Does anyone have any experience using MO 6 or 8 with Ableton Live 8? I have had latency problems so far. I was using a Fostex digital for recording last summer and sent it back due to problems encountered with it. I was hoping to use Ableton Live and the APC 40 to do my studio recording right now. My next step would be to buy the KORG digital recorder and see how it performs but I didn’t really want to do that if I can work through the problems I am having.I have been running MIDI out from my MO8 to an Maudio USB controller and then to my computer. I am wondering if I should hook the MO8 directly to my computer with the USB connection on the back of the MO8 for laying down my MIDI tracks. Are there any particular settings I need to make on the MO8 for this to happen or will Ableton recognize the keyboard straight away? Are there any software programs that would work better than Ableton Live with the MO8? Thanks for any responses. J

Several issues here.

1 Use the usb connection on the mo, you need to get the generic midi driver from the yamahasynth site.

http://www.yamahasynth.com/downloads/drivers_software/synthesizers/mo/all/

2. Maudio USB controller… does that mean an audio interface?

Because your going to need one. Audio latency is a trade off.
The less latency you use (lower latency setting) the harder your computer has to work. So you balance with a latency you can live with and your computer can manage.

Other factors include your interface’s ability to support low latency( most modern ones do, some better than others) How clean your computer is, no internet, no animated cursors and other configuration tips, and controlling TSR programs - don’t let programs install stuff that runs all the time.

Then it’s just a matter of learning your software, takes time but it’s worth it.

I am actually wondering about the same thing for my MO6.
I have an audio interface and have hooked up my Mo6 through MIDI.
Now I am wondering:

Can you use the MO6 as a DAW Remote and MIDI keyboard?

Thanks in advance.

Sure, look at page 113 in the manual to get started.

The daw button changes the function of the keyboard from normal to remote controller.

I am always amazed at the point where someone decides to hook up a fantastic sounding instrument (like the MO) to a computer, for midi to drive a crappy VSTi.  Why not hook up your MO to your Audio (note word audio) interface via 1/4 trs (or whatever) and record your MO sounds directly into your DAW…

Your MO should sound better than VSTi in Ableton Live, or Cubase, or whatever (unless you have decided to exclude the MO audio/sounds—and if that is the case, why didn’t you just buy a $50 49 or 61-key midi controller?).

Mike

1/4"TS unbalanced.

The mo works good as an external instrument. Only difference between the mo and a VSTi is you can only have one instance of an external instrument.
But I also use VSTi’s, whatever works best for the job.

MikeHuntingford - 10 January 2010 10:08 AM

I am always amazed at the point where someone decides to hook up a fantastic sounding instrument (like the MO) to a computer, for midi to drive a crappy VSTi.  Why not hook up your MO to your Audio (note word audio) interface via 1/4 trs (or whatever) and record your MO sounds directly into your DAW…

Your MO should sound better than VSTi in Ableton Live, or Cubase, or whatever (unless you have decided to exclude the MO audio/sounds—and if that is the case, why didn’t you just buy a $50 49 or 61-key midi controller?).

Mike

Strange I was wondering about opposite side of things. VSTi plug-ins that I tried sound fantastic, nothing that MO can come up with.  Just to clarify I’m talking mostly about synth based VSTi not real instruments (like piano, strings, etc.). For example RefX Nexus, I don’t think there’s any hardware synth that sound as good :) So I’m wondering what are the main reasons people are still buying hardware synths, when almost anything can be accomplished with MIDI controller and VSTi plugins.  Personally I got my MO8 as a fancy piano to learn to play… It’s versatile enough to be a great piano, a midi controller and a stand alone synth when I’m too lazy to turn on the computer :)

A few years ago I made the decision to go HW synth (Motif ES6) versus the VST,Controller combo. I think there are some VERY good sounding SW synths out there these days.. Nothing against the Motif but, I am literally looking into the Forums to see if anyone has had success with using the Motif to Control Ableton. I am on the fence… Leaning to letting go of the Motif and use a Controller/Laptop to control NI FM8 and Kontakt 4. Is anyone else thinking of going in this direction ?

Tacman7 - 11 January 2010 07:18 AM

1/4"TS unbalanced

is there a reason to use an unbalanced cable? why not a balanced 1/4’’ TRS?

doesn’t an unbalanced cable introduce noise? or am I wrong

No. Noise is always present. How much is a matter of the operator (lol)

An unbalanced cable does not, on its own, introduce noise. It is a common urban legend that balanced cables are somehow better or less likely to be prone to noise. It is a common misunderstanding about the nature of cables and audio signals.

True: a balanced cable is less likely to pass (RF) radio frequency and some other types of external interference into the signal path. This is because the interference is in both the + and - leads, and therefore cancels at the end.

However it is also true that a balanced cable is more likely to pick up electro-magnetic interference - so pick your poison.

Any copper wire of significant length acts like an antenna. The longer it is the better it acts like an antenna. Unbalanced cables don’t come in ridiculous lengths (for just that reason). Short runs (those under 20 feet) should give you no problems with RF at all - provided the cable is of decent quality and has few breaks in it. Most unbalanced situations are handled by 3-6 foot cables. If you need to run cables from one side of a recording studio to another (30 feet or more), use a short unbalanced cable to a direct box and run a balanced cable from there. (Particularly if you live near a taxi dispatcher - or have a neighbor with a CB radio).

But the untruth that unbalanced cables are some how less desirable or less professional is absurd, untrue and just plain silly. Unless the gear is completely balanced throughout (talking high-end audiophile, top-shelf stuff) you neither gain or lose much using unbalanced cables. That type of audiophile stuff is not good gear strictly because they balance the entire internal signal path, that is just one of those things that if they are going to charge you top-shelf (boutique) prices they may do. Whether it adds anything at all to the final quality is an arguable point.  It is more expensive (certainly) to balance all connections within a piece of audio gear… but so is using gold leads instead of copper.

Connecting a balanced cable to a piece of gear that is not balanced doesn’t get you anything either. The TRS (Tip-Ring-Sleeve) jack when plugged into an unbalanced device simply does not use the Ring portion of the connector - if you could see the workings of the recepticle you would realize - it gains you absolutely nothing. Sure the cable still passes signal (the Tip-Sleeve are working) and the ring is just not used.

Just FYI.