Maybe I’m a little bit slow-witted, so please check my claims if you like, with a true/false judgment.

1) Every time I make some little thing (a voice editing, a pattern, a performance, etc.) and I want to save it, I must save all the keyboard data (except for the system).

2) I read that this is because what I made is mainly based on pointers, so for this reason all the memory content must be backed up.

3) I can load (almost) any single items from a X3A file.

4) But loading, for example, a song in the 11th position, what implies? I think that this loading loads together all the data needed by the song (if a song is mainly a set of pointers...), so… strange unwanted overwriting could happen? In memory locations where you would never expect?

5) could all of this be the reason why yesterday evening I downloaded the Inspirationcomesinaflash zip file and when I loaded it in my 512MB flash I lost all in a sudden all my songs together with the setups that I made in the USR banks?

Thank you for any answer.

No.

The reason you lost (or overwrote) your Songs and Voices is because you loaded an ALL data file. ALL means “all”. When you SAVE an ALL data file (.X3A) it saves all the data in your XF currently; including VOICES, PERFORMANCES, SONGS, PATTERNS, MASTER programs, User Arpeggios, User Samples as well as your SYSTEM/UTILITY settings.

If you load a file using the File TYPE = ALL, this file will replace all the data in your XF.

However, if you choose to load just portions of the data you can… you do so by setting the File TYPE accordingly.
File TYPE = VOICE allows you to load an individual User Voice from the file
File TYPE = PERFORMANCE allows you to load individual User Performance from the file.
File TYPE = SONG allows you to load an individual SONG from the file… etc.
If File TYPE = 1 Bank Voice, you can load 128 User Voices (an entire Bank) from the file.

The XF will do what you tell it to do.

Please see the chapter of FILES in you Reference Manual

Bad_Mister - 12 May 2011 11:38 PM

No.

The reason you lost (or overwrote) your Songs and Voices is because you loaded an ALL data file. ALL means “all”. When you SAVE an ALL data file (.X3A) it save all the data in your XF currently including VOICES, PERFORMANCES, SONGS, PATTERNS, MASTER programs, User Arpeggios, User Samples as well as your SYSTEM/UTILITY settings.

If you load a file using the File TYPE = ALL, this file will replace all the data in your XF.

However, if you choose to load just portions of the data you can… you do so by setting the File TYPE accordingly.
File TYPE = VOICE allows you to load an individual User Voice from the file
File TYPE = PERFORMANCE allows you to load individual User Performance from the file.
File TYPE = SONG allows you to load an individual SONG from the file… etc.
If File TYPE = 1 Bank Voice, you can load 128 User Voices (an entire Bank) from the file.

The XF will do what you tell it to do.

Please see the chapter of FILES in you Reference Manual

Bad-mister, thank you for your kind answer.
Because of a bad interpretation of the manual, I understood that I could load just the flash mem content alone. Nothing else. So i changed the USR to FL1 in the right most side of the loading window. This, for me, meant that only the physical memory card would have been affected. That was my fault.

So please check this scenario.
I save an All file today. Than I change everything in my Motif (I edit voices, modify waveforms, delete performances, etc.). Next year I load the song number 11 from the today’s All file saved. Everything in the Motif remains unchanged, except for the 11th song. Is this true?

That’s correct.

What loads when you load a single SONG from an ALL data file is the following:

All of the data that is recorded to the 18 MIDI tracks of that SONG: tracks 1-16, Tempo track and Scene track. As many as 16 MIXING VOICES (Voices that you created and stored locally within this SONG). The MIXING setup - which memorizes all tone generator settings including the 16 VOICES selected for the 16 PARTS, their Volumes, Pan position, EQ settings, Effect sends, assigned Effects, etc., etc.

What does not get Loaded when you load an individual SONG is voices were used that were in the USER 1, USER 2, USER 3, or USER 4. The MIXING setup will remember THAT you used a VOICE in USER 3: 003(A03) but it will not retain or restore the actual VOICE itself. It will simply use the currect VOICE in USER 3: 003(A03). If you discover that VOICE is wrong, you can simply go to your ALL (.X3A) file and set the load TYPE = VOICE, then load the individual VOICE (USER 1: 003(A03) from that file back to the USER VOICE location USER 1: 003(A03).

In general, it is a good idea when customizing an normal USER VOICE, to store that customized Voice “locally” to the SONG’s MIX VOICE bank. You can store a maximum 16 MIX VOICES per SONG location (a total of 256 for the entire XF). Doing so will ensure that when you load the SONG - a year from now, it contains all the data you need to make it play.

Bad_Mister - 13 May 2011 07:51 AM

That’s correct.

What loads when you load a single SONG from an ALL data file is the following:

All of the data that is recorded to the 18 MIDI tracks of that SONG: tracks 1-16, Tempo track and Scene track. As many as 16 MIXING VOICES (Voices that you created and stored locally within this SONG). The MIXING setup - which memorizes all tone generator settings including the 16 VOICES selected for the 16 PARTS, their Volumes, Pan position, EQ settings, Effect sends, assigned Effects, etc., etc.

What does not get Loaded when you load an individual SONG is voices were used that were in the USER 1, USER 2, USER 3, or USER 4. The MIXING setup will remember THAT you used a VOICE in USER 3: 003(A03) but it will not retain or restore the actual VOICE itself. It will simply use the currect VOICE in USER 3: 003(A03). If you discover that VOICE is wrong, you can simply go to your ALL (.X3A) file and set the load TYPE = VOICE, then load the individual VOICE (USER 1: 003(A03) from that file back to the USER VOICE location USER 1: 003(A03).

In general, it is a good idea when customizing an normal USER VOICE, to store that customized Voice “locally” to the SONG’s MIX VOICE bank. You can store a maximum 16 MIX VOICES per SONG location (a total of 256 for the entire XF). Doing so will ensure that when you load the SONG - a year from now, it contains all the data you need to make it play.

You couldn’t be clearer. Thanks to your answers my conceptualization of the Motif speeds up a lot.