Hi,

I’ve recently picked up a Motif ES7 and had a few quick questions I was hoping the folks here would answer.

1) I’d like to upgrade the organ sounds on the keyboard. After checking out the various options at the MotifMart, it sounds to me like the Organ Session library is the “best” sounding one. (I know that it’s subjective and all. This is just my opinion based on the posted mp3’s.) I’m curious to hear what others think though. Any suggestions or experiences to share?

2) I notice that Organ Session needs additional RAM to load 120 MB of samples. If I install memory in the ES, will it slow down the keyboards boot time? Does it load the sounds into memory on startup, or only when I select those patches? Does the size of the RAM affect the boot time, or only the size of the samples?

3) I’m also curious about the K-Sounds pianos. How much memry do they need? The MotifMart page doesn’t say.

4)Can anyone recommend good and cheap RAM vendors?

5) In going through the Rhodes patches, there seem to be few “darker” timbered ones. What are people using for those kids of Rhodes sounds? (For reference, I used to use the Rhodes Mark V on the Roland “Keyboard’s of the ‘60’s and ‘70’s a lot.)

I’ve tried searching the forum, but don’t seem to be getting relevant hits easily.

Thanks for your assistance.

Re: New to Motif ES - Have some Quick Questions

1) Use your ears, not mine: it’s you who’s gonna use those sounds.
2) Certainly NOT.
3) I’d install 512Mb or 1Gb; think of the future.
4) Don’t, buy quality memory, it’s cheap and lasts long.
5) And by changing a few settings you can even tweak your own flavours.
It depends on the kind of music you like / want to make.

Sorry, it’s all very personal.

;JOOP!

Re: New to Motif ES - Have some Quick Questions

P.S.:

0) Welcome to the club.

6) If you want to keep a lot of sounds on line, you should not only
backup (to USB) but also consider autoload of your favourite
settings.
That’s tricky: an SMC load of max. 120Mb is 2ce as fast as USB
on the ES, but above you got to load from USB stick.
That means: switch on, take a shower, have breakfast, ... play.

;JOOP!

Re: New to Motif ES - Have some Quick Questions

Just a few additions to Joop’s responses:

2) I notice that Organ Session needs additional RAM to load 120 MB of samples. If I install memory in the ES, will it slow down the keyboards boot time? Does it load the sounds into memory on startup, or only when I select those patches? Does the size of the RAM affect the boot time, or only the size of the samples?

By default, the Motif ES does not automatically load user samples into the instrument. You must tell the instrument to load these samples - either manually (using the [FILE]->[F3] LOAD command) or automatically (by saving your all of your user data to an ALL file - named AUTOLOAD - for more information, see this thread ). Note: unlike some other synths, the Motif ES must have loaded any samples it will use into its internal memory prior to use… you can’t just select the voice and have its associated samples loaded from an external memory device, you must manually load it first.

The size of the RAM installed in your Motif ES should not significantly impact the boot time of the instrument. (Actually, the ES does a very rudimentary memory check on power up, but even the largest supported RAM - 1 GB - adds just a few seconds to the boot-up time.)

3) I’m also curious about the K-Sounds pianos. How much memry do they need? The MotifMart page doesn’t say.

See this thread .

(By the way, I do concur with Joop that purchasing 512 MB or 1 GB of sample RAM is probably wise… the price of sample RAM is pretty low and buying the maximum you are likely to need now, saves you having to throw away the smaller RAM when you by a larger capacity later - the ES has just two DIMM slots and you must install two modules of the same size, so you can’t install 256MB now and then add another 256MB later - to get 512MB you must remove the 256MB and install 512MB.)

Hope this helps.

Regards,

Brad Weber

Re: New to Motif ES - Have some Quick Questions

I stand corrected; Brad’s answer is far better.

;JOOP!

Re: New to Motif ES - Have some Quick Questions

Thanks for the help.

One point is still unclear. That is, how long does loading the files into RAM add to boot-up. Or am I misunderstanding and that’s what you mean by “rudimentary memory check?”

The reason I ask is because I’ve had the occasional situation where the power gets unplugged during a set, and I’d like to keep the restart time as short as possible. Obviously, I hope this never happens, but in a club date setting, I’m not always in control of the variables.

So, if I’m going to add another half minute, for example, to the boot-up, but could get acceptable organs w/o using sample RAM, then that’d be my preference for certain gigs.

Re: New to Motif ES - Have some Quick Questions

Booting from an SMC with max. 120Mb would load in acceptable time.
The moment you need more and start loading from an USB stick the boot time suddenly more than doubles.

May be a small UPS (power supply) would overcome accidental power outs.

;JOOP!

Re: New to Motif ES - Have some Quick Questions

OK, so then this is more complicated that I’d thought it’d be. It sounds like if I bought “Organ Sessions”, then I’d need to also buy RAM, a Smart Card, and a Smart Card reader. And, if I also wanted to use the K-Station piano, since the Organs are already 120MB, I’d need to get a USB thumb drive and the load time would be much longer every time I booted up.

In other words, there’s no way for me to load the samples into the keyboard and have them stay there. They need to be loaded each time I power up.

Thanks for bearing with me here. The ES7 is my first hardware sampler, so all of this is new to me.

Re: New to Motif ES - Have some Quick Questions

Indeed, if you want it all and at once ........
But, before this there was the Motif, without USB and with only 64Mb of memory max.
After this is the XS with high speed connections and 1Gb of memory max.

And after the XS ................ first wear this ES down.

;JOOP!

Re: New to Motif ES - Have some Quick Questions

Just as a pointer, I use the k-sounds piano 2, which is around 150Mb. Using USB, it takes 9 minutes to load.

Peter

Re: New to Motif ES - Have some Quick Questions

Thanks for the info, Peter. That rules out that piano for me. At many of the weddings I often play, I don’t have that kind of time to break down from the pre-ceremony cocktails, move the keyboard and amp to the sanctuary, get set-up, and then wait 9 more minutes for the piano to load before I start playing.

I have Ivory and a Kurzweil PC3X, so I have other options for my project studio and those gigs where I need a better/different piano

Since I’m thinking of these enhancements primarily for use in those casual/one-off club date situations, I’ll take a pass on this.

Can anyone tell me how long it will the “Organ Sessions” take to load from Smart Card? Based on what was written above, my impression is that it’d be half as long as from USB, so I’d guesstimate 4 minutes for the 120 MB. Is this correct? It’d be helpful to know before buying all of the accessories/programs and then finding out that they’re not going to work for me due to too long (for me) load times.

Re: New to Motif ES - Have some Quick Questions

If you read on Motif ES section Creating User Libraries (with external samples) without duplicate waveforms you can have an auto load like mine including KSounds 2 150 mb, some samples from the Motif’s cd, 80 Pop Rock , B knees, Stage & Studio, Vintage Keys within 3 minutes or 3 and a half minutes. Is a really good article to read and do it, and have things organized.