I can play my XS8 through VSTs in my daw using a Midisport midi2usb device, but I cannot get any control signals through the usb/midi

Clearly the problem is on the motif side.

#####Update I solved this part of the problem, please skip to the remaining questions following ########### below.

The 4 motif XS8 usb midi ins and outs shows up in the daw but control signals from the motif through usb/midi doesnt seem to exist and therefore no sounds triggered.

What do I get wrong getting USB midi to work with XS8

Manual says channels 1&4;is for editor and 2,3 for everything else.

I conected the XS8 with USB to my pc, openede the standalone editor, set it up as in the manual regarding midi channels. Still no go.

If I want to sync it says no connection.

Can USB be midi switched off in the motif setup, cant find that in the manual. That must be the case as I now tried by two different methods to use USB midi both times it failed.

I see in utility you can select between mlan interface or USB as midi.
This seems to be the source of my problem.
There cannot be simultaneous use of mlan/usb/interface.

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It seems to me that I will have to buy a good external 8x8 or 10x10 classic midi interface and completely forget about using mlan and usb.

So the remaining Question:

1) When in USB or MLAN selected as MIDI.
Is it at least possible to receive controller signals from an external controller through the 5 pin dion classic interface ? I guess not ?

I cannot give up the classic interface as I have too many controllers I rely on that is 5pdin only. That connection is ultra low latency compared to usb in my case.
I just want to use mlan and usb for editor and backups and there seem to be no way I can use the classical interface to do backups and bank loads with editor as the editor only supports mlan and usb and NOT 5pindin interface.

2) Can I use a USBtoMIDI adapter to make the Editor work through the classic 5pindin ports ? while still having external midi controllers controlling the motif as I use it now?.

I had been avoiding replying to your post because it was unclear to me how your gear is connected when using USB MIDI. There should not be a problem with externally generated control data triggering the XS if everything is set up properly (proper MIDI port assignment, etc.). I had been hoping that another Motifator member might better understand the situation and respond. Since that hasn’t happened, I’ll try to help.

Hopefully you have the correct USB MIDI Driver installed for your computer platform and OS. Your member profile indicates “Other” for computer OS, so I can’t make an appropriate suggestion in that respect. Since your DAW sees the four USB MIDI ports, it would seem that the driver is functional, but it would be best to verify that.

A USB (or mLAN) connection is the equivalent of multiple MIDI ports. See MIDI channels and MIDI ports on pages 43-44 of the XS Owner’s Manual. Note that in addition to what’s described there, Port 4 is used for the Yamaha Editor. The 5-pin MIDI-In port and Port 1 are basically equivalent, used for tone generator control. Since Port 4 isn’t accessible via the 5-pin connection, using a USB-to-MIDI adapter isn’t going to help with the Editor.

As explained in the Owner’s Manual, when “MIDI In/Out” is set to USB or mLAN, the 5-pin connectors function as a MIDI Thru Port via Port 3. If an external controller is connected to the XS MIDI-In port, incoming data is retransmitted via USB (TO HOST) or mLAN to the computer. Routing Port 3 data to Port 1 via the DAW will allow the external controller to trigger the tone generator of the XS. Since you seem to be concerned about latency, whether that would be acceptable is something you’d have to determine for yourself.

Getting MIDI port In/Out assignments correct in the DAW will be critical to proper operation, but that’s not something I can assist with.

Thank you I will carefully go through what you wrote.
It is not intuitive how midi works on the motif and I have quite a lot of demand for it.
What I really need is some intermediate midi programmable router, but that is a different issue.
Difficult to find, but is the obvious way to unify all the midi devices and change and route midi commands.