I am a beginer, new to keyboards, samplers, sound design, etc… Can someone PLEASE help me?

I need to sample a sound. I finally achieved this after a whole day of trial and error (dont laugh!) It was stored as a USER wav, in the same section as all the Yamaha waves to make sounds, I thought this was increadibly cool. Next day I turned it on and it was gone! I cant figure out how to save the sample! I dont have the flash memory upgrade, and at 650$ wont have it any time soon!

I thought I could save the sample on a USB drive and have it load auto but I cant figure it out if thats the way to go. Im thinking it has to be possible to save a tinny little sample on this thing without spending 650 bucks.. then again…

Any help would really be appreciated! Thank you ;)

I-don’t-have-an-XF-but-I-have-2-gigs-of-Dimm-sample-memory-installed-on-my-XS-and-when-I-do-any-sampling/resampling-I-of-course-store-it-into-the-"user"-memory-then-go-to-"FILE”,-All,-then-"SAVE"-to-a-USB-stick-or-external-HD.-So-when_I-turn-the-power-off-and-fire-it-up-again-and-"LOAD-ALL"-it’ll-be-there!-Always-back-up-your-files-on-at-least-another-thumbstick-or-you-computer-as-well-just-incase!-Of-course-you-could-save-up-for-the-flash-memory-and-then-you-won’t-have-to-endure-the-load-times!-Hope-that-helps.

I need to sample a sound. I finally achieved this after a whole day of trial and error (dont laugh!) It was stored as a USER wav, in the same section as all the Yamaha waves to make sounds, I thought this was increadibly cool. Next day I turned it on and it was gone! I cant figure out how to save the sample! I dont have the flash memory upgrade, and at 650$ wont have it any time soon!

I thought I could save the sample on a USB drive and have it load auto but I cant figure it out if thats the way to go. Im thinking it has to be possible to save a tinny little sample on this thing without spending 650 bucks.. then again…

First thing we need to get cleared up for you is: Where is your sample?
Because you did not “store” it as a USER wav… what you want to do when you create a sample is STORE it in a VOICE.

That VOICE could be one of the 512 USER VOICES or it could be a USER “SAMPLE’ VOICE that is associated with a particular SONG or PATTERN in the Integrated Sampling Sequencer. The “VOICE” is the fundamental playable entity in the Motif XF. All Voices use some kind of sample waveform as the audio source (oscillator)… it could be one of the 3977 waveforms that Yamaha burned into memory or it could be one of 128 Waveforms that you sample to the SDRAM (USR) memory.

The ones Yamaha gives you are permanent. They do not disappear when you power down
The ones you create in SDRAM (USR) are volatile, and will disappear when you power is interrupted.

You do not necessarily have to purchase the FLASH BOARDS to accommodate having your sample there everytime you power up. You simply need to “teach” your Motif XF that you want it to AUTOMATICALLY LOAD this data when you turn the power on.

As long as you Motif XF finds the USB drive and the File that you designate, it will alutomatically restore your audio data to the SDRAM (USR) everytime you power up.

If you only need to load the one sample, you can teach your Motif XF to do that. If you need to load a whole series of samples you can teach your Motif XF to do that as well.

One important thing to understand about the VOICE architecture on the Motif XF - the VOICE parameters (those you see when you press [EDIT] and navigate the [F] and [SF] buttons) remain in memory when you turn off the power… the only thing that dissappears is the audio source (your sample in SDRAM).

So all you need do is restore the essential data to make the “VOICE” you created sound. The advantage of being able to LOAD new samples is obvious, the trade off is that the kind of memory that holds your user sample is VOLATILE. You would only need to get the optional FLASH BOARDS when you have lots of sample data that you need access to on a regular basis.

The advantage of the FLASH BOARDS is that the purchaser of the Motif XF can accummulate as many as 2048 new waveforms (made from over 8000 individual samples) per FLASH BOARD and they will be as permanent as the factory wveforms… Just FYI

Creating an AUTO LOAD for the Motif XF

The article discusses creating an ALL data file as the target for the auto load… you can select any type of Motif XF File… you tell us how your sample is used but just know that you can select any type of File.
a Pattern, a Song, an All data, All Voice or a Waveform - these file types can contain information as to HOW you used the sample (in a Pattern, in a Song, as Voice, etc.)
(but not a .wav however, - the .wav does not contain any information on how the XF is to use the audio.

I spent a lot of time trying to figure out if I could do this, and was able to successfully accomplish the task with a lot of trial and error. I am going to post a video of how I did it, as there really isn’t anything out there for the novice.

Basically, I created a stereo vocal loop in P.T. at 44.1 16 bit, which was at a BPM of 102. This was important because I needed to trigger the sample on the downbeat of the chorus, which would then play in time to the song. Also, we aren’t using any tracks, so I wanted the flexibility of doing this manually.

Once I transferred the sample onto a properly formatted USB drive, I plugged it into the Motif. Navigated to the drive with the FILE button, selected .WAV from the drop down file type, and there it was. Now, the trick is to create a voice using the wave. This is to me very tricky and perhaps more complicated than it needs to be. You have to create a waveform using the wave, and then select it as an element from within a voice. This has to be a USER voice, as those are the only ones you can save. i chose to use one very close to the first USER banks, overwriting one of the factory user sounds.

Once I got the sample into the Motif using the SAMPLE pages, and saved it, I then went to the USER voice, selected the edit page, and shut off the elements I didn’t want to use, basically muting them with the part mute buttons on the lower right. I believe the little lights shut off when they’re muted.

Then I went to the element I was going to use, and on the waveform page, moved down to the drop down selecting the user waveform i created. Now, for me, I use the sustain pedal, and set the envelope for instant attack, and infinite sustain, so the only way to stop it is to release the pedal.

Then I checked it to see if it fired, and it did! I then renamed the voice, and saved the whole back to the USB drive. Also, I found a USB drive that is so small, it can stay in the port without breaking off during moving. I think it’s a SANdisk. Anyway, when my tech boots up my Motif, the only thing he has to do is load the .WAV from the drive, and I’m ready to go. I do have a flash module ready when I get back to the states, so hopefully i won’t have to load the sample anymore after that. I hope this makes sense. It works for me.

Well, that is a good do it yourself story, and to be commended. But I would not necessarily recommend that method to others as you really have not accomplished the auto load function - which when implemented would not require your tech to do anything but turn the Motif XF ON. The XF would take care of the rest.

Here’s what I mean. You could have sampled the audio directly into the Motif XF. However, let’s just say that you alredy had the audio .WAV done in P.T. (which I assume is Pro Tools). You could have “loaded” the .WAV sample into the Motif XF as:
1) A User Voice which would be stored in a location in banks USER 1-USER 4
2) Directly to a SONG or PATTERN ( which would put it in a USER SAMPLE VOICE associated with the sequence data used to trigger it)

The point is: converting the audio to a Motif XF Voice means that you can have the Motif XF automatically LOAD the audio and how you are going to use it.

A .wav has no Motif XF specific data with it. Useful Motif XF specific data includes things like: The KEY that will trigger the audio’s playback. The VELOCITY that will trigger playback. The Volume. pan position. effects, etc. that you have applied to that audio sample.

Restoring the .WAV file each time will mean you have to do all of the Motif XF edit work again each time you load it… or at minimum you have to recreate how the XF is going to use that audio. Using the XF you can store the work you’ve done.

Say you stored the audio in a normal USER Voice (USER 1: 001(A01) and what you did to it in that USER VOICE was apply a REV-X HALL reverb and the VCM COMPRESSOR 376, and 5-band VCM EQ 501, along with a multiple repeat TEMPO DELAY (set to BPM = 102) so that multiple repeats would trigger at 8th note intervals alternating between the left and right channels!

In this case you would want to save your Motif XF enhanced audio… The audio you brought in as a .WAV does not have this Motif-specific-work that you did. So your tech loading the .WAV every time means you would have to repeat creating that USER VOICE and the settings everytime… or at minimum you’d have to re-establish the relationship with this set of XF Voice parameterts.

Instead it is recommeded that you save your work in a Motif XF propretary file format - in this case either ALL (.X3A), or ALL VOICE (.X3S). Either of these formats would return your audio to the VOICE located in USER 1, 001(A01). A Yamaha Motif XF file format has the added advantage of being able to restore not only the audio but automatcially reunite it with the ‘work” (editing) you did in the Motif XF. The .Wav only contains the editing you might have done prior to exporting the .WAV (if you rendered that data to the .WAV)

The other scenario has you loading the AUDIO directly to the Motif XF’s Integrated Sampling Sequencer. You would do this when you need the audio clip to play in synchronzation with the Motif XF sequence data y ou wish to add to your audio clip, or if you want to use it along with a MIDI sequence you have done in the XF.

In that case, the sample is associated with a Mtofi XF TRACK. Since all tracks of a sequencer are MIDI data. What actually goes on the track is a NOTE-ON EVENT responsible for turning ON the audio - holding the Note-on active until audio is to stop and then a note-off. So MIDI data in the track is used to turn ON and OFF the audio clip - which is housed in a special VOICE now associated with the TRACK data - we call this a USER SAMPLE VOICE because it is only associated (integrated) with the SONG or PATTERN in which you create the NOTE ON Event data.

Here you would save the ‘work” in an ALL data file (.X3A) or in a sequencer file ALL SONG (.X3S) or ALL PATTERN (.X3P). These Motif XF file formats save not only the audio (your vocal stem) but save the USER SAMPLE VOICE and how it was used. The fact that you might have placed it on Track 16 of a PATTERN set to play at a tempo of 102 along side 15 other Motif XF sounds and musical data all synchronized to your XF tempo…

SUMMARY:
A .WAV is simply the audio - as is - it includes no additional enhancements of your XF engine
By saving in a Motif XF file format when you setup to AUTO LOAD the data, not only will the audio of your vocal return but the context in which you customized it in the Motif XF. That’s what you want.

Hope the concept is clear - even if the button presses are (at first) a mystery.

Well, all I can tell you is my tech only has to load the wave file, and the rest is already there. Also, I use thenfavorites section, and that means I have to stay in voice mode, so for me this works. I’m not saying it’s everyone’s preferred method, but that goes to show the flexibility of the instrument that it can be done so many different ways. I do wish people would post more videos as to the best ways to accomplish this, and take into consideration that some people aren’t necessarily brilliant programmers who just want to facilitate their needs quickly to get on with their work. I plan on doing this when my tour is through.

Thank you both for your answers. Maybe my question was not clear. Im still having a really big problem. I CAN NOT save my sample to my USB drive. I formated it on my MOTIF.

Could you please give me the procedure how I would save the sample I made TO my USB in the MOTIF. This is so confussing to me!

Thank you very much, your time is much appreciated! :)

Yes, your post was not clear.

How to best SAVE your sample will depend on how you created it. But if all you are worried about is saving any work you have done in the Motif XF - here is a step-by-step that SAVE everything:

Insert your USB stick in the ‘TO DEVICE” slot
In the screen you should see the XF report that it has detected your USB device

Press [FILE]
In a few seconds, (it depends on the number and size of the drives connected) the XF will publish information on the drive(s).
The very TOP line reads FILE and should show the Statitstics of the currently selected DEVICE

You navigate on this screen with the UP/DOWN, LEFT /RIGHT cursor arrows, the DATA WHEEL, the INC/DEC buttons. Take you time with navigation - in other words, you need to undersand the various working areas of this screen.

You want to SAVE and ALL file

TYPE = ALL
Press [SF1] SAVE]
Give your FILE a NAME… name it something that will remind you what’s in the file that is important to you.
Press [ENTER] when you have completed the name

If you selected a name that already exists you will be warned you are about to OVERWRITE the file with the same name. If it is a unique name, you will be asked ARE YOU SURE?

Confirm and you will have saved your data in a file that will restore everything that you have done.

Navigating the FILE screen
The highlight initially is on the TYPE setting… Use the [LEFT CURSOR] Arrow to move up to the DIRECTORY area and hit it again to move up to the DEVICE. Use the [RIGHT CURSOR] to move back down to the DIRECTORY. Once in the Directory you would be able to highlight individual items using the DATA WHEEL or the INC/DEC or UP/DOWN buttons and so on.
Once you select an item in the DIRECTORY you can use the [RIGHT CURSOR] to move down to the lower areas of the screen.

Warning: since we are not clear what it is you have done… we cannot guarantee anything more than an ALL file will restore it.