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BIG IMPORTANT NOTES:
- This is an ALL FILE. Remember to back up any user data before installing this since this will change your user voices. BACK UP ANY DATA YOU HAVE IN YOUR MACHINE FIRST before loading this file.
- YOU WILL NEED at least 8 megabytes of RAM (installed in identical pairs) installed in your Motif ES to play back this file! If you haven’t bought RAM yet, GO NOW AND GET SOME, and I recommend getting as much as you can afford (2 512 megabyte DIMMS, the most you can add to the Motif ES, is running about $50 per stick as of this writing in Autumn 2005). If you buy some RAM, you will not only be able to playback this file, you will also be able to enter the world of Integrated Sample Sequencing, and you will be a much happier person in the long run. Now, on with the description of what this file is all about:
From the 1940s through the 1950s jazz musicians often chose common song forms based on jazz standards to create new melodies around. One of those standards that became very popular to improvise over was the popular chord changes to the George Gershwin song, “I Got Rhythm” (commonly called “rhythm changes” in jazz parlance). This 32 measure song form is “AABA”, where each A section is 8 measures long and essentially based on the same set of “I-vi-ii-V-I” chord changes, and B is 8 measures long and essentially based on a “circle of fifths” progression starting on the D7 chord. This song form became the spring board for some of the most inspired improvised solos in the history of jazz (Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Bud Powell, Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, and John Coltrane are just a few of the jazz greats who recorded amazing solos over rhythm changes) and continues to be used over and over again by jazz artists today. In addition, it is a fundamental study that students of jazz use to hone their improvisatory skills: As “kata” and “poomse” are to the martial artist, so are rhythm changes to the jazz musician. In my ongoing effort to provide the world with more acoustic jazz patterns for the Motif ES, I offer you “RhythmIGot”, a pattern based on rhythm changes along.
There is a single pattern (RhythmIGot) with 11 sections that feature the basic rhythm section tracks. The first 8 sections (A-I) are all 32 measures long. Sections K and L are used as an intro and an ending, Section J is used for “trading 8s” with the drummer (32 measures), and Section J is a 32 measure form designed to be used as a final chorus after Section I. I placed the following voices on the tracks of the pattern with the majority of playback data on rhythm section tracks 1, 2, 3, 9 and 10:
Track 1: Acoustic Piano (PRE1:001 Ap:Full Grand)
Track 2: Acoustic Bass (PRE2:086 Ba:Mega Acous)
Track 3: Guitar (MV:003 Gt: RhythmGtr!)—special mix voice for this pattern.
Track 4: Soprano Sax (PRE3:109 Rp:Soprano)
Track 5: Flugelhorn (PRE3:063 Br:JazyFlugel)
Track 6: Tenor Sax (PRE3:114 Rp:TenorSax1)
Track 7: Trombone (PRE3:064 Br:Trombone
Track 8: Harmon Muted Trumpet (PRE3: Br:Legend)
Track 9: Brush Drum Kit: (UDR: 001 Dr:BrushStKit)
Track 10: Drum 2 (PDR: 002 DryStandard)
Check out the Pattern Chain I created that utilizes all of these sections. Press F8 [CHAIN]. This is how I like to use the pattern mode: To create the basic rhythm section tracks to any song and experiment with different song versions. Then, in the song mode, I create the actual linear song with melodies, solos, and other finishing touches.
In addition to this, I created a song (GotIRhythm) complete with the intro, melody, solos, a chorus of trades with the drummer, melody out and ending. This was created by taking the Pattern Chain and using the “Convert to Song” Edit Function (From Pattern Chain, press [EDIT], then F3 [SONG]. Pressing ENTER will take the pattern chain and convert it to a linear song file). If you look at the MIX for this song and press F2 [VOICE], you’ll notice that there are several voices with the “MV” designation in the voice bank area. These are custom voices I created specifically for the song by pressing F5 [VCE ED] (voice edit) and changed things like effects settings and filter settings. This is one of the cooler aspects of the Motif ES sequencer: You can customize voices to the song you are creating, which to me is essential in getting the best sound for your music. All these sounds get saved with the song.
As you can see, I decided to upload an ALL file for a good reason. This Pattern, and the song I created from the pattern, features a drum kit found on the Sound Library disk that ships with the Motif ES manual (see image below):
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This disk is among the coolest things you get with the Motif ES! If you set this aside when you got yours, FIND IT and explore…see below… |
Since this file loads data into the sample RAM, features a Pattern and a Song file and has a few custom voices loaded as well, it makes it much easier to load a single file than a Pattern File, A Song File, and, since there are some custom voices, a Voice File. There are times when the ALL FILE is a good choice, and this is one of those times.
When you load in the disk and view the contents it looks like this:
 <-- htm docs that list the patterns, voices and wavs in those folders |
| ^ Midi files of the factory demo songs that came with the ES |
^ A few extra pattern files to check out. |
^The all important Extra Voices file and where I got the brush kit for this song |
^ Extra WAV file loops that are very cool and really a blast to use in the pattern mode with ISS and Slice+Seq…probably a future clinicians corner for me on this alone |
As you can see there are LOTS of cool things in here: Extra MIDI files, Pattern Files, Voice Files and WAV files. Selecting the VOICELST.htm file allows you to see the listing of all the names of the extra voices. Check it out:
Here is the Brush Kit Drum sound I used. Note that it has the “*include preset waveform” tag. The Brush Kit is a little over 5 megs in size because it features some killer brush samples and ride cymbals played with brushes. This makes it an awesome sounding kit.
Open the File VOICEDAT and you will see the following files:
These are all additional content files for the ES. The Stereo Brush Kit is located in the “TREASURE” voice file. You can load these voices into the ES in a number of different ways:
- Purchase a USB Flash Drive or USB self powered hard drive. Connect them first to your computer’s USB port and copy the files over to that. Disconnect the drive from the computer and reconnect to the Motif ES USB “TO DEVICE” port on the back of the Motif ES. Remember that you will need both the .w7v and .w8v files to this data since one contains the voice data (.w7v) and one contains the wave data for the voices (the larger .w8v file).
- Purchase a SmartMedia card and a USB SmartMedia Card Reader (unless you computer already has a card reader installed). Connect the card reader with the card installed to your computer and copy the files you want to check out over to the SmartMedia card. Again, you will need both the .w7v and .w8v files.
- Purchase a stand alone USB CDROM drive, connect to the Motif ES USB “TO DEVICE” port and load directly from that.
Things to try:
- Use the Transpose feature to move the keys around if you want to practice this in different keys. Nothing like trying to play over rhythm changes in the key of B or F# to inspire humility in any jazz musician. Note that the drums DON’T transpose…cool.
- Create new Pattern Chains that repeat sections that you might want to play over.
- RESAMPLE small sections: Great way to create little jazz loops for other styles of music, especially if you use the turntable effect and resample at 22 kHz lofi.
Lastly, you may notice that a few of the sections in the pattern have some different chord changes (Like Section H, which does the “Circle of Fifths” thing on the first 2 A sections, and section E which has an alternate version of B section). There are many permutations to the standard version of rhythm changes…If you have any questions at all about the changes used (or any questions AT ALL about any of stuff in this file or in this document), please email me directly at bangelos@yamaha.com.
Stay tuned for the blues pattern…
Blake Angelos
Product Specialist
Product Support Group
Yamaha Corporation of America |
