Heylo all!
Does anyone know the reason behind the Rack XS only being able to hold one Multi Bank of 128 as opposed to all three banks of 384?  Seems like it would’ve been a simple memory solution since the Multis are just parameters of the sound set.
Any thoughts or solutions to get around this?

Thanks!

Re: Motif Rack XS:  Mislead?

To be clear the equivalent to a Multi in the keyboard is called a “MIXING” program. A Multi or Mixing program is a multi-timbral/multi-MIDI channel setup for use with a sequencer (internal or external).

There are 128 MIXING Programs in the Keyboard:
64 in SONG MIXIING
64 in PATTERN MIXING

What the the keyboard has is 3 banks of 128 PERFORMANCES. A PERFORMANCE is a combination of up to four Voices used to record directly to the Motif XS sequencer… with up to four simultaneous arpeggiators… The keyboard features direct Performane Record - which allows you to transfer a Performance’s four PARTS to the internal sequencer in one pass.

The Motif Rack XS has 128 Multis. But it has no internal sequencer. Multis are designed to be used with an external sequencer.

You can with the EDITOR load any of the 384 PERFORMANCES that come with the Motif XS keyboard. What the Motif-Rack XS does is load the PERFORMANCE setup data to a MULTI location - addressing the first four PARTS on the Basic Receive Channel (as set in Voice mode). But you cannot have all 384 PERFORMANCE in memory on the Motif-Rack XS. You bulk them as necessary from the Editor.

But the 128 MULTI locations for your multi-timbral/Multi MIDI channel setups are exactly the same as in the keyboard. MULTI = MIXING

128 Multis = 64 Song Mixing + 64 Pattern Mixing programs.

Sorry about your confusion. But there are many differences between the keyboard synth and rack (other than no keys).

A Multi is less than 3K of data and you can bulk dump a Multi setup: HOLD [UTILITY] + [STORE]. This can be stored in an external device (like a sequencer)
Multi setups can be bulked back to the Motif-Rack XS, so depending on your requirements, you can tag the 3K onto the front of any sequence. If you use all 128 locations you can simply send in Multis as necessary. Or simply reload during a break _ you cannot use all 128 locations in every set. (Maybe you can...) anyway hope that helps.

Re: Motif Rack XS

Thanks!
I appreciate you taking the time to respond and being so thorough.
I do understand most of the differences including the lack of sequencer, vocoder, and sampler.
However, I suppose there is quite a bit more that I am still ignorant of.

I do understand that the Rack XS can have up to 16 parts per Multi (via 16 channels).  Am I on the right track?

It might be obvious that I haven’t explored to too far other than just the plug and play aspect.  I have gotten the editor running and did understand about the 2 other banks being made available.  Now I just need to figure out which ones I like and which ones I dislike the most so that I can substitute.  What i should do is take advantage of the great software and just start making my own haha.

I have explored some of the manual for the other things I had to figure out. 

I suppose I have a couple more silly questions.  I’ll just ask one for now that comes to mind =)
I’ve had experience with keyboards and MIDI for quite some time (ie simple modules and computer software), however, nothing as versatile as this.
I noticed that all the parts of the Multis wouldn’t play when I first got started.  I navigated my way through the menu and found the “Layer 1-4 Parts” and turned this option on.  From what I understand this is simply telling the unit to control the 4 parts from one channel.  What I’ve noticed from this is that when I use pitch bend during a Multi - it bends all the parts.  I assume this happens naturally because the 4 parts are all being triggered by the same channel?  If my controller can only send one channel at a time, is there a better resolution for this?  Sorry if that’s a dumb question.

Thanks!

Re: Motif Rack XS

You can turn Pitch Bend Off for the PARTS you do not want to respond to that controller.

This can be done either in the EDITOR or from the front panel

From the EDITOR
Set up for MULTI play
Click on the Title area next to G (Global) to open the PERFORMANCE data. If you are ONLINE when you do the data for the selected PERFORMANCE will appear and sound in the Motif-Rack XS.

You can Edit each PART 1-4 in turn - click on the PART 1
Click on the EDIT overlay (it will move to the left)
And select RCV/CONTROL SET option in the PART COMMON area
Unmark the Pitch Bend button for each PART you do not want to respond to PB
Click on EDIT on the main menu bar
Select STORE MIXING

http://files.keyfax.com/forums/user-files/409419-Performance.JPG

On the Front Panel
Press [EDIT]
Select PART [1]
Press [ENTER]
Select Rcv Sw (Receive Switch)
Press [ENTER]
Cursor down to Pitch Bend
Set to OFF using the Rotary Encoder
Press the Righ t cursor [>] to select Part 2 (P2)
set to OFF for each PART in turn that you do not want to respond to the PB Wheel.

[STORE] Your MULTI

Re: Motif Rack XS

Thanks so much!
I suppose I was originally looking for a global master option (ie always bend part 4 only).

However, once I got your response and started scrolling through, I realized there weren’t too terribly many that I wanted to change options for.  So doing this per voice worked out great!

Thanks once again!