I’ve seen there’s a software utility to convert songs from the XF into Cubase. But is it possible the other way around? Let’s say I get a Cubase mix down to 16 (audio) grouptracks, export those to 16bit/44.1 and want to turn those into a song in the XF flash I can use on stage. Will this take importing every single track or is there an easy way to do it?

You must import each track.

You’d have to ask yourself first what are you gaining from doing this. Each track will be huge. Are you going to play them individually for your audience? Why not just mix it down to a single stereo mix and play that back. The audience will not be able to tell the difference between 16 individual .wav files and one stereo .wav file. And the differnce in size will be tremendous.

What are you gaining from the exercise of transferring 16 audio tracks to your Flash? We would rate this as a poor use of the memory. If you are afraid to commit to the mix, then you’d be better off keeping the composition in MIDI format. For those that are afraid to commit to a final mixdown, we highly recommend you keep the data in a format that it can be easily changed: MIDI.

When you purchase a commercial CD or download a composition via iTunes or other format, the musican or group has “committed” to a final mix. That final mix is in a two track format we commonly call ‘stereo’. They do not make it available in 16 track format - because they have already spent the time and made the effort to commit to a final stereo mix. The final mix documents all the automation and changes they want to have happen whenever someone plays the compostion back.

Of course, wise use of the Flash is not a pre-requiste to use it… so if you want to do this, you can use Cubase 5’s EXPORT Audio Mixdown “batch” function to create 16 audio stems. Each would have to be imported to the Motif XF.

Place all 16 .wav files in a single folder and use the XF’x new LOAD MULTI function to load them all in one operation.