First off, I got a crazy deal on the XF8, and I’ve been waiting to buy one for over a year now.

I am a Yamaha guy, owning the Motif8, MO8, P200, Mox6, and now the XF8 WH. I have seen the 10 or so manuals full of overloady information. Where’s the best place for me to start to hands-on “learn” how this thing works without spending 100 hours on it?

I’ve been using these workstations in a keyboard-intensive all-era’s cover band and an 80’s band. I’ve never used the on-board sampler, though I have been looking into buying a separate sampler. Should I bother buying another one or is the on-board one enough?

So many questions...so much to learn, and I’ve been using these things for a while. Thanks in advance!

First off congratulations on your XF! 

As far as the sampling capabilities of the XF go, I’ve never needed a separate sampler.  I have excellent mellotron strings/choir/brass/flute stored on my flash memory that automatically load on power up.  I’ve also used the sampling function to record vocals which I then integrate into the song sequencer so I can easily do the one man band thing playing guitar live and singing harmony vocals with myself. 

As far as where to start, printing out the reference manual would be super important and the first thing I did.  I’d also get a big notebook and start making notes on everything you learn and figure out how to do.  These personal notes will save you valuable time down the road when you want to do something specific you haven’t done for a few months.

Have fun!

Mutiny in Jonestown - 26 February 2017 06:04 PM

First off congratulations on your XF! 

As far as the sampling capabilities of the XF go, I’ve never needed a separate sampler.  I have excellent mellotron strings/choir/brass/flute stored on my flash memory that automatically load on power up.  I’ve also used the sampling function to record vocals which I then integrate into the song sequencer so I can easily do the one man band thing playing guitar live and singing harmony vocals with myself. 

As far as where to start, printing out the reference manual would be super important and the first thing I did.  I’d also get a big notebook and start making notes on everything you learn and figure out how to do.  These personal notes will save you valuable time down the road when you want to do something specific you haven’t done for a few months.

Have fun!

Great input. Thanks!

I haven’t printed out the Reference Manual yet, but have printed out the Owner’s Manual. I’ll get at the RM as soon as I’m done. Much of the XF manual so far is the same as or similar too the manuals for the Motif8, MOX6, and MO8. That’s good. I really want to learn how to actually use the XF8 to its potential though. So far, I’ve just learned what I needed to to get songs gig-ready. Everything’s been a rush, so I never learned Song Mode, or sampling, etc etc. I’m looking forward to doing this.

Anyway, do you have a vid of you doing one-man band stuff with your XF8? I may see something that leads me down a rabbit hole I’d like to learn about.

Thanks again!

djfl - 26 February 2017 06:39 PM

Anyway, do you have a vid of you doing one-man band stuff with your XF8? I may see something that leads me down a rabbit hole I’d like to learn about.

Thanks again!

You’re very welcome!  I almost never use the owners manual but the reference manual is well worn and covered with my notes as it’s much more geared to a “how do I do this” and what every single function/job/process does.

Anyway, I did 2 albums with the XF as complete back up band...one with my prog band Mutiny in Jonestown and the other my doom metal band WytchCrypt.  I don’t have any video footage of those songs, but I did upload the audio of the whole WytchCrypt album to youtube.  This link is for the 4th song off the album and like the rest of the album, all mellotron is samples played on the XF.  The bass and drums are also all played on the XF and the songs were all constructed in pattern chain mode.

You could do a youtube search for, “wytchcrypt novembre sorciere crypte” for the whole album, or this link to the 4th song should hopefully work:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjSHkSsb-V8&index=21&list=PLfXm8aXRTFz3NsgdT5LKKiScvQZXQS1d9

If you want to hear one of the Mutiny in Jonestown “XF-as-back-up-band including vocals” songs just PM me your email and I’ll send you one :-)

Mutiny in Jonestown - 26 February 2017 08:33 PM

djfl - 26 February 2017 06:39 PM

Anyway, do you have a vid of you doing one-man band stuff with your XF8? I may see something that leads me down a rabbit hole I’d like to learn about.

Thanks again!

You’re very welcome!  I almost never use the owners manual but the reference manual is well worn and covered with my notes as it’s much more geared to a “how do I do this” and what every single function/job/process does.

Anyway, I did 2 albums with the XF as complete back up band...one with my prog band Mutiny in Jonestown and the other my doom metal band WytchCrypt.  I don’t have any video footage of those songs, but I did upload the audio of the whole WytchCrypt album to youtube.  This link is for the 4th song off the album and like the rest of the album, all mellotron is samples played on the XF.  The bass and drums are also all played on the XF and the songs were all constructed in pattern chain mode.

You could do a youtube search for, “wytchcrypt novembre sorciere crypte” for the whole album, or this link to the 4th song should hopefully work:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjSHkSsb-V8&index=21&list=PLfXm8aXRTFz3NsgdT5LKKiScvQZXQS1d9

If you want to hear one of the Mutiny in Jonestown “XF-as-back-up-band including vocals” songs just PM me your email and I’ll send you one :-)

Thanks! I’ll give it a listen and take what I can from the audio. I generally learn by seeing as well, but I look forward to hearing your stuff.

Thanks again for the input and cheers to you!

djfl - 27 February 2017 04:33 PM

Thanks! I’ll give it a listen and take what I can from the audio. I generally learn by seeing as well, but I look forward to hearing your stuff.

Thanks again for the input and cheers to you!

I’m the same way...learn by seeing, but it never occurred to me to make a video of how to make a one-man-band song :-)

Have fun with your new XF!

djfl - 26 February 2017 01:30 PM

First off, I got a crazy deal on the XF8, and I’ve been waiting to buy one for over a year now.

I am a Yamaha guy, owning the Motif8, MO8, P200, Mox6, and now the XF8 WH. I have seen the 10 or so manuals full of overloady information. Where’s the best place for me to start to hands-on “learn” how this thing works without spending 100 hours on it?

I’ve been using these workstations in a keyboard-intensive all-era’s cover band and an 80’s band. I’ve never used the on-board sampler, though I have been looking into buying a separate sampler. Should I bother buying another one or is the on-board one enough?

So many questions...so much to learn, and I’ve been using these things for a while. Thanks in advance!

I’m curious, not to long ago I chose the Motif XF8 over the Montage, some of my mates in the band really wanted me to go with the super knob, but the XF8 won out, how come you didn’t go with the Montage., was it price?

lastmonk - 27 February 2017 06:05 PM

djfl - 26 February 2017 01:30 PM

First off, I got a crazy deal on the XF8, and I’ve been waiting to buy one for over a year now.

I am a Yamaha guy, owning the Motif8, MO8, P200, Mox6, and now the XF8 WH. I have seen the 10 or so manuals full of overloady information. Where’s the best place for me to start to hands-on “learn” how this thing works without spending 100 hours on it?

I’ve been using these workstations in a keyboard-intensive all-era’s cover band and an 80’s band. I’ve never used the on-board sampler, though I have been looking into buying a separate sampler. Should I bother buying another one or is the on-board one enough?

So many questions...so much to learn, and I’ve been using these things for a while. Thanks in advance!

I’m curious, not to long ago I chose the Motif XF8 over the Montage, some of my mates in the band really wanted me to go with the super knob, but the XF8 won out, how come you didn’t go with the Montage., was it price?

Yes, it was mostly price. I got the XF8 WH (basically new though technically “used") for less than half of what it’ll cost me to get a Montage. I’m a cheap guy, and I’m not paying $5k for a keyboard...I don’t care if it also does my laundry.

Further to that, I like the XF8 better than the Montage...though I’ve never actually played either. Just specs-wise...the XF8 is a full workstation that’ll do everything I want it to do. I’ll probably be putting that sampler to good use in the cover bands I play in. The Montage seems like it’d be better for some other use. I don’t know. I’m certainly no expert, but the Montage seems more like a really awesome DJ keyboard with a bunch of workstation functionality than an actual workstation.

Plus the Motifs are built like tanks and I often *pound* when I play. I’ve already gone through one keybed on my old Motif. I can’t see spending a ton of money on something less physically robust, which I’ve *heard* that the Montages are.

djfl - 28 February 2017 01:37 PM

lastmonk - 27 February 2017 06:05 PM

djfl - 26 February 2017 01:30 PM

First off, I got a crazy deal on the XF8, and I’ve been waiting to buy one for over a year now.

I am a Yamaha guy, owning the Motif8, MO8, P200, Mox6, and now the XF8 WH. I have seen the 10 or so manuals full of overloady information. Where’s the best place for me to start to hands-on “learn” how this thing works without spending 100 hours on it?

I’ve been using these workstations in a keyboard-intensive all-era’s cover band and an 80’s band. I’ve never used the on-board sampler, though I have been looking into buying a separate sampler. Should I bother buying another one or is the on-board one enough?

So many questions...so much to learn, and I’ve been using these things for a while. Thanks in advance!

I’m curious, not to long ago I chose the Motif XF8 over the Montage, some of my mates in the band really wanted me to go with the super knob, but the XF8 won out, how come you didn’t go with the Montage., was it price?

Yes, it was mostly price. I got the XF8 WH (basically new though technically “used") for less than half of what it’ll cost me to get a Montage. I’m a cheap guy, and I’m not paying $5k for a keyboard...I don’t care if it also does my laundry.

Further to that, I like the XF8 better than the Montage...though I’ve never actually played either. Just specs-wise...the XF8 is a full workstation that’ll do everything I want it to do. I’ll probably be putting that sampler to good use in the cover bands I play in. The Montage seems like it’d be better for some other use. I don’t know. I’m certainly no expert, but the Montage seems more like a really awesome DJ keyboard with a bunch of workstation functionality than an actual workstation.

Plus the Motifs are built like tanks and I often *pound* when I play. I’ve already gone through one keybed on my old Motif. I can’t see spending a ton of money on something less physically robust, which I’ve *heard* that the Montages are.

Well, you have it now, and I guess you can always buy the Montage at a later date, but it was probably good to get the XF8 while there are still a few available.  That’s one of the things that motivated my decision.  The fact that Motif has been discontinued, and if you don’t get one now, who knows if you’ll ever have the chance again, whereas the Montage is just starting, and maybe one day they’ll add all of the sequencing capability that so many musicians want.