It was with great sadness that we learned Brad Weber, the original Motifator Guru, Saint, Guardian Angel and more, died at the weekend after suffering a heart attack.

Brad joined us here on the Motifator forums in 2002, when (the original) Motif was scarcely out of the crib. Brad quickly became an expert, but not a showy or preachy one. He made 14986 posts, all but 44 of them replies to other people’s enquiries. That statistic tells you a lot about the man.

Brad was, as his brother revealed on his Facebook announcement, a gentle soul, committed Christian, husband, father and grandfather. He was also an extremely gifted musician.

In those first couple of years, when everyone - ourselves, Yamaha, and the synth/keyboard industry at large were all struggling to comes to terms with the runaway success that Motif and Motifator.com was becoming, Brad was the poster child for how and why that was happening. He epitomized selflessness and community spirit. Motifator led the way in social media long before there was an actual thing called Social Media. Facebook, it should be noted, didn’t even enter our lives until 2004.

In due course others took Brad’s lead and became Gurus too - Yamaha’s own Bad Mister (who arrived after Brad!), Phil Wood, 5pinDIN, Wellie and countless others. After eight years on patrol Brad decided to call it day on the forums. His last post was in June 2010. But that didn’t mean he went away or stopped caring about the crazy world of music and Motif. His last ‘visit’ here was in fact on Feb 23rd 2017. Seems like he just liked keeping an eye on us. And probably still is.

Thank you so much, Brad. I’m sure I can speak for all of us here when we say we are truly humbled by and grateful for what you did.

MM

The most sincerest of condolences to his family and friends. I did not know him, but thoroughly enjoyed his postings and contributions to this forum which were vast.

Much appreciated, RIP.

Stone

Brad and his lovely wife came to my church in London a few years back. We’d been chums here on the forum for a few years. I was delighted that he would add visiting me to a busy itinerary. In person he was a gentleman. We chatted over coffee in Notting Hill Gate and I found a lifelong friend. He supported my musical projects with great enthusiasm using some of my songs in his church. His attitude in helping others, seeking answers on their behalf was such a part of who he was. His gentleness grew out of his deep faith in Jesus. He will be missed here on earth by his family and his friends, but heaven has gained a champion.

Rest well my friend.

I didn’t know Brad Weber personally, but I had read many of his Motifator posts before joining the forums here myself. His helpful contributions were part of what encouraged me to participate.

My condolences to those who were close to Brad.

R.I.P.

Thank you for the thoughtful post and kind words re Brad, Mr Motif.  Sounds like Brad set the standard, so to speak, for a classy and informative forum.

If Brad had not posted here I might never have gotten off the ground with my Motif ES 12 years ago. He was so helpful and able to explain things in a clear manner. This is indeed sad news.

My condoleance

That’s a lovely post about Brad, MM.

Brad had stopped posting well before I joined, but around the time I did join, cmayhle, meatballfulton and stoneb3 were also carrying on Brad’s tradition, and still are. Alongside many others.

They are why I joined, and that’s why I like this place. There’s so much selfless help.

Thanks to Brad for shaping it all.

I joined long after he quit as well, but his spirit still lives on here on Motifator in the form of his helpful contributions. My condolences to his family for their loss as well. He is in a better place now. That is good news.

-Max Thompson

Wow, just wow. I gotta keep remembering: “These are the good old days”.

I was a latecomer but boy do I remember it well. When I bought my Motif it had a ‘Motifator.com’ sticker on it.  I’d already been an electronic music service tech for many years but that sticker was something new. I had never bought any gear with web support before that.

BadMister (Phil), BradWeber, JimStang, Dave Polich, Dinosaur, PianoKim, bVogel, The Dukester, Saxman, SynthBear… Wellie and many, many others...(you know who you are); Keyfax was my ‘family’ then. I’d sometimes try to one-up BadMister and he would gently guide me with no pretense. Finally met Phil last year, what a great guy.

I captioned the ‘Jerry Show’ comic strip, started MoSongs and even BadMister uploaded a tune. We even tried to start our own ‘alternative’ site, MoBros.org just to be cool.

Thanks to BradWeber and all of you, I’m no longer a former Yamaha service tech. I’m a current one. Now go write a song, even if it’s only one bar long, just write something. And remember:

THESE ARE THE GOOD OLD DAYS

-PatchChord (Buzz)

What sad news! Brad helped me many times in the early days and what a friendly guy he was too.

I was fortunate to become involved when Brad was still fairly active, and seeing how willing he and many others were to help out us newbies with some really basic questions gave me the confidence to stick with learning the MOTIF way and I am now proud to say I have produced some decent music using my trusty MO8 and am able to quickly program all kinds of new setups for doing songs with the church band I am with.  I sometimes go back to my 3-ring binder to look through the printouts of responses to questions I and other MoBros had and see a lot of responses from Mr. Weber.  From now on it will always be with a little sadness when I read his helpful responses to something I have to go back and refresh my memory on.

My heartfelt condolences to Brad’s family.  Why is it the great ones always seem to leave us early?

Regards,
Steve Pas

Thank you, Brad Weber.

My condoleance for familly, rest in peace! Thats sad news (( I always think that if someone from my family would pass away I would be on anti-depressants for as long as I would live from that moment on.

Wow. Obviously its been quite awhile since I
last visited this forum. So saddened to learn
of Brad’s passing. He was indeed a valuable
contributor to the community, and often went
above and beyond to assist people, even gurus
like myself, with questions that appeared impossible
to answer.

Brad never once stooped to insults, name-calling,
or senseless arguments, particularly political ones.
He was a better man than me in that regard. And
he knew what he spoke of.

I am not at all surprised to hear that brad was a committed Christian. His help to me in my fledgling days on the Motif 8 was invaluable. MrMotif & Wellie, thanks for the background information, I appreciate knowing just a little bit more about him. I am not exaggerating when I say that I felt privileged that he was taking time to assist me. Every person that has ever been blessed as a result of the music I play and that of our Church, he had a tremendous hand in.

I hope that he somehow noted that I attempted to follow his immense footsteps in reaching out to assist others, tirelessly, patiently, in the same way that he did. From the bottom of my heart, I pray that his family may get just a inkling of the impact he had on the lives of others.

I thank God for every interaction with him…

Peace…

motif8mine
Alfred B. Winters, Jr.