I’m having a problem with my motif-rack es. It has much lower volume on multi parts compared to voice patches.

I went in and changed all 16 multi parts to 127 volume with no luck. They still seem to be almost half as loud.

Any suggestions?
Thanks,
Bill

motif-rack es low volume on multi parts compared to voice patches.

this is a true observation. And is true in any situation where you have multiple (16) channels coming into a mixer.

In a real world scenario where a single player has his/her own amplification system and then either by mic or direct the signal is routed to the band’s mixer… Again what you say would be true… The signal of each individual channel would be lower than the player’s individual output. Why?

Because the job of the mixer is combine all channels (which in this case is 16) into a single stereo output. The signals of each individual input goes through its own channel… Each channel has a linear potentiometer to control that signal’s level in the combination… The reason it is called a Fader is because that is its job. As you add more and more channels the output signal overall increases, naturally. If every one Part used 100% of the headroom, you have no room for the others.

If you raise the fader on a single channel and you feel there is not enough level from that channel, there are at least two things that influence that individual channel’s output level:

1) adjust the velocity with which you performed that musical part. Low velocity = low output if the sound is velocity sensitive
2) the individual Voice Volume. Yes VOICE VOLUME is a separate parameter from the PART VOLUME.

Part Volume is the equivalent of the channel fader on a mixing console.
Voice Volume is the equivalent of the individual instrument’s output.

Consider a musician playing a FenderRhodes electric piano on stage, if the sound engineer is not getting enough signal at the console (using the channel input and fader) they would ask the player to turn up at the instrument… That is the Voice Volume.

Turning up the Voice Volume is accomplished by Editing the Voice itself. Turn up the signal, not at the mixer, at the source.

Another example, if the microphone on the singer is not giving you enough signal, you’d move the microphone closer to the singer. Point being if you don’t have enough signal at your mixer, increase the signal at the source. Make sense?

My question for you:
Are you using the MOTIF ES EDITORS (Voice and Multi)?
If yes, set the VOICE Editor so you are addressing the Part by setting the MIDI channel of the editor, adjust the Volume within the Voice. You will find most Voice Volumes are conservatively set.

We mentioned Velocity - if you play the piano and the average velocity output is between 60-80, you piano part will not be loud in the mix with other tracks that average 110-120, obviously. But you will not know what your velocities are until you check your Event List.  Additionally you will find parameters that can be used to offset the velocity response of Part.

Between adjusting velocity and knowing how to turn up the source instrument is critical. Bu it is perfectly normal for one Part to sound lower in level when you combine it in a situation that has to accommodate 15 other similar Voices.

If every Voice in Voice mode were set to 127, you would not be able to combine sixteen of them to play simultaneously, and although sound does not double in output when you add a second, it does increase. Sound actually increases logarithmically ... And without getting too technical, in order to build a situation where it is easy to combine instruments, you will find that the Voices in Voice mode are not all cranked to 127. In fact, some thought went into how loud they are… The flute is not as loud as the electric guitars… Such it is in real life. Never met a flautist that could drown out an electric guitar on just their own lung power.
:-)

Anyway, back in the ES days you could edit the Voices while in a Multi using the Voice Editor
If you are not using the Editor, you will need to edit your Voices in Voice mode; store the edited version in a USER bank location; then use that User Voice in your Multi.

Hope that helps.

Dear Bad Mister,

Thanks for your extensive reply.

I’m using the front panel to edit. I’m somewhat familiar with most of the parameters you suggested changing (I’ve owned and edited a couple dozen synths since I got my first Arp Odyssey in ‘75) and tried them without achieving my goal.  As you mentioned max vols aren’t recommended. That did cause some distortion. Increasing the velocity works to a degree but changes the timbre.

What you said about mixing reducing levels to maintain a certain mix makes sense. But my S90 has a similiar architecture and has the same output volume in Voice and Multi (seq play) modes, which is what I want.

Take care,
Bill

Since the same theory of levels (Voice Volume/Part Volume) applies in your S90, I guess you’ll have to be specific and tell us which Voice, particularly, is a problem.

(I, too purchased my first synth in ‘75, an ARP Odyssey :-)

re:Since the same theory of levels (Voice Volume/Part Volume) applies in your S90, I guess you’ll have to be specific and tell us which Voice, particularly, is a problem.

All of them are lower volume, at least 30% to 40%, in Multi (than in Voice mode) on the Rack.
All of them are equal in both modes on the S90. In other words each patch is the same volume in Multi as it is in Voice mode.

I just sold my Arp after all those years. It still worked fine.