Hello everyone.

I work on a Motif XS, just to be clear..

1. I often get a recording that i am suppose to add keyboards to.
in order to come up with ideas i usualy sample the recording given to me as a “guide”, and add on the other 15 tracks whatever is relevant.

the problem is once i want to work on a specific part i have to press “play” from the begginig of the track. i guess the sample triggers only with it’s original command at the begging of the song..
is there a way to work without having to scroll back to the begginig of the track?
can i import an audio track as a guide and hear it even from the middle?

2. also, when i record vocals, its the same story.
is there a way to record vocals step by step?
if i stop and start recording at a different measure, it overwrites the whole track.
is there a way to work with the sampler without having to record each time from the top?
is it possible to sample vocals or any audio with several takes or punches to the same track?

i would realy appreciate some help.

thank you!

the problem is once i want to work on a specific part i have to press “play” from the begginig of the track. i guess the sample triggers only with it’s original command at the begging of the song..
is there a way to work without having to scroll back to the begginig of the track?
can i import an audio track as a guide and hear it even from the middle

It is always true that a ‘one shot’ sample will begin to playback from the START POINT and play once to the END POINT.

It is also true that you can adjust the START POINT to any point in the sample. For example, if you have a sample that is 100 measures in length, you can place the START POINT at any point you wish to have it start when it receives a NOTE-ON.
Press [INTEGRATED SAMPLING]
Select the WAVEFORM by number 0001~1024
Select the KEYBANK
Press [EDIT]
The START POINT and END POINT can be edited as you require. These are non-destructive edits (DO NOT EXTRACT the data. the act of EXTRACTing is destructive as it discards the excess) - you only only want to temporarily move the START POINT so that when triggered it begins playback from a particular point. You can move it, work out the part, then move it again as you require. Once you realize how this works it becomes a wonderful tool.

Say you are working on the first 24 measure section, you can “trim” the START and END POINTS so that it starts at measure 001 and move the END POINT just to the left of measure 025.

(You can even have the XS calculate the TEMPO for you using the TEMPO/METER/MEASURE function.) Once you know the TEMPO you can easily estimate how many samples are in a measure (even if the audio is not timing perfect, you will still be able to estimate where each measure is going to found, give-or-take a few samples). Once you know that one measure contains ‘x’ amount of samples… you can guess-timate approximately where measure 100 will occur). Remember the sampler is precise to 44,100 samples per second.

This is TEMPO detection trick is covered in the following article on sampling basics:
SAMPLING Basics

You can MOVE the START and END POINTS (non-destructively as long as you do NOT EXTRACT) to have any portion of the audio playback. I use this technique all the time when working out “sound alike” tracks.

is there a way to record vocals step by step?
if i stop and start recording at a different measure, it overwrites the whole track.
is there a way to work with the sampler without having to record each time from the top?
is it possible to sample vocals or any audio with several takes or punches to the same track?

Yes. After attempting to record the vocal in one long take, most singers wind up preferring to do things in some smaller division of the composition.

Why not record the song a musical Section at a time. Analyze where the vocals come in and pause, looking for your punch-in and punch-out points. Typically songs are divided in to convenient sub-divisions (verses, choruses, etc) You have to be careful about the pick-ups in advance of a section and notes that hang over the bar lines at the end of section… but it is not difficult to do at all… once you get the hang of it.

Using the Integrated Sampler with “sample+note” RECORD TYPE, and the “MEAS” (Measure) TRIGGER MODE, you can set the PUNCH-IN and PUNCH-OUT measures to accommodate your vocal recording needs.

Alternate Method: using the END POINT---> TEMPO/METER/MEASURE function you can sub-divide any recorded sample into more convenient size samples. It is possible using this to create a region that is the vocals for the first verse: Set the Start Point and End Point to frame the measures containing the vocals for the first verse… use the COPY KEYBANK JOB function to place this on a specific KEY in a new Waveform. Create the MIDI note on the track of the sequencer to trigger it at the appropriate measure.

I sub-divide all vocals this way… it makes it more convenient to work with them. You only have to start every time from the beginning of the sample as recorded if you don’t understand that this is a sampler, you can set the playback Start Point/End Point for anything that you sample, you can create the note-on event that controls the playback.

We hope to have a video on this advanced technique at some point in the coming months.

Thanks a lot for your answer, B_M.
always appreciating your answers.

i hope i understood all those new ways of working with the sampler.
it will be useful anyway.
but still, since it might work..

isn’t there a way to import a wav. into a track and to work in a way that is more comfortable?

if not, could i import a MIDI file into one of the tracks?
at least i’ll be saving some time with what is not pure audio.

i know that i’m “only” holding a workstation, but most of my editing and pre-seting happens there and not on any PC daw.

Thank you very much,

Ishay

isn’t there a way to import a wav. into a track and to work in a way that is more comfortable?

I find it quite comfortable and so will you once you do it. You cannot find it uncomfortable or even assess that it is until you have learned to do it. Then you can evaluate whether it is comfortable or not. But until you have learned to do, comfort is simply a matter of getting used to working with audio samples.

if not, could i import a MIDI file into one of the tracks?
at least i’ll be saving some time with what is not pure audio.

I don’t understand what you mean, sorry.

i know that i’m “only” holding a workstation, but most of my editing and pre-seting happens there and not on any PC daw.

I have not mentioned any editing in a PC or in any DAW… in fact the sample editing is done completely on the Motif XS

Thanks again,

i just wanted to make sure what i’m doing is OK.

i have stated the starting and ending point to the part i’m working on (a chorus for example), and did’nt extract the result,
but since there is no note event that triggers the sample on that specific measure i have to record a new edited short sample each time i work on a specific part of the song.

is that right?
i’ve tried it and it works, but i have to record that note event each time. not a problem, and i apologize if i’m still not sure,
just want to work as organized as possible.

thank you

once you have set the START and END POINTs you only need to place a MIDI NOTE-ON event on the track to trigger it.

remember the Motif is a sampler. The significance of that is you use NOTE-ON events to start and end audio - be it a preset Piano or your user vocals

If you set your START and END POINTS so you have defined a 16 measure region - that musically is from 17-32 in your composition.

Then place a NOTE-ON EVENT as measure 017:1:000 that has a duration (GATE) that will hold it for 16 measures. If you are in 4/4 time that would be 16 measures x 4 beats/measures: GATE = 064:000

it’s 11/8 actualy.. but works great!

thanks a lot for the atention, B_M. always apreciating.

hope this helps other Motif users.

Ishay