Hi, I am new to the motif. I have wanted one for ages and today I finally picked one up. First, a disclaimer...I am an ex-soldier with a touch of brain damage. As a result, my thinking isn’t as sharp as it once was. I say this in case anyone reads this and thinks.."This is really obvious”. If you do, you are probably right. Apologies. Ok so I normally use Logic x running on a macbook pro, into a focusrite soundcard and out to my monitors. I was using an old psr as a midi controller before to control logic, omnisphere etc So now, I’d like to use the motif (better keys, modwheel and pichbend where the psr had none) as a midi controller for omnisphere, but also would like to use the motif sounds in logic. What is the best way for me to set it up/configure everything so I can do both? Hope it makes sense...thanks.

Wondering why I got views but no replies...is it because I’m a noob? Stupid question? Nobody knows? Confused....

In your project set up the Motif as an external instrument in logic X. Then you can select the track drop down and choose what midi channel to use and what sounds you want to play. Hit record and play. Let me know if I’ve over-simplified or you need more info.

You should be able to use the Motif just as you did your old controller, except it will sound lots better.

Good luck!

Bob

Hey

I actually wrote a fairly long response in two sessions the other day, but when I posted my web browser session had expired and the post went into the ether somewhere never to return.

There are a few things that have to be set up :-

1. Midi - This can run between the motif and your pc either via standard midi cables (assuming your sound card has midi ports) or over usb at which point you’d need the yamaha usb midi driver available here at :-

http://download.yamaha.com/top/?site=usa.yamaha.com&language=en

You’ll probably also be able to find a manual and several other resources on there.

Once you have the usb midi going the motif should be able to send midi to logic pro and cause logic pro instruments to sound. In this case you need to set the motif’s local setting to off so that what you’re playing doesn’t get sent to its internal generator.

If you create an external instrument object at this point you should be able to select the motif midi port one and logic will send whatever notes are being played on this track to the motif which will play those sounds out of its audio outputs.

To bring these sounds into the logic mixer you need to connect the motif’s audio outputs to audio inputs on your soundcard.

At this point you can create normal audio track and record the motif outputs onto that. You would then have both the midi track and audio track in logic. There is a way of combining these explained below.

You create a software instrument track in logic and right click the “input” then “utility” “external instrument” and select whether its mono or stereo. This pops up a small utility window and you select the midi channel to send to as well as the audio inputs the motif is connected to.

Now it depends on if your sound card has its own mixer as to whether it will be replaying both the direct sound of the motif AND its sound coming through Logic. If the signal seems very loud and/or phasy/echoey then thats probably the case an you need to mute the sound card’s direct mixer.

Probably a good idea to keep the volume somewhere in the middle and your hand near the master volume control just in case you inadvertently set up a feedback loop. 

The upside of all this is that the motif’s sounds are in your logic mixer and effects etc. can be applied, you can do a realtime bounce and the motif sound will be included.

A good resource on the Logic side is :-

http://www.logicprohelp.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=1&sid=caeaa9d42b87b35cc740184b7a5c66e1

Good luck !

bsweat0914 - 02 February 2016 08:58 PM

In your project set up the Motif as an external instrument in logic X. Then you can select the track drop down and choose what midi channel to use and what sounds you want to play. Hit record and play. Let me know if I’ve over-simplified or you need more info.

You should be able to use the Motif just as you did your old controller, except it will sound lots better.

Good luck!

Bob

Hey thanks man, appreciated. Thanks to Mantra too. So my last board was an OLD psr275 so for onvious reasons, I only used it one way, that is to say I only ever used it to control the logic sounds or omnisphere for example, or any vst. If I use a normal midi (old style since theres no usb cable with the motif) will I be able to use it both ways? Or would I have to swap cables around each time I switch from recording the motif sounds to recording say omni, with the motif as a controller? With the audio way for example, as Mantra suggested, connecting the motifs audio outs to my soundcards ins (It doesn’t have a mixer btw, its a focusrite saffire 6 usb) or would I just leave it connected? I’m confusing myself now, and only hope I’m not confusing you guys...apologies if the hopes are in vain…

You can do exactly as Mantra said. You don’t need to have usb. Just use midi in and out.
You don’t need to swap cables, and you can leave everything connected. You will use the mixer in Logic to control levels. You are not confusing anyone. These are normal questions everyone has.

Abztract - 03 February 2016 07:23 PM

bsweat0914 - 02 February 2016 08:58 PM

In your project set up the Motif as an external instrument in logic X. Then you can select the track drop down and choose what midi channel to use and what sounds you want to play. Hit record and play. Let me know if I’ve over-simplified or you need more info.

You should be able to use the Motif just as you did your old controller, except it will sound lots better.

Good luck!

Bob

Hey thanks man, appreciated. Thanks to Mantra too. So my last board was an OLD psr275 so for onvious reasons, I only used it one way, that is to say I only ever used it to control the logic sounds or omnisphere for example, or any vst. If I use a normal midi (old style since theres no usb cable with the motif) will I be able to use it both ways? Or would I have to swap cables around each time I switch from recording the motif sounds to recording say omni, with the motif as a controller? With the audio way for example, as Mantra suggested, connecting the motifs audio outs to my soundcards ins (It doesn’t have a mixer btw, its a focusrite saffire 6 usb) or would I just leave it connected? I’m confusing myself now, and only hope I’m not confusing you guys...apologies if the hopes are in vain…

Its possible on your old keyboard you only had one midi cable going from the keyboard to the sound card. Because they’re uni-directional you’ll need another cable to send the midi signal from logic to the motif to trigger its sounds. On both interfaces you’ll find a midi in and a midi out port. So you connect the out from the motif to the in on the sound card and the out on the sound card to the in on the motif. Then the rest of the stuff I wrote above still follows.

Hi,

I’ve used motif with logic for years and now I am having a weird problem.  I recently installed an Akai device and I don’t know if there’s a conflict, but I can now record audio only to logic and it is not seeing MIDI out when I create a softwear instrument.  This is driving me crazy because I never had this issue before.  I have also never mastered the MIDI return for example if I record MIDI in Logic and wish to return it to play an audio sound in the Motif and record the sound back into Logic, but I’ll settle right now for being able just to record MIDI into Logic which has never ever been a problem until now. 

I am not sure if this is an Apple problem or a setting problem with the Motif. 

One note is that the MPC generated sounds are playing through the Motif OK, because my external speakers are hooked up to the Motif and the MPC sounds come through those speakers.  I believe this is because in Audio Midi Setup in OS I have both YSFW and AKAI running to Motif.  However, I cannot understand why this would interfere with the MIDI out to the Motif.  I hope this post is appropriate for this very interesting thread.

Phillip