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S90XS/S70XS EFFECTS

Written by Bad Mister on May 16, 2018. Posted in 2010s.

The focus of this article will be to introduce you to the XS effects. “A picture is worth a thousand words”, some great mind said. Please refer to the XS Reference Manual pages 15-16 for the full graphic story on the Effects routing in the XS for VOICE mode, PERFORMANCE mode and for MULTI modes. This makes it very clear where the Effects blocks are and when they are available via a block diagram flow chart. We will try and make clear how this impacts you using the XS to its fullest.

In VOICE mode:
There are up to 8 Elements (Element – is a multi-sampled instrument or part of and instrument sound) in a normal XS Voice. They can be individually assigned to the INSERTION EFFECT block, which is a dual block (Insertion A and Insertion B) that can be routed in “series” (series – is one after the other) or in “parallel” (parallel – is one besides the other). See the routing as A-to-B, B-to-A or parallel.

Each Element has a signal path to the Insertion block – they can be routed to “ins A” to “ins B” or to neither (“thru”). The two System Effects (Reverb and Chorus) each have their own send levels for the entire Voice (that is, all the Elements together). And there is an independent RETURN level and PAN position control for each System effect – mixing the signal back into the main flow; and a PAN position control. Next, the entire signal then goes on through the Master EFFECT, the Master EQ (a 5-band EQ) then on to the main stereo output.

An important thing to understand about these VOICE mode effects is that the Insertion Effect assignment can be recalled for up to 8 of the 16 Parts when a VOICE is used in a multi-timbral setup in MULTI mode and all 4 Parts of a PERFORMANCE plus the A/D INPUT can each recall their own two Insertion Effects …more on this point in a minute. There is one A/D INPUT PART for all of Voice mode – it can be routed to its own two Insertion Effects.

What this means in simple terms is: An XS Voice can be very complex in terms of how it deals with Effects. Each component that makes up a Voice can be routed to one or the other or both or neither of the INSERTION processors. In the flowchart from the S90XS/S70XS Editor (shown above) there are 8 Elements on the left. They are all routed (green) to Effect A. Effect A is in “series” with Effect B – this means the signal of each Element goes to Insert Effect A first, then to Insert Effect B… before it travels to the System Effects. You see a rotary control (Send Level) for the entire signal going to each the Chorus effect box and one to the Reverb effect block. There is also a rotary knob between the Chorus and Reverb blocks. After these blocks there is a RETURN Level and Pan position control for the effects, then on the OUTPUT. In the column at left is the same routing situation from the manual.

The INSERT EFFECTS are the effects that you can control in real time – by assigning important parameters to physical controllers like your Mod Wheel, Foot Pedals, Assignable Knobs or Assignable Function buttons, etc. The INSERTION Effect often gives the Voice its personality. The Rotary Speaker for a B3 sound, the soundboard Damper Resonance for the piano, and the Overdrive Distortion for the electric guitar are all examples of effects that give a sound its identity/personality. They are intimately involved with the Voice itself. The soundboard on a piano is like its own internal reverberation, while the Reverb processor can be thought of as the external environment.

The SYSTEM EFFECTS (Chorus and Reverb) are overall effects – they are shared by all the Elements together. They provide the outer environment for the sound. That is, the SYSTEM EFFECTS are very much like the room acoustics. Reverb is the size and shape of the room in which the instrument is played. The Chorus processor can be thought of as a “time delay” effect. Its principal function is from extremely short time delays (Flanging and Chorusing) to long multiple repeat delays (like Echoes). Time Delay is important to the perception of a sound – it gives the listener a sense of distance from the sound source.

In PERFORM mode:

There can be up to 4 Voices plus an A/D INPUT in a Performance. The DUAL INSERTION EFFECTS are available for all four synth Parts of the Performance and for the A/D Input. That is, the synth Voices in a Performance can recall their original Dual Insertion Effect routing and control while in a Performance. What actually happens is you are activating the Dual Insertion effects that are programmed in at Voice level. Insertion Effects are applied at the VOICE Edit level.

What this means: An organ sound that has a Rotary Speaker and Amp Simulator effect back in Voice mode will automatically recall these (personality) effects when you place it in a PART of a PERFORMANCE. The guitar sound that has an Overdrive Distortion and Wah-Wah effect back in Voice mode will automatically recall these effects when you place it in a PART of a PERFORMANCE. The Full Concert Grand piano will automatically bring along its Damper Resonance – because INSERTION EFFECTS can be considered a part of the VOICE. Of course, any assigned controllers are also automatically recalled as well.

If you think of these personality effects (Insertion Effects) as the personal property of the Voice, it may become clear. The guitar player sitting a home in his apartment (VOICE mode) connects (inserts) his guitar to an overdrive stomp box and a wah-wah pedal… these are his personal effects… when he joins the band at the rehearsal hall (Performance mode) he can bring these two personal (insert) effects with him.

Each Voice in a Performance is called a ‘PART’. And each Part has an individual send level to the System Effects so that you can control how much is applied individually. There is a return level from each System effects. The total signal is delivered to the Master EFFECT, then to the Master EQ and then on to the stereo outputs.
The System Effects belong to the rehearsal hall… they are, after all, the room acoustics of this new location. All the instruments will share the same room acoustics, however, you have an individual SEND amount control to position each player within that room.

We mentioned that the A/D INPUT PART can also use a pair of Insertion Effects. And this is very powerful because for each PERFORMANCE you can customize the microphone channel. The Mic settings are global for Voice mode – this means the setup you create for the A/D Input while in Voice mode is a setup that will be for all of Voice mode. But the setup you create for PERFORMANCE mode can be setup on per PERFORMANCE basis. This makes sense because the purpose of PERFORMANCE mode is for you to put together the things you would want to recall while performing. You plan ahead, decide on this particular number I want the microphone to have a compressor, a tempo delay, reverb and EQ, and on this next particular song, I don’t need the microphone at all. You can setup to have the microphone ON or OFF, with particular effects or none… it is entirely your call. So rather than trying to readjust the microphone setting on-the-fly a PERFORMANCE is a place to store your customized setting for you microphone on a per program basis.

In MULTI mode:

The Tone Generator block can have a total of up to 16 synth Parts, plus an A/D Input Part. The DUAL INSERTION EFFECT can be activated on any eight Parts from the internal XS (1-16) or the A/D PART. Each Part will have an individual send to the System effects. And finally, all signal goes through the Master EFFECT, the Master EQ and then on to the main stereo outputs.

We will mention this here because it is important to understand that while both PERFORMANCES and MULTIS deal with VOICES placed in PARTS, the difference between a PERFORMANCE and a MULTI is that a PERFORMANCE allows you to play all four synth Voices simultaneously. You are addressing them on a single MIDI communication channel. A Multi gets its name because you are placing the Voice in PARTS and each PART could be on a different MIDI channel. You typically can only transmit on one MIDI channel at a time, so Multi mode is typically used with an external sequencer or the internal playback sequencer.

You can see how a PERFORMANCE can be copied to a MULTI – because all you would need to do is address the four synth Voices on the same basic MIDI channel to accomplish what you do in PERFORMANCE mode. A Multi exists so that you can place sounds on different MIDI channels, as necessary to accomplish your goal. Conveniently the PART SELECT buttons, [1]-[16] allow you to transmit to a particular PART. So an alternate use for MULTI mode is to place your favorite Voices in the PARTS of a MULTI and then you can easily, quickly and without sound interruption, select between them.

For example, say on a gig, you need to play strings on the introduction of the song and you need to hold the last chord of the string intro, switch to piano and begin the groove section with a two-fisted piano riff. Then later you need to switch to a lead sound, then back to piano and finally to strings again. You could place these sounds in a MULTI and easily accomplish this by pressing the PART SELECT button associated with where you placed these Voices.
And with a little imagination you can see that this can be used to call up complex splits and layers as well – because PARTS of a Multi can be segregated to specific regions of the keyboard, can be stacked on the same MIDI channel where necessary. So your imagination is your limitation.

The reason you can switch between PARTS without sonically interrupting the sound (i.e., the strings sound in PART 1 can be held with your fingers or with the sustain pedal while you switch to the piano sound in PART 2) because you do not have to change or interrupt the intimate routing of the effect processing. It is because the XS effects are so very powerful that you cannot switch from VOICE to VOICE in Voice mode without interruption of sound. If all you have is external (System Effects) it would be simple – as the routing would therefore be simple.
This use of the MULTI is very powerful for those of you on stage who need several sounds within one song and are trying to figure out how to accomplish this goal. We discuss it here in the article on Effects because it is very much related to the Effect processing capabilities.

Since 8 of the PARTS can recall their dual Insertion Effects from Voice mode, you can customize your sounds as you require. A little bit of planning and programming should not scare you off – you purchased an extremely programmable synthesizer and you are expected to customize things to your liking. There are 128 MULTIS for you to program. The 32 MULTI occupying locations 001-032 are provided so you can learn from them. Please feel free to customize them to your own use.

Background
The algorithms (a fancy word for ‘recipe’ or specific arrangement) in the XS Effects are deep. Please refer to the DATA LIST booklet to see the individual parameters and effect types. On page 36-43 of the DATA LIST you will see a list of the different Effect Categories and Effect Names. It will list the parameters available in a convenient form to see them all and the ranges of control. This is worth a look. The TABLE Number heading is for those that need to know the exact value of each setting – refer to the charts on pages 44-51 for exact values for each parameter setting. Basically settings are made to taste (by ear). However, knowing what is subjective and what is objective is what separates a bogus mix from a brilliant mix.
So much of working with sound is subjective, meaning it is up to you, but some of it is very objective, meaning there actually is a right and wrong. It’s true. Knowing the difference between these two concepts is the key to greatness in the audio business. For example, when routing signal to an effect, do you return more than you send or send more than you return?

Gain staging is the objective part of audio. Making sure that you work on the side of SIGNAL when dealing with the SIGNAL-to-NOISE ratio. The rule of thumb: Send up to the limit of clean audio and return just enough to taste. However, often your SEND amount determines how much effect you are going to get. So you also have to consider balancing how much SEND compared to another channel. This is very true in situations where sounds are going to share an effect (like the System Effects). So there are no cut and dry rules – you have to find the balance between the objective and the subjective.

If, however, you are sending signal to an effect processor that you have configured as an EQ, how much signal do you send? This is not subjective, there is a right and wrong. Send all the signal through the EQ. If you were to return dry signal from certain routing scenarios you can cause phase cancellation – a situation where you will be adversely affecting the signals integrity. Knowing what you are doing with effects can mean confident utilization with stunning results. Just experimenting willy-nilly can lead to bogus results. Of course, you could eventually wind up with something useable but the old saying: “Knowledge is power” does apply here. In most instances the XS will not let you get into too much trouble – sometimes you are prevented from controlling certain things because it would be illogical or lead to bogus results …those decisions are made by the designers. For example, you will see where a subjective return is allowable: a DRY/WET balance parameter. This is so that you can mix your amount of effect return, but from a device like an EQ there is no DRY/WET balance control parameter, because the design will not let you make that “mistake”. This is a good thing.

As you will learn, not all parameters are available for real time control – again, a design decision is made to prevent unfortunate illogical assignments that would cause sonic problems.

The Processors
We often get asked about the quality of the Effect processing and it should be stated that the introduction of the VCM and some of the other new effect types found in the XS-series, has elevated the quality of processing found in keyboard and rack mounted synthesizers to a very high level. These effects have trickled down from the very high-end Yamaha digital consoles that are on tour with most every major act. Undoubtedly if you have attended any concerts in the last 10-15 years you have heard Yamaha effect processing in action.

The Effect processors are divided into SYSTEM Effects (Reverb and Chorus processors); INSERTION Effects (applied within the Voice architecture); MASTER Effects (applied overall just before the final output).

The REVERB processor has 9 main algorithms available and 42 Presets to use as starting points. When working with a reverb algorithm you can select by size environment: REV-X HALL, R3 HALL, SPX HALL, REV-X ROOM, R3 ROOM, SPX ROOM, R3 PLATE, SPX STAGE, and SPACE SIMULATOR. Then from there you can tweak it to match your specific needs. In general, you will not know what is sonically possible until you experiment with the effects. Resist the urge to do nothing. It takes no effort to accept the preset as it is – you may find by changing a few things you can get exactly what you like.

Yamaha was the first company to introduce DSP effects that were based on the actual dimensions of the great concert halls of the world. A “HALL” is typically a large concert environment. The REV-X is the most recent development in a long line of Yamaha reverberation chamber algorithms and is the same effect found in the SPX2000 processor and in the high-end digital touring consoles from Yamaha. The Pro R3 was one of the first high-resolution digital studio reverbs and enjoys a stellar reputation in the field. The Yamaha SPX introduced the project studio digital reverb back in the 1980’s.
Reverb Types that are “ROOMS” bring a definite size factor component to the space. A “STAGE” is usually a loud reverberant environment. A “PLATE” is a brilliant emulation of the old 10-foot boxes that used to contain these reverb chambers that used a transducer (driver) at one end and second transducer (microphone) at the other…in between was a large aluminum plate. You sent signal from the mixing board’s aux sends and returned up to a maximum of 5 seconds of cool reverb. This was the standard for drums and percussion “back-in-the-day”. The SPACE SIMULATOR will help you design your own environment and can teach you about how the other presets where made. It allows you set width-height-depth of the walls and the ‘wall vary’ lets you set the reflective texture of the surface from rug to steel. A rug absorbs sound, while the steel would be highly reflective. Under the SPACE SIMULATOR you will find several presets that will give you an idea of just what type of spaces you can simulate: Tunnel, Basement, Canyon, White Room, Live Room, and 3 Walls…

When you are thinking about these you must imagine how each will sound and why. A tunnel, for example, is long and narrow with reverberant surface walls; while a basement also has a low ceiling but probably not much reflection of sound. A canyon you can picture has no ceiling so it is a wide-open space with a long reflection and bounce back. The “Space Simulator” is a starting point – you configure the space – presets are simply starting point…

Also important in working with reverb is an understanding of how it works in the real world. In most listening situations you are hearing a certain amount of signal, directly from the sound source, while the rest of the signal bounces off the environment you are standing in. If, for example, you are 30 feet from the stage you will hear a portion of the sound direct from the stage but most of it will bounce off of the walls, floor and ceiling to arrive at your position. Because we often record and/or amplify musical signal with a technique called “close-miking”, reverb became a necessary evil (if you will). Close-miking allows us to isolate a particular sound from others in the environment but there is a trade off… we lose that sense of distance and environment. To regain some of the distancing we use artificial reverb to do the trick. Recognize that when you put a different amount of reverb on the snare than you do on the flute this does not occur in nature. All the musicians in the same room would naturally have the same reverberant environment with very subtle differences due to positioning in the room. This gets back to the subjective part of the audio business. SO WHAT? You can use effects to taste. There is no rule that says everyone has to have good taste nor do you have to exercise it. However, keeping a reality check (an idea of what would happen in the real world), can only help. No one is saying you cannot create some science-fiction sound environments, of course, you can, just know when you are doing so!

An important parameter in all the reverbs is the INITIAL DELAY this is the time before the reverb receives the signal and can help position the listener near/far from the instrument source. The initial delay in any acoustic environment is the time it takes before the signal reaches a significant boundary. In a large hall it could be several hundred milliseconds before signal bounces off the back wall. Your ear and brain can easily recognize this and it gives you a perception of exactly from where the sound is emanating. The DRY or unaffected signal travels to your ear directly, the reverberation begins some short time after. This can be only a few milliseconds but is plenty of time for the ear/brain to analyze and conclude specifics about the environment. When too many different unnatural reverberations occur, the music becomes confusing and unnatural. If that is what you are going for then this is fine. But if you ever wonder why some mixes are just better than others – a lot of the reason has to do with the subtleties of the mix. And make no mistake the EFFECT processing is a huge part of this.

The HPF (high pass filters) and LPF (low pass filters) found within the Effect algorithms are there to help you shape the reverb signal itself. There is a rule of thumb here: low frequencies reverberate less than high frequencies. Low frequencies tend to hit a surface like a wall and spread out while high frequencies hit a wall and bounce right back into the room. This is why, when you are sitting next door to the party, you only hear the bass through the wall – all the high frequency content ‘reverberates’ and stays in the source room. So use the HPF (high pass filter) to allow the highs to pass through to the reverb and block the lows from reverberating. Reverb on bass just adds MUD. MUD here, is not a subjective term but if it is what you want, go for it (but yuck, it is mud). Low frequencies don’t bounce back they tend to hug the walls and spread out. If you want cutting, punchy bass leave the bass “dry” (without reverb).

The XS Reverb processor features a brand new effect algorithm set based on the heralded Yamaha “Rev-X” technology. “REV-X” is a whole new generation of Yamaha Reverb with the richest reverberation tone and smoothest decay. There are “Hall”, “Room” and “Plate” algorithms. Parameters like ROOM SIZE and DECAY envelope also bring much higher definition and finer nuance. The number of reflective impulses it uses determines reverb quality …the higher the number the more definition and the finer the quality of sound. It is processor intensive – these are very
short sound reflections but lots of them to make the sound smooth.

The CHORUS processor features time delays from flanging, to chorusing/phasing and on out to multiple repeats and echoes. We are talking much larger than the distance between reverb reflections because these can be heard as separate events. The CHORUS processor is more than just chorus and delay effect types. You even get additional Reverb algorithms for maximum flexibility when mixing. There are also tempo control delays that can be synchronized to the BPM of the music.

There are six different main categories in the CHORUS processor:
Reverbs (3 types) – 12 presets
Delays (7 types) – 41 presets
Chorus (5 types) – 28 presets
Flanger (3 Types) – 13 presets
Phaser (3 types) – 37 presets
Miscellaneous (1) – 5 presets

A Flanger is a time delay effect. If two identical signals arrive at your ear-brain, you will not be able to perceive them as two separate signals until one is delayed slightly. Imagine 2 turntables in perfect synchronization playing the same record at exactly the same speed. You would perceive the second one as just making the first signal louder, until you delayed one of them a bit. If one slips 1ms behind the other you will perceive what we call flanging. The actual name comes from two 2-track reel-to-reel tape decks playing the same material. This was used as a real time effect, “back in the day”. You would have 2 identical 2-track decks running in sync (no, there were no protocols to sync them – you pressed the buttons at the same time!!!) The engineer would slow one down by placing his thumb momentarily on the flange (reel holder). The resulting swirling sound is called flanging. And there were no settings, no presets – it was all done by ear. It was a short time later that a Flanger became a rack mount device – and while the original Flanger cost around $1500, it was still a lot cheaper than two 2-track tape recorders!
Any delay between exact sync and 4ms is considered flanging. Delays of 4ms-20ms are considered chorusing and somewhere beyond 30ms the ear-brain starts to perceive two separate events, called doubling or echo. Among the ‘time-delay’ algorithms in the Chorus processor you will find: Cross Delay, Tempo Cross Delay, Cross Delay Mono, Tempo Delay Stereo, Delay L/R, Delay L/C/R, Delay L/R Stereo, G Chorus, 2 Modulator, SPX Chorus, Ensemble Detune, Symphonic, VCM Flanger, Classic Flanger, Tempo Flanger, VCM Phaser Mono, VCM Phaser Stereo, Tempo Phaser, Early Reflection; additionally you will find three SPX Reverbs available in the Chorus processor (very useful when you want to set a lead or section of instruments apart from the rest of your mix), a Hall, Room and Stage reverb.

Phasing is another category of effect – it is where the two signals are basically the same but instead of one being a wave that starts in the upward direction, the second wave starts perhaps in a different direction.

Each of these main algorithms has their own “Presets”. A Preset simply is a starting point. Remember, only you can know what is working for your particular composition. The Presets are provided and they are meant to be tweaked by you. They are “starting points”. Saying you don’t like any of the presets is, well, if you find yourself saying this, go stand in the corner and give yourself a demerit (lol). You are saying that somehow the original programmer did not know what YOU like. You are correct, so DO something about it, learn to tweak the effects!

The INSERTION EFFECT is made up of two identical units (INSERTION A and INSERTION B). The 53 effect types and scores of presets can be the subjects of intense study. We will try and introduce you to some of the more unusual and unique ones in this article. Many of the recipes (algorithms) are repeated in the Insertion Effects simply to allow you more options when processing your mixes. In addition to all the reverbs, delays, echoes, cross delays, tempo delays, etc., you get some that are available nowhere else. Insertion Effects can be considered a part of the Voice itself, and can be assigned real time controllers so that you can manipulate them while performing.

The VCM (Virtual Circuitry Modeling) Effects are revolutionary in that they are recreations constructed by modeling the circuit components (capacitors, resistors) of the classic gear they emulate. The designer then could reconstruct the products by creating virtual circuit boards. The VCM Flanger is a simulation of the classic vintage flanger devices. The VCM Phasers faithfully reproduce the response of the old mono and stereo guitar stomp box of the ’70’s in every detail.
Among the innovative effects from the Yamaha Samplers A4000/5000 are the Lo-Fi, Noisy, Digital Turntable, Auto Synth, Tech Modulation, Isolator, Slice, Talking Modulator, Ring Modulator, Dynamic Ring Modulator and Dynamic Filter.

If you are asking yourself, why would Yamaha provide effects to degrade the sound (Lo-Fi, Noisy) – with the Lo-Fi effect you can actually grunge the sample rate a thousand times to 44.1Hz (talk about low fidelity) – if this is at all curious to you, “step away from the Lo-Fi effect”! It is an acquired taste and specific to some forms of modern electronica.
There is a Multi-band Compressor algorithm that is great for fixing and punching up specific frequency ranges. Multi-band compressors are used to finalize mixes and bring out (punching up) specific frequency bands without raising overall gain.
The Digital Turntable algorithm adds “record surface noise” to your mix. You can program the tone of the noise, the frequency and randomness of the clicks and pops, and you can even program how much dust on the stylus!!!

Slice is also the name of one of the effect algorithms in addition to being a sample edit process. This Slice effect can divide the audio into musical timed packets that it can pan left and right in tempo. You can select a quarter note, eighth note or sixteenth note slice and there are 5 different pan envelopes and some 10 different pan types. This is great for “gated” effects.

The innovative CONTROL DELAY effect is a digital version of the old style tape delay (Echoplex) where you can create wild repeating effects. When using the Control Type = Scratch you can assign a controller to create insane echo effects.
Why is it called “Insertion Effect” and what is the difference between it and a “System Effect”?
On an audio console you have a series of channels. Channels carry input or returns from a multi-track (we refer to them as Input Channels or Track Channels depending on their role). Each channel has an on/off button, EQ, a fader, and a set of auxiliary sends. These ‘aux’ sends allow each channel to send a portion of the signal on what is called a bus (a group of wires carrying like signal). That bus can then be connected to an offsite effect processor in a rack. The return comes back to the board and is mixed to the stereo signal. That scenario is an example of what happens in XS with the SYSTEM EFFECTS. That is, when you are in a MULTI, the REVERB, and the CHORUS Effects are arranged so that access is just like the auxiliary sends of a console – each channel (Part) has an individual send amount to the system effects. There is a composite return signal that is mixed to the stereo output.

An Insertion Effect on an audio console is usually accessed via ‘patch points’ (interruption points in the channel’s signal flow) that allow you to reroute all of the channel’s signal via a patch bay through the desired effect or device. You are, literally, inserting a processor on that specific channel alone. This is how the INSERTION EFFECT block works on the XS.

Examples: Typically, when a reverb effect is setup, just a portion of each sound is sent to it. This is the perfect example of what a System effect is about. However, things like rotary speaker (organ) or amp simulator (guitar) are effects that you might want to isolate on a specific channel. Therefore these type effects are usually accessed as an Insertion Effect. One key advantage of the Insertion Effect is that it can be controlled in real time, during the playing performance. Since the Insertion Effects are programmed at the VOICE level you can use the Control Sets (there are 6) to route your physical controllers to manipulate the parameters of the Insertion effect in real time. You can change the speed of the rotary speaker, or you can manipulate the Guitar Amp simulation setting while performing the guitar sound. This type of control is beyond just the send level (you are given access to System Effect send level only from the Voice mode Controller assignment). In the real world, the size of the room does not change (hopefully) so System effects like reverb are pretty much “set it/forget it”. However, changing the speed of the rotary speaker effect is something that you may want to perform during the song.

Just how are you able to control certain parameters in an Insertion Effect? …via MIDI commands, of course. In the hierarchy of modes in the XS VOICE mode is the most important when it comes to programming. This is where Yamaha spent hours and hours developing the sounds you play. The programmer’s assembled the multi-samples into waveforms, and combined the waveforms into the Voice and worked with the envelopes, the response to velocity, the pitch, the tuning, the filters and so on. Each sample in the XS has its own EQ, the meticulous programming goes on for months at a time. Of course part of the arsenal available to the programmers were the Effects.

Take a close look at a Voice and its effect structure:

Notice the Insertion Effect blocks, the System Effects (REVERB/CHORUS), the Master Effect
block and the Master EQ block. Contrast this to the graphic, which shows the blocks during a MIX in Song/Pattern mode. The Dual Insertion Effect is available for any eight XS (PARTS 1-16 or the AD INPUT).

How to understand the routing…
Navigate to the XS Effect connection screen. In VOICE mode this is done as follows:
• Press [EDIT]
• Select “EFFECT”
• Press [ENTER]

In PERFORMANCE and/or MULTI mode:
• Press [EDIT]
• Select “COMMON” > press[ENTER]
• Select [EFFECT] > press [ENTER]

This screen shows you an overview of the connections and the signal flow (follow the routing left to right). It pays to study the diagrams to get a clear understanding of how signal travels. Below you can see this in the S90XS/S70XS Editor:

VOICE Mode:

MULTI / PERFORMANCE Mode (Common):

Notice also that both the Multi and Performance screens do not have rotary send level controls to the Reverb and Chorus. This is because the send level is not a ‘common’ parameter but is on a per PART basis (there will be 16 of them and one for the A/D PART). Each Part will have its own control for the amount of signal sent to the System Effect on the Part Edit level. (Remember the individual SEND amount allows you to position an instrument near or far from the virtual listener’s position). While in Edit, you can select the PART to edit by touching the PART SELECT buttons 1-16 – corresponding to Parts 01-16 and there is a dedicated knob for the MIC (A/D) channel on the front panel.

Notice that between the Chorus processor and the Reverb processor you have a level Send control knob: Chorus-to-Reverb Send. This can be used to create a situation where the System effects are used in “series” (one after the other) rather than in “parallel” (side by side). An example of how this can make a difference is when you select a DELAY as the effect for the Chorus processor and a REV HALL for the Reverb… when parallel routing is selected, you could send a signal independently to the delay and to the reverb. Only the initial note will have reverb, each repeat would be dry. By routing “0” send to the Reverb, but send the signal through the Chorus first, then through the Chorus-to-Reverb send, on to the reverb, you will now have a signal where each repeat of the Delay will have reverb. Quite a different sound…

INSERT SWITCH in MULTI Mode
We mentioned that as many as 8 PARTS can simultaneously have the two Insertion Effects active in a MULTI. You can select the A/D INPUT as one of the PARTS with two Insertion Effects – but a maximum of 8 PARTS total.

In PERFORMANCE mode this means that all four synth Voices and the A/D Input can have unique Dual Insertion Effect assignments. But in MULTI mode you will have to select which eight PARTS.

The screen below shows which Parts of a Multi Mix are recalling their Dual Insertion Effect setups. It initially defaults to the first eight Parts. But you can select any PART up to a maximum of eight – including the AD PART.

The Insertion Effects do not appear in the MULTI MIXING CONNECT screen because the Insertion Effects are part of the VOICE mode edit parameters. If you need to radically change an Insertion Effect from the original programming then you will need to create a new USER Voice with your new Insertion Effect edits and STORE it. The XS provides for this with 256 MIX VOICE locations… we will explain below.
What if I want to edit a Voice’s Insertion Effects while I’m working on a MULTI?

You have the ability to edit a Voice directly while still in a MULTI program using the S90XS/S70 XS Editor.

The XS Editor allows you to drop into full Voice Edit for any Voice while still in the MULTI mode. Simply select the PART by number and click on the EDIT overlay to view and edit all components of the VOICE.

This allows you to edit a Voice and its two Insertion Effects (provided the INSERT SWITCH is active for the PART) while you are using the sequencer so that edits can be done in the context of the music sequence. When you STORE this edited Voice it will automatically replace the Voice in your MULTI in a special “MIX VOICE” bank location.
What this means is the Mix Voice will automatically be restored when you load the file or recall the stored Multi. The Mix Voice bank is like having an additional storage location for your customized sounds – allowing you to edit a sound for a particular composition without having to overwrite a regular USER Voice location. Each Multi Mix has 16 Mix Voice locations. Due to complexity, Drum Voices cannot be stored in Mix Voice location. And a maximum of 256 Mix Voices can be stored in the S90XS/S70XS. You will probably not need to edit every Voice, so having an additional 256 locations to store customized sounds is welcome.

In Voice Edit you have 6 Control Sets that allow you to customize how the available effect parameters are controlled. Choose your assigned MIDI controls wisely, they will be available when the VOICE is used in a MULTI (or a PERFORMANCE).

Master Effects
The Master Effects are “post” everything but the Master EQ. So they are applied to the overall System signal (stereo). These are 8 effect algorithms that you will also find in the Dual Insertion Effects. If you want to apply them to a single sound, you can create a Voice and find the same algorithm among the list of Dual Insertion Effects.

The MASTER EFFECTS are:
• DELAY L,R STEREO
• COMP DISTORTION DELAY
• VCM COMPRESSOR 376
• MULTI BAND COMP
• LO-FI
• RING MODULATOR
• DYNAMIC FILTER
• ISOLATOR
• SLICE

These are sometimes called “DJ”-type effects, for lack of a better term, because like a DJ would, they are applied to the entire recording. DJ’s are either playing back a record or CD that is a finished mix. So the effects that they add are always post, they cannot put a Dynamic Filter on just the snare drum, if you get my meaning, so “DJ-style effects”. These Effects are applied to the entire SYSTEM signal. Don’t be afraid to use your imagination with these Master Effects – some of them are quite radical. Things like putting a Delay on the final hit of the song so that it repeats and fades …or using a frequency Isolator to roll out all the bass for a section of a song, then bringing it back in for dynamic impact …or wacky panning effects with the Slice algorithm where you can pan signal left and right in tempo with the groove. Also on the more normal side, you are given a powerful Multi-band Compressor for pumping up the frequency bands of the final mix. Awesome tools… experiment!!!

Master EQ
Although not technically an effect (EQ is an essential utility for any mixer), the Master EQ is the last process the signal goes through prior to the main outputs.

In Voice mode, the Master EQ is setup and is global for the mode (applies to all Voices). While in Voice mode:

• Press [UTILITY]
• Select “VOICE” > press [ENTER]
• Select “MASTER EQ” > press [ENTER]

Here you find the full 5-band parametric EQ. Parametric means you can select the Frequency, the Gain (increase/decrease) and the Q (or width of the bands). For each VOICE you will find a three band (adjustable Mid-Frequency) Equalizer available via the KNOB CONTROL FUNCTIONS for quick tweaks.

In PERFORMANCE mode or in MULTI mode you can setup the Master EQ on a per program basis

• Press [EDIT]
• Select “COMMON” > press [ENTER]
• Select “EQ” > press [ENTER]
Here you will have access to the 3-band (front panel) EQ and the MASTER EQ
• Select “MASTER EQ” > press [ENTER]

Conclusion and final thoughts
Signal flow is the most important thing to get a handle on when you are seeking a better understanding of audio. This is particularly true when it comes to affective effect processing. The XS uses professional mixing console routing as the basis for how signal flows through the synthesizer. A Voice or Part is like a musician playing an instrument. So imagine a guitar player with a wah-wah pedal, and a combo amp. These are like his Insertion effects… He inserts the guitar into the wah-wah pedal and then to his combo amp. Insertion Effects are controllable in real time by the player – and this is an essential part of performing. That is the guitar Voice in Voice mode.

Now take that player and his rig to a recording studio. This would be the MULTI mode. When you activate the INSERTION SWITCH for the PART containing the Guitar Voice, it is like the player brought along his wah-wah pedal and combo amplifier from home. And they will be able to manipulate them in real time as they perform.

In the studio (MULTI) mode they are plugged into the console, the guitar channel has two auxiliary sends. One connects to the studio’s reverberation chamber, the other send can be routed to some sort of delay/chorus/flanger (as may be required by the session).

That is what you have here in the XS. Real time control over personal effects, and a send/return situation with the System Effects.

Now to continue with this analogy, if you route a signal to a direct out on a mixing console, you interrupt the signal in the patchbay… this takes that channel out of the main mix and allows you to route it, in isolation, to some other destination. This interruption removes that channel from the auxiliary sends (the ones feeding the Reverb and the Chorus processors), but you would be doing this interruption precisely because you are going to process the signal in isolation, separately.
When you take a PART of your MULTI program and route it to any of the assignable outputs, it is removed from the main stereo mix, and it no longer is pooled with the others via the aux sends to the studio’s effects.

Routing a channel to a direct output is done when you have something you want to do to it in isolation.

The effect routing in the XS Voice is one of the reasons you can make it sound so good. A Voice can be one or more instruments combined – remember a Voice is made up of as many as 8 Elements. Each Element can be an instrument or a part of an instrument. The VOICE: PRE 1:018(B02) Piano & Strings is an 8 Element Voice where Elements 1-4 make up the piano and Elements 5-8 make up the strings. Because of the intricate routing within the Voice architecture, the four Elements of the piano go to INSERTION A (setup as the VCM EQ 501) while the four Elements of the strings go to INSERTION B (setup as a separate VCM EQ 501) – this is an example of how when setup in parallel each instrument in this combined Voice has its own powerful equalizer. Volume can be controlled separately: The Assign 1 knob controls the volume of the string Elements, while Assign 2 controls the volume of the piano Elements. The Mod Wheel is assigned to increase the Element level of the strings – so it can be used to intensify the strings. The [AF1] button will cause an increase in the reverb Send of all Elements together to the Reverb chamber, while [AF2] will cause a longer release time on the amplitude envelope of all Elements.

You can explore the assignment of controllers and discover how some of the PRESET Voices were programmed by beginning to explore the S90XS/S70XS Editor.

Motif XF: Learning about the Sample SLICE and SLICE+SEQ Sample functions

Written by Bad Mister on May 16, 2018. Posted in 2010s.

LEARNING ABOUT THE SAMPLE ‘SLICE’ AND ‘SLICE+SEQ’ SAMPLE FUNCTIONS

Sample Slice:
Slice is a function that is designed to make audio loops (up to 8 measures) work at different tempos without adverse pitch change (munchkin-ization). It accomplishes this by analyzing the audio and breaking it into smaller segments (slices). Each slice is mapped to the MIDI keyboard on successively higher notes of a single Waveform assigned to a Pattern Sample Voice or Song Sample Voice. A chromatic scale of MIDI data is created (in a Phrase in Pattern mode/to a linear track in Song mode) accurately placing the trigger notes so that when the scale is played back it re-assembles the audio slices. This is analogous to how individual drawings can be made to animate the movement of cartoon characters by flipping them slower or faster in front of a camera. The Motif can create up to 128 slices maximum – the number of notes on a MIDI channel. The Slice function creates a MIDI phrase to trigger the audio slices. A Phrase is a Pattern mode structure. In Song mode the data is written to a linear track.

IMPORTANT NOTE:
The first section of this guide concentrates on PATTERN mode, however, you can also work in a linear SONG with a few alterations. The Motif XF uses context sensitive functions. Certain options only appear in the appropriate context. It matters what mode you are in when you sample or import your data. If you are using SONG mode, the Phrase data will be written once to a linear track, the Voice assigned will be inserted in the Track data (the XF will place a Bank Select and Program Change event at the top of the track to ensure that the phrase data recalls the appropriate Sample Voice). You can then use the “TR LOOP” function to make the pattern cycle. TRACK LOOP lets you cycle any region of data. Perfect for making a sliced audio loop work in a Song. Make sure you sample or import your data while you are in the Mode you intend to use.

Zipped download – Download this article (in PDF format) and the included tutorial example .wav: “SLICE_XF.zip”

SAMPLE SLICE: Import a wave into a PATTERN
In this example we will import a two measure drum sample (.wav) from a USB drive. You can directly import the sample from your computer via Ethernet, if you have established a network connection.

Context: Select a blank PATTERN, select SECTION [A], select Track 1

• Press [FILE]
• Set TYPE = “WAV” for our example data

In the Directory area highlight the file you would like to import (shown below).

When you highlight a useable file, a speaker icon will appear above [SF6] allowing you to quickly audition the data directly from your drive. (Note: provided the data is a stereo, 16-bit/44.1kHz audio file, .wav or aiff).

• Press the RIGHT CURSOR to move the bottom area of the screen. You can set a target PART (1), Key (note) “C3” and LOAD > “USR”

• Press [SF2] LOAD > [INC/YES]
This will create a new SAMPLE VOICE in the current PATTERN MIXING program. This USER SAMPLE VOICE (SP001) will be created in PART 1 and will be ‘local’ to this particular PATTERN MIXING setup. The sample will be able to be triggered by MIDI data that is recorded to Track 1.

Currently, no MIDI data exists to play it back because all we have done, thus far, is import the sample to memory.

• Press the PATTERN button to return to the main Pattern screen.

Note that the track has a grey icon of a waveform next to it. This denotes that currently a Pattern Sample Voice is assigned to that location in the MIXER but no MIDI data has been recorded to cause it to playback. Play the key to which you imported the sample, “C3”, in our example, to hear the sample. When we SLICE the sample, the Motif XF will automatically create a MIDI phrase to trigger and thus reassemble the audio. Sliced audio can be tempo adjusted without pitch stretching penalties.

Next you need to edit the sample – This type of audio SLICE function will work on LOOPS and audio clips of up to 8 measures in length. In order to do this:

• Press the [INTEGRATED SAMPLING] button.
Here you arrive at the SAMPLE SELECT screen. Each sample is given a number 001 through 128 according to the order in which you record or import the samples. Samples do not overwrite each other – they are always placed in the lowest numbered empty locations.

• Press the [EDIT] button. This will place you in SAMPLE EDIT.

(In the screenshot the Waveform number is 001).

[F1] TRIM: Here you see the wave was imported to Waveform 001, Track 01. In the example it is named [Justdr_2.wav].

Holding down the [SF1] AUDITION button will let you hear the sample. Press and hold the KEY “C3” will also allow you to audition the sound.
You can edit the Start Point, the Loop Point and the End Point. You can see that the END POINT parameter is connected in the screen to the TEMPO/METER/MEASURE parameters – this is a tempo calculator… (more about this feature later).

[SF2]: LP=ST is a quick way to set the Start point equal to the Loop point in one action.
[SF3]: DISPLAY – press this on long samples to ZOOM to a resolution that shows the region between the Start and End Point.
[SF4] “ZOOM OUT” / [SF5] “ZOOM IN” not only affect the view in the screen but will help you fine tune setting of critical points within the sample wave.
[SF6] NUM/INFO button (context sensitive) will either show NUM (number) when you can manually enter a value, or it will read INFO when you select a parameter where value entry is not available. This is where Information about the Sample Memory will be shown.

PLAY MODE: You can turn the “loop” on or “reverse” the wave or set it to play as a “one shot”. When LOOP is ON, the sample will play through from START to END and then return to the LOOP POINT value and repeat from there. You can effectively tune the pitch of the sample by offsetting COARSE TUNE/FINE TUNE. You can also PAN the sample to a specific location in the stereo field.

KEY RANGE/VELOCITY RANGE: You can set the key range (the number of keys responsible for triggering this sample and its velocity range. When you have imported several samples to the same KeyBank this is where you set the ranges for them. You can import several samples to the same key as long as each had a unique Velocity range. A maximum of two samples can occupy the same ranges simultaneously – this is to accommodate stereo. This means you can stack multiple stereo samples in a KeyBank as long as each had its own velocity or unique note.

“Press [ENTER] to extract” – Setting the START and END POINTS are non-destructive edits until you press [ENTER]. They determine where a Note-on event will start playback and where that playback will either end or start looping. You can use these Start and End Points as ‘markers’. This is very useful when you want to copy a portion of a longer clip into shorter more manageable entities. With the Motif XF Tempo/Meter/Measure calculator, it is possible to accurately isolate a specific measure or beat and then copy that region to a new Waveform or KeyBank, while keeping the entire original data intact. However, when you press [ENTER] to extract data, the excess data is permanently discarded. So this “press [ENTER] to execute” function should be used with caution. Once you have discard data it is gone for good.

When you are sampling your own audio, you may find that the START POINT consistently is set to a value of 00004410. This is not an arbitrary value. The Motif XF sampler has a 100ms pre-record buffer. This is figured when you are sampling at 44,100 samples per second. When you are manually punching in the record/sample function, the exact moment you hit the button is assigned a value of 00004410… A sampler is always “sampling” (and discarding) data, your punch-in tells the Motif XF to start “keeping” the data, starting from 100ms before you hit the button. That’s right! What is kept is typically all we care about. This pre-record function allows you to be “human” which tends to make us just a little slow in response time. This pre-record is also useful when you are using the trigger level method to punch-in the record/sample function. Say the word you are singing is “petunia” – well, that starts with a plosive that will probably be recorded properly. But what if the word was “friends”? The ‘eff’ sound comes up out of silence and does not make a clean start triggering the record function. You might wind up with “__ends” instead of “friends”. This is when the 100ms pre-record is your friend.

When you set the START and END POINTS, the extract function will move the Start Point to 00000000 and make the appropriate adjustment to the END POINT.
Our particular example here has been extracted to contain exactly “00217344” samples

Let’s prepare to SLICE the loop. Slicing will allow you to playback the loop at various tempos without affecting the pitch of the audio. It does this by breaking the contiguous audio into smaller segments (slices) each to be assigned to a successively higher MIDI note. It then creates a chromatic scale of MIDI data with proper timing, accurate to 480 pulses per quarter note, to trigger the audio playback seamlessly. The different Slice Type algorithms will actually add additional audio to the slices to hide the fact that they are sliced when the tempo slows down.

• Press [F4] SLICE

This shortcut takes you directly to Sample SLICE JOB.

(Alternatively, you would have to go to [JOB] > [F1] KEYBANK > Job #11 > [ENTER])

In the screen above you see the SLICE setup page. This is basically a “trial and error” type operation. You will experiment until you hone in on the correct settings. The Motif XF will let you audition your results before you commit to creating a new waveform.

In the right column you can set the LOWEST KEY parameter. This refers to the note from which the chromatic MIDI scale will be created.

The Motif XF can create up to a maximum of 128 slices because there are 128 MIDI notes on a channel. It will start at the “lowest key” and go up to G8. If more keys are needed it will wrap around and start at C-2 and come up to the note just below the starting point.

You can select the Slice TYPE: either ‘BEAT’ for drum/staccato type stuff or ‘PHRASE’ for sustaining stuff. Try the lowest numbered Beat or Phrase algorithms first. Advance to higher numbers only after trying all the Sensitivity settings for the type. The ‘QUICK’ type is also available but it does no audio analysis for accurate timing. With the ‘Quick’ setting Slices are made by musical division only – meaning it divides the audio into mathematically equal parts rather than analyzing where the audio actually occurred. ‘Beat’ and ‘Phrase’ types will analyze and create slices where the audio occurs to the nearest 480ppqn . ‘Beat 3’ Type and ‘Phrase’ Types 1-4 all use some form of musical timing resolution to “subdivide” the slices and help in the analysis. You can use this to get different “feels” from the data.

Experimentation is the name of the game – once you learn the basics. Until you know what it is capable of, it is difficult to know how to experiment. But you will find that certain “sub-divisions” settings can radically change the overall feel of the audio when you time stretch it by changing the tempo.

It is imperative that you set the Measure and the Meter on this setup page accurately so that the Motif XF can slice the segments properly, musically, or not. The point is, the number of measures and the time signature are data the unit uses to figure out musical timing. Set the SENS (or Sensitivity) to “3”. This way you have room to move up or down if you get too many slices or too few slices.

• Set TYPE = BEAT 1
• Set MEASURE = 2
• Set METER = 4/4
• Set SENS = 3
• Press [SF4] APPLY to execute the SLICE.

This will take some time to execute (10-15 seconds). The function will analyze the data, divide it, map it to notes chromatically from C3 and create a MIDI sequence of notes to precisely trigger the playback of the audio.

When it is finished you can AUDITION the results in two ways before deciding to keep it or dump the results and try again. First, press and hold the [SF1] AUDITION button and listen to the results. Move the cursor over to TEMPO and set the tempo to the BPM you intend on using for the pattern.

• Press and hold the [SF1] AUDITION button and listen again. Check the results.

The second method of auditioning the data is to manually play the keyboard starting on the note you targeted during setup, “C3” in our example. Each note should contain a portion of the sample loop as you play up the keyboard. If the sample is a drum pattern (as in our example), you can tell if there are too many slices when a single kick or snare hit is split between multiple keys. You want each hit as clean as possible. Do not worry if you cannot play the chromatic scale as well as the Audition button (seq) because it has access to the timing and duration of each slice (the slices will not be equal unless you used TYPE = QUICK).

If it is not satisfactory, press [SF4] CANCEL, to return your (pre-sliced) original data.

• Press [ENTER] to accept the results.

If your results are good you must “Press [ENTER] to fix.”

And you should do so before exiting this screen. If you do not, the data is dumped. By pressing [ENTER] you are accepting the results and the Motif XF will create a new waveform, in the lowest numbered available waveform, 002, that will contain the sliced set of samples. It will also create a new Sample Voice and assign it to your MIXING setup, and it will “patch” a user phrase to the Pattern sequencer.

• Press [EXIT] to return to the SAMPLE SELECT screen
• Move to Waveform 002

Notice that it creates a new Waveform at 002. It keeps the original audio at 001. In this new Waveform there are now 17 KEYBANKS chromatically starting from C3.

This function creates a new Sample Voice assigned to PART 1 or your PATTERN MIXING setup. It will also place a new USER Phrase, 001, in your Pattern PATCH.

Pattern “Patch” is found from the main Pattern screen at [F4]. A Patch represents what Phrases are active in this Pattern Section.

• Press PATTERN to return to Pattern mode. The Waveform icon has been filled in with color and there is a box in SECTION [A] denoting that MIDI data now exists to play this Waveform.

• Press [F4] PATCH to view the PATCH (shown above).

This User Phrase 001 contains the MIDI data (the chromatic scale of notes) that will trigger the sliced sample waveform (see below). Any time you recall USER PHRASE 001 for TRACK 1, it will recall the USER SAMPLE VOICE containing the slice sample waveform.

• Press EDIT

The first event is a PC (Program Change) event to ensure that the proper SAMPLE VOICE is recalled when this PHRASE is selected.

Here you can also see that the first slice is placed at Measure 001, beat 1, clock 000 and is held for 238 clocks. Then the second event is Measure 001, Beat 1, clock 238 and is held for 239 clocks and so on. Each event represents where that particular hit occurred in time – down to a resolution of 480 pulses per quarter note. This is unquantized and is the real feel of the audio. Each Slice is triggered at a Velocity of 100. This is so that you can raise (accent) or lower certain events using the Pattern PLAY FX function found from the Main Pattern screen at [F2] PLAY FX or manually here on the event list. You may want to resist the urge to QUANTIZE the sliced phrase, as it will accurately represent the audio as originally performed. Quantizing it will change this original feel.

The SLICE process automatically takes care of creating a new User Sample Voice. This occurred when you pressed [ENTER] to accept the data. The new waveform (set of sliced audio samples) is placed in the lowest available Sample Voice 002 of the Pattern’s Sample Voice Bank MSB/LSB 63/50.
This is the Voice that is “associated” with the new USER Phrase. Before we leave the SLICE Job, one very important thing to know is that your new sliced audio waveform is made up of a chromatic map of notes. Shown below is the new waveform from our example, waveform 002. We are viewing a list of the data starting from C3, the first slice.

To select, view and edit the data from the next slice you can move the cursor down the list or you can hold [SF6] KBD + touch the C#3 note, then press [EDIT]. In this manner you can recall and edit each of the slices. Not only edit but COPY, DELETE, EXTRACT, REVERSE, TUNE, etc., etc., etc.

SONG MODE Considerations:
In Song mode much of the procedure is exactly the same, except that Song mode does not have Phrases to “PATCH” into Sections. The MIDI sequence data created by the SLICE function will be written linearly from measure one on the target track. The target track will have the same waveform icon next to it, signifying that the track contains data that is currently pointing to a USER SAMPLE “SONG” VOICE (bank: MSB/LSB 63/50).

SONG Mode Loops

To get the 2-measure audio loop to repeat from the main SONG screen

• Press [F3] TRACK
• Press [SF2] LOOP
• Set the LOOP START = 001:01
• Set the LOOP END = 003:01
• Move the cursor to the small column directly below the Time Signature and press [INC/YES] to activate the LOOP (shown in screen shot above)

And in a similar fashion to Pattern mode, you can event edit the resulting MIDI data like any other track. The COPY PHRASE function found in SONG Mode > [JOB] > [F5] TRACK > JOB 08 allows the user to go into a Pattern and “get” any USER PHRASE and its associated data including the sample.

Here’s how it works: You go to Pattern mode and identify the Phrase number of the USER phrase you are interested in. Go directly to your Song (the Motif XF will remember the last Pattern you were viewing and reference USER Phrases within it).

The setting below shows the Motif XF ready to import Pattern mode Phrase:001 and insert in on TRACK 1, from measure 1 of the current SONG and it will include the Sample VOICE. This means then that you can use a SLICED Phrase from Pattern mode in a linear Song. You can either use the TRACK LOOP feature outlined above or cut/copy/paste the data like any other MIDI data.

Alternatively, you will find a JOB in PATTERN mode that will accomplish the same thing. This is the “PUT PHRASE TO SONG” Job and works from PATTERN mode – the currently selected data is sent to the last selected SONG, and Track, starting from a specific Measure.

From PATTERN mode:
• Press [JOB]
• Press [F4]

SLICE+SEQ: Step-by-step

Sampling a wave into a Pattern using the SLICE+SEQ Function.

This is very similar to the SLICE JOB function outlined above with the following differences. SLICE+SEQ is a sampling type. It is a “macro” of sorts. This means it is a series of functions that have been linked together by the operating system for ease of use. It moves you through the process of recording (sampling), trimming (editing) then slicing (time stretching). The end result will be a sliced audio loop, where the SLICE routine described in the first half of this article left you with two waveforms: the original and the sliced version. This function will only create the Sliced audio phrase. It will discard the original audio loop. Again, the advantage of slicing a bit of audio is that you can then use it at various tempos or you can use to match the tempos of various samples.

• Go to [UTILITY] and set the I/O for the type of input signal you have connected: LINE or MIC. This is found under [F2] I/O. For our example we will describe a stereo connection from an audio CD player. Set the MIC/LINE to LINE.

• Select a blank PATTERN

• Press the [INTEGRATED SAMPLING] button. You arrive at the SAMPLE SELECT screen. Select a blank Waveform, 001-128

• Press [F6] REC> and setup the SAMPLE SOURCE and SAMPLE DESTINATION parameters

• Set RECORDING TYPE = slice+seq
• Set INPUT SOURCE = A/D Input
• Set MONO/STEREO = stereo
• Set FREQUENCY = 44.1kHz
• Set TRACK = 01 (Destination) is Track 1 – change as necessary to import more data.
• Press [F6] STANDBY>

Here you can select the TRIGGER MODE to “LEVEL”. Basically, how sampling will begin. TRIGGER LEVEL will start sampling whenever the level exceeds the threshold setting, once you arm the sampler. This can be ideal when sampling from CD.

(You might also use the MANUAL setting – where you arm and stop sampling by pressing a button). Lower the Trigger Level to 1 – CDs have little or no background noise. Although you might have to select a slightly higher level if you are sampling from vinyl or a tape that has surface noise.

Test the level – get it as close to the top without clipping. The Input Gain control is on the Motif XF back panel next to the left input. When you have good level stop the playback of the CD. Cue it to the index of the track you want to record. Now we arm the sampler.

• Press [F5] START to arm the sampler. It will change from “STANDBY” to “WAITING”
• Start playback of you CD player to start sampling. The Motif XF will draw the waveform as it samples.

•Press [F6] STOP to end sampling.
• Press [SF1] AUDITION or touch the KEY (C3) to immediately hear your sample.

The Motif XF will show you the waveform. The Start point is always 00004410 if you sample at 44.1kHz because it has a prerecord feature set to 100ms. This way, even if the level trigger mode misses a little bit of the beginning of the audio, you can back up the start point to get it.

Check the START and END POINTS by highlighting those parameters and zooming in. TRIM the START and END POINTS as necessary, then execute the EXTRACT function. This would discard the unused data from samples 00000000 – 00004410. It would also renumber the data so that the Start Point would be 0000000 and the end point would be adjusted accordingly. That is memory that you can get back.
[F6] Slice

• Press [F6] SLICE

Here you are given parameters to set up the slice function.

• Press [ENTER] to execute

When completed you get the option to AUDITION [SF1] and to set a tempo at which to audition the results.

• Set the TEMPO to the desired value and audition again.

• Also audition the notes on the keyboard to determine if you have too many slices or too few slices.
• If too many, lower the SENS (Sensitivity) setting. The lower the sensitivity, the fewer the slices.
• After resetting the Sensitivity and/or Type press ENTER to execute again.
• It does take a few seconds per measure to process. Sing the Jeopardy theme while you wait …and remind yourself that you could not accomplish what it is doing in less than an entire day.

• Audition it again using both methods.
• If satisfactory, press [ENTER]. (Until you press [ENTER] you have not accepted the results). By pressing [ENTER] you accept the results and the Motif will create a new waveform at 002 and dump the original sample from waveform 001. It will also create a USER PHRASE and place it in the Pattern Section PATCH.

• Press [PATTERN] to return to the main Pattern screen. Note the waveform icon next to Track 1.

• Press [F4] Patch to see how the Motif XF has inserted the user phrase 001 that will trigger your sliced audio. It is very important to the concept of the Motif XF ISS to realize that in the above SECTION PATCH, track 1 is now an “audio” track because it contains a Phrase that is triggering an audio sample. If you were to deactivate this Phrase (un-PATCH it), and then activate the Phrase on track 16, then Track 16 would be the audio Phrase.

You can create as many sliced audio phrases as you need per Pattern Style. 16 Phrases, whether MIDI or Audio can be activated simultaneously, obviously. But If you were to activate the above USR 001 in SECTION P, no matter what track you activate it on, it will playback your audio Phrase correctly recalling the appropriate associated Sample Voice.
• Press [EDIT] to view the EVENT LIST
Here you can see that each slice has a MIDI note-on to trigger it at the appropriate analyzed time.

SLICE Summary: The SLICE job and the SLICE+SEQ sample Type are two ways to go about creating Sliced audio phrases. Once the data has been sliced it is housed in a new Waveform that can be further manipulated. You can use individual hits to make Drum Kit. With the example here, we have isolated a kick, snare and hihat sound which can be used within a drum kit. In this fashion, if you can isolate a drum hit, you can use it to build your own custom drum kits from any audio sample. Another thing that can be done with a sliced waveform in PATTERN mode is to use the Real Time Loop Remix function to create brand new variations on the data.

ADVANCED: Unlimited Possibilities
Pattern Mode: REAL TIME LOOP REMIX

Now that you have sliced this test wave, let’s try some unique advanced functions. The Real Time Loop Remixfunction gives you a variety of semi-random presets for dividing the MIDI sequence data and altering the note positions and note lengths, letting you create completely new variations of a Pattern. This function is particularly effective when applied to a track that contains a sample voice created by using the Sampling Slice feature; i.e., with the SLICE+SEQ sample type or samples processed using the Sample SLICE Job.

It can be applied to any MIDI phrase whether or not it is a user sliced sample. Set up the parameters (outlined below), and then press the [SF5] APPLY button to execute the Remix operation. You can do this while the sequencer is stopped or while it is playing (thus the “Real Time” in the name. You will instantly hear the results of the Remix. If you’re not satisfied with the results, try another Type/Variation and press [SF5]. If you want to keep the changes, press [ENTER] to fix. To return to the original display without altering the data, press the [SF4] CANCEL button.

Since the remixed data is stored as a new phrase and assigned (“patched”) to the current track, the original phrase data remains as an unassigned phrase. For example, if you have a simple drum groove in Phrase 001, if you press [SF5] APPLY to REMIX the phrase and then press [ENTER], the Remix will create a new user Phrase in the lowest numbered empty user Phrase location – i.e., 002. It will automatically “Patch” this new Phrase into the Section, leaving the original Phrase (001) unassigned but available if you need to recall it. Real Time Loop Remix does not delete your data – it only creates new data. Each new Phrase that you CREATE is added to your library of Phrases. You can have a maximum of 256 Phrases per Pattern.

Type: Determines how the data in the selected track will be divided and rearranged. The division and rearrangement rules are different for each remix type. The type is also shown graphically in the display and gives a general idea of where the activity is concentrated.

Settings: 1~16

Variation: Determines how the original MIDI sequence data will be modified.
Settings: Normal 1~16, Reverse 1~16, Break 1~16, Pitch 1~16, Roll 1~16, and Fill-in 1~48

• Normal 1~16…. The original data is only divided and rearranged. 16 variations are provided.
• Reverse 1~16 …In addition to division and rearrangement, some portions of the data may be played in reverse (if, and only if applied to a “sliced” user sample phrase). 16 variations are provided.
• Break 1~16 …In addition to division and rearrangement, some portions of the data may be deleted to create breaks (gated effect). 16 variations are provided.
• Pitch 1~16…In addition to division and rearrangement, some portions of the data may be pitch-shifted (if, and only if applied to a sliced user sample phrase). 16 variations are provided.
• Roll 1~16……….In addition to division and rearrangement, some portions of the data may be played with a roll effect. 16 variations are provided.
• Fill-in 1~48… Some portions of the data will be arranged to create a fill-in type effect. 48 variations are provided.

Each combination of TYPE and VARIATION will give a consistent result when applied to the same data. In other words, if you apply TYPE 1, VARIATION NORMAL 1 to the exact same phrase – the result will be exactly the same each time. Therefore, you can count on the results if ever you need to return to it. Applied to different data, of course, the results will be different – like when applied to a variation of the original phrase – but each time applied to the same data, the results will be predictable.

Interval: The Interval parameter determines in which measures the remix will occur. A setting of “1” would mean that each measure would be remixed. A setting of 2 would remix every other measure, and so on, through to once every 8 measures. This is useful, for example, when you want to take the eighth measure of a Phrase and make it transition to a new Section.

Reverse and Pitch Variations apply specifically to sliced sample segments. When these are applied to regular MIDI phrases, do not expect to hear reverse or pitch changes (this is reserved for phrase data controlling sliced audio only). You will hear different timing and note length changes, however.

When you apply the Reverse or Pitch variations to a sliced phrase, it will actually alter the sample waveform by either reversing playback of certain segments or offsetting the original tuning of certain audio contained in the segment. These are destructive edits. You can go to [INTEGRATED SAMPLING] –> [EDIT] –> [F2] PARAM and view each individual segment of the audio phrase and tweak each one, as necessary …even manually edit the pitch with the Coarse Tune/Fine Tune parameters or you can change how the segment plays with the Play Mode parameter (Play Mode determines direction: one shot, reverse, loop)…

Reverse is actually the unit reading the wave from the End Point to the Start Point, rather than the normal way.

Being able to EDIT the individual sliced segments is useful because every now and then you REMIX a phrase and it gets really, really close to the ‘perfect’ phrase but you want to change just a few of the events. Knowing how the Reverse and Pitch work on samples can be a valuable tool. See the section on “Editing the individual Slices” later in this article for more details.

Let’s try it on the audio we just sliced

• Press [PATTERN]
• Begin playback of our sliced audio
• Set the Tempo to around 97.0 BPM (close to the original tempo of the audio).
• Press [F6] REMIX>

On the downbeat, press [SF5] APPLY
Notice how it adds a kick drum on the upbeat between 3 and 4, and it eliminated the snare on beat 4, and moved it back to the “and of four”. With the setting above the INTERVAL is 1 – so the variation is applied every measure. Try different settings. Remember, press [SF4] CANCEL to return to the original phrase. Don’t try and hear them all, there are over 2,048 variations just with “Normal” Variation.

The lower the TYPE and VARIATION number the subtler the change, the higher you go the more radical the change. The graphic just below the words “1 Measure” indicates roughly where in the measure the variation will occur. Use this as a general outline. Not all settings will provide change, it always depends on what data is being remixed.

Try some REVERSE VARIATIONS:

Type = 2, Variation = reverse 01, Interval = 1

You may notice little change on many of the reverse – as our audio clip is 8th note based, while many of the reverses may be 16th note based.

Try some PITCH VARIATIONS:

TYPE = 1, Variation = pitch15, Interval = 1

Try ROLL, BREAK and FILL-IN VARIATIONS.
Experiment. Not every variation is useful. You decide if it is a keeper or not – you play producer

Editing the individual Slices:
Once an audio waveform has been sliced, it is divided into several time segments and a MIDI note based on when that segment occurs is placed in a MIDI Phrase. Actually, a new waveform is created – so your original data is still there, intact. Below is a screen shot showing our audio wave after it has been sliced. A new Waveform 002 has bee created and mapped chromatically from C3. The first segment is shown selected below.

By holding the [SF6] KBD (keyboard) and touching note C#3 you can recall the next slice in the chromatic map.

Once a KEY has been selected its data will fill the screen when you press the [EDIT] button.

As each KeyBank is selected and recalled via this method, you can view its data when you press [EDIT]. Once in [EDIT], press [F1] TRIM > the Start Point, Loop Point and End Point can be edited as required. It is possible to use the Real Time Loop Remix function to construct a drum kit.

Here’s how that concept works:
Say you have audio drum loop and you like sounds. If you setup to slice it and get the Sensitivity set so you can get a clean drum hit on each KEY, you can then manually play these as a drum kit. The KICK will be isolated to a single Key, the SNARE will be isolated on a separate Key, and so on. Now you can record yourself playing this sliced Drum set using the sounds you found in your sample.

LOADING MULTIPLE .Wav or AIFF files
You can create a Pattern Sample Voice or Song Sample Voice that contains all of your audio phrases. For example, let’s say you have a couple dozen audio loops that you have selected from a CDROM and wish to use in your current composition. (Often commercially available sampling CDs have both an audio disk and a .wav disk).

If you place all of the .wav files you want to import into a single FOLDER on your USB drive, you can use the Motif XF’s new “LOAD MULTI” feature to load them all in one operation.

This function allows you to load all the .wav files in the same folder and automatically maps them to KEYS chromatically from the designated KEY.
• If you target a Normal User Voice, each sample will be loaded into a single Waveform, one Keybank (note) for each sample wave.

• If you target a User Drum Kit, each sample will be loaded into a separate Waveform, each mapped to a single Key (C3).

If you target a User Sample VOICE within a SONG or PATTERN, this will be similar to loading them into a Normal User Voice, that is, each sample will be loaded into a single Waveform, with one Keybank (note) for each sample wave.

• Press [F6] LOAD MULTI instead of the normal [SF2] LOAD.

In the screen shot above a series of .wav files (audio loops) are going to load into USER DRUM Kit starting at middle “C3”. Loading a series of audio loops into a drum kit makes it convenient to set them up for use together in a ‘live’ situation. Drum Kit Voices have envelopes that can be set to play the entire audio clip without having to hold your finger on the key and/or without having to have a sequenced MIDI note hold the key. You can also set them so that any one of them silences any other of them so triggering wave #2 will silence wave #1. This is called ALTERNATE MODE and is how the closed hihat stops the open hihat from sounding (very useful with audio clips).

If working in the SEQUENCER, a single USER Sample Voice can hold all of your audio clips (up to a maximum of 128). In this single waveform you can EDIT them make sure each one is looped perfectly (sic), etc. Then you can SLICE the audio loops one at a time, because the Motif XF will target a new Sample Voice and create a new waveform containing the slices. As you create new Sliced PHRASES via this function, the Motif XF will create the MIDI data in the lowest numbered empty USER Phrase. Don’t worry it will not overwrite a previous USER Phrase (it will replace it in the current Section PATCH) but the data still exists in its USER Phrase. Continue to slice and create Phrases in the manner – you can PATCH them, manually, into Sections later. Remember on the PATTERN mode [F4] PATCH screen you can activate or deactivate a Phrase at any time. The limit to the number of sliced Phrases you can playback simultaneously is 16, of course, the number of tracks per Section.

Housekeeping
The samples you create in a Song or a Pattern are “local” to that Song or Pattern. You will not see them, for example, if you recall the next empty Pattern or Song. The sample data, being “local”, is automatically saved when you save the Song or Pattern to card or disk. The waveform is, however, accessible when you go to Voice EDIT –
You will find your waveforms on a list of user waveforms. Additionally, the Motif XF adds a new feature called “VOICE CONVERT” which lets you take audio recorded to the INTEGRATED SEQUENCER and quickly convert it to a MIXING VOICE. This not only makes it easy to add INSERTION EFFECTS, and the like, but a MIXING VOICE can then be saved to the general population of normal USER Voices.

This means that you have an opportunity to use this data elsewhere, or to build regular Motif XF Voices from them. The Motif XF also allows you to copy data, including the samples, from Pattern to Pattern or even from a Pattern to a Song or vice versa.