Hi guys and girls (mainly Bid Mister)
I now have my superb ES setup.
PLG-150 AN *2

PLG-150 DX
can someone explain the following to me please.

Utility

Dev No (what does it mean?)
Port No (what does it mean?)

Also in Studio Manager.

what is the setup to control all 3 boards separately when running 2 instances of the AN Expert editor and an instance of the DX Simulator.

Pattern or Song mode

Also What is the setup to have 3 parts playing in say pattern mode on the ES.

regards,
Tripstation.

Dev No (what does it mean?)

The DEVICE NUMBER is used when you have more than one of the same keyboard or device. Say you have 3 Motif ES keyboards in the same setup, what if you were trying to address each one individually how would you do it? A SYSTEM EXCLUSIVE message would certainly be read by all three of them. So the MIDI specification came up with the DEVICE NUMBER, you can designate each MOTIF ES with a unique Number. The first Motif ES could be Device Number 1, the second Motif ES could be Device Number 2, the third Motif ES could be Device Number 3. Now when you send a System Exclusive message you can address each one individually.

Say you have more than one of the same type of PLG150-series boards you can use the DEV NO parameter to address each individually - otherwise messages for one will address them both. Make sense?

If you only have one superb Motif ES, you don’t have to worry about the DEVICE NUMBER setting for the whole keyboard, just leave it set to ALL. If you own 16 Motif ES’s you now know how you can address each one separately. :)

And if you have 2 PLG150-AN boards you know how to address them separately now.

Port No (what does it mean?)

A PORT in MIDI is a basic bi-directional connection. When you are using standard 5-pin MIDI cables it would take 2 cables to connect a device to another for two-way communication. MIDI IN and MIDI OUT. A PORT can handle 16 MIDI channels coming and 16 MIDI channels going.

the USB “To Host” port is a multi-Port MIDI connection. It allows the Motif ES to address the computer on 4 separate bi-directional Ports (the USB-MIDI driver from Yamaha actually can handle as many as 8 two-way connections, but the Motif ES uses only four simultaneously). So that 1 USB cable is equivalent to 8 MIDI cables between the Motif ES and your computer!!! Each set of 16 channels IN/OUT is called a “PORT”. Each PORT is totally discreet - separate from - the other. So messages on PORT 1 channel 1, do not interfere with message on PORT 2 channel 1, or PORT 3 channel 1, etc.

Port 1 = MIDI IN and MIDI OUT going to and from the Motif ES/Computer. It is the equivalent of the MIDI IN cable and the MIDI OUT cable we mentioned above. PORT 1 is always going to be the internal Motif ES tone engine’s communication bus and has 16 MIDI channels.

Port 2 = MIDI IN and MIDI OUT going to and from the Motif ES/Computer. It is the equivalent of the MIDI IN and MIDI OUT cable we mentioned. PORT 2 can be used for your PLG150-Series boards. When you change one of the PLG PORTs to number 2, you will notice that all the other PLG150-series boards also change to PORT 2. The reason is to be a PLG150-series board it must be a single PART board, meaning it only occupies a single MIDI channel and therefore would only need one MIDI channel - so if you have 3 PLG150-series boards you can address one of them on Channel 1 of PORT 2, the second of them on Channel 2 of PORT 2, and the third on Channel 3 of PORT 2.

There is never a situation where the PLG150 boards would need separate PORTS. One PORT having 16 channels would suffice since the maximum number of slots is 3.

PORT 3 = MIDI IN and OUT is another port which could be used for a PLG100-XG which is a multi-timbral board with 16 PARTS of its own. So to address it separate from the internal tone engine you can place its 16 PARTS on PORT 3 and address its 16 PARTS totally discreetly from the 16 internal PARTS (on PORT 1) and discreetly from the PLG150-series boards (on Port 2)

PORT 4 = MIDI IN and OUT is yet another 16 channel communication bus that could be used for REMOTE CONTROLLING your favorite DAW, like Cubase, Sonar, Digital Performer or Logic. Messages that turn the front panel knobs, sliders and buttons into control devices for the above mentioned DAW softwares.

Also mLAN is a multiple PORT MIDI interface (of course it also includes Audio data as well).

what is the setup to control all 3 boards separately when running 2 instances of the AN Expert editor and an instance of the DX Simulator.

Now that you know what a DEVICE Number is, you can apply it to your two PLG150-AN boards. 
Press [UTILITY]
Press [F6] PLUG
Press [SF2] MIDI
Set the first PLG150-AN to Dev No. = 1
Set the second PLG150AN to Dev No. = 2
Now you can address them separately by the AN Expert Editor Setup
You can address each board individually according to its Device Number.

Also What is the setup to have 3 parts playing in say pattern mode on the ES.

You can set the PLG150-series boards to PORT 2. The internal 16 PARTS are always (fixed as) PORT 1.
Set the PLG150-AN in Slot 1 to PORT 2, and set its PART to receive on MIDI Channel 1
Set the PLG150-AN in Slot 2 to PORT 2, and set its PART to receive on MIDI Channel 2
Set the PLG150-DX in Slot 3 to PORT 2, and set its PART to receive on MIDI Channel 3

On the main SONG or PATTERN screen you can:
Press [F3] TRACK
Press [SF1] CHANNEL
Here you can assign the individual Tracks that you want to address the PLG150-series boards to PORT 2, and to the MIDI channel that will address each.

For example, say you want to address PLG150-AN (slot 1) from Track 1… set the PORT = 2 and the Channel = 1
To address PLG150-AN (slot 2) from Track 2… set the PORT = 2, and the MIDI channel = 2
To address the PLG150-DX (slot 3) from Track 3… set the PORT = 2 and the MIDI channel = 3

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