certified servicer, but I'm pretty sure it's going to be a circuit board issue, I'm praying not the motherboard. From now on, I'll be buying new or getting some kind of extended warranty. I'm really mad though because I had an S80 for 20 years. Gigged with it weekly at times and carried it in a soft care the whole time. I never had any issues, but the thing was terribly heavy. I'm worried the light weight plastic is a trade off for durability. I loved the keyboard up to this point with the exception of the flimsy power cable that seems like it wants to break from just looking at it. The key bed isn't great, but definitely good enough for me (and similar to the S80). I don't know of any other keyboard synthesizer that offers this many features, such light weight, for that affordable of a price.
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I have a MODX7, and MOXF8 that I'm selling. I don't mind the keybed on the MOXF8 that much, but something has to go :) I did a gig last week with only the MODX7 and ipad for organs and it does just fine....but I've got my eye on getting a Kurzweil pc4 for single-board gigs and it has a decent organ so I could do without the ipad when I wanted. I wish I could try the PC4 first action-wise but music stores around here have basically nothing. I'm very familiar with the PC3 so I am confident it will serve sound-wise.

 

If I get the PC4, I may keep the MODX7 and sort of dedicate it to be a clonewheel with the ipad for more higher profile gigs, and of course it would have the ability to do many other things. Either can do synths, strings or piano if I wanted. I find the light action works well for organ, I'm hardly an expert at playing one! The odd board out would then be my Novation Summit, but with our current setlists it's not a great fit (though I love the keyboard).

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I've had my MODX7 for a little over two years now. Here are my thoughts.

 

Not a fan of the keybed, but it's not the worst I've played on, (Krome wins that distinction for me). It just takes getting used to, in addition to playing with the global velocity curves and finding the sweet spot for me. I personally like a lighter curve.

 

A very powerful instrument sound-wise. I can get anything I'm looking for, no matter what the gig is. As a matter of fact, for the last few months that I was gigging regularly in a cover band (end of 2019), the MODX7 was the only board I ever needed for the gig.

 

Onboard audio input and level control is very handy when I want to add, say, my Behringer Model D or a 2nd board to the rig. Love that feature.

 

The main output level is low, compared to my Motif XS6 that I had prior to getting the MODX7.

Hardware

Yamaha MODX7, DX7, PSR-530, SY77/Korg TR-Rack, 01/W Pro X, Trinity Pro X, Karma/Ensoniq ESQ-1, VFX-SD

Behringer DeepMind12, Model D, Odyssey, 2600/Roland RD-1000/Arturia Keylab MKII 61

 

Software

Studio One/V Collection 9/Korg Collection 4/Cherry Audio/UVI SonicPass/EW Composer Cloud/Omnisphere, Stylus RMX, Trilian/IK Total Studio 3.5 MAX/Roland Cloud

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I've gigged it intensively since October 2018, except for the lockdown, of course. We do a lot of outdoor gigs here in SoCal, and that takes its toll on your equipment in terms of dirt and bugs. For the most part it's fine, really, but I have noticed some inconsistencies creeping in on the keys, occasionally a note not triggering, or at the incorrect velocity etc. Nothing too egregious, but it's there.

 

At this point I'm not too worried about it, but it's something I keep an eye on. The same goes for my 2016 Korg Krome 73, which is definitely in worse shape. I view both instruments as disposables/write-offs, as in I don't think I'd bother fixing/repairing them. Just get rid of them when reliability fails. It's different for my Fantom X7. That one I will continue to patch up for as long as I can.

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Hmmmâ¦I wonder how much trouble it would be to Franken-board the Fantom X7"s keybed into to MODX7. Not worth it though if there"s no way for MODX engine to recognize the aftertouch. MODX"s warranty is probably pretty close to running out; 'bout time to open that puppy UP.
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