I am a wind synthesizer player that is getting ready to purchase a Motif Rack XS. I am purchasing the unit from Patchman Music with the 3 User banks reloaded with specially designed wind synth voices (384). Questions:
Will I be able store those voices on the computer and do a Factory Reset to restore what Yamaha has stored in those banks?

Can I recall a saved voice from the 384 and re-load into XS?

Are the Multi’s that were stored in the User banks recoverable by performing a factory reset?

Can I select and mark all my favorites and remove the other voices so that I can free up User Bank space?

Some voices that Yamaha provides allow you to select breath controller. Will they work well with a Yamaha WX-5 wind Synth?

Thank in advance............  Albie

Questions:
Will I be able store those voices on the computer and do a Factory Reset to restore what Yamaha has stored in those banks?

Yes. The USER VOICES can be backed up on your computer in the Motif-Rack XS Editor.

Can I recall a saved voice from the 384 and re-load into XS?

Yes, when communication is established between your Motif Rack XS and the Editor you can select a VOICE in the Editor - it will immediately appear in the EDIT BUFFER of your Motif-Rack XS - you can then play it immediately and/or if you wish, press the STORE button on the front panel of the Rack XS and direct it to any of the USER VOICE locations in your Rack XS.

The key point is you can restore a Voice from the Editor- this sends it into the edit buffer of the Rack XS - there you can play it, edit it, everything - without overwriting an internal VOICE. You can overwrite an internal Voice, if you wish! But the Edit Buffer allows you complete control.

Workflow: You can use the EDITOR to audition Voices from your various Editor Library files - simply transfer them into the Rack XS Editor Buffer - if you want to “keep” it direct it to a USER location. This way you can assemble your favorites from Patchman and other libraries.

Are the Multi’s that were stored in the User banks recoverable by performing a factory reset?

Glad you asked about MULTIs - MULTIs in the Motif-Rack XS are primarily for use when working with an external sequencer. Voices from the PRESET and USER VOICE banks can be comibned into MULTIs - where you can assign MIDI channels to each. In Multi mode you place the VOICE in what is called a PART. A PART simply is the parameters that address that one VOICE. Each PART can be set to any MIDI channel - so at maximum a MULTI gives you 16 individual PARTS. But you can stack as many on a single MIDI channel as you desire.

The EDITOR does not backup all 128 of your MULTIs. The EDITOR is designed to back up the current 1 MULTI setup of 16 PARTS. The idea is each MULTI would be a different musical composition (a separate Project) in your DAW and this only requires the one setup.

The way the Motif-Rack XS works is when you STORE a MULTI in the hardware Rack XS, it remains there until you either RESET the unit or you write over the data or you Initialize that particular location.

When you recall a MULTI from the EDITOR it does not overwrite an internal location - let me say that again:
When you recall a MULTI from the EDITOR it does not overwrite an internal location. What it does is use the EDIT BUFFER of the Motif Rack XS - to temporarily house the parameters. It does not write it into the Rack XS’s internal memory (you have to do that by pressing [STORE] on the front panel and directing it a specific internal location.

Can I select and mark all my favorites and remove the other voices so that I can free up User Bank space?

you can mark your favorites but you cannot “remove” Voices at any time. A VOICE is a set of parameters that control (dress up) an oscillator (tone source). There is no such thing as a “blank” Voice - the parameter are always set to something. For example, an Initialized Voice has a single oscillator (of the 8 potential) active - and it set to WAVE NUMBER 0001 (which happens to be a piano waveform). The Envelope mimics an ORGAN envelope - press the key you get sound, let go, sound stops. Voices cannot be removed, per se, you can overwrite the ones you no longer need.
You simply configure the set of VOICE parameters into a new VOICE.

Some voices that Yamaha provides allow you to select breath controller. Will they work well with a Yamaha WX-5 wind Synth?

I don’t recall any Voices in the Motif Rack XS setup specifically for Breath Control - Although any Motif Rack XS Voice can be controlled by a WX5 - as the WX5 can be a controller.

With the Editor you will be able to manage what Voices are in your Motif Rack XS. You can selectively bulk one Voice from the Editor, a bank of Voices, etc., etc.

What you cannot do is: Back up 128 MULTIs in one operation. But as mentioned the Rack XS itself is the storage device for MULTIs. And because of the way the EDITOR works in the computer (restores the current 1 MULTI for the composition in question) you only need to send the MULTI, temporarily, to the Edit Buffer to play your MULTI. It does not have to written into one of your 128 MULTI locations to play. You can write there - when you want to keep it.

Hope that helps.

Thanks so much for your expert input. You have answered all my questions and I feel more confident in using the editor to control the XS in live performances. I intend to use it with my VL70M and XV-2020 as a third synth for the wind controller live and also to midi thru to my korg keyboards in my studio. I can’t wait to start using the Rack XS. Thanks again for taking the time to help a newcomer. Best.........
Al Jazzman King

Albie - 21 August 2012 09:22 PM

Thanks so much for your expert input. You have answered all my questions and I feel more confident in using the editor to control the XS in live performances. I intend to use it with my VL70M and XV-2020 as a third synth for the wind controller live and also to midi thru to my korg keyboards in my studio. I can’t wait to start using the Rack XS. Thanks again for taking the time to help a newcomer. Best.........
Al Jazzman King

If you have an iPad, consider using Yamaha Editor Essential application. It could be used for any synth in XS/XF family including Rack XS. Very convinient, esp. since iPad is much smaller to take to the stage.

Alex

P.S. I’m not working for Apple! I’m just a satisfied user.