Hi guys.. this is my first post, i have a motif xs since feb 2010, i use it for my pop rock band gigs and in recording studio i use some of the sounds in addition of software..

i got a question, hope u can help..
can we edit the length of sustain of a voice..?

i also have a digital piano yamaha p140, it has a 64 polyphony max. the sound piano & strings, when i play with sustain on it, the strings sound doesn’t stay sustained, but it fades out after few seconds.. can we edit the strings on xs like that?

thanks..

Probably the easiest way is to adjust the sustain knob at the top of your xs. U can then store your setting to your own user voice.

just as easy as that..
i tweak the EG, attack decay release cutoff etc. frequently, i just never figured out how that sustain knob works before.. now i know.. haha
thanks TreevisB..

No prob. Don’t be afraid to ask any other questions u have in the future. There are great people on this forum. Welcome!

i’ve reduced the value of the sustain, but when i press the sustain pedal, the voice still sustained, in reduced gain, but still sustained..
it worked for piano voices, but not the others like strings or pads,
so it didn’t work just as i wanted, i want the sound to sustain only for certain time, for example 1 second.
is there any other way to tweak that?

the sustain knob effects a sound when a key is pressed, not when a sustain pedal is pressed.
i want the voice sounds as long as the key is pressed, but when i press the sustain pedal, it sounds for a certain time, and then it fades out.

This is something hat calls for editing the amplitude envelope of the elements that make up the VOICE you are using. The amplitude (AEG) is
accessed by:

1.Select VOICE.
2.Press EDIT.
3. To see the parameters for the first element in the voice, press the TRK 1 button (which corresponds to the first element in the voice) Each elements parameters are accessed by pressing the corresponding TRK button (so if you want to see what they are for element 3, press TRK 3).

Then you need to learn about basics of editing. You can do that from this
DVD available here:

http://shop.motifator.com/index.php/dvds/motif-series-yamaha-dvds/sound-advice-dvd.html

Thank You for the info, Mr.DavePolich..

can you tell me which parameters exactly i can edit to change the release time of a voice when the sustain pedal is pressed?

No, No, No, forget the sustain pedal if you want to solve this.

Read page 123 of the XS user manual.
See the picture at the bottom of the page ...

RELEASE TIME (4) is what you are looking for.

And DO NOT TOUCH THE SUSTAIN PEDAL.

;JOOP!

I used to have the XS, and now the XF.  I’m sure this applies to the XS as it does the XF.  I noticed my strings were getting cut off whenever I used the sustain on my piano.  And sometimes even when I delete the sustain part in the EDIT window during SONG mode, the strings were still being cut off.  I’ve seen two issues cause this personally:

1) Let’s say you have measure a piece of music that’s 2 measures long, starting from measure 1 and ending at the beginning of measure 3 (or really 2:479 to be correct).  If you change the note at the beginning of measure 2 for your piano and you let go of the sustain pedal and then press down on it again, you’ll have your sustain (in the EDIT window) showing up as something like:

1:432 SUSTAIN 00
1:472 PIANO note (C)
2:050 SUSTAIN 127

Sorry I’m not at home, so I can’t look at my Motif to explain better. Anyways, I’ve been able to fix this problem by reducing the SUSTAIN 127 to something like SUSTAIN 105.  Now my string tracks are no longer sounding like they are cut off.  You may have to do this for any high SUSTAIN you see.  Also, to know if it’s truly cut off, you have to play it like 10 measures before the part where the strings come in because only then will your keyboard be processing every sound prior to the strings coming in, and thus the problem will be noticed.

2) The other time I’ve seen this is when after I record a strings track, for example, I go back and re-record with OVERDUB, and change the volume around.  I’ve noticed if a volume part comes in slightly before or after a note, you might have the cutoff problem.  I’ve had to edit the volume by moving it either slightly before or after the note to fix it.

Hope this makes sense man.

thanks sciuriware & vam.yang,

but i think you misunderstood my point here.
i understand what release parameter is.
what i would like to achieve, like this:
piano & strings
piano = normal settings with sustain rcvswitch = on
strings = sustain rcvswitch = off
when you press the key, the release value = +0
when you press the key with sustain pedal, the release value = +10.

i already explained above that i have a yamaha p140, which the piano & strings, when we press the sustain pedal, the strings don’t stay sustained, but it fades out (release) after like 1 second, while the piano stay sustained like normal.

can xs do that? or maybe the xs has different architecture ‘bout the sustain pedal?

like also in song / pattern mode, when playing a note, you change from one track to another while pressing the sustain pedal, when you hit a key it don’t sustain until you re-press the pedal.
it different from the p140, when you change voices with pedal on, the next voice automatically sustained.

immortal zu - 11 July 2011 07:57 PM

thanks sciuriware & vam.yang,

but i think you misunderstood my point here.
i understand what release parameter is.
what i would like to achieve, like this:
piano & strings
piano = normal settings with sustain rcvswitch = on
strings = sustain rcvswitch = off
when you press the key, the release value = +0
when you press the key with sustain pedal, the release value = +10.

i already explained above that i have a yamaha p140, which the piano & strings, when we press the sustain pedal, the strings don’t stay sustained, but it fades out (release) after like 1 second, while the piano stay sustained like normal.

can xs do that? or maybe the xs has different architecture ‘bout the sustain pedal?

like also in song / pattern mode, when playing a note, you change from one track to another while pressing the sustain pedal, when you hit a key it don’t sustain until you re-press the pedal.
it different from the p140, when you change voices with pedal on, the next voice automatically sustained.

Wow, you are really confused.

First, you cannot get the release time to increase when you press the sustain pedal. So forget about that. The Motif XS is not the same as the P140 either, so forget about trying to make the XS work like the P140 does.

The amplitude envelope of the strings is where you need to change things. Think of the amplitude anvelope (AEG) as having to do with volume (loudness).

The SUSTAIN portion of an amplitude envelope is NOT the same as sustain pedal. There are four sections of an amplitude envelope -
Attack (A) - The amount of time it takes for the sound to start when you press a key. A fast attack means the sound starts right away (sharply). A slow attack “brings in the sound softly” - like a pad.
Decay (D) - The time it takes for the sound to die away after the attack part is finished.
Sustain (S) - The level where the sound will drop to and HOLD as you keep the key held down. If the sustain level is set to zero, the sound will die away no matter how long you hold the key. If the sustain level is set to 127 (full), then the sound will keep holding as long as
you hold the key down.
Release (R) - the time it takes for the sound to continue decaying to silence AFTER you let go of the key.

It is the sustain level of the amplitude envelope for the strings that
you want to change - increase it to 127 so the strings will hold like an organ (if that is what you want). You can set sustain level to a lower value if you want the sound to start sharp and then “drop down” to
a level where it stays holding.

This is all covered in the “Sound Advice” DVD which I provided a link to in my earlier reply. It is available at the Shop:

http://shop.motifator.com/index.php/dvds/motif-series-yamaha-dvds/sound-advice-dvd.html

Thanks Dave. U provided me with some extra know-how in addition to the advice I gave earlier in this post.  Always use the sustain pedal the same as I always did as a classical piano player on an actual piano. Should I change how I use it or change my settings?

Thanks DavePolich.

as i mention above i already know how the AEG works but you really
explained it very good and clear, that i got new inspiration from there..

and thanks for the DVD link there, i might buy one sometime..

now i understand that XS cannot do like P140 in terms of the sustain pedal thing. the machine got it’s own system and limitation.
i think it’s more playable and you have more control, if it also can do that.
now let’s move on and continue playing..

actually i have an idea how to make that work
assign it to assignable foot switch: AEG release: +10
there you have it.
you can also press the sustain pedal & assignable foot switch at once to control 2 voices.

if only i could use a single pedal to control those two controllers.
do we have a pedal that have two jacks?
or can i mod it?
just trying to be creative here.

You can assign one controller to control 2 events.
Feel free to read the manual.

;JOOP!