Welcome to Blake’s room at Clinicians Corner on Motifator.com! In the next few months I’ll post some more things up here that you might find useful in the realization of your music, so keep checking back here for more tips and tricks for the Motif. In this first installment I’ll show you how to take those 128 built in drum patterns (You did know that you have 128 preset drum patterns in the Motif Pattern Mode, right?) and figure out ways to get the most of mileage out of them without ever sequencing a note. And you might find this document useful in mixing up your own user phrases as well and to create even more variations. So sit back, turn on your Motif and let’s get started!
NOTE: This tutorial assumes that you have some basic operation skills working within the MOTIF Pattern mode such as selecting Patterns, Sections, and Tracks. If you need to review this, please look over page 215-220 in the MOTIF reference manual).
NOTE: Conventions used in this document: When discussing a specific button to be pushed, buttons will be listed with brackets around the button name like this: [EDIT]. Sub menus beneath main menus will be listed like a hierarchical file system on a computer like this:
[UTILITY]/[F1]:GENERAL/[SF2]:KBD.
The above instruction tells you to press the [UTILITY] button, then press [F1], which corresponds to the “GENERAL” tab in the LCD display, and then press [SF2], which corresponds to the “KBD” or keyboard settings in the LCD display.
One of the very powerful functions that appear in several Yamaha sequencers, workstations, and music production studios is the Pattern Phrase “Patch” function. If you have used products like that QY100, QY700, RM1x, and the RS7000 you may be already familiar with the concept. This document outlines this feature and gives a step-by-step approach to creating very cool drum patterns using just the built in phrases in the MOTIF via the “Patch” function and with Note Limits within the powerful MIX mode.
Before beginning, let’s briefly talk about the entity called the Pattern Mode. Essentially, the working area is called a Pattern Style. This is a musical composition broken up into 16 individual Sections labeled A through P – a Section corresponds to an Intro, a Verse, a Chorus, an Interlude – they are user definable and configurable. Each of these musical sections contains up to 16 Tracks. A Track is therefore divided into 16 pieces – one per musical Section. These pieces are called the PHRASE. The Phrase can be manipulated and a lot of the magic happens in the Phrase. Each of these Phrases can be anywhere from 1 measure to 256 measures long.
At the very bottom of the hierarchy—inside the track—is the Phrase. A phrase is a musical gesture—a, (excuse the pun), “motif”—that an entire piece of music can be created around. Every time you record on a Track, inside of a Section, inside of a Pattern Style, you automatically create a User Phrase. The Motif will automatically number each one with the lowest available number from 1-256. In addition to the 256 possible user phrases, you have 128 preset drum phrases within MOTIF that you can use to create new patterns[1] . Phrases can now not only be traditional MIDI phrases, they can also trigger audio sample loops and sliced audio clips. The data in a track’s phrase is always MIDI data – whether it is a traditional musical phrase or it is MIDI notes that trigger audio samples. PATCH here is used as a verb (an action). You ‘patch’ Phrases together to make a Section. Phrases are either user recordings or they are preset. However, for the purposes of this document, we will focus on using the preset Phrases only, because you can do a remarkable amount using them alone.
Tutorial #1: Using the Preset Drum Phrases to Make Some Cool Beats
Sometimes you just need the inspiration of a decent drum groove to get you started, and MOTIF provides 128 ‘suggestions’ right out of the box. Let’s create a basic three Section Pattern using some preset Phrases:
First, enter the Pattern mode by pressing the [PATTERN] button and select Pattern Style 01. (If you have loaded the demo files into the machine you may have to delete this pattern by pressing [JOB]/[F6]:Pattern, then select Job #04:Clear Pattern. Make sure that you clear out all of the sections within the pattern (Style: 01, Section: all). After you have done this, press the [PATTERN] button again to take you back to the main Pattern mode screen.
Press [F4]: PATCH to enter the Pattern Patch screen. Make sure the [TRACK SELECT] button is in the “ON” position (button illuminated) so you can select tracks with buttons 1-16. Select track 1.
You should now see track 1 selected in the screen. Press the [INC/YES] button or move the Data Wheel 1 click to the right. You should now see “pre: 001” appear in track 1 and at the top of the screen it should say: “001 [FlipHop1] 4/4 M004.”
What this means is that you have successfully “patched” the preset drum Phrase number 1, “FlipHop1”, into track 1, and “FlipHop1” is in 4/4 time and is 4 measures long (hence the “M004”). The upper right corner of the PATCH screen will always tell you the TIME SIGNATURE and LENGTH of the currently selected Phrase. Press [PLAY] on the sequencer transport and listen to this Phrase.Now let’s select another Phrase.In order to do this you must use the right cursor arrow and move the cursor so it is highlighting the phrase number “001”. As above, use the [INC/YES] button or the Data Wheel and select preset Phrase 017.It should now say “017[i-hop_ _1] 4/4 M004” (the first phrase in the “intelligent hip-hop” category.
Press [PLAY] and check this Phrase out (If 120 bpm is too fast for you, press [F1]:PLAY to return to the main Pattern screen, and highlight the tempo indicator in the middle of the display and adjust it using the [DEC/NO] button or the Data Wheel) [2] . Press the [SECTION] button, located all the way to the right on the front panel (if it is not already selected) and select section B. As above, make sure track 1 is selected and “patch” preset Phrase 018 (018[I-Hop_ _2] 4/4M004).This is the “main groove” of the intelligent hip-hop style.
Now select section C, track 1 and patch preset phrase 019.
You have created a three Section Pattern Style, A-B-C using three of the preset drum patterns in MOTIF. From this point you could select track 2, go to MIXING mode and select any one of the slamming bass sounds in MOTIF, hit record, play in a killer bass line, go to track 3, put in a nice keyboard thing, and so on… MOTIF provided you with a decent drum groove to get you started.
Tutorial #2: Using “Note Limits” via the MIX Mode to Isolate Specific Drum Parts of Preset Phrases—Thus Making Even Cooler Beats…
Now let’s really get into some very powerful features within the MOTIF Pattern Patch area. One of the cool things you can do with all these 128 drum grooves is mix-and-match different drum parts with others. Let’s say you really like just the kick drum groove in pattern 018[i-hop_ _2], just the hi-hat groove in 027[R&BSmth3] and just the snare drum groove in 083[MondoRk3]. Is there a way to just grab those components and put them together? YES! You can do it using “Note Limits”. Here’s how:
First, select Section B—this was the section that we already patched 018[i-hop_ _2]. Now select track 2 and patch in 027[R&BSmth3], then track 3 and patch in phrase 083[MondoRk3]. Press play and it will sound like three different drummers playing three different styles on three different kits (surprised?). It should look something like this:
Now we need to filter out the elements we don’t want from each of the three grooves. The best way to do this is to first mute tracks 2 and 3 by pressing the mute button and selecting track 2 and 3. Press [PLAY] to make sure that the only track you are hearing is track 1 (there should be an inverse M next to tracks 2 and 3 in the screen to show you that they are indeed muted).
You can determine what drums are playing from what keys by viewing the EVENT LIST. To do this you press the [EDIT] button from a PATTERN mode screen. Press [EDIT] with track 1 highlighted to view the different MIDI events:
You can use the down cursor arrow to move through and hear the different events. Here is the first event translated into regular language:
001:1:000 = Measure 001: Beat 1: Clock 000
C1 = MIDI NOTE C1 (kick drum)
000:162 = GATE or duration 162 clock ticks
094 = VELO or velocity and a graphic for same
From this we can determine that C1 is the kick drum on track 1.
Now press [MIXING]/[EDIT], track 1 is selected.[3] You are now looking at the Mix mode edit page and all the parameters you can edit for Part 01 of your mix. Press [F1]:VOICE/ [SF3]:LIMIT to view playback Limits. It should look like this:
What we need to do is isolate the NOTE region that the kick, snare and hi hats are using in each of the three phrases.First let’s get the kick drum isolated in PART 01.(This is associated with the track where Phrase 018[i-hop_ _2] currently exists)[4] . If the Pattern is not currently playing—with the other tracks muted and only track 1 active—go ahead and start the playback again. Using the cursor arrows, cursor over to “G8” under PART 01, the “NoteLimitH” or “note limit high” row, highlighting it. Now, press and hold the [INFORMATION] button (associated with “KBD” or “keyboard” in the display) and press the keyboard note, C1. You have now set the highest note to be C1.Now cursor down one row, highlighting “C –2” in the NoteLimitL or “note limit low” row. Now press and hold the [INFORMATION] button and press the keyboard note again, C1. You have now set the lowest note to be C1 and have isolated JUST the kick drum of preset Phrase 018[i-hop_ _2]. The display should now look like this (the NoteLimitH and NoteLimitL rows under PART 01 are set to C1:
Now do a similar thing for PART 02. First cursor over to the “G8” in “NoteLimitH” row of the PART 02 column, press and hold the [INFORMATION] button and select A#1 (a.k.a. Bb1) on the keyboard[5] . Next cursor-down to the “NoteLimitL” row of PART 02 and set the low note limit to “F#1”. Now you have defined the limits of PART 02 to the region between F#1 and A#1, or the hi-hat cymbals area. The display should now look like this:
Lastly, let’s get the snare isolated for PART 03. Navigate to the “NoteLimitH” row of PART 04, change the high note limit of PART 03 to “E1” and the low note limit also to “E1”. You have now isolated just the snare drum of PART 03 and the display should look like this…
STORE your MIX Press [STORE]/ [ENTER]/ [INC/YES] to store the MIX settings we have made. Now return to the main PATTERN screen by pressing PATTERN and un-mute the tracks. The playback should be the kick drum from the Phrase in track 1, the hi-hats from the Phrase in track 2, and the snare drum from the Phrase in track 3, all note limited via the Parts of the MIX applied to Pattern Style 01.
Tutorial #3: Changing Voices, Editing Filter Settings, and Changing Effect Send Levels, Once Again Creating an EVEN COOLER beat.
The final tutorial in our preset Phrase lesson is about doing some final tweaks to the actual drum tones in our new groove. The first thing that is great to do is change the actual drum kit being used in each Part. First, we need to go back to pattern mode and override the embedded program change that is included in each drum phrase[6] : Press the [PATTERN] mode button to go back to pattern mode press [F5]:TR VCE or “Track Voice” You should see a screen that says PHRASE VOICE all the way to the left, each of the 16 tracks of the sequencer moving along the top and below each of the 16 tracks should be the word “On”:
Cursor to the PHRASE VOICE column under track 1 and highlight the word “On”. Use the [DEC/NO] button or the DATA WHEEL and change it to the word “Off”. Do this for each of the three tracks so they now look like this:
Now we can change the voice associated with the preset Phrases. The Voice that we select in the MIXER will apply to all Sections for the selected track. We can use whatever we want. TRACK VOICE and PHRASE VOICE are important concepts to understand. When this parameter is set to ON (Phrase Voice applies) each Phrase can recall a different sound without having to use an actual MIDI event in the data list. (Each Section could have a different drum kit, for example.) It is embedded in the Phrase header - a quicker way to recall it. When the parameter is set to OFF (Track Voice applies) each Track will recall the setting on the MIXER. (The Voice you select in the Mixer will apply for all Sections).
Let’s go back to the mix edit mode by pressing [MIXING]/[EDIT]. Press [F1]:VOICE/ [SF1]: VOICE and select track 1. The drum kit associated with PART 01 is from the Preset Drum bank [PDR] and it is voice number A06, and the kit name is “Dr:Hip Hop1”. PART 02 uses the same voice and PART 03 uses the PDR A03, “Dr:RockSt1”.Select PART 01. Now it should look something like this:
(With PART 01 selected)
Using the cursor down key, move down one click. You are highlighting the drum Voice number 006.
Using the data dial or the [INC/YES] button, select number 038, PDR:038[Dr: Wacko Kit]. Now your kick drum has become a metallic clanging sound.
Move the cursor to the right, highlighting program number 006 under PART 02, and use the data dial or [INC/YES] button and select 023, PDR:023 [Dr: Human Kit]. Your hi-hats have become some guy we sampled, going “tss, tss, tss”. Effectively mimicking a hi-hat (You should check this kit out—all the drums in the lower part of the keyboard were done by a guy mimicking kick drums, snare drums, toms, etc…hence the voice name “Human Kit”).
Move the cursor to the right again, highlighting program 003 under PART 03 and, using the data dial or the [INC/YES] button, change this to 028, PDR:028[Dr:Hip Hop3]. You have now changed the 80s metal drum kit to a hip-hop snare drum. Once your done it should look like this:
f you haven’t been listening to this in real time, hit [PLAY] on the sequencer transport and listen to your edits. Nice! Now let’s mess with the filter of each voice.
From the screen you are in (the one above), press [F4]:TONE/ [SF2]:FILTER. You should now see a screen that looks like this:
To change the filter settings of each part, you could use the cursor arrows and cursor to each area, using the data dial or the [DEC/NO], [INC/YES] buttons to change the values…
…or you could look to your left, press the [KNOB CONTROL FUNCTION] button toggling the green lamp so it illuminates the CUTOFF, RESONANCE, ATTACK, RELEASE row of functions, select track 1 and move the CUTOFF knob and RESONANCE knob to you taste, change the sound of the kick drum.
Select tracks 2 & 3 and change the CUTOFF and RESONANCE of each part. My screen now looks like this:
…and things are sounding mighty filtered…
Now let’s change some effect send levels for each voice.
First, press [F2]:OUTPUT / [SF2]:EF SEND. You now see the effect sends of the three master effect processors: Reverb, Chorus and Variation.
As above, you could use the cursor arrow keys, Data Wheel and [DEC/NO], [INC/YES] buttons to change the values. Or you could hit the [KNOB CONTROL FUNCTION] button, toggle it to so the green light is selecting the top row of knob functions (PAN, REVERB, CHORUS and TEMPO), select the track you want to change and turn the REVERB and CHORUS knobs to what ever setting works for you.[7] Mine now looks like this:
You might notice that the level of the snare drum in PART 03 is too high now. No problem: Use CS 1, CS 2, and CS 3 (control sliders) to adjust the volume of each of the three Parts to you taste. Want to mess with the PAN control? Select the track and move the PAN knob (top row, knob 1). Hands on control: don’t you love it?
Conclusion
Now you should have a good understanding of the use of preset Phrases and what you can do with them: And you NEVER had to sequence a single note! Preset drum Phrases and the PATCH function are very power tools that can get your creative mind going, empowering you to find the right bass line, synth part, piano line, orchestra hit, etc., that will take your music to places it’s never been. Where can you go from here? Well, try resampling the entire drum groove you have just created to track 16. Check out the tutorial on Integrated Sample Sequencing (ISS) and Resampling for more information about this feature and find out just how incredibly powerful ISS can be!
[1] SIDENOTE: Did you know that phrases within tracks could be completely different lengths inside sections? You can have a section that is 16 measures long with phrases t
hat inside that are 2 measures long, 12 measures, long, 64 measures long, etc. Even though the actual section is only 16 measures long, each phrase loops its length, so a 64 measure long phrase inside of a 16 measure long section will play its entire length. You may be familiar with the term “nested loops”—that’s basically what this is, and it’s very cool. Think about it.
[2] Of course, as a power user, you can also use the [KNOB CONTROL FUNCTION] button toggle so the top green lamp on, indicating the top row of control knobs are now engaged to control [PAN], [REVERB], [CHORUS], and [TEMPO]. Then you can move the tempo knob to wherever you want it to be set…
[3] [MIXING]/[EDIT] vs. [PATTERN]/[EDIT]. Mixing Edit lets you view your PARTS (the sounds). Pattern Edit lets you view your Events (the MIDI data).
[4] Just a quick side note about MOTIF naming conventions: Some people may notice that we are now using the word PART now that we are working in mix mode instead of the word TRACK. There is a good reason for this. Think of Pattern Mode as the recording studio. This is where your recording occurs and the recorded data exists, and that data lives in a TRACK. Mix mode is your mixdown room and it’s where you tweak the sound to get your pattern to sound just right. So a Track is the area where data is stored; a Part is where sound is adjusted. Check out page 232 of the MOTIF reference manual for more information about this.
[5] If you prefer, you can also use the data dial and the [DEC/NO], [INC/YES] buttons and move downward until the display reads “A#1”.
[6] You may ask yourself, “Why do I need to do this?” Well, each preset phrase has a embedded program change associated with it so you are assured that the correct (original) drum kit is assigned to the drum phrase, but that can be changed if you wish. You wouldn’t want a piano to play the drum part, would you? Well, if your music does call for that, the next section tells you how to accomplish it…
[7] If you say to yourself, “Hey, I just turned the chorus knob and nothing happened”, it is not your keyboard. You have to exceed the setting of where the effect level is set. Since all the chorus settings are at 0, you have to turn the knob all the way to the left to catch it at the 0 point, then turn it up. Works just like many different automated mixing consoles, computer control surfaces, etc. |
