Long time lurker, first time poster. I just received my CP4, and need assistance setting it up. Currently, I use a CP33 and have a master mode setup so that the left end of the keyboard triggers bass guitar on my Motif rack and the right end is piano, or whatever, left end output into an Eden bass amp, right end into keyboard amplification.I play LHBass on every song. My questions: 1. The CP4 has a master mode but I don’t see a way to disable the internal tone generator(for the Motif/bass split)2. The CP4 performances are 3 parts- split/layer/main. Is there a way to make the split trigger my Motif rack and be able to change the Layer/Main end so I wouldn’t have to make a performance for each sound I want LHBass on? I want LHBass on all sounds, if possible. 3. Would hard L/R pans isolate the internal bass enough to eliminate the Motif rack altogether? And. 3. If none of this works, what would be the best way to setup my CP4 to use int the manner of my CP33? BTW, the action on the CP4, is Yamaha’s best to date, and I have been a Yamaha guy my entire playing career. The new interface is GREAT, as long as you don’t play LHBass, apparently. Thanks in advance!

Jim Wells
Tallahassee, FL

First, welcome to the forums as a poster!!!

The first real question of an application nature on the CP4 (cool piece of gear, just got mine, as well). In the CP4, the Master Keyboard functions are not a separate mode; each Program can have its own Master setup… called “Master Keyboard”

When not activated, the CP4 transmits on three channels:
Main = Channel 1
Layer = Channel 2
Split = Channel 3

When you activate the MASTER KEYBOARD Switch (within the program), the CP4 will transmit or not transmit OUT, according to the Zone(s) you setup. The Keyboard will always be available to play an internal sound - as long as it has signal being output by the Voice assigned.

My questions:
1. The CP4 has a master mode but I don’t see a way to disable the internal tone generator(for the Motif/bass split)

One of the rules of the CP4 is the MAIN Voice is always active. What you want to do is split the CP4 so that only the external Motif-Rack is heard from the LEFT side… while the MAIN Voice sounds on the RIGHT side.

Here’s how:
Press [EDIT]
Setup the RIGHT-hand or “MAIN” sound. It will play across the entire keyboard anytime the [MAIN] light is lit. In fact, the only time it does not, is, logically, when the [SPLIT] light is lit. When the SPLIT light is lit the MAIN sound will only sound above the SPLIT POINT.

Hint: You will use the [SPLIT] button to turn ON/OFF the LEFT hand of the CP4.

Press the [SPLIT] button
Set the SPLIT point by holding [SPLIT] while touching the key you want to be the lowest note of your RIGHT hand.

Next you will EDIT the internal SPLIT VOICE so that it will not contribute anything to this setup. This is accomplished by setting the GAIN parameter for the internal SPLIT Voice to 0.

To switch to Editing the SPLIT PART, while in EDIT, hold PART SELECT + SPLIT or simply move the cursor to the “S” PART in the screen.

The right side of the screen will indicate which PART you are editing: Set it so the “SPLIT” part is being edited. (You can use [PART SELECT] + [SPLIT], or move the cursor in the screen, etc).

Navigate to the 01: PLAY MODE screens, press [ENTER]
On the TOP screen in this area you will see the the VOLUME (cc007) and you will see the GAIN. Both affect overall output level, but VOLUME is the PART Volume and GAIN is the level of instrument Voice assigned to the PART.

Useful analogy:
Think of any electronic device plugged into a Mixer. The individual instrument has its own volume control (Gain) and the Mixer has its own volume control (the PART or channel volume).

By setting the GAIN to 0 and storing it like this, you will be able to use the SPLIT Slider to control your EXTERNAL bass’ Volume without controlling the INTERNAL PART’s Volume. Because by setting internal Split Voice’s GAIN = 0 we have eliminated the internal SPLIT Voice from contributing to the mixer. Make sense?

The SLPIT button will activate and deactivate the MAIN (and LAYER) PART from playing across the entire keyboard. While the SPLIT slider controls the VOLUME of your Motif-Rack.

Now you can setup the MASTER KEYBOARD functions, using just ZONE 1 to control your Motif-Rack as you require. Make sure the MASTER KEYBOARD SWITCH is ON, now all MIDI routing to the MIDI OUT is under control of this (Master Keyboard) area of the keyboard ... at least for the current program.

2. The CP4 performances are 3 parts- split/layer/main. Is there a way to make the split trigger my Motif rack and be able to change the Layer/Main end so I wouldn’t have to make a performance for each sound I want LHBass on? I want LHBass on all sounds, if possible.

Yes, why not? You can freely select any sounds for the MAIN and LAYER PARTS while using this setup above. Changing the MAIN sound is as simple as having the cursor pointed at the Main PART when you use the SELECT buttons… to the Layer PART when you use the SELECT buttons.

And the Voice that appears on each of the SELECT buttons (the one that is ‘at the top’ if you know what I mean, can be pre-set by you. Say you want to switch from the “CFX” acoustic piano to the “Wr77 Drive” (the 1977 overdriven Wurlitzer) as you MAIN sound. You can ensure that this electric piano is on top when you press [E.PIANO2] by registering it as a FAVORITE: holding [SHIFT] + [EPIANO2] while it is recalled. So you can kind of pre-determine what Voice is on each button (in waiting).

It is also possible to change the assignment whether or not the PART is set to output sound (determined by the lighted SPLIT-LAYER-MAIN buttons).

3. Would hard L/R pans isolate the internal bass enough to eliminate the Motif rack altogether?

Don’t do that. That’s not what you want to do… Cripple your overall sound to send the bass to a bass amp… the designers of the CP4 hope/assume, that you are going to connect and play the sounds of this instrument in glorious Stereo.

Hope that helps.

Looking for a way to eliminate a module and bass amp - take a look at the Yamaha DXR8’s or DXR10’s with a separate Sub.

I love the 8’s with a sub, call it the SHOCK value, but I love that so much sound can come from such a portable cabinet. But with the sub, the bass is tight and the system is so sweet sounding. The crossover technology in today’s powered cabinets is such that this really works. Check it out, anyways.

Wow, thanks! Hadn’t thought about the gain setting. Would I need to setup Master mode at all, or could I just set the Motif to receive MIDI channel 3?

Yes, if you set the Motif-Rack in VOICE mode (so that it only going to receive on the one MIDI channel) then setting it to Basic Receive Channel = 3 will work for your situation. You will be able to STORE the internal GAIN for the SPLIT PART Voice = 0.

Now you can from the screen that shows the MAIN Voice in the upper left, the LAYER Voice in the upper right and the SPLIT on the second row… you can use the CATEGORY SELECT buttons to recall your MAIN and LAYER Voices as you require while the SPLIT PART controls the Bass OUT via MIDI. You have a CONTROL SLIDER that works for each PART… Cool!

It is not as flexible as the MASTER KEYBOARD, if you need to change the bass or preset anything about it, but certainly that will work!

I’ll just need to configure the Motif to start on the Bass patch I use (it’s already setup as a Favorite voice), so I don’t have to send the patch change data via MIDI? This place is the bomb! Getting ready to fire up my CP4 right now. Thanks again!

Jim Wells
Tallahassee, FL

Hi Phil, I violated my own rule and brought out the CP4 without setting it up properly. I think I’ve got everything fixed except I want to raise the LH(only) split by one octave ( I’m sending this to my Motif rack). Would it be easier to transpose the Motif rack bass voice up an octave? Can you help me with the quick way to do it? I’m going out to try and fix things before our gig tomorrow night. I considered using my CP33 because it is setup properly. Thanks for everything!

Jimmy Wells
Tallahassee, FL