i’m coming back around, and decided to sell the es and get the xs, cause i know when i go to guitar center and mess with it in person I’ll be upset that i didn’t get it when I had the money… So here’s my question… are the effects studio quality? Can I process my vocals with the xs’s verbs, and delays, and have them fit into a mix with high end analogue gear? I also saw a review from namm where the gentleman said the voice processing is better than tc’s voice works. could you tell me a little about it?
Thanks in advance,
Kevin

Re: xs effects

The new VCM effects in the Motif XS are indeed studio quality.  They are the same reverbs, compressors and EQs available in the DM2000VCM which is one of our high end consoles.

Bad Mister is already working on some Power User guides about these effects and hwo they work, but you can get more information here in an interview with VCM and VL designer Toshi Kunimoto.
‘
[url=http://www.yamahaproaudio.com/topics/engineer_interviews/2004/addon_effects.html]http://www.yamahaproaudio.com/topics/engineer_interviews/2004/addon_effects.html [/url]

Re: xs effects

I can say with absolute certainty that the new VCM effects are indeed “studio quality” effects.

Those of us who contribute to factory voices for Yamaha products had the opportunity to obtain these effects as separate VST effects which we can use for computer audio apps. So for example, I can open up BIAS Peak on my Mac and insert one of the Yamaha VCM effects as a plug-in insert.

The Yamaha effects are as high quality, or higher quality, as anything else in my library of effects plug-ins (I have Waves, Metric Halo, Blue Tubes, Izotope, mda, Wizooverb, Focusrite Liquid Mix and of course Peak’s own proprietary plugs). While all plug-ins exhibit a certain “flavor”, I wouldn’t hesitate to use the Yamaha effects in mastering or sound design and indeed I have done so.

It’s not just the VCM effects that are outstanding. Delays, choruses, flangers, phasers, and lo-fi effects are all great. Yamaha has been a leader in DSP processing since the early 80’s.

Re: xs effects

Not to get too off-topic, but I have been searching in vain for a D5000 after reading such glowing reviews on-line (especially Bob Clearmountain’s). Does anyone know if those delay effects are amongst the ones modeled in the XS?

Re: xs effects

No. Not specifically by VCM. The VCM (Virtual Component Modeling) is going after classic analog gear. The Yamaha D5000 was a totally digital device that used high resolution bit conversion technology ... In effect (pun intended) all Yamaha digital delays since then, including the ones you found in the original Motif, Motif ES and of course the new XS are based on the lineage of the D5000 which came out around the same time as the VL (1993 or 1994)

The D5000 was one of those processors that those who knew would measure all other delays/reverbs (multi-effects) by, it had the right stuff. It once again proves that Yamaha is a big name in studio (professional) effect processing. The current crop of delays and reverbs from Yamaha are based on the legendary D5000… the SPX2000 for example, who’s REV-X technology is found in the XS.  So you when you crank up the ‘regular’ delays and reverbs in the Motif XS you are hearing an even better (in terms of bit conversion resolution) version of the D5000… . Please do not overlook the “regular” effects in the Motif-series, they are very serious as well.

Re: xs effects

In regards to the voice processing. I also recall someone were saying it’s as good as the TC voice works.  If so.. that’s very impressive. Can it do harmony and male/female backup vocals? If that is possible, can I put my SM58 into the XS and out to the PA?

I love to know how this will work.

Re: xs effects

I’ve also heard from somewhere that the XS vocal processor is as good or if not better then the TC voice works. I guess that’s subjective, but can we have more details on this feature?

Can it do harmony, male/female backup vocals?

If you can use that live, is there a way to plug my SM58 into the keyboard and back to the mixer for the soundman? I really dunno how to do that, unless the XS can assign a channel output just for the mic.

Or does anyone have any idea how one can deal with that?

TC Voiceworks comparison

Anyone?

Re: TC Voiceworks comparison

Blows it away. I think Yamaha has always been underrated in the department of vocal processing; perhaps because they’ve never gone and put a fancy trademark name on it like TC Electronic/Helicon and Roland have done. Yamaha’s vocal processing sounds more natural, and warmer. But that of course is subjective.

Thanks, Phil, for the history on the D5000. I recently bought a TC Electronic D-Two and love itgs unique functionality, as well as a Lexicon MPX1 which has some unique effects (many of them delay based). I’m startin g to explore delay again for the first time in many years, as I think it is an overlooked effect that many bypass (pun intended) in favour of reverb or chorus (depending on their goal).

Thus the quality of the delay is one thing (and I would expect Yamaha’s to be better than the other two), but the functionality (number of parameters, routing, algorithms, etc.) is even more important in some respects. From the reviews I have read, the D5000 had some unique programming possibilities, just like the D-Two and MPX1 (not to mention the PCM 42).

Although delay is most commonly applied to guitar, tape delay and a few other types of delay can make for a nice change of pace on vocals, and there are many interesting applications to drums and especially keyboards. It is in this latter category that I am beginning to explore the possibilites more (last year, when I ran through some 1980’s vintage analog/digital hybrid gear, I found that I preferred Korg’s earlier synths that featured chorus to their later synths which replaced chorus with delay, and falsely concluded that I didn’t care much for delay effects on keyboards).

I’ll definitely check out the delay in the XS, and maybe even in my current ES Rack, and will also start looking at the depth of features for delays in current Yamaha rack-mount effects units (I have been eyeballing an SPX for my collection for some time, just because “every studio should have one").

Re: TC Voiceworks comparison

Did you know…

Did you know the “Control Delay” algorithm in the Motif-series (all of them) can be used as an emulation of a tape delay… you can do Echoplex type wild effects with it. It really comes to life when you assign Control Type = ‘scratch’ and then you assign the Delay Time parameter to a controller like the Ribbon controller.

Now by scratching your finger along the ribbon you are moving the virtual playback head (as you would move the slider on the Echoplex)… very cool! Crank up the Feedback and awayyyyyyyy youuuuuuuuuu go-goooo g-g-gooooo gooooo /forums/images/icons/smile.gif alt=

Re: TC Voiceworks comparison

Bad_Mister,
Does this work on the cs6x as well?

Re: TC Voiceworks comparison

Does this work on the cs6x as well?

Yes, absolutely.

Re: TC Voiceworks comparison

Sounds like the XS has great reverb and delay effect.

That sounds like a great tool for recording. But how’bout for live performance?

In Bert’s video, I see that he used two mics.

One for the vocoder/effect, and one for singing/speaking. For my purpose, I would just like to use one mic, can the XS provide harmony and male/female backup vocal with just using one mic and back to the main mix?


I am a bit confuse here.. thanks for all the help

Re: TC Voiceworks comparison

“Does this work on the cs6x as well?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yes, absolutely. “

Great! I’ll have to check that out asap. The cs6x is a great synth, and I definately should use it more often /forums/images/icons/laugh.gif alt=