I’ve owned my Motif ES6 for years and have always used a smartmedia card which is unfortunately full.

I attempted to load some .wav files from a USB that I have and have used in my Motif XS6 without problems.  The problem I am having is getting the ES to recognize the USB Flash Drive.  I tried two separate types with no luck.

I tried formatting the USB drive and it gives me an unable to format messeage.

Am I doing something wrong.  What I am really trying to do is after I load my Smartmedia info, I want to put the USB into the machine and then load the rest of the waves into the 512 megs or ram in the ES and then load them into a USB drive although I kknow how long it will take to loade.

If anyone knows what I am doing wrong and can help, I will sincerely appreciate it.

Thanks,

Kenny

Hello,

Motif ES series are a bit picky about USB drives. Also these keyboards do not ‘see’ the sticks over 2Gb. You have to try different kinds of 2Gb sticks, or purchase your USB stick(s) from a Yamaha dealer, say, Motifator’s Shop.

I use a bus-powered 80Gb 2.5” external hard drive, and have never encountered any problems. I think I was lucky to find the proper hard drive at first shot. Not all bus-powered external hard disks are compatible with Es.

Best wishes,
Kahnn

And ... USB sticks must be formatted FAT16 for the ES, not FAT32.

;JOOP!

Sciuriware,
Can a USB stick be formatted to FAT16 by Motif itself directly? Or should you first format on a PC?

An if you don’t mind, what does Sciuriware mean?

Best,
Kahnn

Thanks for all of your help.  It’s interesting that the ES is picky about the so common flash drives.  I am currently using Windows XP, is this FAT 16 or 32.

I tried to format the thumb drive on the Motif and was unsuccessful, however I didn’t know that the largest drive to be used is a 2gb.

Essentially, what I am trying to do is load my programs and samples, etc. onto the ES and then want to load additional wave forms and because of the 128mb limit on smartmedia cards I am trying to find another avenue to load additional samples/wave data.

Can I load everything that I have on one smartmedia card and then insert a new smartmedia card with the additional data on it.  The addtional data I refer to is simply waveform data.

I was hoping that after I load the ES unitl I have everything and then finally save it to a thumb drive.  I know that when I use it live, there will be some additional load time.  I believe that I have a total of approx. 289mb to load.

It works fine on my XS, but I need addtional time to program the XS like I want it and to also have the ES as a back-up.

BTW, I do have a 2gb drive that I tried and was not able to get the ES to read the .wav data on it.  If it is as simple as buying a drive from the Shop, so be it, but I can’t believe that they are really that different from the 10 or so flash drive that I already own.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Kenny

Dear Friend,
First of all, I kindly suggest you to search this forum for your future problems. The information I share below is mostly experienced through this forum.

It seems the keyboard itself is unable to change the format of USB-sticks. So, try this: Be sure that you took backup(s) of your data; then right-click the stick-drive’s letter in Windows Explorer. Hit ‘format.’ You will now have a new window full of options one of which determines FAT type. Choose FAT16, hit format. Be careful not to format another drive and be sure you have backup (of the drive you are about to format).
When the format is done, safely remove the stick from the computer and connect it to your Motif. If your Motif ‘sees’ the drive, I suggest you to format the stick once more from the Motif. And your drive is ready!
If Motif still doesn’t ‘see’ the drive; try same procedure on one of the 10 other 2Gb sticks that you have.

Most people agree that Smart Media cards are way too faster than USB-sticks; however, you are limited to 128Mb on SM cards and this is not enough. There are people who share their experience with SM-XD card adaptors, but still cannot exceed 128Mb.

128Mb is not enough, for sure. For instance; K-Sounds’es Signature package is about 400-500Mb! Concerning you cannot use both SM card and the USB-stick simultaneously, it seems SM card is only good for version updating.

Shortly speaking: When you do all the work with your voice banks, prestes, users, etc. you must save the ‘ALL’ file as literally ‘AUTOLOAD’ to your USB-stick. Keep in mind to always have backups for your presets, users, etc.
You can manage detailed information on preparing an AUTOLOAD file securely through Owner’s Manual and/or by searching this forums post.

Hope this helps.
Best Wishes,
Kahnn

The motif ES can only access FAT16 volumes.
And of course that’s the formatting it can do.

If a stick is FAT32, FAT32ex or NTFS, go to the PC.

Sciuriware :: sciurus (squirrel), ware ~ goods.
Been my ‘trademark’ for over 30 years, when I was a professional programmer.
;JOOP! (and that’s my first name)

Click thumbnail to see full-size image

Hey everyone,

Thanks for all of your replies.  The trick was to format the 2gb drive to FAT16.  I thought that the Motif could have formatted the drive, but I was finally able to achieve this on a computer.  I wasn’t aware of this.

Can I format a larger drive to FAT16 as I only have one 2bg at this time and would like to have a back-up.

Kenny

It seems 4 Gb is the very limit for FAT16.

;JOOP!

@Kahnn or anyone who can answer

What is the brand of the 80 go bus powered external hardware that you are using for the motif es?