Yamaha Motif XS6 Synth - Now with Conclusions, and Motif XF "Coda"

[Niteswim]

"Then you can open Cubase AI , select import and Motif XS Song is a choice. You can then open that Motif XS file...."


– well, I have searched for that option (in File>Import, right?), but couldn’t find it. I saved my songs from the XS into the XOA format and would like to know what can be done to restore these songs in case they should be lost on the XS (which might of course happen anytime in a situation that forces me to reset to factory settings, for whatever reason). Or, very simply: What can I do with a XOA file anyway?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated

[Support Guy]

Go here:
http://www.yamahasynth.com/download/motif_xs.html#extensions

Download and install the extensions and you will find the Motif song import function in the file menu of Cubase.

There is more info here:
http://www.motifator.com/forums/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=MotifXS&Number=339301&Forum=All_Forums&Words=song%20import&Match=OR&Searchpage=0&Limit=25&Old=allposts&Main=339109&Search=true#Post339301

[Athan Billias]

"Why there is no click when recording audio? "

You can have a click when sampling and also just a count in before sampling, these settings are found the in Seq Setup or the Utility area.



"why just 6 minutes or so for audio recording - "
why audio is not synchronized with midi tracks so you can't start from the e.g. middle of the song (audio won't be triggered in such case)"

It is six minutes of contigious sampling or per one sample. That doesn't mean you can't have songs that are longer than six minutes.

Recording on the Motif series has always done by the integrated sampling sequencer. This means that each sampled track has a MIDI note to drive it.

This Integrated Sampling Sequencer has a lot of advantages. You can slice tracks so that you can change the tempo and the ISS audio track will follow the MIDI clock. You can have up to 128 samples on a track. So for example on one track in the sequencer you could have a number of six minutes samples that were triggered by MIDI notes at different times in the song.


"What about eating first note when using "note on" sequencing?
Is these problems something that can be fix in the future or they are by design?"

The newest OS for the Motif XS available at www.yamahasynth.com fixed any issues with recording the first note when using the Key Start feature.

[Shredded H Bark]

I am new to posting on this forum, but I have been following it for awhile. I am considering buying an XS7 but I have a few basic (I think they are, anyway) questions that puzzle me based on things I have read here and/or on the motifator site. Maybe someone can help?

1. Does the firewire on the XS7 work, how much does the firewire board plug in cost, and what is the advantage of that over USB and/or ethernet cable?

2. Under what circumstances do you need a USB memory stick vs. one of the hook-ups above? What's the different uses for these various hook-ups?

2. What is the status of the integration of this unit with Logic Studio Pro software?

3. Anderton, I enjoyed this review. It has been very effective. Is it over? If not, when are you going to give us the conclusion that you promised way back when?

Thanks.

SHB

[Gribs]

1. Does the firewire on the XS7 work, how much does the firewire board plug in cost, and what is the advantage of that over USB and/or ethernet cable?

 

 

I can help a bit with this question, I think, except I have the XS6 and not the XS7. I got the mLAN16e2 from Sweetwater for 259.99 USD. The network card works just fine with my VAIO laptop. I have not tried USB or ethernet, because I can integrate just fine with Cubase using the mLAN card. I bought the card so that I can use my XS6 as an audio interface and controller. MIDI signals and audio go both ways on the Firewire bus. I really enjoy being able to play my various software instruments on the XS6. It is very convenient and clean to have one cable between the XS6 and the laptop and two cables out of the XS6 to my monitoring system (though you can have more if you want).

[kidroc]

Hello everyone, I just purchase the motif xs6 2 weeks ago. loving it, the best sounds I ever heard on a keyboard!!!!

[bgi]

"Body Pumping" is more of a fusion-oriented piece. It also has a really cool guitar sound. Incidentally, those harmonic effects are not something I had to add; they're built in to the patch.

 

 

Cool sounds. Reminds me of some of the guitar patches on the MO8 that I love so much. I'm stressing whether I want to upgrade the MO to the XS. I find working with Cubase SE painful.

[Anderton]

Yes, this thread is coming back to life, courtesy of an update to the Motif operating system, some sample memory, and an mLAN interface. This gives us a reason to not only check out what's new, but re-visit some features we haven't covered yet.

To update the machine, you go to http://www.yamahasynth.com./download/motif_xs.html, which has updaters for Windows and Mac installation as well as all the specs on what the update does. After decompressing the files, you'll find the instructions along with the update file.

The next step is formatting a 128MB USB memory stick in the Motif, then transferring the update file over to it from where you downloaded the file on your computer.

Okay, the file's copied over, let's see if it works...the idea is to stick the stick in the Motif, power-up with it while holding a couple keys, and sit back while it does its thing. I'll report back when it's done...

[Anderton]

...it's still doing it's thing...

[Anderton]

...I hope we don't get a lightning storm...if you have a Motif and an uninterruptible power supply, they would be a good combination during the updating process.

Now up to 90% writing in the second block...

[Anderton]

...success! It's updated. Reset factory settings, check firmware number...yup, all is well.

Okay! Tomorrow, let's see what installing the sample RAM is like.

[Anderton]

Well you can't do much sampling without RAM, so Yamaha sent along 512MB of RAM, as two 256MB DIMMS, for this pro review. In the manual there's very clear instructions for installing the RAM; they actually show some respect for their users as being able to do it

 

However, the manual does caution checking the Yamaha web site for recommended RAM. You must install a pair of DIMM RAMs, from 64MB to 512MB (yielding a total of 128MB to 1GB).

 

The first image shows the "trap door" in the bottom of the Motif where the RAM gets installed. The first thing you need to do is remove this plate. When you do, you'll see two DIMM slots, as shown in the second image.

 

If you've ever upgraded/replaced/removed computer RAM, you know the story: Open up the little flanges at the ends of the DIMM sockets, push the RAM chips in one at a time until they lock into place, and you're done. The third image shows the RAM, comfortably ensconced in its new digs. Total time to upgrade RAM, from taking off the metal plate to putting it back on again and testing the RAM: 6 minutes, 20 seconds.

 

After turning on the Motif XS to see if the RAM showed up, there it was: 512MB. However, the display also shows the recordable size as 32MB, or 380 seconds worth of sampling. Hmmm...does this mean the memory is partitioned into blocks, and you can record only 32MB at a time? We'll find out soon enough. Meanwhile, Yamaha gets high marks for making the upgrade process simple.

[Anderton]

...and Yamaha also figured I should check out what the mLAN board does, so they sent me an mLAN16E2 expansion board. What does it do? I have no clue. But we'll find out

As with the RAM, the manual presents very clear installation instructions. They're definitely not of the "take this back to your nearest Yamaha service center, or you will die" mentality.

The first image shows the plate on the back panel that you remove to expose a space for the board to slide in. The second image shows the board, just after packing and prior to installation. As you can see, it's not exactly just a couple of chips...I didn't realize an mLAN interface had so much "glue" holding it together ("glue" is slang for all the support chips needed to make an electronic circuit work).

The board slides in easily via a couple guides, and once it's firmly in place, you screw back in the screws that originally held the metal plate. The third image shows the mLAN board in place on the back of the Motif XS; note the two FireWire (IEEE1394) ports, which apparently are FireWire 400 types.

Well I must say that was pretty painless; it took far more time to take the photos and write this up than it took to do the upgrade. So, I think we're in good shape to investigate the sampling aspect of things.

[Anderton]

If you want to upgrade a Motif XS, you go to www.motifator.com and cruise over to the Motifmart at http://www.motifator.com/mart/mainframe.htm. The 512MB expansion kit is $129, the 1GB one $179. That's more than the garden variety RAM you'd get from a store like NewEgg, but on the other hand, it's tested and guaranteed to work with the Motif series.

The mLAN16E2 is $249, and while rummaging around on the Motifator site (which also has interfaces, some very cool looking cases, sounds, loops, video tutorials, and a whole lot more - it's well worth checking out), I found this description of what the mLAN16E2 does:

The mLAN16E2 lets you connect your Motif XS to your computer via mLAN (Firewire Music Networking) and communicate all of your MIDI and audio data via a single Firewire cable.

The mLAN16E2 transforms the Motif ES into a 16 channel output, 8 channel input computer audio interface. This allows you, simultaneously to record14 individual output channels plus the stereo mix to your computer. In addition, the Motif XS's 2 A/D inputs can be used to record other instruments into your computer. Connect a Mic or Guitar to the Motif XS's A/D inputs and even use insert effects as you record.

During playback you can bring 4 stereo busses from yourDAW backinto theES to be monitored at the Motif XS's stereo analog output. At this time you can apply additiona lMotif XS system and master effects to these busses. The incredible effects contained in the Motif ES can be utilized without putting any load on your computer's CPU.

The Motif XS with mLAN16E2 can also be used in combination with other mLAN products such as the 01X and i88X to further expand your system. If Motif XS forms part of your rig the mLAN16E2 is, simply, a must.

The mLAN16E2 card transforms the Motif XS into:

* An Audio interface
* A MIDI interface
* A Hardware accelerated DSP effects processor for your computer DAW

Yamaha mLAN16E2 Features:

24-bit/96kHz 16 channel expansion I/O for MOTIF XS
Multi Port MIDI Interface
24bit/96kHz Audio Interface
Expandable via mLAN
Windows XP & Mac OS 9 Driver support

Okay, I get what it's supposed to do. But...Mac OS 9 driver support and not OS X?!? Well, I checked the www.yamahasynth.com site, and it says there's support for Vista and OS X as well. As I'm running this system with XP, I won't be testing it under OS X...maybe someone from Yamaha can weigh in with a definitive answer about which operating systems the mLAN16E2 supports.

Well that's enough for today...

[Anderton]

Hey, this is really cool: The update lets you plug a USB keyboard into the USB port, and navigate with the keys. It isn't just a situation where you can name presets, although of course you can do that, but you can use the cursor controls or Tab key to select editable fields. From there if you hit Enter, the + and - keys let you make selections within that field.

Furthermore, the function keys let you select the tabs along the bottom of the screen, with the left function keys selecting the lower row of tabs, and the right function keys selecting the upper row.

So what does this mean? Well, in practice, it's much cooler than simply describing it in print would lead you to believe. Of course, the QWERTY keys simply parallel what's already on the Motif XS control surface; in fact, the QWERTY F1-F6 function keys duplicate the XS F1-F6 function keys. However, there's something very ergonomic about having a separate "navigation device" separate from the Motif. I keep my right hand on the QWERTY keyboard, and use my left hand for tweaking. For some reason, "compartmentalizing" the navigation into a separate controller really works for me.

If you have a Motif XS with the update, plug in a QWERTY keyboard (do it after the unit is powered-on, or it won't be recognized) and give it a shot - I'd be interested in your comments.

[Anderton]

Oh, and if anyone from Yamaha is watching...if I'm missing any other keyboard capabilities, let me know. One other thing: I also plugged a mouse in there to see if anything would happen; it didn't. This is apparently a keyboard only deal, but I did try Apple and PC keyboards, and they both worked just fine.

[Support Guy]

[Anderton]

Thanks! So it has transport control too...cool....

[Anderton]

Well, now that there's memory installed, we might as well exercise it by doing some sampling.

Actually there are several ways to get samples into the Motif XS; it's not just about recording into the unit. You can load an AIF or WAV file from a USB storage device, via resampling, via mLAN, or if the XS is part of a network, from a hard drive connected to the network. For now, we'll do the recording thing as the other methods are pretty much just file transfers.

There's also a second sampling mode that allows recording audio "in parallel" with a sequence - you record the sample as a voice, then trigger it via MIDI to have it play within a sequence. This is the same way the Korg M3 gets digital audio into a sequence.

One aspect of Motif sampling is you don't just hit record then figure out what to do with the sample; you need to specify a destination waveform number to hold the sample. On one hand I'd prefer to just be able to let 'er rip, then figure out what to do with the sample later...but on the other hand, this approach encourages you to organize your sampling session in some kind of rational way, which is not a bad thing.

Input-wise, the XS is basic: Left and right 1/4" phone jacks and a gain control. In terms of specs, sampling is 16-bit, stereo or mono, with sampling rates of 44.1, 22.05, 11.025, and 5.0125kHz (44.1kHz only when using mLAN). However, you're limited to 64MB stereo samples and 32MB for mono. That should be plenty for any kind of instrument or phrase sampling - over six minutes at 44.1kHz - just don't expect to use the XS as a substitute for a hard disk recorder.

Okay, let's start sampling...

[Anderton]

Sampling is pretty straightforward. You basically choose a waveform number, then go into a Record screen. This is where you specify the input source, mono/stereo, sampling rate, voice, etc.

 

After getting everything set up, you go into Record Standby mode. You can initiate sampling manually, or by having it exceed a certain level. There's a confirm mode where you can audition what you just heard, in which case you hit enter when you're happy with the sound and waveform becames available for use in a program as an element. What you sample shows up in glorious color on the display

 

I sampled several open guitar strings for grins, but didn't get into sample editing per se other than just setting the transpose range - we'll get into the DSP features later. For now, I just wanted to see if I could stuff the waveforms into a preset, and lo and behold...I could, ending up with a pretty standard "play guitar from the keyboard" preset.

 

There are actually quite a few DSP options (accessed via the sampling's Sampling Job function), including time stretch, convert pitch, fade, and (this should be fun!) sample slicing...these are in addition to more "standard" options like trim, loop, etc. So, we'll cover sample edit options next.

 

However, because the display is pretty informative I'm going to see about some way of pulling out screen shots that looks better than just using my camera. I'll give it a day or two to see if I can make this happen, otherwise, we'll proceed and I'll take some (hopefully) good pictures of the display.

[Anderton]

After sampling guitar notes, I figured it was time to sample something that could be looped and sliced...so I dug out an old SR-16 drum machine (the boot-up screen shows 1990!), and pumped a drum loop into the XS.

In terms of setting loop points, I must say it's easy. The display is what we've come to expect if you've used something like an MPC to edit waveforms; you can zoom waaaaaay in horizontally, which simplifies the process of finding transients and such. However, you can't do vertical zooming, which can be an issue if you're trying to add a loop to a section with a really low level.

Editing options are standard (we'll get into the DSP editing options next): Sample start, loop start, and end point; key range and velocity; and the ability to determine tempo, whether it's known or not (if not, just set the loop points, and adjust tempo until the length matches the loop).

There's an interesting option to turn the function buttons into a numeric keypad, which is handy for entering parameter and sample values if you're not taking advantage of the 1.1 update's ability to use a USB keyboard.

But all in all, there's not much to describe here as everything is pretty straightforward.

[Anderton]

Let's look at the Keybank DSP options, along with audio examples so you can hear some of these options in action.

 

Copy, Delete, and Move work as expected - copy a waveform elsewhere, move it instead of copy, or delete. Normalize is also self-explanatory, but note you don't have to normalize to full scale; you can set a percentage from 1% to 800%. Say what?!? Shouldn't 100% be the maximum? Well you certainly can set that as the maximum, but you can "overnormalize" to create deliberate distortion, or to add hard clipping - a simple, effective way to get a "louder" sound if a few transients are taking up lots of headroom.

 

The first audio example plays the original loop for comparison. Time Stretch changes tempo/duration without changing pitch, from 25% to 400%, and there are 9 algorithms (four that optimize sound quality, four that optimize rhythmic feel, and one that provides a compromise between the two). Don't expect miracles: When slowing down a drum beat as in the second audio example (which is extended to 120% of its original duration), you'll hear flamming although when speeding up, you can get better results, as you'll hear in the third audio example (this uses time-stretching to shorten the length to 90% of the original tempo). FYI, it's a common phenomenon that stretching works better when speeding up compared to slowing down.

 

Basically, if you've ever loaded a sample into Acid or Sonar and told it to become "acidized," you'll get the same kind of results here - without the ability to edit "acidization markers" to tweak sound quality.

 

I was put off at first that there didn't seem to be an undo function. Pilot error; there's an Apply button that lets you apply the effect to the waveform, but it's not permanent until you want it to be. Hitting Apply again serves the same function as undo.

 

Convert pitch changes pitch without changing tempo. The fourth audio example plays back the original file at -12 semitones, then +12 semitones, then +4 semitones. Flamming is at a minimum, and the effect is really pretty cool for many types of sounds.

 

The Fadein/Fadeout option is not only good for fades, but with very short values, for getting rid of clicks at the beginning or end of truncated waveforms.

 

Another option, Half Sampling Frequency, does just that - good for lo-fi sounds. However, you may have to apply it multiple times with 44.1kHz waveforms to really get a suitably grungy sound.

 

Stereo-to-Mono converts stereo files to mono ones.

 

Loop Remix is really interesting - it slices and randomizes loops, with your choice of several algorithms and even some reverse functions. Note that if you undo it and try again, you'll get different results. The fifth audio example strings together several variations.

[Anderton]

The final KeyBank option, Slice, brings REX file-type thinking into the XS. It's applicable to rhythmic loops with defined transients, such as a drum loop but can also work with rhythm guitar stabs, bass, etc. Basically, you set up particular criteria of how you want the sample sliced (e.g., note length with subdivisions) and the XS maps the notes across the keyboard, starting at a specified key. As a result, you can play each slice in whatever way you want by hitting various keys.

Interestingly, if you call up the Slice job from the Song/Pattern mode, then the XS creates a corresponding sequence that triggers the slices so they play back in order, thus reproducing the original sound. However, you can of course also modify this sequence to produce more unusual results. (Note that there's also a sample record mode that allows creating a sliced file with a sequence.)

My one gripe is that I wish you could move the slice markers around, the same way you can move loop start, loop end, and sample start points. With files where notes fall right on the beat (or a subdivision thereof), everything works as expected. However, if a note hits a bit early, the slice doesn't seem to "know" this, and might start in the middle of a transient.

[asynchro_nous]

Still waiting for a Yamaha rep to clarify whether someone with an Intel Mac would benefit much from an XS with the mLAN expansion.....

 

Thank you!

[asynchro_nous]

To clarify: are all of the kinks worked out regarding UB compatibility for new Macs?