Yamaha MO6 Workstation: Awesome in 2006, awesome now

[@cburns3256]

I loved this instrument. New age,funk,latin,jazz, all kinds of music. Unlimited possibilities.

[@PocketOperatorGuy]

Yamaha has been one of those Brands that can give the high end experience in such a small form factor. The built in rhythms have always sounded really impressive. The drums are deep, high quality, convincing, and clean sounding. The effects have improved over the years, not sounding cheesy like it's older siblings. There's some depth, shape, and texture to the voices. It's a very impressive sounding instrument. I could probably play on this all day discovering what sounds I could make. I'm impressed, this was a good demonstration. You could have gone on longer for sure. It sounds like you liked playing on this machine. Good video my friend!

[@HOLLASOUNDS]

The best thing about Yamaha is the keys, even the toyish keyboards from the 80s have nice feeling keys and very easy to play.

[@davidmartin123]

The MO is essentially a Motif ES with less polyphony and different preset sounds (like the MM was to the original Motif). So yes, a very capable workstation or "music production sythesizer." Definitely has the signature Yamaha sounds. No touch screen but so what - you got lots of buttons and sliders - love those sliders - great for mixing sound parts in realtime.

[@gearfacts]

Yep, and furthermore I like the quick action of sliders better than knobs. Just my thoughts :) Knobs just don't seem to fit human physiology as well as sliders.

[@kimthompson5871]

Sounds great and another great review !

[@midinotes]

Looks like an entry version of the Motif, but with some more wow factor presets. Very nice!

[@gearfacts]

Yep that's basically right. I think someone pointed out that there is a lot less polyphony in the MO6.

[@____stu____]

Awesome keyboard I used to have an MM6 back in the day, it had some of the sounds and and features of the MO6, wish I hadn't sold it 🤨

[@gearfacts]

Yeah I miss the MM6 I reviewed last year! I was way too hasty to sell it.

[@johnny14794]

What a gem of a keyboard! to this date they sell for a pricey penny at around $1,000.00 USD. Lucky those who still have them and those who have gotten them at a radical cheap price. Thanks for sharing. God bless. (Update) on Ebay at around $500+ USD. Wish I had deeper pockets. Wold get myself one to add to my collection.

[@gearfacts]

Cheers Johnny, thanks for watching

[@BlueAngelo]

The MO6 has a huge ARP collection, about 1500 patterns, I sell it because I was searching for a synthesizer. Its a workstation.

[@sivabala5425]

Love your t-shirt

[@danaowens30]

Hi gear facts. I had my MO6 a year ago and still love and use it along side 3 real series of the Motif Family. MO6,MM6.MX49.. all the Motif series in one ordeal. Sorry to tell you this but Korg is now the Parent of Yamaha,Roland,Korg,Hammond Suzuki and Casio.Korg bought them all and put them as individual independent branches except Alesis and EMU and Kurzweil or Kawai these and a few others are independent companies. But I use them all. The only spin off missing is the XF series which is the Yamaha MOXF 6 the XF series the last Motif before the MODX series came to but even the MODX6 those two were the last which i must and will aquire as soon as more cash making im grabbing both MOXf 6 and MODX6 as well. Then i will truely have all Motif lines. Pre Montage

[@gearfacts]

It's crazy eh, like watching one of those long-running drama series from the 80's!

[@danaowens30]

Yes indeed

[@rafaelcatarino8372]

So Korg owns Roland? Where did you get that?

[@danaowens30]

@@rafaelcatarino8372 Bro Yamaha owns them all my boi. WHERE I GET THAT? CHECK THE INTERNET BOY AND YOU WILL FIND OUT DO YOUR RESEACH AS I DID MY BOY. I BEEN DOING MUSIC FOR YEARS BOY IM NOT YOUNG IM A FIREY LADY DONT TRY ME

[@rafaelcatarino8372]

@@danaowens30 you keep trying...

[@stephane406]

MO6 and MO8 are on the use market at almost the same price, what are the main differencies between them ?

[@gearfacts]

61 springy keys and 88 weighted keys. That's it :)

[@julia-1229]

Would you consider giving a few classes or a workshop online for a reasonable fee? I'm trying to step up my MO6 skills.

[@gearfacts]

Ah sorry JR it's gone from the studio now. I'm sure there'd be a Facebook group dedicated to it though. Join one, they are always full of helpful enthusiasts :)

[@nigelreadon8381]

great synth

[@BlueAngelo]

Its a workstation

[@rodneyjweltham150]

I have a whole selection of Yamaha keyboards from the mid to late 90s to current. My 15-year-old PSR 3000 can sometimes amaze even now... I don't know if you've done a review on that series, but if you put it through a decent stereo sound system some of the synths/pads and instrumental sounds are pretty good...

[@gearfacts]

Yes I think we looked at the PSR3000 a year or two ago and it was pretty impressive!

[@kimthompson5871]

Great sounding board ! I can’t remember if you demoed the MM6 or not !

[@gearfacts]

Yeah I did that one a year or two ago, it's one that I kind of regret not keeping. They seem to be pretty rare for some reason.

[@aldeanblair9727]

Lovely

[@Voxxor6]

Great review. I bought one for $99. The issue was it was that the two lowest keys were broken which can be resolved with the transpose function.

[@gearfacts]

Oh yeah, for $99 I'd definitely tolerate such a trivial issue!

[@New_Zealand_Music]

Thanks mate. I almost died again, last week. So it's good to hear/see a friendly face. Thank you my Aussie cuzzie... I happen to find a brand new version of this new old stock in a music shop. But they know me quite well, but they didn't recommend it as they said it's getting too old. But like you said it's actually fantastic. I so wish I had ignored their advice and bought one. Have you decided yet if this ones a keeper? Are you one of those musicians who when you play, you can sometimes completely disappear into the music and have no idea where you are or what you were doing. That's what Tommy Emmanuel said when I went to see him play, thanks for coming have a great night , hope you enjoyed that . Because sorry I wasn't here. For me I call that place home. And I haven't been home for years and it's broken my heart. Thank you . I hope you don't mind reaching me out , because right now I don't really have anyone anymore ❤

[@gearfacts]

Hey ES, sorry to hear things are a bit rough at the moment. I saw Tommy play a couple of times. He was beyond excellent, his capability with the strings was just so casually incredible. But the answer is no, I've never found that 'place'. Doing music has always required huge concentration for me and I strangely find myself closer to the 'place' when I'm sequencing music on my vintage PMA-5. You wouldn't believe how many re-takes are in these videos before I edit them down!

[@New_Zealand_Music]

@@gearfacts cheers cuz!! Just had an update on my DNA test apparently I'm 43% Scottish to

[@gearfacts]

@@New_Zealand_Music ha! Y’alreet then laddie!

[@New_Zealand_Music]

@@gearfacts seem to be recovering well just need to take better care of myself play more music have more fun thanks for your support man. Lol. Isn't it nice when you find decent people online. Thanks for being a good bloke. Obviously that's distant Heritage from my great grandparents. Totally proud to be half Australian

[@BuickGeek24]

@@gearfacts How are you?

[@glenesis]

A baby Motif! Nice!

[@stevewallis661]

Great sounding synth! I chose the Roland fantom over the motif but it was a difficult choice. Both are so capable! You can't go wrong either way

[@gearfacts]

Yeah that's one really nice thing about this hobby - we're surrounded by awesome choices :)

[@TheTruthIsFiction]

Someone should do a direct sound comparison between the Yamaha MO6 and Yamaha Motif ES. Are the sounds in this video through the two stereo outputs at the back or through the digital output? This is probably why the MO6 is cheaper because of the lower quality of the audio outputs and A/D converters. If someone can check to see if the digital output sounds better, then this is the reason for the lower price. I know that the Yamaha MOX6 is inferior to the Motif XS because of the muffled sound from the stereo outputs but it sounds better through USB Audio.

[@ilovekeyboards7830]

Gearfacts can you please buy the Roland pro-e on ebay it's the same as an Roland e 20

[@gearfacts]

Is it located in Australia? Would love to try it out

[@ProdbyNKA]

Hi gearfacts, been watching for years now, I recently am without a keyboard and I'm looking for one, I have graduation practice at school and it been a challenge for me to practice, would you mind selling one of your keyboards to me please

[@gearfacts]

Sorry about the late reply, yep all my gear goes up for sale on the Gearfacts Facebook group :)

[@ilovekeyboards7830]

Gearfacts can you please keep looking for a Roland E-30

[@gearfacts]

Yep :)

[@ilovekeyboards7830]

Gearfacts can you please buy the Roland e 30 on ebay

[@gearfacts]

It's too expensive for me, sorry!

[@montazownianr1]

Nice. I miss your videos old gear with external effects, you could connect new gear with old one, like, strymon pedals with old casio or just use vst plugins like valhalla or soundtoys.

[@gearfacts]

Actually I have something just like coming soon :)

[@cleicianealmeidatapudima6598]

Meu sintetizador mo6 está dando problema no cabo flat quando coloco em uma função vai para outra, alguém pode me ajudar?

[@gearfacts]

English translation: My mo6 synthesizer is having a problem with the flat cable when I put it in one function it goes to another, can anyone help me?

[@PakaTheDog]

Love your channel. Honestly, do not love the sound of this keyboard. I am partial to the older 80s sounds of the DXs, TXs, or TGs. To each his own I guess. Keep up the good work ☺

[@gearfacts]

Absolutely fair enough my friend! Personally, my favorites are generally from the mid 90's :)

[@marchangel7462]

Motif have all those sounds.

[@gmm1904]

At 6:32 sounded similar to the intro of the production of shaggy - it wasn’t me

[@gearfacts]

It was purely an accident, but I take it as a compliment. :-)

[@dawnr8511]

The last few sounds remind me of the Chase Bliss Blooper Bottomless Looper pedal that kind of has a mind of it own sometimes. It sometimes sends audio that seems to come from nowhere, for no reason and my professional opinion is that all the Blooper pedals are possessed by demons. Wooo Ha Ha Ha!

[@gearfacts]

I'll have to look up the Chase Bliss Blooper Bottomless Looper pedal...sounds perfect for me! I must have missed this comment, just saw it by accident while going through some of my less-successful videos.

[@edsknife]

MO(TIF)

[@HOLLASOUNDS]

It sounds older then 06 more like 95.

[@gearfacts]

Prolly just the way I'm playing it haha

[@marchangel7462]

Even current keyboards will eventually sound old as tech advances. Will we ever be satisfied with our sound? Seems like a lifetime pursuit as there will always be advances in technology. Im satisfied with motif it gives me everything I need.

[@HOLLASOUNDS]

@@gearfacts Na it's the sound.

[@HOLLASOUNDS]

@@marchangel7462 I almost bought a Montage a month however I chose not to because it would of made everything I have already obsolete. I have new versions of DAWs but most glitch out or have some major CPU drain on My i5 laptop. Plugins often dont work right and do such things as not recording automation. Nothing more annoying then not being able to create the music you want due to software not working. That's why I still use the 10 year old Reason 4 because it always works and I can create any sound I want and sounds modern. It dont have granulated sythersizor but I can emulate the same effect by using delay looping and EQ modulation with compression and matrix sequencer.

[@gearfacts]

@@HOLLASOUNDS totally agree, I despise using up music time to get over technical issues!

[@ilovekeyboards7830]

Gearfacts was the Yamaha keyboard to expensive

[@gearfacts]

It's the cost of shipping from the USA that makes the Roland too expensive for me :( I'll keep searching though

[@ilovekeyboards7830]

@@gearfacts can you please keep looking for a Roland E-30

[@johnduffy7108]

Minted..

[@pedromeza9458]

A lot of noise sounds but where's the usable shit,brass, guitars, strings, pianos acoustic and Rhodes?......

[@gearfacts]

Oh I don't do those kinds of sounds, my very existence is an insult to the time-honored styles.

[@Cobra_bushcraft]

that was better synth from yamaha mm6 which i sold it