hi...i’ve been attempting to use my motif via midi on to reaper, i would like to use the voices from m y motif in this manner so i can snap my data to the grid nice and clean...the problem is i cant seem to find the right synth vst to read the motifs data. i just downloaded motif xs editor vst hoping this would be the answer however once i installed to my desktop it was only read me files but no vst to be found. 1st, am i just going about this whole thing wrong? 2nd, where can i get a proper plug in that is compatible with my motif? also if there is anyone out there familiar with reaper, i could really use some pointers on there reafiles and how they work with midi. thanks a bunch -lee /Users/ourmusic/Desktop/mtxv120m

The Motif XS Editor standalone/VST is a VST.

My question for you is, “Do you know what a VST is?”

VST, or Virtual Studio Tecnology is a Steinberg innovation introduced in the 1990s that allows for specific routing scenario within the Digital Audio Workstation environment. It allowed for a situation where you could monitor the audio Return of signal post being processed in the computer.

This technology supported both effect processing and synthesized signal. The synthesizer portion is referred to as a VSTi, virtual instrument, soft synth or other familiar terms (associated with this). The misnomer is, because so many VSTi are software, people wrongly conclude that a VSTi must be software. But that would be wrong thinking. What makes VSTi routing so powerful is it is a routing scenario supported by a monitoring setup that allows the synth tone generator to be either on-board the computer (using the same CPU as the host DAW) or in a more processor-friendly situation, the synth engine has a dedicated CPU of its own generating the synth sound.

So a VST can be internal or external to the computer. It is a technology that allows for advanced signal routing.

Whether the VSTi is internal or external to the computer, the routing situation is similar:

You record MIDI Data to a TRACK assigned to communicate with the synth tone engine. That MIDI data triggers the synth which produces the SOUND… The sound is not allowed to go to the speakers just yet; a MONITOR switch redirects it to the DAW… to a special VST INSTRUMENT Audio Lane… This audio lane looks like an Audio Track but it does not have a RECORD button. You only MONITOR the signal here. It is very much a “what you hear is what you are going to get” once you finally render the audio as a Wave in a DAW routine called “MIXDOWN”. Until that operation you are listening to “virtual audio”. Virtual because the signal is being reproduced “live” by the synth engine. CPU intensive if internal.

The only difference between the internal (soft) VSTi and an external (hardware) VSTi is where that MIDI data is routed and the path the AUDIO RETURNED takes… But the signal arrives in the same location… At that virtual audio lane for the VST INSTRUMENT.

If anything, the external VSTi pathway is the original reason for the routing setup… To allow the bigger world of external devices into the computer environment. And to stop overtaxing the computer’s poor CPU. Obviously, if your computer CPU is recording, and generating effects, while providing compression and EQing, all while also creating your musical instrument sounds, it doesn’t take a musician long to realize that you’re compromising. But because many see it as “less expensive”, it offers a quick solution. (And the number of stolen soft synths greatly impacts the degree of satisfaction… People only complain when they have actually purchased the synth engine. That’s what smells funny, there should be far more complaining… Ever notice?) :-) that’s a different topic…

If you have a classic bit of hardware, be it a Stadivarius violin, a classic guitar, a Cry Baby pedal, a MuTron Bi-Phase, a Teletronix LA2A, a vintage B3, an Echoplex, a tube amp, an AltecLansing spring reverb, an SPX90 mkII, a Boss CE2, an Eventide Harmonizer, etc.,etc., etc., and you want to use them in your project in Cubase… It is VST routing and its ability to include both internal audio and external audio into the “box”.

This was the concept that created the need for Virtual Studio Technology.... A way to include the world of dedicated hardware into the world of software. Look, you can love software all you want, there are some really great things, but dedicated hardware has its place, and not just in history. If it has to be explained to you, you probably weren’t there to know! Or you only play an instrument that plugs in…

But it doesn’t take a scientist to know asking a modest computer to do TOO MUCH, is not as good as combining a bunch of devices working within there means. It simply is true. If you have hardware, be it an external guitar or effect, VST routing allows signal whether the source is INTERNAL or EXTERNAL to be used creatively in the DAW (Cubase) environment.

So routing signal via the “Motif XS Editor Standalone/VST” can be accomplished if you are using a VST3 compatible DAW. If you are not, you must establish the audio Return via the EDITOR running along side your DAW. In order to accomplish this routing you set the VSTi audio Return to the device you are using as your audio interface… That is, the device you are using to bring audio from the XS into your computer.

You play, MIDI data is captured by your DAW MIDI track, that track is set to trigger the Motif XS tone engine, instead of the XS sending signal to the main outputs and your speakers, audio is re-routed by the audio interface, to the computer first… There it is returned to the audio lane where finally it goes to the audio output. But you are monitoring post or AFTER it travels this extra distance. That is what VST routing means.

Stop using it just to mean “soft synths”. It includes audio routing for effects and for external synth engines to return their audio signal. The Motif XS VST is real and works exactly like every other VSTi you have ever known. Don’t let it’s location fool you.

Thanks! I’m really trying to get all that. I do think I understand a little better about vst. Still having quite figured out the routing. Perhaps I haven’t directed my voice, say “grand piano” from my motif to be rreceived in my daw.Is that possible? How might I direct that voice? I’m also still having trouble understanding what exactly the xs editor is and where it is, I understand now what its not “software”. Thanks for your patience.... I wish I was further along than I am, I just want to create music but getting lost in translation

What is your audio interface?
The audio interface is the way in which you are going to transfer audio from the Motif XS into the computer.

Person us fire studio...running midi cable from motif out to fire studio. I’ve been able to control other internal synths with my keyboard like kontakt 5 and looked so I know that’s at least working