I was looking for some help with understanding if the Motif XS7 can translate Midi info from the Alesis Trigger IO.
I currently have an elctronic drum kit running into the Alesis Trigger IO and transmitting midi data on channel 10 the the Motif XS.
Everything works fine and I get some great sounds.
The Alesis Trigger IO supports a variable Hi-Hat pedal but when I use one I do not get the benifits of the variable sounds from the Motif. If I use the Alesis Trigger IO with either the Roland or Yamaha top end drum brains I get a fully variable Hi-Hat.
The normal on/off pedal works fine, but not a variable
The on off pedal gives me.
1. Pedal held, cymbol struck = single midi data voice, hat closed
2. Pedal open, cymbol struck = single midi data voice, hat open
3. Pedal pressed = single midi data voice, hats closing.

The Motif has no problem with any of the above.
Does anyone know if the Motif can tanslate the Variable pedal midi data from the Alesis Trigger IO and translate this into a variable sound, like the Yamaha Drum Brains can?

Re: Motif XS and Alesis Trigger IO

Can you provide us with the MIDI data that is “variable”...?
What message is it - all MIDI messages have some kind of message, be it a Control Change number, or System Exclusive, etc. Record the data it sends into the sequencer and tell us what type of data it is sending. Or email Alesis support.

Re: Motif XS and Alesis Trigger IO

Thanks Bad_Mister, I think I have worked out the problem.
The Hi-Hat Variable Pedal uses a Midi Continuous controller. This signal is processed by the Alesis Trigger IO and the data is forwarded onto the Motif XS. In this form the Motif seems unable to process the Midi data.
The Motif is such a sophisicated machine that I find it hard to beleive that I can not do what I an trying to do which is to control a value in terms of sound variation for a hi-hat, which at the end of the day has an open and closed sound with varaitions in between.
The open and closed midi values are easily to set and voices can be assisgned, it is the steps in between that I do not know how to assign based on the position of the pedal or midi value being transmitted.
The BFD drum software for example includes this in the manula about variable hi-hats.

Hihat controls

These settings let you set up BFD to work with a variable
hihat pedal system such as those used in electronic
drumkits. These systems use a MIDI continuous
controller (the hihat pedal position) to represent the
position within open and closed states of the hihat pedal.
Whenever the variable tip and variable shank notes
are triggered, BFD will, depending on the Hihat pedal
position, play the relevant Hit type from those available


Hihat pedal position defi ne slider

This slider represents the travel of the hihat
pedal, oriented according to the list of ‘regular’
hihat note triggers, with open at the top and
closed at the bottom.

There are four adjustable points on this slider,
which represent the transitions between the
hihat positions, forming five ‘zones’ (for open,
3/4-open, 1/2-open, 1/4-open and closed positions). Each of these points displays a value
from 0 to 127, which corresponds to the MIDI
CC value at which the transition will occur.


You will also need to define the notes for the variable tip and variable shank Hit type.
These are assigned in the same way as any other Hit type. These are special types of
Hit: they do not represent a sound, but rather a way of triggering one of various possible
sounds depending on the position of the Hihat pedal position MIDI CC.

Mabe I have found a limitation of my Motif?
Any ideas.

Re: Motif XS and Alesis Trigger IO

Since keyboard players don’t typically plug a hihat pedal into the Motif XS on a regular basis, if one wanted to accomplish something like crossing between different samples, you might consider some different method of doing this - something more keyboard player friendly - especially when attempting to do so with a Motif XS.

The DTXtremeIII drum brain quite naturally impliments control of hihat samples differently than the Motif XS synth brain… because of who is likely to be playing it. Make sense? Should not be a surprise, really.

So take a kit like the very first one, for example, “Power Standard Kit 1”. The Closed hihat (F#1) is a four-way velocity swap and is in an ALTERNATE GROUP with the Pedal hihat (G#1) and the Open hihat (A#1)

The “Dry Standard Kit” combines a 4-way velocity Close hihat with a Pedal and a 2-way Open hihat… so velocity is the *most common* tool for a keyboard player to work the hihat when programming. You switch samples by increasing velocity.

On these closed hihats you will distinctly hear four different articulations of stick strike. The degree of soft-to-loud can be adjusted or eliminated based on what you are trying to achieve… that is programmable, very programmable. So, for example, if you want a sound triggered by a softer strike to be more promenent, you simply have to work with the Velocity Sensitivity.

If you want the tight closed tip that you hear when you strike the key softly to be heard more up front - simply adjust the VELOCITY SENS parameter to a lower positive number.

Other methods:
The Motif XS gives you access to more than 175 different Hihat samples (closed, pedal, open) struck in all manner of sticking, you can create all manner of hihat articulations, if you are so inspired. The “XA Control” (Expanded Articulation Control) and the Velocity Zone Arpeggios can be used to create extremely interesting results when constructing your own Voices (with whatever waveforms you choose).

Don’t limit your thinking to just Drum Kit Voices… while you can have 73 instruments in a Drum kit, if you use a normal VOICE to create an instrument sound - quite naturally you have more features and parameters to work with. 

For example, I’ve taken a single Open hihat sound and set it up so that I can get a ton of varieties out of it simply using the Velocity Sensitivity applied to EG TIME (Amplitude Envelope Generator Time). The harder the key is struck the shorter the envelope. With other keys set differently (on the same sample) I find I can setup virtually any kind of hihat articulations I can imagine.

Don’t limit your thinking to one key either. Since you have 61, 76 or 88 keys at your disposal and it is unlikely your “kit” would need that many different articulations, you can lay drum sounds out over several different keys - this is how most keyboards deal with different articulations - placing them horizontally (because a keyboard is what you are dealing with and the additional triggers are available). On an adjacent key I can have that same Open hihat with an entirely different response to velocity.

You must remember however, that the Motif XS is principally designed for keyboard players so concentration is on controllers that would be typical and convenient for keyboard players. This should not be surprising - the XS was designed principally as a keyboard. Drum brains like the DTXtreme offer a different set of tools because, typically, you would be approaching that tone engine with a particular set of unique triggers/controllers… (that have a different set of limitations; for example, the number of triggers...) On a MIDI keyboard you have many more triggers (and controllers) than you would on a drum kit like a DXTreme.

Hope that helps you get over your perception of “limitation”. If you imagined that it worked like a drum interface, it is not a limitation because it does not; it simply means there maybe a different way to approach what you are trying to accomplish.  It really only is limited by your own imagination…