Yamaha Motif XS8 for sale or trade

Nov 01, 2010 by Tony Chung in Strategy

I’ve been meaning to post this for a long time. In 2009 I purchased a Yamaha Motif XS8 88-note keyboard from a store for a really good deal. The board was rented for use by the Dixie Chicks at the Merritt Mountain Music Festival the year before.

Yamaha Motif XS8 - the dream machine

The keyboard has been an absolute dream. I love playing it, recording with it, and teaching my kids to play music on it. I haven’t had as much time to record with it as I’d hoped. Life has just been too busy. But I managed to use it to help me build on a simple melody by my son:


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This keyboard is a great songwriter’s tool, and perfect for use in a studio. Its only drawback is that the keyboard size is too heavy for me to pack and carry on my own to bring to a worship service or live performance. While other, more committed musicians don’t mind the inconvenience of carting this behemoth, I would prefer to work with something a lot lighter.

Trade for comparable Yamaha Motif XS7

To this end, I’ve decided I have to sell this board. Ideally, I’d like to trade it for a Yamaha Motif XS7 76-note keyboard with the Firewire card option installed. I bought two 512 MB SODIMMs to upgrade the sample RAM that I would take with me, if the 76-note board doesn’t already have expanded memory.

Yamaha Motif XS7 - the dream machine junior

Trade for just-released Yamaha XF7

As an alternative, I wouldn’t mind trading my 88-note keyboard for a base model of the newly released Yamaha Motif XF7 76-note keyboard. The XF line is a souped-up version of the XS series. It includes more instrument samples, but is essentially the same keyboard. The main difference is that sample memory is now available through non-volatile flash cards, which, unfortunately, does not come built into the basic model. However, I still think an 88-note XS8 keyboard for the cost of a basic 76-note XF would be a worthwhile trade.

Yamaha Motif XF7

More about the offer

The XS8 has only ever been indoors, in my studio, and under a dust cover when not in use. I’ve never taken it to a performance, so its appearance in Merritt was its only time on stage. If this opportunity interests you, visit my contact page to send me an offer.