All,

I’m a new Motif XS owner.  In trying to learn how to setup a simple piano/string/guitar/drum setup in the Perform mode, I’m having difficulty getting the drum part to work correctly.

In the presets, the drum starts when you hit a key on the keyboard, and the keys play whatever has been assigned to the other three parts, according to however the keyboard is mapped. 

When I initialize a user location to setup my own 4 parts, drums work ok with the arpeggiator on but they also play whatever drum is mapped to whatever key I’m playing.  I want the drum arp to play but I don’t want the keyboard mapping to be heard - only the other 3 parts.

I don’t know if I’m explaining this clearly or not because I don’t know the Motif well enough yet to identify things by their proper name.

In any case, I’ve tried to examine the settings of the built-in drum arps - the ones that seem to play fine, but I can’t see any obvious differences from what I’ve set up.

Can someone help?

Thanks,

Rick Brenner
Scarsdale, NY

You did a great job in explaining your question… Here is what is going on that may help.

A VOICE (the basic playable entity in the XS) will play in response to Note-On events. These Note-On events are provided by either you pressing a key or by the Arpeggiator sending an event that virtually “presses” the key.

When the Arpeggio ON/OFF is ON, you pressing the key only starts the arpeggio going… the arpeggiator takes over and triggers the individual notes according to a predetermined pattern.

So as long as the ARPEGGIO ON/OFF button is ON (L.E.D. is lit), the DRUMS, which I assume you have following an arpeggio, will be triggered by the arp pattern that is assigned.

If you turn the ARPEGGIO ON/OF button OFF, the DRUMS then return to being triggered in normal keyboard fashion. Each time you press a KEY the sound responds (normal). Okay, you probably know this.

If you ever need to STOP the Drummer - something that you cannot do in real life, by the way :) - what you can do is use the [PERFORMANCE CONTROL] functions:
Press [PERFORMANCE CONTROL]
Now the 16 track buttons (used in groups of four) become PERFORMANCE controls…
SELECT 1-4 - select a sound to be affected by the knobs
ARP ON/OFF 5-8 - turns individual ARPs ON and OFF stopping the arpeggio for the individual PART
PART MUTE 9-12 - turns the audio on and off (the arp continues in tempo but unheard)
ARP HOLD 13-16 - toggles the HOLD function

But… what (I think) may be happening to you, that is different from the factory PERFORMANCES is that when you initialize a PERFORMANCE to start from scratch, you maybe inheriting an ACCENT VELOCITY THRESHOLD setting that is set too low for your touch…

Here is where that parameter is found and how you can fix it:

Press [EDIT]
Press a Track Select button [1]-[4] to SELECT the PART with the Drums assigned.
Press [F3] ARP OTHER

On this screen in the right-hand column find the ACCENT VELOCITY THRESHOLD parameter and turn it to “OFF” or set it to a value that is comfortable for you. I believe it still defaults to a setting of “64” on a “from scratch” Performance… which means everytime you hit a key with a velocity greater than “64” you get a Kick and Crash cymbal accent (or whatever Accent is assigned to that Drum Arpeggio).

If you set this Velocity Threshold to say 120, then only when you really slam down a key will you get the Accent sound. See attached screen shot:

Click thumbnail to see full-size image

Thank you Bad Mister!  It worked great.  I _very much_ appreciate the detailed explanation.  Thanks again for taking the time.

Rick Brenner