Hello,

I have had my MOXF8 for more than a year now and am finally considering adding a 512mb flash board to it since the price’s seems to have finally dropped on them somewhat. 

Just a basic question: once I install this board, can I simply add any sound library purchased from Yamaha musicsoft directly to the keyboard via a USB drive and will all the sounds in that particular library load directly into the keyboard’s instrument banks accordingly, or is it a little more involved than that?

Also wondering about approximately how many voice libraries can be loaded using just the 512mb card? I really haven’t researched this topic much because I had a heavy learning curve to tackle with the keyboard before I felt comfortable enough to take this next step.

Thank you very much.

Jeff

Jeff R 50 - 03 January 2016 07:33 PM

I have had my MOXF8 for more than a year now and am finally considering adding a 512mb flash board to it since the price’s seems to have finally dropped on them somewhat. 

Just a basic question: once I install this board, can I simply add any sound library purchased from Yamaha musicsoft directly to the keyboard via a USB drive and will all the sounds in that particular library load directly into the keyboard’s instrument banks accordingly, or is it a little more involved than that?

Loading a library specifically meant for a MOXF (file extensions .X6A “all” or .X6V “all voice") is fairly straightforward, and instructions usually come with the library. A MOXF can also load files originally meant for the Motif XF (.X3A or .X3V for example), but that can sometimes require a bit more effort.

 

Jeff R 50 -

Also wondering about approximately how many voice libraries can be loaded using just the 512mb card? I really haven’t researched this topic much because I had a heavy learning curve to tackle with the keyboard before I felt comfortable enough to take this next step.

There’s no way to directly answer your question. Voice data loads into User locations, and the MOXF has three banks of 128 each, 384 total. How many libraries would fit would depend on how many banks each library had.

However, that has nothing to do with the flash module capacity, because it is Samples/Waveforms that are stored there, not Voice data. You can get an approximate idea of what will fit on the flash module by looking at the size in MB of the library file. There are other factors that might restrict what can be loaded, such as maximum number of Waveforms (2048) and Samples (8192), but that limitation isn’t often a factor.

Before purchasing a flash module you might want see which libraries you’re interested in, and determine how much storage space would be required. A 512MB module might not be insufficient for your needs, and since the MOXF has a single flash module slot (unlike the Motif XF, which has two), you’d then either be limited in what you could load or have to get a larger module to replace the 512MB one.

Just so you are clearly aware:  Libraries that do not contain new sample data (of which there are many) will not affect or involve your new Flash Board at all.

5PinDin and Cmayhle,

Thank you very much for your replies.  I appreciate the information.  I was planning on loading only the “Inspiration in a flash” library and possibly “Virtual Pianos” and The “CP1 Piano” for now. I believe the 3 of those files alone are over 512mb.  Since the flash card does not actually store the voices, does it instead use up internal memory that is shared with the sequencer memory by any chance?  I wouldn’t want to use up any of that because as it is now, I am constantly getting the “Sequencer memory full” and having to delete and/or copy songs to a flash drive to free up space.

I think this is my biggest fear about trying to use a flash expansion board. 

Thanks again guys.

Jeff

The flash board is for samples (Yamaha calls them waveforms) only.  Everything else is stored in your USER voice area.  In order to use those samples, some USER voices or USER performances may get overlaid.

Instead of loading everything from the package ALL files, I was more selective and only loaded the new voices that I wanted from each library.  With that approach, the 512MB board has been completely adequate for me.

Thanks rhuff.  I think that’s what I will also probably have to do.  But I am always leery of screwing things up though (I have a bad track record in that regard) : )

Jeff

Jeff R 50 - 03 January 2016 10:35 PM

[...] Since the flash card does not actually store the voices, does it instead use up internal memory that is shared with the sequencer memory by any chance? [...]

Sequencer memory is not impacted by loading sample libraries, unless there were demo Songs or Patterns. However, that’s not typical, and if there were such sequences, you could remove them.

rhuff - 03 January 2016 10:45 PM

The flash board is for samples (Yamaha calls them waveforms) only.

Not to nit-pick, but Samples and Waveforms in Yamaha nomenclature are not the same thing. Waveforms organize Samples in a way that the MOXF can use them. This and the links in it might help clarify the differences:
http://www.motifator.com/index.php/forum/in/viewthread/475989/

 

rhuff -

Everything else is stored in your USER voice area.  In order to use those samples, some USER voices or USER performances may get overlaid.

When loading an “all” file in entirety, all User areas are overwritten. If an “all voice” file is loaded in entirety, only User Voices are overwritten. The only way to avoid those things happening is to selectively load single Programs or Banks.

 

rhuff -

Instead of loading everything from the package ALL files, I was more selective and only loaded the new voices that I wanted from each library.  With that approach, the 512MB board has been completely adequate for me.

That works, and is indeed the way to take best advantage of the flash module and User Voice and Performance memory capacity.

Of course, in order to be able to choose which Voices you want to load from a library, you first have to experience all of them - and that requires initially loading the entire library. The first step is to save an “all” file of your current MOXF contents. I’d suggest making more than one backup, on two different drives, just to be safe, and name them so that it’s obvious what they are. Then you can load one library at a time, without concern of wiping out your own data. Play all the Voices and Performances, and take notes of which of them you definitely want.

You could then load another library, and do the same note taking - but first determine if there’s sufficient room on the flash module. If not, delete or reformat it beforehand.

Once you’ve determined which things you want to have from each library, you can decide what to load and how to load it.

Hi.
I have a 1 GB flash and loaded inspiration and cp1.
Inspiration is 385 MB and CP1 is 120 MB…
Together with Yamaha aneversory pack my my is full.
Using a 512 you will probibly not be able to load all you want or you have to use waveformeditor to pick the voices you need in a custom bank.
Im happy to buy a 1gb. Wish i had More....
I have the mutec-card. Works well the short time i have used it…

Excellent points 5PinDIN.  Since were talking about flash consumption, I was being lazy in my sample = waveform description.  I need to be more careful because some of these posts may be read long after the original topic was answered.

Good point about loading the ALL file initially to be able to preview the library.  ALWAYS BACKUP YOUR MOXF TO AN ALL FILE before messing with loading libraries.  I’ve pretty much quit using others’ ALL files because of their unintended consequences.  If I don’t know specifically what I’m after and want to “shop”, I’ll maybe load a voice bank and then restore from my own ALL file when I’m done.  That’s just my own workflow I’ve developed after losing system settings, voice edits, or having the keyboard locked up (loading) for many minutes.

Also consider buying John Melas Waveform editor. With this valuable tool you can easily construct your own custom libraries by taking specific parts you like (voices followed automatically by their corresponding waveforms/samples) from other libraries, either designed for MOXF or XF or XS.

I use a spreadsheet to mark which voices I like.

Format the Flash before loading each library, unless you have enough memory left for the next library.  Then load the library from USB.  Make a new tab in the spreadsheet for the library, for example IIAF (Inspiration In A Flash).  Then go through each voice one at a time and list the ones you like.  For example: User 2 B11 NameOfSound.  Once you have all of your voices figured out, then load each voice one at a time until you have your complete set.  A bit slow and tedious, but you will eventually get your favorites loaded.

Load your favorite voices first.  Get all of those loaded first to be sure you have room for them.  You don’t want to start loading voices and then run out of room before you get those most desired voices loaded.

Also, once you have everything loaded be sure to save an ALL file ‘with samples’ checked.  This is important.  If you don’t do this step or if you don’t save with samples checked, you won’t be able to reload this set.  When loading from USB, as long as you don’t change your flash memory, you do not need to check ‘with samples’.  It’s been awhile, you may not need to check ‘with waveforms’ either.  It’s been awhile since I’ve loaded a library requiring my current Flash set, so I’m a little rusty on this.