Worth repairing???

[jstrauss]

I have a Motif ES8 and the pitch wheel stopped working. The tech has the problem narrowed down to either a sub-board or possibly the mother board and is waiting for word from Yamaha on the availability and pricing of parts. In the mean time I'd love some opinions on how much $ it would make sense to sink into a board of this age vs. either living with it as is or possibly selling and replacing it. It's my main gigging board and I like it a lot but I'm not getting younger and it's not getting any lighter. If I replace it my budget would limited to ~1,500 net.

[ElmerJFudd]

I would wait until you get a quote. The ES series were built like tanks, the sounds are still good. It's not like the XS and XF boards aren't still ROM based, each just a bit larger libraries and some better sampling sessions on this or that. So leave yourself some room to wiggle:

 

1. If it's a cheap fix, you don't need to go to $1,500 to play.

 

2. If it's an expensive fix, and you're already half way into you budget - $1500 US doesn't get you that much these days.

 

You're looking at a Casio PX-5S

Roland RD300nx

Yamaha CP-40

Yamaha MOX8

Kawai MP7

 

None of these are on par with todays Motif XF8 which is $3599

Your Motif ES8 must have cost you a pretty penny back when you bought it.

And honestly, it's still a very good ROMpler with excellent DAW control and software integration features (with Cubase or Logic, DP).

So you'll have to reassess what you want from a digital keyboard.

 

3. If it's $300 to fix and you can sell it for maybe $900 you're in better shape than throwing it out or giving it away.

 

So, get the quote and think on what your options are.

 

 

[CEB]

This is just me. But for $1500 you aren't going to get anything better. Lighter yes but not better. The S700 pianos are nice. The $1700 Kawai MP7 is nice if you do not need the Motif's workstation power.

[Bif_]

You could replace with a MOXF8 for something close to that and have a brand new board.

[KeyMoe]

You could replace with a MOXF8 for something close to that and have a brand new board.

 

+1 - can't agree more. MOXF8 is in the park!

[jstrauss]

I was thinking maybe MOXF8. My ES has the Acoustic Piano and Vocoder PLG boards installed. What do you guys think it might be worth? I paid $900 about 3 years ago which I thought was a decent price.

[ElmerJFudd]

The PLG boards are something IMHO that the MOX and newer Motifs lack.

 

I have the DX, AN, and AP boards. I think the DX and AN sound amazing. The AP is only OK but it's very useful to a Motif ES or S90ES owner because it saves polyphony when you run piano on it instead of the host board. Anyway, the PLG boards are sought after and do well on eBay.

 

The PLG-150 AP should fetch from $185 to $350 on any given day.

PLG-150 VL gets about $235 to $290.

 

You should sell them separate from the ES8 if that's what you're planning.

 

However, as I suggested before, and CEB affirms - $1,500 doesn't get you much. The MOX8 isn't as much a step up as a step sideways in some ways, but that depends on how deeply you use the features of your ES8. The rest of the boards around $1500 aren't better than what you have, but they would be new. YMMV

[CEB]

Moxf8 has a good sound library and is half the the weight. That may be enough of a plus.

 

What you will lose will include... I think the action is not as good. You lose aftertouch. You have fewer performance parts/zones. The zone level controls are knobs not sliders. You lose user sampling. You need to look at what you will lose as far as audio and pedal IO. Etc..... But the MOXF is only about 30 pounds.

[The Real MC]

Anything made since 2000 is going to be SMT components which means complete board replacement, *IF* they still make them.

 

SMT based products are not designed to be serviceable at the component level. Even if the rare repair shop had the tools to deal with SMT, the cost of labor would exceed the value of the instrument. Another problem is the footprint of components. As technology advances, the old components are replaced by smaller ones and are no longer made. The smaller components may not fit the pads where the original one was.

 

And then there is the specter of RoHS and lead-free solder which generates short-circuiting tin whiskers over time...

[WesG]

It's just the pitch wheel not working, though -- it might just be as simple as a failed rotary encoder or broken wire. I wouldn't throw out the keyboard without investigating at least that far!

 

[jstrauss]

Thanks for all the advice. I definitely won't throw it out as everything else works fine. I don't use pitch bend that often but if I absolutely need it I have a Novation Impulse I could add to the rig. I hadn't considered selling the PLG boards separately but that seems to be the way to go if do sell it. If I could get $400-500 for the PLG boards +$500ish for the ES + another $1,500 that would give me ~$2500 to work with so I'd have some decent options for a new "bread & butter" board. Before this problem I was hoping to add XK-1c or other organ to the rig so I may just keep the ES going a little longer without pitch bend and continue with that plan.

[ElmerJFudd]

Fix the ES. Sell the PLG boards and get the XK-1c.

[The_Star_Guy]

Since I still have & use my Motif ES8 as well (great board), I have a couple of thoughts as well. As far as strengths compared to the MoxF6/8...the best are PLG boards, aftertouch, ribbon controller & user sampling. But given the particular PLG boards that you currently use (AP & VH), the MoxF series has those covered. So selling your PLG boards separately is a pretty good idea. I also love aftertouch, but not so much on a weighted keybed. And since the MoxF supports Flash memory, user sample playback is still an option. And the bootup time is much faster on the MoxF, which is important for a gigging board. You have probably figured out that the interface difference between the ES Series & the MoxF series is not that pronounced, either.

 

You didn't mention if your ribbon controller still works correctly. If everything else really does work correctly, I have a tough time thinking that the motherboard is the culprit. The ES8 makes a great home studio board, so I really would verify the repair costs before selling it. You would get much more for it if it is working anyway.

 

I would seriously consider just adding the Roland VR-09 also, if you decide to sell your PLG cards, but keep the ES8. It's strengths (good organ, VA synth, high portability & very fast real-time adjustment capability) compliment the Motif ES8 perfectly. Plus it has both a pitch bender & D-Beam controller to potentially use with your ES8.