Three very simple additions to next OS, please.

- Sequencer setup button could work also in voice mode because it is the fastest way to adjust the settings of A/D input. Now the button does nothing.

- Possibility to choose song/pattern jobs with number buttons as it works in QY70 and QY100. Would make things faster.

- It would be nice to have “precount only” option in metronome settings. A brigh beeb metronome sound as in Cubase would also be nice…

tuquoque - 08 February 2010 01:15 PM

- Sequencer setup button could work also in voice mode because it is the fastest way to adjust the settings of A/D input. Now the button does nothing.\

This idea interests me too, though maybe a different approach than simply accessing Sequencer Setup from voice mode would be better. Obviously, that wouldn’t make much sense logically to edit Sequencer related settings in a mode with no sequencer.

However, there are settings within Sequencer Setup that actually affect more than the sequencer, namely those under the Click and Quick tabs, both of which can have effects that carry over even when switching to Voice mode. It doesn’t make sense to have to switch to one of the other modes in order to access Seq Setup and change these settings, and then switch back to Voice.

So I’d say that allowing access to Seq Setup while in Voice mode would be a quick solution, but it seems like shuffling some of the settings around to the utility screen might be a better solution from a logic standpoint.

I’d love to have the ability to add patterns together to make a song like the old Alesis MMT-8 used to do...A+B+B+D+A...etc....It was incredibly easy to mute parts too simply by pressing the tracks off when stepping through the parts...Those 2 things would complete the sequencer for me....I love how quickly you can create patterns....Unfortunately, it comes to a stall when putting them together in a song.....If you could just add the parts together and mute certain tracks, it would be much more like the way I’ve always worked in the past with MPC’s,Ensoniqs and the aforementioned MMT-8....ZR

ZR, have you tried the existing Pattern chain function and track mute feature?

/M

I think the XS is a great instrument. It has a great sound quality and very useful resources.

One of the most interesting feature is the Performance mode. However, it would be great if ALL individual controls (knobs and sliders, in each Part) was recorded in the sequencer (Song and Pattern modes). At present time Cutoff, Resonance, Attack, etc (in Tone 1 row) and Pan, Reverb, Chorus (in Tone 2 row) are not recorded (by individual Parts) into sequencer in real time. This is a great lack, for an impossible the total control at the time of performance (and its corresponding record in the internal sequencer). It is only possible, for now, make adjustments in the individual controls when it is in Song or Pattern modes, with a “overdub” recording of controls in each Track.

And that includes the Mutes recording for each Part!

If you’re listening Yamaha.....

1. I’d like to see a Sequencer/Mixer on/off option added to ‘automatically copy each voice/arpeggio parameters to each track’ when I select a voice/arp in Mixer mode.
Then I wouldn’t have to mess around with all the voice settings for each track. It’s so annoying having to set to ‘copy parameters on’ first, then select the voice and this for each track! aaarrrgggg

Sort it out Yamaha...this is the Motif XS not the SY85

... and for my third wish, I wish for three more wishes.

Some very good suggestions ...keep writing them down. It shows what is important to you and where you are at with understanding how things work. This is all very helpful when it comes to pushing things forward.

Some of what you request may already be available (of course, improvements are always a possibility)

PATTERN CHAIN
PATTERN CHAIN, as pointed out previously by Multi76, already exists. TRACK MUTES can be recorded in real time or step entered into the CHAIN EVENT LIST. Even advanced Time Signature changes (stutter effects) can be recorded in real time or step entered. It is really quite a bit more advanced compared to others mentioned.

PARAMETER WITH VOICE copies arps into PARTS
A reason every Voice does not go into a MULTI with its arpeggios active is, once you do four Voices then what? Remember there are only (sic) four arpeggiators. PARAMETER WITH VOICE - set to ON, will copy the arpeggios for you… you simply have to put it ON for the PARTS where you want to bring the arps in, then select your VOICE. I contend that if it defaulted to ON, then every Voice you selected from the fifth one on, would start undoing your previous selections. Perhaps even more frustrating if you think about it.

PROGRAM SELECT as SONG/PATTERN selection
Selecting SONGS and PATTERN by number buttons:
If you are in SONG or PATTERN mode, press [PROGRAM] so that its LED is lit…
Buttons [A], [1]-[16] will select SONGS 1-16
Buttons [B], [1]-[16] will select SONGS/PATTERN 17-32
Buttons [C], [1]-[16] will select SONGS/PATTERN 33-48
Buttons [D], [1]-[16] will select SONGS/PATTERN 49-64

Fixed Function Controllers versus programming what you want
As explained, in a previous thread, when recording using DIRECT PERFORMANCE RECORD, you are transmitting on a single MIDI channel. That is how you are able to play all four PARTS simultaneously. And is fundamental to what a PERFORMANCE is all about. “COMMON” messages are recorded to all tracks. That is also always going to be true. If you want to transmit to just one of the eventually target MIDI channels, you will have to either remove data after recording it to all tracks, or invent a new MIDI (lol).  A better way might be (and this was thought about) would be to transmit to all of them but have only a specific PART respond.

Perhaps, you can use what is already provided in the original MIDI specification in combination with the Motif XS’s powerful CONTROL SETs. Each VOICE can be edited in real time individually within a PERFORMANCE - with a little pre-planning (ie, programming). Obviously if you use MIDI CONTROL CHANGE messages (due to the nature of how they are designed to work) all devices on that MIDI channel will receive them and potentially respond… however, within the Motif XS architecture you can customize, for example, which Elements of any VOICES will respond to controllers. All you need to do is select the right physical controller.

In VOICE mode
Press [EDIT] > [COMMON EDIT] > [F4] CTRL SET - here you can customize (without using dedicated/fixed control change messages) how the VOICE will respond to your non-fixed controllers.

cc074 will always be Filter Cutoff. It will OFFSET, each of the 8 possible Filters within a Motif XS Voice. It is the overall FILTER CUTOFF for the entire MIDI channel. The TONE 1 row knob assigned CUTOFF is sending cc074 - which as explained is a (fixed) channel Control Change message (bad choice if you only want one PART to respond).

The XS lets you assign any Control Change number to control an individual ELEMENT’S filter within a VOICE. This very powerful feature can be used here so that when you move a selected controller you are changing filter Cutoff of just that one PART within your PERFORMANCE, if that is desired. You may see this as a “workaround”, we don’t! We see it as a very powerful feature designed to do and to overcome *exactly* what you are talking about: How to individually control a particular VOICE or part of a VOICE when it is combined with other sounds on the same MIDI channel!

Available are Cutoff, Resonance, AEG Attack, AEG Release,Element Pan, Reverb Send, and Chorus Send (among the 100 parameters listed)
EQ: well, you don’t want to change EQ in real time for lots of sonic reasons - but you can do this as well, if it is important to you by assigning effect parameters to non-fixed controllers.
All of these things can be done without using the global Control Change messages that are fixed as to their function.

“Fixed” function Controllers will always command their assigned function via MIDI, so it is global (for the channel) when you move a knob assigned to send cc074 or cc071 as to what that will do to each PART assigned to the same MIDI channel. That is how MIDI works. However, as explained above, you can, by assigning for example, General Purpose controllers like the ASSIGN 1 or ASSIGN 2 knob, which send cc016 or cc017 and can affect the “CUTOFF” parameter within the VOICE you not only gain greater control, but you can customize it so that only a single PART responds to that particular knob in YOUR Performance.

What cc016 does to a particular VOICE is customizable by YOU. Turning that one knob can now be programmed to do four different things to each of the four PARTS of your PERFORMANCE. It can do nothing to other PARTS or it can independently be set to do something entirely different to each layer. It’s up to YOU.

If you want to control an individual PART within a Direct Performance Record, you most certainly can. You have non-fixed function controller numbers available for assignment on a per PERFORMANCE basis. I seriously doubt that the MIDI spec will change anytime soon. So I think the clever design (and potential use) of the VOICE Control Set can allow you setup each PERFORMANCE as you require.

Alternative methodology
Also built in to the XS design is another way to work out what you are going to do with a PERFORMANCE; there’s a way to transfer that PERFORMANCE setup to the sequencer so that it is setup for individual/traditional (track-at-a-time) recording. This is accomplished using the:
[MIXING] > [JOB] > [F5] TEMPLATE > [SF2] PERF function

This allows you to preserve the PERFORMANCE’s Note Limits, Arpeggio assignment, etc, but maps the PARTS to separate MIDI channels.  So I think this has been addressed in the original design.

Hope that is helpful. Keep the thoughts coming…

Bad_Mister - 09 February 2010 06:27 AM

Keep the thoughts coming…

Ok, couple more from me. It makes five, I guess : )

- Performance direct record mode is brilliant. It makes me wonder wouldn’t it be possible to have a voice direct record mode? Just push record in voice mode, TAP in the tempo (with record button?), hit play and recording starts.

- Tap tempo is requested by many. One way to implement it would be to allow users to tap the tempo with record button when track is armed for recording. When armed for recording, F3 button is unused in both song and pattern modes.

Push record - Push and keep down F3 to activate the tap tempo mode and metronome - tap the tempo with record button - inactivate tap tempo mode by releasing F3 - hit play and recording starts.

Thanks for reading.

tuquoque - 09 February 2010 07:37 AM

- Tap tempo is requested by many. One way to implement it would be to allow users to tap the tempo with record button when track is armed for recording. When armed for recording, F3 button is unused in both song and pattern modes.

As a randon interjection, F3 would be a bad choice for tap tempo. This is because it’s a microswitch and quite hard to accurately tap in sequence.

When I wrote the tap tempo function in my editor, even the mouse is not ideal (it too is a microswitch)

One of the transport buttons (you suggested the record button, which would be a good option potentially) would be a much better choice as they have a softer, more organic feel.

Df.

Thank you, Bad_Mister. You brought us valuable information on your last 2 messages (above). I liked the observation that you made (below *), which brought some “light” on the issue of Performance Direct Record vs. MIDI Controllers. I think with some planning and a combination of responses to certain controllers, my intention can be achieved. I will explore more.

*

Bad_Mister - 09 February 2010 06:27 AM

[...] “Fixed” function Controllers will always command their assigned function via MIDI, so it is global (for the channel) when you move a knob assigned to send cc074 or cc071 as to what that will do to each PART assigned to the same MIDI channel. That is how MIDI works. However, as explained above, you can, by assigning for example, General Purpose controllers like the ASSIGN 1 or ASSIGN 2 knob, which send cc016 or cc017 and can affect the “CUTOFF” parameter within the VOICE you not only gain greater control, but you can customize it so that only a single PART responds to that particular knob in YOUR Performance.[...]

But I still keep my suggestion to the technical team Yamaha. Reason: instead of transmitting MIDI controllers on a single channel on Direct Recording, why not make the knobs and sliders sending SysEx (as in Performance individual Part selection) to the corresponding Tracks in sequencer? Thus, if each Track (Voice) in sequencer (Song or Pattern) were able to interpret the SysEx (instead of just CCs), the Performance will be played back as it was performed.

Another suggestion: in the case of Part Mutes in a real time recording (Performance), I wonder if there was the possibility of creating a “artifice”, for example, send a CC011 (Expression) = 0 to the sequencer every time you press the Mute in a Part (sound off) and, conversely, when there was an un-Mute (sound on), there was the sending of a CC011 = 127. Hehe, only a suggestion! :)

Thanks a lot!

RobsonLuis - 09 February 2010 07:45 AM

But I still keep my suggestion to the technical team Yamaha. Reason: instead of transmitting MIDI controllers on a single channel on Direct Recording, why not make the knobs and sliders sending SysEx (as in Performance individual Part selection) to the corresponding Tracks in sequencer? Thus, if each Track (Voice) in sequencer (Song or Pattern) were able to interpret the SysEx (instead of just CCs), the Performance will be played back as it was performed.

Ahh, but it’s not that simple.

The sysex is performance-mode-specific. Once the data is recorded into the sequencer, it’s no longer a performance. Therefore the sysex data generated by the knobs in performance mode would be meaningless in Song mode ...

Df.

If i’m honest, I didn’t even know that you could only have 4 voices with arps simultaneously in song mode, so my apologies.

I dont think I would use them all anyway in one song but what about the effects? I’ve used an SY85 for 18 years and the one thing that bugs me still to this day is, If I like the sound of a voice or perforamance and wanted to use it in a song, it never sounded the same until I copied all the fx parameters over to the sequncer/track setup. So like I said, some sort of ‘get what you heard’ in voice mode would be useful.

An easier option I suppose for the XS would be to have the same Quick record option for voice mode as there is for the performance mode. With the voice/arps just going to one track/midi-channel. Not eveyone uses perfomances to compose so this would be very useful.

Your thoughts.....

tuquoque - 09 February 2010 07:37 AM

[..] - Tap tempo is requested by many. One way to implement it would be to allow users to tap the tempo with record button when track is armed for recording. When armed for recording, F3 button is unused in both song and pattern modes.

Push record - Push and keep down F3 to activate the tap tempo mode and metronome - tap the tempo with record button - inactivate tap tempo mode by releasing F3 - hit play and recording starts.

Good suggestion, tuquoque. I like that!

Dreamflight - 09 February 2010 07:49 AM

RobsonLuis - 09 February 2010 07:45 AM

But I still keep my suggestion to the technical team Yamaha. Reason: instead of transmitting MIDI controllers on a single channel on Direct Recording, why not make the knobs and sliders sending SysEx (as in Performance individual Part selection) to the corresponding Tracks in sequencer? Thus, if each Track (Voice) in sequencer (Song or Pattern) were able to interpret the SysEx (instead of just CCs), the Performance will be played back as it was performed.

Ahh, but it’s not that simple.

The sysex is performance-mode-specific. Once the data is recorded into the sequencer, it’s no longer a performance. Therefore the sysex data generated by the knobs in performance mode would be meaningless in Song mode ...

Df.

Yes, Dreamflight. I think that is a complication that. However, the SysEx make sense to the sequencer IF the sequencer could understand what they mean, ie, control parameters for each Track (individual Parts before, now MIDI Tracks), just as if they were normal CCs.

Moreover, if there was a “translation” of SysEx, imediately after the transport key “Stop” pressed, so the sequencer had finished processing the Performance recently recorded these SysEx could be automatically converted into CCs. In this case, each Track would have, instead of multiple bytes of SysEx information, only the equivalent MIDI CCs bytes.