I was wondering what most of you use in terms of connections from the Motif to the amps on stage.
Connections in the studio are all fine but in a few weeks I will be playing on stage and was in the process of working out the wiring path for my stage rig. The XS will feed into a mixer which will in turn feed into a couple of active cabs. What I was wondering is should I connect the XS via the analog L/R outputs direct to the mixer or via the digital out on the XS, into a D/A convertor into the mixer.  Would the digital out from the XS offer any advantages even though it would still have to be converted to an analog signal to feed the mixer. Any views would be welcome

I think you’ll be more than satisfied using the LR 1/4” main outs, and more than likely (depending on your voices/music style) a mono out for live playing is acceptable.

As for the wiring, I typically run 1/4” from the XS main outs into a (or pair) direct box (DI) to convert to an XLR if your using a snake to your main mixing board.  If your going straight into the mixer - you may not need to use DI boxes.

I have not heard of using the digital out in a live scenario, as most live venues are analog - a good sound guy will make all the difference as well.

Let us know how it goes!  Good luck!

I agree with Alaskan...use the analog outs.  there is no advantage to going dig out into a converer box.
ALSO..if you do a lot of splits, layers or always use a couple of dedicated sounds and have the mixer inputs...the assignable outs can help you here also.

yeah, I’d go with the L/R...if you go with the digital out, I don;t think you can control the volume with the volume slider on the XS...at least I can’t when I connect the digital out, maybe I don;t know how but something to keep in mind...let us know your exp on stage with the XS. good luck!

bvas - 15 September 2009 01:51 PM

if you go with the digital out, I don;t think you can control the volume with the volume slider on the XS…

One of the hardest things for me to adapt to on stage was to leave my volume alone and trust the sound engineer… :)

If you’re only using the one synth, going L/R out will work fine. If you have multiple keyboards then a small mixer will work better. I use a yamaha MG10/2 mixer and can send stereo L/R out to the snake-main console and send L/R out to my amp via the L/R control room out. I can then adjust the control room out volume levels to my stage amp while unaffecting the levels out to the main mix.