Another person played my keyboard when I couldn’t be with the band, and when I came back it was ‘off’ 4 half-steps.  I checked the Utility mode and it was reading 0 but when I played an F it sounded like an A.  Even worse than that, all my Limits were 4 half-steps off.  For example, if I had a LimitH of B3 it would only play up to G3. 

We needed to practice so I went into Utility mode and set it at -4 and all the keys were right (an F sounded like an F) but all the Limits were still 4 half-steps off (for a one-note sound I had programmed for B4, I had to play G4 to get it to sound).  And when I played notes close to the limits between two sounds they had the wrong sound so I had to re-program all the limits.  This wasn’t too bad because we only worked on 4 new songs, but I really need to figure out what the other guy did to move everything - including the limits - 4 half-steps.

Any ideas?

Have you tried a factory reset?  Might be the quickest way to elminate a lot of guesswork. After the reset, check the pitch. 

Of course, I assume you have a Motif XS.  I also assume you have a .X0A all file backup of the system and it’s last known good state.

good luck

I have a S-90 and have not had the courage yet to try the factory reset.  I do have my Performance settings backed-up on a card, though, so if I can’t figure it out I will get braver.

For once and for all:
make an ALL file backup and you can always recover from anything.
But .... don’t forget to copy your SMC to a PC on a regular basis:
those can fail.

;JOOP!

Did you check the tuning?  Where you set the key of A to 440Hz.  I have an XS not an S90, so I don’t know where this function is located on your keyboard.  This could explain the global shift of 4 half steps for everything on the keyboard.

Transpose on an S90: UTILITY -> F1 -> SF2 -> TRANSPOSE -> set to 0

;JOOP!

Problem solved.  This is embarrassing.

I didn’t know there were 2 ways to transpose in the Utility function.  Whenever we had played a song in a different key I had always used NoteShift:  Utility - F1 - SF1.  I didn’t know about Transpose:  Utility - F1 - SF2.  And the guy who played my keyboard New Year’s Eve with my band used Transpose. 

Well, at least I know now that NoteShift doesn’t transpose the Performance split points and that Transpose does.

Note Shift and Transpose are quite different actually. Yes, they both change the pitch of what you hear but one works on the Tone Generator while the other works on the Keyboard.

Note Shift is a function of the Tone Generator. The Tone Generator is the synth engine that create and reproduces the sounds. When you Note Shift you are change how the Tone Generator reproduces sound. The Tone Generator RECEIVES MIDI information and reproduces sound.

Transpose is a function of the Keyboard. The Keyboard TRANSMITS MIDI data.

If you NOTE SHIFT something it does not affect what goes OUT via MIDI.
If you TRANSPOSE something it DOES affect what goes OUT via MIDI.

So you are correct NOTE SHIFT does not transpose (alter) the PERFORMANCE Split points (because it is a receive function)… and TRANSPOSE does (alter) the SPLIT POINTS because it is a transmit function.

Hope that helps.