Hello,
On the MOTIF ES, i had loaded/saved on a USB 8GB. after a break of a few months it will not read the USB Please advise, thank u.
ALSO, how can I have like have the guitar, bass, drums played interactive/accompaniment while holding down a chord (left hand) like on the PS yamaha series ?

I would try another USB stick with it....I have a Motif ES6 too and I have never been able to get anything larger than a 4 GB USB stick to work with mine, and the ES6 is picky about what USB thumb drives will work with it....I think newer Motifs have a lot more drivers for USB sticks than the ES....

Since your 8 GB USB stick worked before, try it with a computer and see if it works with that....

It’s also possible you might need to spray electrical contact cleaner into your USB jack (be quick and don’t drown it)....after you spray it, plug and unplug a USB stick over and over to wipe the contacts clean.....

I have been able to get huge external hard drives to work with my ES6 after I put them into external hard drive enclosures.....I prefer to use 3.5 inch IDE hard drives in external enclosures to 2.5 inch IDE or SATA hard drives in external enclosures because even though the 3.5 need their own power supply to work and the 2.5 don’t, the 3.5 enclosures have an off / on switch on the enclosure and they can stay plugged in all the time and you just turn them on when you need them.....the 2.5 drives are always spinning when plugged in and have no off / on switch......all external hard drives that I have used needed to be formatted by the ES to work and then work fine......

CAUTION: When you format any hard drive or thumb drive, it erases
them completely so make sure to back up anything on them to DVD
before doing this !!!!!!!

The operating system in the ES is nice because after formatting anything with the ES it is compatible with my Windows XP computers.....I bought a 15 foot USB cable which allows me to backup anything on the external hard drive to DVD (never trust CD’s for data....they go bad).....CD’s don’t go bad when you make audio CD’s with them probably because the data is huge but MP3’s and general data put on CD’s goes bad and sometimes very quickly....

As far as having rhythms play along with you, you have to assign arpeggios to the performance or voice as they are what makes it work...you also have a choice to have the backing rhythm play forever once it’s started or you can have it play only when you hold keys on the keyboard.....I highly recommend that you buy “Commanding The Yamaha Motif - Volumes 1 & 2”.....the Motifs are very deep machines and by not learning them thoroughly you will always be fighting to get things done.....on the other hand, by learning them well, you will be able to do things you never thought possible....there are also many instructional DVD’s.....get everything you can get your hands on......you won’t believe the power of the Motifs once you learn them.....

In the arpeggio settings, there is a “SWITCH” on & off which turns the arpeggiator on & off.....there is also a dedicated button on the panel that does the same thing.....

In the arpeggio settings there is a “HOLD” on & off.....this
determines if the arpeggio continues to play when you let go
of the keys.....these settings are stored with your voice
and performance settings when you store them....

Something that’s cool with the ES is you can load individual voices with sample data....you select under USB load modes “LOAD VOICE” and then select where to save the voice.....you might need to have the newest operating system installed for it to be able to do this....I can’t honestly remember as I’ve has my ES6 over 6 years....I seem to remember upgrading my operating system a long time ago but I’m not sure if this is required to do this....

After loading individual voices with sample data and compiling your favorites, make sure to save these to USB which will make it
super easy to load next time....it’s also good to know what all saves to USB in different save modes.....saving as an “ALL” file will naturally save everything but since it saves the entire contents of the ES, these banks will be larger and take longer to load and save....you will find that it isn’t always necessary to save in this save mode....

Thanq RockPianoman, appreciate you educating me. Have a DVD instructional that does give a lot of information, etc.Gonna get my hands on the “Commanding The Yamaha Motif - Volumes 1 & 2”. Are these available like from Guitar Center OR YAMAHA directly ? bcoz like you mentioned I can already see that knowing more on all the different nuances, settings & how to ? wud make it more easier & time effective, since right now I do struggle in getting to understand & getting things done.
What makes me curious is how come it did save/load all well & correctly on a USB 8GB (which someone at YAMAHA said is the MAX that can be used)but now I am using a 2GB.Also, yes !! My PC does read the files saved on the 8GB & the MOTIF ES when I try to save on the 8GB it says “Only READ File” ??
On the rhythms i have experimented & had a bit of success, but I’m trying to see how I can have like the BASS & GUITAR CHORDS (Rhythm) accompaniment while I have like a sample of the TABLA or DRUMS playing while I’m performing the leads/song, etc. & having the bass & guitar chords with almost every song I play at a GIG (mostly at cuisine restaurants). I do understand the HOLD, etc. Now Can I create a arpeggio of my own & like it changes chords according to what I hold on to ?
If you can shed some of yr precious advise, I wud certainly appreciate it.
Thanx.

Would certainly appreciate if someone can respond to the above.
Thank u.

I would probably use song mode and create songs that way (this is more like using a tape recorder that keeps going until you hit stop)....

By doing it this way, turn quantize on and leave the metronome on and lay down a rhythm like with piano that runs the full length of the song....the complete song skeleton is made by this with all changes and beginnings and endings....this is one way to do it....it may be easier with piano and certain other instruments not to use quantize as it tends to change what you’re doing and when you play it back, it’s been changed.... make sure to stay perfectly on time with the metronome if not using quantize as the metronome will be the time-keeper for the whole song....set the ES to not replace but choose overdub (overdub is default) and leave the metronome on and add anything you want to the parts already recorded using the same track over and over......don’t worry about any mistakes on this first track......this will be deleted....you can then add the actual song on separate tracks with different tracks doing different instruments.....the additional tracks must contain everything needed as the first track will be deleted eventually....the first track is the skeleton and everything is built against this....

Using pattern mode and looping rhythms always seems restricting to me and also that’s not too original to use preset patterns when you are writing....you really should make your own..........patterns and loops aren’t the way real music is made.....if you lay down the whole song on one track and then lay down the drums and then the bass, this is more the way real music is made and you can avoid the complications of chaining events and you don’t have to do the math like “How many times should this phrase repeat before going to the next phrase?”

Also, playing along with the metronome when you record will make it not sound like a machine, but just like a real band, you want the timing nice and tight.....people who write songs and use the perfect timing of the machine on every track, well, it sounds like a machine and while sometimes you may want perfect timing on
all the tracks in a song, I prefer to sound like a real musician....when you use “your” timing and use the metronome to play along with, your song doesn’t drag or speed up and it sounds like real people playing to the point where people won’t think of it so much as being made with a machine....it will sound more like the old songs recorded with a multi-track tape recorder only
way better sounds and sound quality....

You can lay down your drum track by using just a snare and a bass drum on your first pass and then select the sounds for the next pass and re-record it until you are happy with it.....if you use the same drum sound on two tracks, one can be the finished track and the other can be things you add one by one.....doing it this way, you can add the second track to the final track once you are sure it’s right.....you can also do constant saves as all files which will preserve different points in the creation process and let you go back in time as much as you want....

Practice with different quantize settings to see what works best for you....quantize corrects the timing and keeps it precisely on time with the clock.....quantize corrects what you play to the nearest 1/8 note, 1/4 note, 1/2 note etc....study quantize with the manual.....type in “Yamaha Manual Library” in Google if you don’t have a manual as they are free downloads and all you need is Adobe Acrobat reader which is free too....right click on the actual PDF on the Yamaha Manual page and select “save link as”......

Not all tracks (or any) need quantizing.....turn it off and play along with the main track if you want....

Save your work constantly as an all file (2 are better) so if you save wrong you haven’t ruined both.....if you ever lose power, you lose all work done since your last save.....also store mixer settings and utility settings as you go....these save you from having to set things up again…

I would advise anyone that even though you are using the Motif’s
technology, use your timing whenever possible by playing along with the metronome.....in overdub mode, while your previous take is playing you can add to it (even when on the same track) and you can do this as many times as you want.....if you mess up, use the undo function and try again....

Something else to keep in mind is it’s always nice to make music you can actually play live as it’s extremely easy with the Motif to make songs you could never play live.....at solo shows I do, people don’t seem to like me playing along with tracks whether they’re mine or somebody else’s....the closer I stay to all live, the more they seem to appreciate it, so maybe make your music so it is possible to somehow play it all live if possible....

Thanx RockPianoMan, appreciate it.
Have already created songs, etc chained the patterns & then converted to song, etc.
Sequencing I do understand. I am trying to play live with accompaniment like say having a guitar arp & drums (which I am already doing)I was wanting advise on like how to have Bass also play interactive maybe sync with One Man Band software ?
If you may shed some of yr expertise on this, please.
Thanq.

I haven’t really done that....I either play live without backing tracks or I record but I think that arpeggios in the Motif do change key and follow you as you play along with them....

I think studying all you can about arpeggios will be the best use of your time....

With arpeggios, turn hold on and the rhythm will never stop once it has started and with hold off, the rhythm instantly stops when you release the keys and instantly restarts as you play....

http://www.motifator.com/index.php/support/es_videos/

To make your own arpeggios, use pattern mode as that’s what they are....repeating patterns....

There is a function somewhere that turns patterns into user arpeggios....patterns can also be very long depending on how many measures and the tempo you select....