hi all, i'm from italy so my english is rusty. i hope find help, my new acquired xs6. i really don't understand some things. one thing is why the bar the sliding bars have some red arrows until you reach that little triangle you cannot change the volume of the sliding bar? so i must go all way up and than the triangle diasappear

That is correct. This is explained in your Motif XS Owner's Manual in the chapter STARTING GUIDE, Step 2: "Selecting and Playing a Voice" > Using the Controllers/Using the Knobs.

Note:
A red point on the Knob or Slider graphic indicates the current value to which the Knob or Slider is set. Moving the Knob or Slider has no effect on the sound until this point is reached. Once you move the Knob or Slider past this point, the red point disappears and moving the Knob or Control Slider affects the sound.

This is because the red indicator is the stored value, you must physically move the knob or slider to match that value, called "hooking" the value for the knob or slider to become active. If the knobs and faders were motorized they would move automatically. This would be very clear, but also very expensive.

bby the way another important thing is , i no have firewire card inserted, also firewire is quite obsolete pc doesn't use it. i want use cubase Ai. but i know need sound card interface usb. i go out from keyboard with midi out, into midi in of the interface. than? interface connects to usb to pc. that, i record events into cubase. cubase playback midi event into midi out of the interface that goes into midi in of the keyboard. yeah at this point i don't know how to proceed...the keyboard plays trought audio analog out. and so? what to do? i want to record. i have the tracks each mapped to a single midi track and instrument. but i want also to playback the sampled audio content, not only the voices that are on the board. so the midi tracks of cubase goes into the keyboard that plays back but to record the song what i must do? the keyboard go out with analog, this analog where i must put?

If you wish to record audio you will need an audio interface. FireWire is still adaptable to your computer, but your are correct, most computers do not come with FireWire. FireWire is compatible with Thunderbolt... But you must decide what you need to do. You must weigh what type of computer you are going to use. If you are recording you can get a USB audio interface (most computers still come with enough USB ports to easily connect to your computer.

You will connect the audio outputs of the Motif XS to the audio inputs of the audio interface, then the audio interface connects to the computer via USB, and connects to your monitor speakers. It will be responsible for taking in audio from your music devices (keyboards, microphone, etc) to send audio TO your computer. It will also be responsible for getting audio our FROM the computer to your monitor speakers.

There are many kinds of audio interfaces from small utility boxes to mixers. Unlike the FireWire option you will only be able to record through the Main stereo outputs and the two assignable outputs. With FireWire you can record Stereo plus fourteen simultaneous outputs. So yes, FW gives you more you can record at once. But with an external audio interface you will simply have route audio out in separate pass. It will simply be working to transfer a part or two at a time.

You can go to your Yamaha.com website and search for Audio Interfaces. Or to your local music store and ask about audio interfaces that will work with your computer.

thank you very much. so ... what is "FireWire is compatible with Thunderbolt" how to search google to find something about?. i don't understand one thing. if i use midi the events are recorded simultaneous ? but are you sayng that with an audio interface i have to record one or two track at once? so to understand better. let's say i have an interface usb with two audio analog input and midi in/out just like an entry level. so i play on the keyboard voice 1, the drum line, for example, the sequencer on the pc record the event. i go step further and record bassline , guitar, piano ... and than i want to use some samples..in one track let's say i sampled some vocals. so the analog imput record the sampled audio played live from the keyboard. ok? but when i want to mixdown all the tracks midi and audio analog, to only one track how i can get this? because the arranger in the pc plays back the midi events and the sampled track. the midi events don't use the onboard sound card but che keyboard sound card back and the analog output of the keyboard plays the notes back. so...if i have in cubase Ai one track with analog audio, and 5 tracks of midi, how i can mixdown? because the analog track is stored into the pc, the midi are sent to the keyboard, so the analog output of the keyboard must go back to the interface so i need to record meanwhile i playback? i'm confused. can explain this step? thank you. i wondering if i need another computer with another sound card and send all the data played back from keyboard plus the analog audio from the first pc. but this sounds strange!

and ... sorry but i visited the website you suggested but i don't know what is the correct product. i have a guitar, a bass, the motif xs6, a phamtom mic, but i don't have to record simultaneous. one thing is if i use vst instruments the low latency this is very very important. 5ms is the maximum allowed. and i have a monitor speaker that needs rca black red imput. so the cards that comes out with balanced how i use them?

I'll try to explain. First, I should say there is more than one way to work. But in general...

The reason to record tracks as MIDI initially is so you can perfect your performance (correct mistakes, change your mind about the sounds you are using, tweaking effects, etc) before you commit the recording as audio. MIDI data can be easily changed and manipulated (more easily than audio data). If you are not going to edit, if you are not going to change your mind about the sounds you use, you can skip recording data as MIDI, altogether.

It is a personal preference. You only need one computer, you only need one DAW software program. Say you are using Cubase... You could record your MIDI tracks, one at a time, assembling your complete musical composition. You would plug in a microphone, "overdub" your vocals... You would be listening back to your music tracks while you are adding your vocals directly to Cubase. You may want to get an audio interface that allows you to keep the Motif XS and the microphone plugged in at the same time. Recording vocals to an audio track will be done through the audio interface.

When you have everything as you like, you can begin the process of rendering (recording) the XS tracks as actual AUDIO TRACKS.

AUDIO can be play played by anyone. .wav format can be played by anyone with a smartphone or computer. You could burn a CD from a stereo audio track.
MIDI can only be played by someone who has the same MIDI gear as the gear you created it on.

You will playback your MIDI tracks, your synth will output audio - instead of sending it to your speakers, you route it to the Audio Interface. The audio interface converts it to digital signal that the computer program can document. So Cubase will be sending MIDI data to your synth, the synth will respond by outputting audio, the audio is converted by the interface and then sent back to Cubase. In Cubase you will have a Stereo audio track to record it as a .wav.

You do NOT need a separate computer, the whole thing takes place with just the one synth, the one audio interface and the one computer program.

Now, as I mentioned first, there are many variations on this workflow. You can record each musical part as a completely separate audio track. You would do this if you wish to process a particular part in some unique way. Say you are doing a dance track, you may want to place Kick drum on a separate Audio Track and use a special plug-in to process it separately. Again this is your choice, your preference.

We realize this can be a bit confusing at first... I highly recommend you attend a Club Cubase meeting... Although I don't know where in the world you are, but Steinberg has a club that meets once a month in cities around the USA - where you can talk with other users you can see and hear how to setup and record at home.

Surely, you can stop in your local music store or visit Steinberg's YouTube channel and learn about different interfaces and workflows...

ok thanks as always for your help. so i always had experience with recordings. i had lexicon lambda but never had a motif. so let's say i want to do a dance track because that's what i want to do. i want to use midi because i can manipulate and quantize. i will record one at time track. and add sampled data. so the motif has unbalanced out. what interface i have to pick up? can i put unbalanced cable into balanced inputs of the card? using the midi in out to control and record from keyboard to pc and back to pc again? i will put a bass into usb interface record make a sample, make a rex file and play it quantized. that's what i want. so how to connect the motif? i now use the main outputs to a monitor speaker using two unbalanced 1/4 to phono jack into the active speaker. so what interface i must take i have only one instrument like guitar or bass at a time, the motif that i must pilot trough midi in out and put the output to render into pc, and a microphone with phamtom. can you explain the connectivity basic for this? thanks i think motif use unbalanced. but focusrite or other has balanced so where i put this connectors?

look at midi hookup diagram of PreSonus AudioBox™ 22/44VSL page 10 user manual. this is what i need. but motif xs use balanced or unbalanced? so when i playback on cubase the cubase can render from keyboard the midi played back from cubase sequencer and mixdown?

Sorry, you'll need to contact PreSonus for support on their product, but while it probably has balanced outputs, no one would necessarily make an audio interface that did no have an option to connect microphones and/or instrument inputs (most of which will be unbalanced). Please contact PreSonus or your local music store.

so when i playback on cubase the cubase can render from keyboard the midi played back from cubase sequencer and mixdown?

Correct.