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Im not a synth player but rapidly becoming more interested in them every time I walk into GC. Both look nice. Does the polyphony make a big difference to with synths? Yamaha MOx6 64 vs Roland Juno Gi 128

I think that polyphony on the Yamaha is actually 124, I was confused by the 64 at first, but further down the specs list they have "maximum polyphony 124" for the sequencer. I think the 64 max polyphony under the Tone generator means for a given voice the max # of simultaneous pitches is 64? That's a guess.

Have you actually played both boards? The descriptions mean nothing. A given "semi-weighted" board can feel better or worse than some other model's "unweighted" board.


These issues are related... though not necessarily important.
If the Yamaha has 355 mb worth of sample data vs Roland's 128, in theory, that should give it either more sounds than the Roland, or better quality sounds, or some combination of the two. Since the Roland has less sample data, but more sounds, the "math" says that the Yamaha should have the better sounds. The problem with this logic is that "better" is a subjective thing. You might prefer, say, the Roland brass sound, even if it derived from less data than the Yamaha brass sound. (Also, not every sound will be affected the same way or proportionally by the total relative amount of data. Even though the Roland has less data overall, it is still possible that, for some given sound, it could have more data than the Yamaha... though again, what matters is how you like the sound, not how much data they needed to create it.) It's also possible that you might like, for example, the drum sounds on the Roland but the woodwind sounds on the Yamaha. So while "more" sample data is generally better, the only way to know whether it has "paid off" in sounds you care about is to listen to those sounds and see which you prefer. If one has much better drums, but you don't need drum sounds out of the board, it doesn't matter.

A musical instrument just doesn't lend itself to being selected from a spec sheet. You just need to see how they feel under your fingers and how they sound to your ears. Another variable is how easy you find it to get around on them, i.e. interface and ergonomics. None of this stuff is on the spec sheet, but that's the stuff that's important.

If you're playing one sound at a time, it doesn't make much difference. If you're layering/sequencing sounds such that you may be generating many more sound than you have fingers, then you may run into "voice stealing" (older notes dropping out) more quickly on the unit with lesser polyphony. One thing to keep in mind is that sometimes a single note of a single sound uses up more than one instance of polyphony. The most obvious example is a stereo sound, where each note is triggering two sounds, left and right, which therefore uses up two notes of polyphony with a single key strike right there.

No... The Yamaha can produce a total of 64 sounds at a time. A 4 note chord consisting of a stereo piano and mono strings generates 12 distinct sounds, using up 12 notes of polyphony.

The sequencer can sequence more simultaneous notes than the tone generator can produce. You'll never hear more than 64 out of the MOX itself, but if your sequence demands more simultaneous tones (up to 124), you can set it up so that some of the parts are played by other sound devices external to the MOX itself. That's how the sequencer can handle 124 notes of polyphony, by combining 64 in the MOX while triggering additional notes on another keyboard, attached sound module, computer, etc.

Thank you for clarifying this! That makes a huge difference in my book, sine I will be doing orchestral arrangements, and while I don't really know that I'll need more than 64 note polyphony, I'd hate to find out the hard way that I do. This is a big thing in favor of the Roland in that case.

No, although I will be in the Chicago area in the next couple of days and perhaps I can find both synths to try out at the same store as I'm passing through. The feel of the keys doesn't matter much to me, really, because I can adjust to anything, but my playing tends to be pretty heavy since I'm used to a heavy-action AP.

Ya, I realize it's often comes down to personal preference, but I was just looking for some insight as to the different features and what they actually mean. It sounds to me like this particular feature difference can only be determined by hearing the sounds themselves.

Have you played either synth and what do you think of them?

Also, you mentioned early on that your interest is largely in creating your own sounds. In your price range, I think I might be more inclined to look at a King Korg, or a Roland VR-09 (at least if you have an iPad, which is pretty key to its interactive sound creation functionality), or Waldorf Blofeld. Three very different keyboards, but all with good facility for sound customization. The MOX and Juno, while flexible, are still romplers at heart (i.e. designed primarily around playback of ROM samples).

I've used the MOX quite often, I think it sounds great. But I basically just combine and playback the sounds that are there, I don't do much modification of the sounds myself.

The interface is not always the most straightforward, and the manual makes things worse, but ultimately, for my gigging purposes, I have generally managed to get it to do what I need.

As I search, my desires in what I want are becoming more defined as well. I think it's fine to be able to manipulate preset sounds, which I think the other boards can do.

Both are in-stock at a GC south of Chicago:
Guitar Center Country Club Hills
4271 W.167th Street
Country Club Hills, IL 60478-2017
708-799-0315

Excellent!

Update:

I was able to hit a couple of Guitar Centers yesterday in the Chicago area (the first one said they had the Yamaha mox6 in stock, but didn't really). I tried out the Roland Juno-gi, the Yamaha mox6 and there was a Korg m50 on clearance for $850.

I ruled out the Roland as soon as I played it - the keys were small! They are shorter and thinner, and that just bugged me so it didn't matter what else it had to offer.

I liked the Korg a lot, but I alos liked the Yamaha. I ended up deciding I wanted the Yamaha, however, because the sounds for the Yamaha were better for the classical instruments (acoustic piano, strings, brass). Better yet, we found a slightly used one on ebay going for $580 free shipping as the buy-it-now option! So for less than half the price I'll get the keyboard I wanted! It is supposed to arrive by Monday, so I'll post some pictures when I get everything set up.

Thanks for all the great advice!