Hello All,
I have been recording music with my Yamaha Motif xf6 for many yrs now via Audio only. One of the recording professionals mentioned that it is only better to record via MIDI in order to be able to quantize notes better (To mix and Master the Tracks) and I also want to be able to use good Voice Tones from online.

Hence I wanted to connect my Motif XF6 as a MIDI to Logic Pro on my MAC (Monterey)?

DAW: Logic Pro
Keys: Motif xf6
System: iMac 2015 - Monterey 12.7.1
Memory: 16 GB 1867 MHz DDR3
Firewire Port: Yes

Is this connection possible and how do I make this happen?

Thank you for your help & support.

Hi,

I think the Yamaha Steinberg FW Driver (Audio + MIDI via FireWire) only works on Mac OS X. Therefore, the USB To Host port (MIDI only) on the rear of the Motif XF is your only way to make a direct connection, without a separate MIDI interface.

To use the Motif XF as a MIDI device for your computer via the USB To Host port, you need to install the USB-MIDI Driver before connecting the instrument. Also make sure the XF has the USB port selected as its MIDI In/Out Interface in the Utility menu (refer to p.56 of the Owner’s Manual) before connecting. The cable is a standard USB type A male to type B male cable.

With the USB-MIDI driver running and the XF connected and powered, Logic Pro will detect a set of virtual MIDI input and output ports that point to your Motif XF. The input ports can record note data from the XF’s keyboard, arpeggiator or sequencer to Logic’s MIDI tracks, while the output ports send note data from your Logic MIDI tracks to the XF’s tone generator for playback. If you want to play back multiple parts simultaneously, you’ll need to get familiar with MIDI channels and the Motif XF’s Mixing mode.

Other types of MIDI data can also be transmitted between the computer and the instrument, such as for backing up or loading voice data and mixing setups. The best way to do this is using the Motif XF Editor, which can run as a standalone app next to Logic Pro. Other DAWs can load the editor as a VST plugin, but unfortunately Logic Pro doesn’t support VST plugins natively.

- H -

Henry is right, the firewire drivers only work up to High Sierra and once you get to Mojave become pretty much unusable because Yamaha chose not to update them to 64 bit and make them work with the increased security requirements imposed by later versions of MacOS.