Hi everyone,

I am looking in to buying a Motif - I just wanted to ask something....

Let’s say you’re playing an electric piano sound at a gig and you suddenly feel like you want to change to saxophone - are you able to browse the list of sax sounds while still playing the electric piano sound, and then change to sax when you’ve found the right one you want?

My current keyboard annoys me in this regard, if I’m playing electric piano and I decide I want a brass sound, as soon as I hit brass category it switches to brass, there’s no way to browse the list in the background without it changing.

Thanks

Craig

I’ve simply scoped out the sounds ahead of time and have set up 16 voices in User 1 A 1-16.

2 pianos (Journey and Full Conert Grand, 2 organs (Jazz+C3 and Gimmee Some Lovin , 2 violins (solo and ensemble), 2 brass (single trumpet and trumpet section), 2 (tenor and alto, 2 elctric pianos (Rays Wurli and Dyno Wurli, and 2 Synth (Poly Hook and Jump) and two guitars (Twelve String and Voodooman).

Easy enough to switch between sounds.  Yes , there is a gap between sound switchs but a little preparation limits the effects of this.

Jamming is very easy in this format when needing to switch voices. 

yh

craigb - 28 May 2012 05:42 PM

Let’s say you’re playing an electric piano sound at a gig and you suddenly feel like you want to change to saxophone - are you able to browse the list of sax sounds while still playing the electric piano sound, and then change to sax when you’ve found the right one you want?

Yes, you use Category Search if you do not have a Favorites List you want to choose from.

cmayhle - 28 May 2012 10:47 PM

craigb - 28 May 2012 05:42 PM

Let’s say you’re playing an electric piano sound at a gig and you suddenly feel like you want to change to saxophone - are you able to browse the list of sax sounds while still playing the electric piano sound, and then change to sax when you’ve found the right one you want?

Yes, you use Category Search if you do not have a Favorites List you want to choose from.

Maybe I’m missing something, but doesn’t using Category Search cause the Voice you’re playing to change?

Yes, and I can’t imagine trying to pan through a list while I’m playing.

5pinDIN - 28 May 2012 11:12 PM

Maybe I’m missing something, but doesn’t using Category Search cause the Voice you’re playing to change?

Thanks 5pinDIN, I didn’t read the OP’s set-up scenario accurately!

well u can use sequencer mode for fast switching between 16 parts no previous sound cuts it works for me.
this is my 1st post on motifator :-)

If you know in advance what voices you want to switch between
you can also create a Performance with overlaid Voices.
- With a little programming you can then switch between them with pedals.
- You can also program those Voices to respond to velocity: how hard you hit the keys.
It’s easy to make one Voice come in and another go away when you hit harder.

It’s also possible to sequence by pedal(in ONE direction) through a list of Voices.
See a Kronos example here (Motif can do that too):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqU3uMCG8EA

;JOOP!

sciuriware - 29 May 2012 04:46 AM

If you know in advance what voices you want to switch between
you can also create a Performance with overlaid Voices.
- With a little programming you can then switch between them with pedals.
- You can also program those Voices to respond to velocity: how hard you hit the keys.
It’s easy to make one Voice come in and another go away when you hit harder.

It’s also possible to sequence by pedal(in ONE direction) through a list of Voices.
See a Kronos example here (Motif can do that too):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqU3uMCG8EA


;JOOP!

Set Lists, 128 lists, 128 slots per list http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NUga0pLLgY

The technical answer to your technical question is simply “no”. I don’t think computers can even do that yet.  If you’re scrolling through patches, no matter what, sounds will get cut off.  (Someone please correct me if I’m wrong) The only way I know of this is to literally have two keyboards or two independent sound generators.  While one is being played, you can have the luxury of scrolling through the other keyboard’s sounds. 

But like some other folks said, here, you can program a series of patches if you already know what you want to use for that gig.  Either use master mode to line up your instruments in order… or… use the song mode’s 16 tracks.  I personally prefer this mode. 

With 16 buttons, you can assign 16 different instruments and call them up instantly.  Like the other person said, there might be a little transition bump, but it gets the job done.  Smooth Sound Transition (SST) is something that YAMAHA still has to incorporate into their next keyboard lines… I really hope they will, cuz it sure is annoying when an instrument’s sound gets cutoff. 

The only downfall about the 16 tracks is that you only have 8 insert fx available with master reverb and chorus.  So, what you wanna do is make sure all your electronic patches or “guitar fx” patches have the insert fx switch turned on.  Other sounds like ac. drums, sax, ac. guitars, grand pianos, etc. don’t really need insert effects.  Saxophones, wind, strings sound good with regular reverb.  So I hope this is a good concept for you.  Enjoy.

Anyways, how come the Roland Fantom G was able to give us 16 insert fx?  Kronos tried and came close.  What about the future of motif?

When I saw others using Song/Mixing modes to cut down the transition time between voice changes, I checked it out to see how that would work for me.

In Song Mixing mode...In a motif Song...I can set up to 16 tracks with voice names included...For me, where I needed multiple yet individual voices per song, I now might use track one and two for the first song (Piano/Violin), and label them with the song title. 

Then I would leave track 3 blank (just as a visual spacer) and load the voices needed for the 2nd song in the set in tracks 4/5.

Yes there is a little more programming needed BUT the transition between sounds within a song IS seemless . 

16 tracks per song in the motif ...therefore maybe 5 actual gig songs per 16 tracks..(given the “spacer tracks), therefore it takes 3 motif songs (48 tracks) to accommodate a set to eliminate the “gap” when playing live within a gig set.

yh

Just a couple of Points of Order:

First, you can scroll through lists of PROGRAMS on the Motif XS without changing the current VOICE. The key is to know the difference between SELECTING a VOICE (say by CATEGORY SEARCH) and viewing a list of the Programs by the “BANK - GROUP - NUMBER” method.

The operating system gives you several ways to get to sounds (and that is by design). If, for example, you are playing the “Vintage’74” electric piano VOICE in [VOICE] mode, and wanted to look for a saxophone sound (as requested by the original poster), if you really want to look through the 1024 Presets and the 384 User Voices you can… you will find generally the Presets are listed in a specific order, the User Voices you can place in any order you desire.

But let’s stick to the saxophone example, the saxophone Presets are located PRESET 5, Group A and B

By pressing the [PRE 5], then GROUP [A] button you can view the 16 VOICES in that particular Bank/Group… you will still be playing the Vintage’74 electric piano while you are reading the names of the saxophones… if you decide that that “Velo Growl Legato” is the saxophone you want when you want to switch instruments, simply press the button [10]

This sends a program change immediately as the button #[10] is pressed. But you can view the entire VOICE Library while you continue to play the current sound.

Obviously planning ahead is a far, far better way. Organize your Voices into convenient grouping. Use the USER Banks - they are for you to organize YOUR data.

If you need seamless transitions between particular Programs then organize your Voices into the PARTS of a MIXING Program. Because you change the transmit channel when you select a new sound to play rather than switching the program assigned to the current channel, there is no interruption in sound. If you begin to understand what a PART is (found in PERFORMANCES, and SONG/PATTERN MIXING programs) you can begin to take advantage of the benefits of working ‘live’ with MIXING programs.

Category Search - is for, as the name describes, looking for VOICES by Category… in such a case you don’t want to have any delay in hearing what you are searching for… you want to hear it right away. Use the CATEGORY SEARCH method when it is appropriate.

Use the method of recalling your programs that works best for what you are doing at the time. Not all methods work in all instances for what you are attempting. Try and see each different method for its intended purpose.

Hope that helps

Thanks everyone for your comments…

The general feeling I’m getting is that it is possible! I think I will try and find one to have a play on to try it out properly.

I used to play a Tyros and then a Korg M50, on the Tyros you could select a category button and then look through the patches, without changing the sound until you selected the right one, same with the M50, using the touchscreen. At the moment I have a Roland Juno Stage (I know it’s rubbish - but I also have a Nord Stage to make up for it!). There seems to be no way to cycle through the Roland’s patches or performances without it constantly changing..

The whole reason I was asking all this was I was playing with a dep band the other day and got caught out - just before we started a song they said “we drop careless whisper in the middle of this and the keys player normally does the sax solo” - i wanted to swap to a sax sound but I couldn’t cause the sax sound is hidden in the brass category, so as soon as i hit that button the keyboard swaps to a brass section sound! So when it came to the solo i had to carry on with the piano patch and just look at them helplessly!