Digital pianos - any way to get Yamaha Motif "concert grand" sound with weighted keys?

thecolourbox

Hi all, bit of a long shot on a guitar page but worth a shout.

I have a Yamaha MX49 workstation keyboard which is decent for what it is, but it's small and has poor keyboard action for piano playing. However I absolutely love the Concert Grand piano sound on it. I believe the sounds on that are Motif based but the Motif units seem to be workstations or synths with non-piano style key actions.

I'm in the market for a digital stage type piano, I tried a Yamaha p125 yesterday and didn't like it very much, the action wasn't for me but also the sound was not what I expected, I rather hoped it would sound similar to the Yamaha MX49 piano sound but with weighted keys but it wasn't. I preferred the action of the Roland FP30X although didn't like the piano sound much.

I wondered if anybody knew if there would be a way to get a model that has some kind of piano key action and that sample/model of Concert Grand from the MX49 without having to take two keyboards, ie a piano action midi controller plus my MX49. This would be for playing piano at events, weddings, etc, so minimal kit is best.

Google searching, because of the way it works with keywords etc, does not really help me much here, bringing up results for Motif keyboards or digital pianos, not both. 

Otherwise my option is to rely on the Roland Piano app to tweak it until I get as close as possible to this sound

Here's the sound (I know I've added too much modulated reverb lol)


Any ideas welcome!

stickyfiddle

Wiki seems to have a good rundown of the Motif range: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamaha_Motif

Looks like anything with an 8 in its name (MO8, MOTIF XS8, MOX8 etc) have proper weighted keys and should have that sound onboard. Not sure how pricey they are though.

Otherwise you could go for a Motif ES rack unit and bring that along with your current keyboard, linked via midi?

thecolourbox

Thanks I'll have a look, I think the full Motif products are (understandably) costly so i was hoping I'd missed something like the MX keyboards with piano action. I think the rack unit idea would be more faff than it's worth, no idea on cost of one of those plus a hammer weighted midi controller but I think the general faff of having one more thing to set up each time might be more than it's worth when the Roland sounded adequate. 

goldtop

MX49 definitely punches above its weight/size/price.

The MX88 and MODX8 will both have that patch, obvs. But both are the cheaper piano actions - more like the P125. The P515 has the improved piano action, but a big step up in price. (The Motifs with 88 keys also have a better action, but probably not as good as the P515.) Montage 8 has a good keybed, but for way eye-watering ££££s.

If you are near Cambridge, you can come and try my MODX8?

(ETA: if your MX49 is a version 2, I would be interested in a PX for my MODX8. I recently rejigged the setup and for piano stuff I bought a Kawai ES-8.)

thecolourbox

Thanks for the kind offer to try yours but unfortunately I'm in Birmingham. However I think the options are looking way over budget compared to the adequate (still over original budget but hey) Roland. 

I think you're right re the mx49, I think I've been spoilt by that piano sound (though I don't really like the Rhodes or Wurli sounds on it much). It's been about ten years since I last tried a digital piano properly so I thought they would have come a long way since then in the way that guitar amp modelling has, but it looks like they've just added stuff like Bluetooth and apps instead.

My mx49 is the first version I think, still useful to me for recording and playing vst instruments with it (I've never bothered with any of the onboard sounds other than piano), and it was so cheap it's not really worth selling.

goldtop

Definitely worth trying an MX88 for its piano-weighted (albeit low-cost) keyboard. I'd bet that for the live work, the actual piano-like feel requirement is less important than when entertaining yourself home alone and recording.

The left-field option is the Casio PX series.

And for DP reviews, these guys are great:





Both very useful when I was looking to get a better piano feel and sound.

thecolourbox

Thanks, I think though if the mx88 keyboard is equivalent to the p125 action, it's not going to be worth the extra cost as the action was very fatiguing even for the 15 minutes I played in the shop. 

I tried one of the Casio ones, the keys texture was actually the nicest (textured, matte) but the sound was not suitable for classical, no depth and the samples were very short. I'd imagine for more detached playing on modern styles it may work, or for plinky plonk style it would be fine, but the sound was nowhere near the depth of the Yamaha or Roland ones I tried.

What I think I'm finding its the feel is the most important thing as the piano sounds are just personal taste (as long as they are of a certain level). Nobody is going to listen to it thinking "oh man he should have gone for the Yamaha piano sound instead".

I'd be playing classical on it so the feel is very important to get the dynamics and variation of touch. I'd imagine the feel is less important for rock or pop styles, or even the modern chordal plinky plonk stuff like Einaudi etc

goldtop

Understood. I don't have any classical chops nor training, so my opinion is going to be useless. I just like the piano weighting for giving some feedback and resistance (which seems to help with all acoustic instrument samples).

The other one to mention is Nord, of course. Alas, Swedish = not cheap!



I had the (non-piano-weighted) Stage 3, and it sounded gorgeous. Better than the Motif pianos (in the MODX/Montage).

Stratavarious

Try some more of the Casio and Kawai pianos for value.    I like their piano sounds more than Yamaha but more for in your face pop.  I am not playing classical though. My son does.  He uses a Clavinova.

thecolourbox

Thanks chaps. Nord are well out of my price range, I'm only just getting started with promoting myself for this and my equipment costs are already looking at about £1k when I add everything up (keys, amp, cases, stand, stool, etc), and I want to try to keep it under control otherwise instead of raising some extra pocket money I'll be paying it off for years!

Re Kawai, there's not anywhere near me that stock them I'm afraid, and the Casio models I tried in the shop were by far the worst sounding for classical though I could see they might work in a pop context - no sustain, really short samples, and not a lot of beef to the sound. 

I think I'm going to have to just accept the hit for the Roland FP30x (can't do the cheaper FP10 because of output connections).