I searched (unsuccessfully) for the S80 Plugin Guide article, but 18 years is just too far back in the archives of articles I've written. And this far out I would trust what I wrote that long ago over what I remember... but here's what I do recall.

The PLG150-series Plugin Boards had a set number of what were called "Board Voices"... in the PLG150-DX this was the 912. The PLG boards could be used in a number of products... when placed in a "host" synth like the S80, the S80 would recognize which Board and then recall from ROM a set of 64 Programs that used Source waves from the PLG Board identified... these were referred to as the "Plugin Voices". When the S80 detected a DX Board it would populate the PLUGIN BANK with sounds programmed specifically for it.

What a Plugin Voice did was address the PLG150 Board, it would use one of the 912 Preset Board Voices or there was one volatile RAM bank per board, that you could bulk data to), the Voice addressed the DX sound as an S80 Element. Instead of pointing to an AWM2 sample, the S80 Plugin Voice used data from the PLG150-DX as its Element.

This is where the S80's Filters, Effects, and Controllers could be applied to the FM sound.
The PLG150-DX does not have Filters... when used in a GM/XG product whatever the host product had could be applied.
In the S80 you had the powerful Filters, all the controllers and effects of the S80 engine... the Source wave is just being replaced by a PLG150-DX Board Voice.

So when looking for the Filter it belongs to S80 engine... I'll continue to hunt for the article, I've just found it for the S90, but that was 3-4 years later...

Thank you for your swift reply!

Great to hear from people who were involved in the product development some 18 years ago!
I managed to browse the menu of the Voice mode of the S80 and came across filter parameter. I think I at one step have to define the value of the steps by which the filter cutoff value will increase/decrease, and thereafter assign controller to the parameter. Not straight forward, but I will work on it and get more familiar with the menu choices.

I also assigned Expression CC#11 to filter cutoff on one of the "Plugin voices" which is a combination of a board voice and effects and filter settings of the S80 engine. The preset called VO: Moon choir, responds nicely to my pedal controlling cut off. While drenched in Hall reverb and chorus, it sounds far, far beyond expectations in a positive way. I did not expect to hear such lush, evolving soundscapes coming from a DX-engine. Great stuff!

I will search the web for the S80 Plugin guide.

Thanks!

Might I jump into this PLG DX 150 discussion? I just purchased this board for my Motf ES. I have not installed it yet. Am just assembling related software and reading manuals. I think I understand the basics... The board comes with 64 ready to play voices and 912 so called board voices. I call up the board voices thru VOICE MODE on my ES - OSC and can proceed to assign effects and controllers which are available as NATIVE (F4) to each board voice. I then store as 1 of 64 available user plugin voices and at that point they are ready to play..

I found and downloaded the DX Simulator software which, after some doing, I was finally able to open and look thru on my Windows 10 laptop. My question is, what good is this to me now? It has no connection to or control over any of the board voices, correct? These board voices are all edited / controlled directly through the ES Voice Mode. It looks like DX Simulator has the same 64 preset voices as exists on the PLG but so what? From everything I have seen and read, there is no longer any way to access or edit the PLG board by running the DX simulator through my laptop correct? It would be interesting to play with this software to edit and hear how a real DX can be programmed but it is no longer possible to play store and transfer any MIDI data or files from the DX Simulator to/thru the Motif ES, correct? ..

@thomas: No, incorrect.

”The DX Simulator is providing an exceptionally simple and convenient way to edit and control all of the parameters on the PLG150-DX Advanced DX/TX Plug-in Board — even providing the same control format as used on the original DX7.
DX Simulator lets you store your edits as an original Custom voice and save up to 64 Custom voices directly to the PLG150-DX. Naturally, you can save additional sets of 64 Custom voices to floppy disks or your hard disk drive as DX Cartridge Files. The DX Simulator also features a convenient, easy-to-use DX Librarian that lets you organize your Custom voices.”

If you have DX Simulator running on a Window 10 computer, Congratulations! You have the PLG150-DX and you have the Editor - why the negative vibes, man! Dig in. The Editor can open DX7 sounds... this gives you access to thousands of sounds!!! You can program sounds from scratch plus it’s a Librarian.

One very important word of warning... Remember to TURN OFF your Motif ES when installing or removing any of your PLG150 boards. Don't laugh... many folks forget and it’s not good. Remember the ES scans the PLG ports and must find them during its boot up process. Plus turning the instrument OFF is just good practice when working with electronics!!!!

Really?? .... you mean that no other software is needed? I just set up the MIDI IN / OUT, transmit locations on the Simulator software, plug in USB to my Steinberg audio interface connected to my ES MIDI input, turn on my ES and can then am able to edit the PLG board thru my laptop and play my ES to hear the results?

Really?? .... you mean that no other software is needed? I just set up the MIDI IN / OUT, transmit locations on the Simulator software, plug in USB to my Steinberg audio interface connected to my ES MIDI input, turn on my ES and can then am able to edit the PLG board thru my laptop and play my ES to hear the results?

Be sure to put READ THE MANUAL somewhere in there and you’ll be good to go! You may have to connect the Motif ES directly to your computer via USB... I don’t remember, but the manual will tell you all of that stuff.

From the “Motif and the Modular Synthesis Plug-in System: PLG150-DX Frequency Modulation Synthesis Plug-in Board — A Getting Started Guide” (found in my archives from 2001)..........

”You will find that you can use two editors when you have both a PLG150-DX and a Motif. The VOICE EDITOR for MOTIF6/7/8 will let you program USER Bank Voices for the Motif. That is, AWM2 Normal User Voice, Drum User Kits and PLG150 Series User Plug-in Voices.

The parameters for these technologies are each a whole synthesizer by itself (and each has been). If you want to program “from scratch”, the AN, DX and VL boards have in depth ‘expert’ editors. If you are just a tweaker – one who likes to fiddle with existing sounds – each board will give you plenty of data to work with and plenty of parameters to play with, as well. If you do enjoy making sounds “from scratch”, you will love the way the Motif-PLG150-computer system works. It will take some getting used to but is very powerful. Ultimately, you will be able to make custom sounds via the computer editor and save the data...”