Hello all,

Why is it on the MO8 in Song mode, all the distored guitar patches sound fine on tracks 1-3, yet on tracks 4 and beyond they completely lose their distortion?

It’s a wierd problem.

Thanks!

You only have 3 insert fx, so ...go to MIX, EFFECT and turn off other channels ...and on the channels that require insert FX.

Ugh.  That’s not exactly convienent.  I think I’m going to take another tact and see if that works.  If I’m going to use the same voice, I’ll combine the tracks.  But this does explain a couple of things, and of the things to limit on this board this was not a good one.  :/

Make sure you are not wasting an INSERT FX SWITCH assignment on a PART where the VOICE assigned does not even have INSERT EFFECTS -

For example, most of your Drum Kits do not use INSERTION EFFECTS. It would be a waste to have the INSERT SWITCH set to ON for a Drum Kit that did not even have Effects assigned. Take the time and select which of your 16 PARTS will require their INSERTION EFFECTS. The fact that you discovered it when you assigned something to PART 4 means you simply left them as they defaulted (ON). Suggestion turn them all off and then decide which PART need them. You should always be aware of what (if anything) the INSERTION EFFECTS are contributing to a VOICE when you choose it.

Also many Voices only use the INSERTION EFFECT as an EQ, when a VOICE is placed in a PART of a MIXING setup it gets its own 3-band EQ. So it is a wise practice to study the VOICES you have selected for your MIXING program and make sure those that actually require the INSERTION EFFECT to sound (like the Distortion Guitar) you have it available for that PART.

The MO6/MO8 are the sound engine of the Motif ES (the ES actually has a dual chip, the MO is made from just one of them) so the sound quality is very much on par with the ES. The number of simultaneous processors is one of the major differences - you have to wise about allocating them. We feel it is the right choice, We think it would be wrong to degrade the sound quality - so the decision was made not to have as many INSERTS simultaneously, you may disagree…

One other tip, the CHORUS processor (which should more properly be called the “Time Delay” processor) is often not used. Every channel has a SEND amount to this processor. Depending on your music genre and taste, you many find that you can reprogram this processor for duties within your mix.

That’s just too difficult to do in a live show streaming constant MIDI’s from a laptop. 

Yes, I disagree.  I have worked around the polyphony problems the MO8 has (and yes, like it or not it’s a problem you were never able to help me fix; I had to work around it), and I’ll figure out how to work around this too I guess. 

This is something Yamaha shouldn’t have skimped on.  And this is from someone who’s used nothing but Yamaha products for my keyboards.

Then you should have purchased a Motif-series, no?

??? Simple enough solution (need more, buy the model up). It is not like it does not exist, you know? The difference in price - a couple of “live shows”.

So to get effects on more than 3 channels, a “feature” I wasn’t even aware was gimped when I bought the MO I should have spent up to twice the money?  How many people were suckered into the MO series before finding this gem out?

And likewise to fix an inherent PROBLEM with the MO8 and it’s polyphony tone generator (like drums that chew up enough polyphony to not allow a 3 track midi with a single bassline as one track), I should have spent the extra money to by the Motif?  THAT is a poor answer, and one that would have me wondering why I would want to take a loss to sell a board to buy a new board just to fix said problem and still purchase a Yamaha product (a brand I’ve played for almost 20 years now). 

To answer your question on the latter part......no, I shouldn’t have had to buy a Motif.

If you have played Yamaha for 20 years, (and thank you very much by the way) then you must be aware that we do have “flagship” models and then there are models where we price it down… giving as many of the features of the flagship as we can at a fraction of the cost.

We have been very successful doing things this way. I’m very sorry that you feel as you do about the MO6/MO8. They have been extremely successful products, just as they were and remained consistent “Best Sellers” in their price range from the time they came out back in 2005 until they were discontinued earlier this year. Consisten Best sellers!!! A very phenomenal run actually.

For those using the MO-series for ‘music production’ know you can route signal to the assignable outputs with their INSERTION EFFECTS in tact. And that is the workaround when building tracks with a computer-based DAW, like Cubase. MULTI-TRACKING…

The places where Yamaha chose to save on costs - (and you are free to disagree):

Don’t degrade the sound engine quality - that was a mandate. The MO6/MO8 basic library was indistinguishable from the Motif ES.

True you don’t get as many simultaneous INSERTION EFFECTS, nor do you get the full 128 notes of polyphony. But since you have enough effects for the “live” performer… and since those doing sequencing for music production get advanced/flexible signal routing (to get around the lack of simultaneous processors) it seems to be, as I said a rather good combination.

--- for half the price.

Not trying to be disagreeable, just trying to point out - some realities. If you are working with a DAW, reallocate your Effects to PART 4, then print that Guitar part as audio to your DAW. Once you have done so, you can reallocate the use of the processors - studios have been doing this since there were studios. It was rare that you found a studio that had all the effect processors you find in a single hardware synthesizer, nowadays!

The new MOX6 and MOX8 add a built in dual stereo audio interface - making the tracking (as audio) to computer even more of a no-brainer. It is how things have evolved, and is where Yamaha is betting the customer in this price range want to go. The continued succss of this product line is simply testament to the fact that this is where a large portion of the target market wants to go.

Rather than grumble about what is not there, figure a way to record the quality that is there in a manner that allows you to accomplish your goal. (that is what we are here to help people do).

Although Yamaha did not give you a computer, they certainly included some software to help get you started in the music production direction. MULTI-Tracking to a DAW (with an audio interface) is the next step: PRINTING your tracks as audio gets around all issues of both polyphony and simultaneous effect processing.

Hope that helps.