If a MIDI track is recorded in “MULTI” mode but subsequently used to record an audio track via “VOICE” mode....then which set of effects are recorded - the common set associated with “MULTI”, or the individual set associated with “VOICE”???

(My understanding is that while in the “VOICE” mode, the effects associated with a particular voice have been fine-tuned by the developer for that particular voice…
Whereas in"MULTI" mode, a common set has been developed to suit all voices...and so would necessarily be a compromise…
Please correct me if I’m wrong here.)

rroberrt,

You are half right… individual voices in voice mode will make the best use of the ES’s effects processing (assuming of course that the voice programmer is good at what he does). Since the programmers of the ES have no way of which instruments will be combined in a multi and the sound that you are going for in your mix, therefore there are no “common set” of effects applied to the voices assigned to the various parts of a multi. Also, due to limited processing power on the ES Rack unit, a maximum of 8 voices in a multi can have their insertion effects enabled. Also, since the system effects are shared, the reverb, chorus and master effects processors by definition will be shared. This makes some sense, since things like reverb are reflective of the (virtual) performance space in which all of the instruments are being played.

So to answer your question, if you are recording the parts of your composition in voice mode, the audio recorded will have the voice effects programming applied to them. And if you record the parts from multi mode, then they will have the multi-mode effects.

Regards,

BRad Weber

Thankyou Brad. (Half-right is better than usual for me with MIDI) :) Your comments were very clear and interesting.

Still one little hiccup in my head if you don’t mind: Say I record a MIDI track in MULTI...can I then use that MIDI track in “VOICE” to record the audio?...and if so, which Effects set applies?

Since you are recording the audio output of the Motif Rack ES, if the rack unit is in Voice mode, then the effects active in voice mode will be recorded.  If you are recording audio while the Rack ES is in Multi-mode, then the effects programmed for the multi will be recorded.

Regards,

Brad Weber

Thankyou again Brad. I’ve been puzzling over that for a while. Again - clarity. :)

I have always recorded my finals in MULTI mode, but by soloing one voice at a time and recording each part as a separate audio file.

When you’re doing your mixing in MULTI mode, it’s good to have what you hear remain consistent in the final mix.

There’s some exceptions, though.  When you, say, use a reverb or compressor (gasp!) in the master effects, it’s going to sound different if ALL parts are feeding the effect simultaneously versus one at a time. 

That’s why I don’t use master effects much if at all…

Doing it this way gives you much more flexibility to fine tune the product using your DAW.

Thanks Tony, I appreciate the point about consistency. 

To satisfy my own curiosity i recorded a couple of MIDI tracks, (Forest and Full Grand) in MULTI, and then, (still in MULTI) recorded those same tracks to AUDIO.

I then switched to VOICE and re-recorded those same MIDItracks to AUDIO.

My hearing leaves a lot to be desired, but I was impressed by how much fuller the VOICE-AUDIO sound was.

Anyone else notice this....or did I just screw something up?  :)

Sorry folks, I wrote “Digital”, meaning, “MIDI”.

No, you didn’t screw something up… That’s the nature of the beast.

VOICE mode allows for much more Effects processing PER VOICE (meaning 1) than MULTI mode does; even if you SOLO the voice from the DAW so that only one PART is sounding at a time.