Motif ES vs Triton Extreme

[guittarzzan]

I'm tossing around the idea of selling my triton classic and getting either the extreme or a Yamaha motif. I'm obviously leaning towards the new triton because I'm already familiar with navigating it, but I've hear a lot of raves on the Motif.

For those of you who've heard/used both, how would you say the presets of the triton extreme stack up against those of the motif es??

For a little context, the only serious work I do with the synth is some short music clips for a web site aimed at relaxation and stress relief etc...so lot's of mellow "atmospheric" sounds and simple chord progressions.

I am going to go check out both this weekend, but I just wanted to get a feel from others who may have already used both.

 

thanks for any feedback,

Steve

[Jeebus]

For your specific application I would choose the Triton.

 

good luck!

G-bus

[RABid]

I hate it when people answer a hardware question with "buy software", but this time I am going to do it. You might be better off looking at Atmosphere, Vapor, Morphology, ABSynth, Tera 2 and other soft synths. Especially for this type of production.

 

Robert

[BIGMUTHAKINREK]

!!!NO SOFTWARE!!! If you have money for the hardware, get the hardware. I have yet to be impressed by soft synths. I personally am in the same position. I have a Triton classic for 4 years and I am going to be upgrading. I had access to the Motif series and made a bunch of tracks with it. While the sounds on the ES are really good. The new Triton has more than double the amounts of voices and combi's. The one thing the Motif still has over the triton is the drums and Electric Piano's. Other than that, pads, strings, (ESPECIALLY STRINGS), leads, bass, Acoustic and Electric guitar, every thing else, Triton hands down.

 

Also since you are used to the interface on the Triton you are probably used to having the touchscreen. No touchscreen on the Motif. Working around the Triton is at least 5x faster especially with the fact that they sped up the processor on the touch screen.

 

Korg still has the top workstation on the market.

[Synthoid]

We've also had a Triton for almost 4 years and highly recommend it, but it's best for you to try the "big 3"--Motif, Fantom and Triton--then see what impresses you the most.

[p120dUdE]

The Motif ES has the best acoustic sounds out of the two, and the Korg has some great organs and synth sounds. The key feel on the Motif ES is great, the Korg's is pretty good, but somewhat mushy.

 

Regards,

p120dUdE

[eric]

I love the Motif ES8. I use an S90, which is a scaled down version, but same feel and similar soundset. I had an ES7 for a brief period, but decided that the S90 was more of what I needed for live gigs.

 

I played a Triton Extreme 88 briefly at Sam Ash the other day. The keyboard action did not seem nearly as robust as the Yamaha. I was rather disappointed in the action. Soundwise, the Tritons have always felt more synthy to me - very good at imaginative sounds, but not as good on the acoustic/traditional sounds. So it depends a lot on your own personal taste.

 

You should definitely check out both of them!

 

Regards,

Eric

[p120dUdE]

The Korg Triton Extreme also has the "Tube" Feature, which is supposed to make the sound scream or become nice and mellow. I think this feature is only useful on organs and guitars. I dont see it useful on the piano sounds.

 

The Extreme's piano sounds are improved, but bad. They are not as great as the Motif ES, or S90, but I guess if your not really fussy then you probably wouldnt mind them.

 

Either way, they are both great in their own ways.

 

Regards,

p120dUde

[Jeebus]

Originally posted by p120dUdE:

The key feel on the Motif ES is great, the Korg's is pretty good, but somewhat mushy.

The difference you're experiencing must be purely psychological, since both keyboards sport the same Yamaha FS action.

[p120dUdE]

Originally posted by Jeebus:

Originally posted by p120dUdE:

The key feel on the Motif ES is great, the Korg's is pretty good, but somewhat mushy.

The difference you're experiencing must be purely psychological, since both keyboards sport the same Yamaha FS action.

No, the korg just feels different. It may be the same action, but it doesnt have to feel the same. The Yamaha also connects to the sound better.

 

Regards,

p120dUdE

 

R

[Jeebus]

Originally posted by p120dUdE:

The Korg Triton Extreme also has the "Tube" Feature, which is supposed to make the sound scream or become nice and mellow. I think this feature is only useful on organs and guitars.

Some might respectfully disagree. You don't think it would be useful on drums, basses, rhodes and synth sounds? Have you actually tried the Triton Extreme and the tube on different programs?

[p120dUdE]

Originally posted by Jeebus:

Originally posted by p120dUdE:

The Korg Triton Extreme also has the "Tube" Feature, which is supposed to make the sound scream or become nice and mellow. I think this feature is only useful on organs and guitars.

Some might respectfully disagree. You don't think it would be useful on drums, basses, rhodes and synth sounds? Have you actually tried the Triton Extreme and the tube on different programs?

Yes, I have. I feel that it is useful on the organs and guitars. Sure, it may work on the electric pianos, but I feel it works best on the guitars and organs.

 

Regards,

p120dUde

[Mike Martin]

Originally posted by Jeebus:

Originally posted by p120dUdE:

The key feel on the Motif ES is great, the Korg's is pretty good, but somewhat mushy.

The difference you're experiencing must be purely psychological, since both keyboards sport the same Yamaha FS action.

Actually the Triton Extreme does not have the FS action.

[p120dUdE]

Originally posted by Mike Martin:

Originally posted by Jeebus:

Originally posted by p120dUdE:

The key feel on the Motif ES is great, the Korg's is pretty good, but somewhat mushy.

The difference you're experiencing must be purely psychological, since both keyboards sport the same Yamaha FS action.

Actually the Triton Extreme does not have the FS action.

I knew it!

 

The Extreme didnt feel the same as the Motif ES. It felt mushy and unplayable. The Motif ES synth action is smooth and connected, unlike the Extreme, which is mushy and choppy.

 

Regards,

p120dUde

[Jeebus]

Originally posted by Mike Martin:

Actually the Triton Extreme does not have the FS action.

Wow! That's news to me. What the hell are they using, then?

 

Thanks for the info Mike, I stand corrected.

[Jeebus]

What a shame. The FS is my favorite unweighted action.

 

If Korg decides to keep using a sub-par keybed in their future workstations, they've certainly lost my business. Well, that doesn't rule out rack units, I suppose.

[Mike Martin]

Originally posted by Jeebus:

Wow! That's news to me. What the hell are they using, then?

 

Thanks for the info Mike, I stand corrected.

I'll have to confirm on the 61 and 76 note models but I'm 99% certain that it is a Fatar action like a Triton LE. I know the Extreme 88 is NOT a Yamaha action (the Triton Studio 88 is).

[Jeebus]

Originally posted by Mike Martin:

I'll have to confirm on the 61 and 76 note models but I'm 99% certain that it is a Fatar action like a Triton LE.

http://www.wideopenwest.com/~cmetzger/puke.gifhttp://www.wideopenwest.com/~cmetzger/puke.gifhttp://www.wideopenwest.com/~cmetzger/puke.gif

[Tusker]

In my opinion ...

 

The Extreme 88 keys are not as playable as the Motif. They feel a little lighter and a trifle spongy. They may appeal to someone who is used to less weight. The Yamaha pianos (indeed most of the ROM) are on a different level than the Korg. I feel that Korg will bring out a true Motif challenger sometime in the future ... the Extreme is a stopgap. Even though the samples have been improved from the original Triton, I feel the Motif and Fantom have audibly better sample material. Of the three the Motif stands out, though the Fantom X has narrowed the gap.

 

However ... in my opinion the Yammie EFX are not up to the quality of the Roland and Korg EFX. In particular the Amp Sims are lacking and have that pre-modelling vintage digital vibe.

 

Lastly, while the tube was probably part of the "stop-gap" strategy, I think it works. I found it helped everything except certain orchestral instruments. When used with appropriate subtlety. I'm hoping this configuration becomes a standard. Many keyboardists plug straight into a DAW or PA and this kind of thing will save them from lugging an aditional pre.

 

In my opinion...

 

Jerry

[clusterchord]

i wont get into keybed debate, but for atmosperic stuff, triton, any triton, treally nails it.

 

i wouldnt recommend atmosphere, cause its not even a decent rompler, its only sample playback with no serious editing or voice arhitecture with load of nice samples, that you get bored with after a while.

 

most atmo sounds on triton are a result of combination of samples AND programming its synth and fx engine, so they can interact with your playing/editing.

[burningbusch]

Disagree with the above post. The Triton and ES use simple monophonic waveforms that are made to sound spacious with FXs and LFOs. The sounds from the Triton in particular have become so cliched I've become completely bored with this synth.

 

Atmosphere on the other hand starts out with significantly more complex waveforms, most are stereo. The level of detail and richness of sound is way beyond what you can get out of one of these ROMplers.

 

Getting a new Triton Extreme or ES is just going to take you a little farther down the same path. Keep the Triton Classic and for about the price of a crappy ROMpler add-on board, get Atmosphere.

 

Busch.

[guittarzzan]

In talking with the guys from Spectrasonics, I've learned that they're working on a rtas format for Atmosphere which I will check out when available. I'm on PTHD with Win XP. I could try the vst wrapper thingamabobber, but it seems like it'd be a lot less hassle just to do it all on one platform...a hardware synth.

The demo's of the Motif ES I listened to at the Yamaha sight were less than impressive I thought. I'm sure it can do more than what I heard, but I would think they'd push the thing to it's max for their demo clips.

I'm leaning pretty hard for the triton extreme at this point based mainly on simplicity and that I already know how to navigate through it fairly well. If when I check out the Motif it blows my mind, I may have to rethink my plans, but it sounds like there's as many digging the Triton as there are the Motif es.

 

thanks for your input,

cheers,

Steve

[Jeebus]

Mike, just thought I'd let you know that the official word from Jerry Kovarsky is that the 61 & 76 key Triton Extreme models DO HAVE the FS action. Are you sure your info is correct?

 

Jeebus

[eric]

Mike, just thought I'd let you know that the official word from Jerry Kovarsky is that the 61 & 76 key Triton Extreme models DO HAVE the FS action.

What about the Triton Extreme 88? I played one the other day and it was definitely a different action than the Motif ES8. It felt a lot like the Alesis QS8 action to me.

 

Regards,

Eric

[Jeebus]

The Extreme 88 is Korg's own sad attempt at a weighted action, apparently.

[supermanrulez]

First off I won't touch the action debate since so many different factors can affect it.

 

Secondly Jeebus I love your star trek pic. Very original!

 

I own a Triton LE 61 and Yamaha S90. I have played the Triton Extreme and the Motif ES extensively over the past few weeks. While sound is always a matter of preference, I would say the Triton may fill your needs better.

 

The Motif ES does alot in terms of programming and creating specifics by nailing every last detail. The Triton Extreme doesn't offer quite as much in that department in my opinion.

 

Since you mentioned presets specifically, the Extreme was what I recommended. If you have the $, you may want to get one of the boards and a rack version or 61 note keyboard and get both. I personally feel my S90 and Triton LE compliment each other greatly and feel the Motif Es and Triton series provide the same great compliment to each other. Just something else to consider. Good luck which ever way you go. To be honest no matter which way you go, your going to get a great synth!

 

Chris

[Jeebus]

Any confirmation on that action, Mike?

[Mike Martin]

Sorry I haven't been out to a store yet to confirm, but I'll send an email to one of our guys that has.

[Mike Martin]

Just a couple comments (my opinion of course) on this thread.

 

It seems that every time this comparison comes up, someone says "Korg for synths and Yamaha's for acoustic sounds".

 

I do think our factory demos are geared more towards the acoustic sounds and do not highlight the synths sounds as much as they should.

 

I think however that the Motif ES is quite a departure from the original Motif. From the quality and size of the ROM, improved filters and effects to the speed of the envelopes the ES sounds dramatically different from the original Motif. This is ESPECIALLY true with synth sounds.

 

When you first play an ES, its easy to get taken by the acoustic sounds (the acoustic guitars, bases, and pianos). Next time you play an ES just make sure you take some time to go through the Synth, Pads, leads, Musical Effect and Combination categories.

 

We'll be putting together some demos which specifically highlight the synth and pad sounds. I'll keep you posted.

[Mike Martin]

Originally posted by Jeebus:

Any confirmation on that action, Mike?

Confirmed. The Triton Extreme 61 and 76 do not have Yamaha key actions.