I recently purchased an xf7. First keyboard I bought in 20 years. Went through all of the sounds looking for a basic split sound with bass on one side and piano on the left. Couldn’t find a thing. What am I doing wrong?

steviechords - 23 April 2014 03:33 PM

I recently purchased an xf7. First keyboard I bought in 20 years. Went through all of the sounds looking for a basic split sound with bass on one side and piano on the left. Couldn’t find a thing. What am I doing wrong?

The most common way to create a split or layer is in PERFORMANCE Mode, which can include up to (4) VOICES.

Have you explored PERFORMANCE Mode yet?

I tried, but I could only get 3 out of four voices and they were all in different octaves.

steviechords - 23 April 2014 04:31 PM

I tried, but I could only get 3 out of four voices and they were all in different octaves.

Page 109 of the XF Reference Manual deals with setting the Note Range of each PART.  That is how you set up where each PART plays on the keyboard.

On the same page, note that each PART must be activated by turning it ON (PART SWITCH).  This could be the reason you are only getting (3) PARTS.

page 109 wasn’t clear about how I get to the editing window.
When I said different octaves, I meant that one part was an octave lower than the others.
I got them in the same octave today, but I still can’t get any sound from part one.

steviechords - 24 April 2014 07:13 PM

page 109 wasn’t clear about how I get to the editing window.
When I said different octaves, I meant that one part was an octave lower than the others.
I got them in the same octave today, but I still can’t get any sound from part one.

To get to the PART EDIT page in PERFORMANCE MODE:

Press EDIT
Press a button 1-4 to select a PART for PART Editing.

welcome to the forum.  couple of tips that really helped me out over the past 2 yrs.

1.  top of forum page is ADVANCED SEARCH....  become intimate with it!  the odds of someone having asked (and answered) a question is statistically very high. 
2.This forum supplements the reference manual very well, but keep that nearby as well, since many replies will direct you to the manual.
3. If you want to make a good investment and increase the learning curve, consider a couple of DVD training videos, esp. the World of Motif XS (this applies 95% or more to XF) It gives a great overview of voices, architecture, performances, and much more.  Considering what you spent on the XF, this was a no-brainer for me!
4.  If you can manage some down-time from playing, peruse this forum.  again, it’s an exhaustive compilation of Q&A;over the years.

oh....and have a blast.

Make sure you’ve initialized the performance:

1. Press [PERFORMANCE] / [JOB] / [ENTER] / [YES] before you start. It erases the old performance (so choose one you do not like).

To create a performance:

1. Press [PERFORMANCE] / [F2]

2. One voice has already been inserted into PART01. To change it press [CATEGORY SEARCH].

3. Select a category, use the arrow buttons (up/down) to cycle through them, using the keys to listen to them as you go along.

4. When you find one you like, press [ENTER].

5. go to the next part (using the up/down arrows), then use the data wheel to place a red check mark in the part box to activate the next part (this is required for splitting the board).

6. Repeat steps 2-5 if needed.

For drums (or any other part to arpeggiate).  **Optional**

1. If you’re entering a drum part and want it to arpeggiate, then press F4

2. Select the arp category, then arrow right once and select category and type of arpeggio.

3. Over on the left hand side make sure you check off the part box for the part you want to arpeggiate (i.e. if you drum part is in part 3, then check of box 3).

4. Turn the ‘hold’ on if you want your drum part to loop when you are NOT press the keys. Off for arpeggiating only when you play.

5. The ‘switch’ (at the top of the screen) is simply to turn the arp feature on or off.

When finished, and you have the performance sounding the way you like, then press [STORE] / [ENTER] / [YES].

Splitting **Optional**

In the voice screen [F2], by default, a C-2 and G 8 field can be seen. C-2 is the low end of the PART, G 8 is the high end. To split the keyboard you have to have 2 parts: 1 will be used for the low end, the other will be the high. For advanced users 4 splits can be used, using all 4 parts.

1. Use the navigation buttons to select C-2 (low end of the split).

2. Press (and hold down) [SF6], then select a key to assign the low limit. The data wheel can be used to set this parameter.

3. Use the navigation buttons to select G 8 (high end of the split). Again press (and hold down) [SF6], then select a key to assign the high limit.

4. When finished, and you have the performance sounding the way you like, press [STORE] / [ENTER] / [YES].

If you wish to store to a specific bank then:

If you only need to save that performance, then you can press store, then one of the alpha buttons (A-H), then one of the track buttons (1-16), then press enter/yes.

Thanks!

if you’re not a;ready clued in, it my help for you to google and read about
what C-2 means. and G8. (they are below and above whats on your keyboard.
I love Richie’s idea about advanced search here.
also check out the thread or posts that explain how to use google to search for stuff here.
this machine does so much.
my experience is, it takes time to learn how to do stuff. I am still very much only scratching the surface of the learning curve.
figure out something you want to do.
learn the design and layout/configuration of the machine.
figure out what the right questions are.
I find that it is a lot to swallow all at once.
also, if you get stuck, another resource is Yamaha support, both by email and phone.