Tweak of the Week: Understanding the Motif XS COPY Jobs

There are four different COPY Jobs in the PATTERN sequencer:
Copy Events _ Copy Phrase* _ Copy Track _ Copy Pattern

Each has a rather special purpose and they should not be used interchangeably. Below we will describe each one and when to use it.

It may seem a bit confusing at first as to why there are so many COPY jobs but not to worry, once you spend some time with the Motif XS you will see that each job has a unique purpose and reason to be. You’ll think some of these are unnecessary right up until you need that particular job.

CONCEPT:
When you record into PATTERN mode, your MIDI data is automatically placed into a PHRASE, and each Phrase is given a number 001 through 256 in the order in which you record them. You can see this by going to the [F4] PATCH screen (shown). So far drums, bass, guitar and Clavinet tracks have been recorded (yellow MIDI icon in the left column denotes recorded data). There are 256 potential user Phrases because there are 16 Tracks per Section and there are 16 Sections total, [A]-[P]. Once a Phrase has been recorded it can be used again in this PATTERN without copying by simply “Patch-ing” its number into another Section in the “No.” (number) column.

In the screen shot you see SECTION “A”, with four tracks recorded. The Phrases are numbered 001-004. The Section Length (upper right corner) is set to 008 measures – this means that an 8 measure window is set for Phrases to repeat. Each of Phrase’s length, also, happen to be 008 measures – listed to the far right next to each track. This means that each Track’s Phrase will play through once before the Section repeats. While the Section Length (upper right corner) can be changed by highlighting it and entering a new value, it is important to know the individual Tracks Length is fixed and can only be changed by applying and executing a “job”: The Copy Event job, the Append Phrase job or the Split Phrase job.

· If you change the Section Length, say to 004, this will mean that although above all four tracks have Phrases that are 008 measures, only the first 4 measures will playback. If however, you change the Section Length to 016 measures, this will mean that each of the four tracks will play twice, and the next Phrase you record will be 16 measures in length. So the Section Length in the upper right corner should, in general, be set number of measures that you want to playback (and that probably should be the length of the longest Phrase… if you want each Phrase to complete its data before the Section cycles.) If you set the Section Length to 009 measures, what you will hear is:
1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-1
1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-1
1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-1

If I wish to use the drum groove, Phrase 001, in Section “B”, I do not even have to copy the Phrase, I can simply move to SECTION “B” and PATCH Phrase 001 on to track 1. But sometimes you want to lengthen a Phrase, or simply use the same data but do something different to that Phrase in SECTION “B” – that is where the COPY JOBS can be useful. You see also you could name each Phrase (you do not have to, but there is a place for you to move the cursor and give each Phrase a specific name). Normally, the numbers suffice to identify each Phrase. If Phrase “001” appears in another section – it is the same Phrase. If you copy “001” to another Phrase number, say “005”, then, and only then can you edit it differently.

Make sense? It is no longer “001”, it is the same data but now in Phrase 005. Knowing when to use each COPY Job will help you when you need to edit.

From the main PATTERN screen:
Press [JOB]… You will see the Function buttons will let you access different categories of Jobs:
[F1] UNDO/REDO; [F2] NOTE; [F3] EVENT; [F4] PHRASE; [F5] TRACK; [F6] PATTERN

Press [F3] EVENT > JOB 02: COPY EVENT
Copy Event: Specify the region of a Phrase in measure-beat-clocks, set the destination start point by measure-beat-clock location and specify the number of times to copy. Use COPY EVENT when you wish to extend (lengthen) the current Phrase. For example, to turn a 4-measure Phrase into 16 measures, you would set “M001:1:000 ~ M005:1:000 to M005:1:000 x03”. This says copy everything between the start of the Phrase and the first beat of measure 5 (that defines 4 complete measures) to Measure 005 and do it three additional times: 5-8, 9-12 and 13-16 – making the Phrase 16 measures long.

Press [F4] PHRASE > JOB 01: COPY PHRASE
Copy Phrase*: Copies the current source Phrase to a User Phrase location. We placed an asterisk next to this copy job as it is the one that is available directly from the [F4] PATCH screen by pressing [SF5] COPY (in the screenshot above). If the track contains an audio phrase check the box for ‘Copy Sample Voice’ when you wish to have the destination Phrase associated with the local sample voice of the original. If no sample is involved this setting will be meaningless and you can ignore it. The thing to be careful about here is the target destination will be overwritten by this job. You will have to be certain (on your own) that the target Phrase is empty. You have an option to select “Current Phrase”. Check this option in the SOURCE (top) and the DESTINATION (bottom) regions of the setup screen when you are working within the current Pattern. Copy Phrase is one way to make a copy of a Phrase when you want to edit differently in another section – if you have recorded lots of Phrases you will want to be certain the destination Phrase is empty… The PATCH screen allows you to see what Phrases you have recorded… you must target the Phrase manually… but “don’t worry Obi Wan, there is another…” read on.

Press [F5] TRACK > JOB 01: COPY TRACK
Copy Track: Specify Pattern, Section and Track, set whether Sequencer Events, Play Effects, Mix Part Parameters, and/or Sample data are associated and copied to the resulting destination. Use COPY TRACK when you need to ‘clone’ data on a specific track to a new Section and you want to edit the data differently. You can individually select the types of events you are copying. This powerful job will search automatically for the lowest numbered empty User Phrase – there is no risk of overwriting existing data. This is an ideal way to clone a Phrase because there is zero risk of overwriting existing data in the target. Also you have the option of copying all or just some of the data types to the target location. Use this job specifically if you are thinking you want to keep the original, as is, and make a variation but wish to add to it or subtract from it and have a second Phrase based on the first. Again you have the option to select “Current” in both the source and destination areas of the setup screen – be sure to check both when you are copying within the same PATTERN.

Press [F6] PATTERN > JOB 01: COPY PATTERN
Copy Pattern Specify the Style and the Section. This will ‘duplicate’ the current Section in another Section - Great for Copying between PATTERN STYLES. If “ALL” is set for the Source, “ALL” will automatically be set as the Destination. You can use this JOB when you want to COPY an entire SECTION’S layout to another SECTION or PATTERN target destination. All the Phrases will be copied. Or you can use this JOB and specify just a particular SECTION to be copied over to another SECTION. In either case all new (unique) Phrases will be created. If you use this to copy within the same PATTERN number, then all new (unique Phrase will be created. If you target an entirely new PATTERN number (not the current Pattern) then quite naturally all new (unique) Phrases are created. There is a “Current” option in the source region. You can use this Job to copy data from other Patterns to this Pattern or from Tracks in other Sections of this Pattern.

Now, let’s apply this knowledge in an actual situation. It is a common scenario where you wish to use part or all of a Phrase in another Section but you want to make a copy because you need to add or subtract some of what you have done. That is, you want to keep the original, unchanged, and create a new Phrase with the same data which you intend to enhance. For example, if you want to copy the drums from one Section into the next Section but you want to do something slightly different to the drum pattern data (like add a Crash cymbal and Latin percussion), you need to naturally make a new (unique) Phrase number. If you are new to the Motif-series and don’t understand how ‘Phrases’ work, you may activate the same Phrase in two Sections, then when you attempt to edit it in Section “B” you might be surprised that you also edited the Phrase assigned to Section “A”, as well. What you want to do in this instance is make a copy of the MIDI data in the Phrase to a new Phrase. It may not be initially apparent as to which of the copy jobs is the correct one for the task. To get the Motif XS to create a new Phrase (number) you could use either the “COPY PHRASE” or the “COPY TRACK” function. We recommend the COPY TRACK job because if you use the COPY TRACK job when you COPY the contents of TRACK 1, Section “A” to TRACK 1 of Section “B”, the Motif XS will automatically find the lowest numbered empty User Phrase and make a new one (same name, different number). Cool!

Now you can edit the two Phrases differently. The [F4] PATCH screen will show you the number of the USER Phrase. If the Phrase has the same number as in another section OBVIOUSLY you cannot edit it without editing it in every section that it is used. A unique USER PHRASE number - means you can edit it differently because it is unique. You have cloned it with the COPY TRACK job…

Now you can dye the hair of the clone without affecting the hair color of the original source. You can add percussion to the copied Phrase (because it has unique Phrase number) without that percussion be added to the original.

Hope that helps…

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