Hi, I want to use my Motif as a MIDI controller but don’t seem to have the correct driver. I can connect it to my Win10 computer but that’s about as far as I’ve gotten. Tried using proxy MIDI control devices to no avail. Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

Hi,

First of all, you need the Yamaha USB MIDI driver installed on your computer.

The Motifs came with control setups for DAWs like Cubase or Sonar, for selecting/muting tracks, operating faders/pots, controlling the transport, etc. from the Motif front panel (see p.65 of the manual). With plugins, it’s a different story. It would therefore be helpful to know what software you are using.

- H -

Hi Henry,

I have a Motif 8 connected to my Windows 10 computer with Reaper. I can get my other MIDI keyboard controller to connect and play VSTs just fine but not my Motif. Installed the original Yamaha Tools disc which came with my Motif but nothing seemed to change on my computer. Just for the heck of it I tried installing the driver for a newer Yamaha model and sure enough that appears in my DAW MIDI options but no matter what settings I adjust I can’t seem to get my Motif to control VSTs. Yes, Installed the Yamaha USB MIDI driver but to no avail. It’s so strange. If Reaper recognized the newer drivers then I don’t understand why it doesn’t recognize one for my classic Motif.

Hi,

Please check that your Motif is set to use the USB interface (Utility -> MIDI -> Other -> MIDI IN/OUT), and not the traditional 5-pin DIN ports.

- H -

Hi again,

Yes, my Motif is set to USB and the Motif appears in my DAW’s MIDI settings as three MIDI input options (labeled Yamaha MOTIF8-1, 2, 3) and as 8 MIDI outputs along with Microsoft GS Wavetable Synth, each of these can be toggled on or off. Under each track I can select Yamaha MOTIF-8 for my MIDI inputs as All Channels, Channel 1, Channel 2, etc. Still, nothing works. When I go into ‘App volume and device preferences’ on my computer and click on input it only lists Default and Microphone as my available options.

For reference, here are my current Motif MIDI settings:

BasicRcvCh 1
KBDTransCh 1
DeviceNo. all
FileUtilID 1

BankSel on
PgmChange on
CtrlChange node1
LocalCtrl on
RcvBulk on

MIDI Sync internal
ClockOut on
SeqCtrl in/out
MTC StartOffset 00:00:00:00

MIDI IN/OUT USB
ThruPort 1

Hi,

Your Motif’s MIDI settings look OK to me. Strange…

(The ‘App volume device preferences’ menu in Windows decides where sound goes. MIDI devices won’t show up there.)

- H -

Hi,

That’s what I was thinking. Must be something wrong with my computer settings because it reads my other MIDI keyboard just fine. The hammer action on the Motif keys is much preferred to the cheaper keys on my other MIDI keyboard. That’s why I’ve been struggling so hard to get it to work. Maybe my computer’s not properly recognizing my Motif, but I don’t know how to check that. I’ve looked in Sound Settings and nothing appears.

Hi,

Out of curiousity, what is the other MIDI keyboard you’re referring to?

Also, did you uninstall whatever driver you tried first, before installing the new one? If not, just to be on the safe side, try this:

1 - Power off your Motif
2 - Detach all USB cables (incl. hubs) from the computer, except mouse/keyboard
3 - Uninstall the Yamaha driver(s) from the Control Panel and reboot
4 - Unzip the driver archive I linked to above
5 - Reconnect USB cable
6 - Power on the Motif
7 - Wait for the message “Device driver software was not successfully installed” to appear, then click “Close”
8 - Start the Setup.exe file included in the driver package and run through the installation

- H -

Hi,

I have a Novation LaunchKey.

I’ll try your suggestion, thanks.

Tried as you suggested. Same story, even though it’s showing the Yamaha USB-MIDI Driver (WDM) in my devices. It says, “This device is working properly,” so I don’t know what’s wrong. I’m at a complete loss. Will try again tomorrow.

I appreciate your help, thanks.

Finally got it to work. After I had everything set up, I clicked the Input Monitoring button on the track and presto. Before when I had tried that it caused a very loud feedback sound on my computer, probably from using the wrong driver or something, but that’s been taken care of.

Thank you for helping me.

Glad to hear that you figured it out!

- H -

I can only reiterate how grateful I am for your help. Controlling MIDI with weighted hammer action keys feels so much more natural than the regular keys on my MIDI keyboard, although I do like that too. It also has touchpads and a bunch of other native MIDI controls which I like. The best of two worlds.

Best of all, with ASIO the input latency has been reduced to zero. It’s just beautiful.