Hi Everyone,

New member here. Have used this forum to look up various questions in the past but have not created an account until now.

So.... right now I have my Yamaha Motif ES7 plugged into my Focusrite i2i4 audio interface which is being fed into Ableton Live 9 for Mac. I am trying to use it as an “External Instrument” in live so I can edit the notes in Live rather than record the sounds from the Motif as an Audio Track (which DOES work). Again, I am trying to use the sounds from the Motif and have the ability to edit the notes in ableton, not use the Motif as a MIDI controller for Ableton’s sound library.

- I have all of the firmware and drivers on the Motif and Mac updated

- I have the correct settings set up in Ableton to use the Focusrite as the audio interface

- When I tried plugging the MIDI Out into the Focusrite and the MIDI In into the Motif, I do not get anything

- I have the keyboarded set to:

1. LocalCtrl -> on (off doesn’t play any audio sounds and the MIDI doesn’t pick up either)

2. MIDI Sync -> MIDI and SeqCtrl -> in/out

3. MIDI IN/OUT -> MIDI and ThruPort -> 1

4. Remote -> ModeA -> Cubase -> Port 4

If anyone has a step-by-step on how to do this, it would be a huge help.

Hi alec8876,

Welcome to Motifator.

This sounds to me like it is more of an audio monitoring problem than anything else, but before I mention that, there are two ways that you can send and receive MIDI with your ES7. You can use the 5 pin DIN MIDI IN, OUT and THRU ports on the rear panel of the ES7, or you can use MIDI over USB, using the USB port on the rear panel of the ES7.  USB may be easier for you.

You appear to want to use the Focusrite as your MIDI interface, so In order for MIDI to travel between it and the ES7, you should connect the ES7’s MIDI OUT to the Focusrite’s MIDI IN, as well as connecting the Focusrite’s MIDI OUT to the ES7’s MIDI IN.

There’s no need for Sync unless you are working with the onboard sequencer on your Motif ES.

Local control should be set to OFF.

If you wish to manipulate several channels of MIDI at once, your ES7 should be in a multitimbral mode such as Song Mode.

When you say “I have my Yamaha Motif ES7 plugged into my Focusrite i2i4 audio interface which is being fed into Ableton Live 9 for Mac” I’m presuming that you have connected the left and right analogue audio outputs of the ES7 to the analogue audio inputs of your Focusrite.

If this is the case, you won’t hear any audio coming in unless you create, record enable and choose the correct input on a stereo audio track (or similar) within Ableton.  If you do not, your audio is being routed to a dead end, which is inaudible.

Since you are not planning on recording any audio and just wish to manipulate MIDI data, you could just connect the ES7’s left and right analogue audio outputs directly to your amplification, whilst leaving your MIDI going to the Focusrite.

Just because you want to use your Focusrite as a MIDi interface, does not mean you have to cable your Motif’s audio outputs to it as well.

You could also take the Focusrite out of the equation completely and use MIDI over USB whilst cabling your ES7’s left and right analogue audio outputs direct to your amplification.