I just picked up my brand new S70XS!

My previous board was a Motif ES7 that I’m still gonna hang on to.  Love the board but thought it was time to move to a weighted action. 

Here’s a quick background before I get to my question.  I mainly play live in a classic rock band and don’t use arpeggios or sequencing. When I programed my old MO I used Performance Mode.  I created my splits or layers and named the Performance after the name of the song.  (i.e. A4 = Beginnings – a piano 2/3 up and organ at the top 1/3) So, on stage I would always be in Performance Mode and when it was time to play Beginnings I’d simply press A4 and have my rig ready to go.

Question: 
A while ago I recall someone suggesting that I use Master Mode rather than Performance. I never changed the old MO since I was pretty set in my ways.  However, now that I have a new board fresh out of the box I may be open to using Master Mode if it makes more sense.  What would be the benefit of using Master Mode over Performance?

We don’t always do the same songs in the same order in the set so most importantly, I need to go from song to song quickly.  My old way using Performance Mode was an easy two button maneuver to get me where I wanted to be. 

Thanks for any input!
Kevin

Master mode lets you point to both Performances AND Voices.  You could, in a sense, create Performances that have only a single Voice in them and maybe that is what you are doing.  Still the same number of button presses to get to your sound.

There is only one Master bank, vs. four Performance banks.

Master mode is also where you setup your voices to control external gear.  You can’t control external synths from Voice or Performance.

Using Performance mode can be just fine for your needs.  There is no need to use Master mode if you can accomplish your needs just fine with Performance mode.  I use Master mode because I point to a mixture of Performances and Voices and sometimes use external gear.

Thanks for the info.  I don’t use any outboard gear and do have several Performances that contain only one voice.  You hit the nail on the head.  I think I’ll stick with Performance Mode then.

There is one other reason you may choose to use Master Mode .

If your performances are named to describe their voicing (eg Sixties organ), in Master Mode it is often desirable to name the patch according to a song title (eg Daydream Believer) and point the patch to the applicable performance.

I find using Master Mode for set lists extremely helpful, but agree it is a matter of personal preference.

And 1 more reason to use Master mode if I might add. The limitation of only 1 bank for Master Mode removes the task of selecting the bank. So when in Master mode and you press H7 - there’s only one sound your gonna get every time.

Well ..... I just finished programing my board.  I opted for using Performance Mode.

Thanks for the input.