Live Sets "live" in 3 areas. Library, User, and Presets. You probably do not want to backup the preset Live Sets - these are the ones that cannot be deleted from MODX no matter what you do. I'm not sure if you want to backup your Library or User Live sets. I would guess User bank.

The Live Set information does not have its own save-file format that is apart from other data. The Live Set settings take a ride along side your Performances and other settings inside your save file. For User bank Live Set, you would save an X8U file (user file) which will contain the Live Set.

When it comes to restoring the Live Set - you cannot restore the Live Set apart from all of the other data in the User save file. It all must come together along with the Performances and other settings.

The Live Set that you create will always be created in the User Bank. Because it will always be made up of the currently available Performance programs, Live Set data is always Store/Saved to .X8U File.

The User Bank of the MODX is initially empty when you first Power On your MODX. Factory data is referrred to as “Preset” data.
There are, for example, 2143 Factory Preset Performances in a new MODX. Before the product was released each subsidiary of Yamaha was asked to submit a “Best Of” list, representing programs felt to be qualified to serve as ‘representative’... these would be assembled in the 256 LIVE SET slots available for the Factory Preset Live Set Bank. They assembled the ‘best of’ programs into 244 of the 256 Factory Live Set. (There are 15 PAGES with 16 Performances each; they have left the 16th PAGE empty for additional Factory Presets coming in some future firmware update)....

This is so when you first encounter the MODX (in a store, for example) you don’t have to wade through two thousand one-hunndred forty-three programs to find a representative Orchestral String Sound... one of the BEST OF Pages will have Orchestral Performances... the Factory “Preset” Live Set is a representation with 244 selected “Best Of” programs assembled at the Factory to put the MODX’s best foot forward for that “first encounter”.

The User Bank in a brand new MODX has 0/640 Performance locations filled. It’s completely empty.
So are the 8 User Live Set lists. Each User Live Set Bank list has 256 empty slots... that’s 256 times 8 User Live Set Banks Or 2048 Live Set slots total.

Call up a Performance you want to put on your list.
Hold [SHIFT] + [LIVE SET] to register this program. A white box flashes around the first available User slot. Touch the box you wish to use to place the program on this list.

You create these Live Set lists to represent the order in which you recall programs, like on a gig. The “LIVE SET+“ (Live Set Advance) Function allows you to use a Foot Switch (plugged into the Assignable FS jack), to increment from one program to the next.

The thing to know is a Live Set is a customize listing of the existing Performances placed in a conveniently accessible selection order.
If you place a Performance on this List, but you later delete or remove the Performance location it is referencing, the Live Set slot will report “Not Found”. This is because the Live Set is just a list that references a Performance in its Home location.

If you were onstage and in your very opening number you needed an acoustic piano, followed by an electric piano, followed by strings, then back to acoustic piano, and then a split with an electric piano in your left hand and a synth lead in your right, followed finally by the acoustic piano.
Instead of hoping around all over the place you could create a Live Set “list”:
Slot 1 — CFX Concert (Piano)
Slot 2 — Vintage’74 ( EPiano)
Slot 3 — Seattle Sections (Strings)
Slot 4 — CFX Concert (Piano)
Slot 5 — ‘Custom User Perf’ (EP/SynLead)
Slot 6 — CFX Concert (Piano)

You just step on a FS set to “Live Set+“ (advance) and the instrument follows your instructions and recalls the appropriate program. The acoustic piano appears three times... each instance on the list refers back to the internal Performance Preset “CFX Concert”... (which, as apart of the Factory programs, will always be found). You can store a different Volume setting for each instance of the “CFX Concert” on the list... if you need it louder in the opening introduction, you can store the Volume for Slot 1 at 127, if by the time you return to it during the interlude you may need the piano Volume Set to 75, you can store the “CFX Concert” entry at Slot 4 at Volume = 75. And if you need it up loud again for the finale, the “CFX Concert” entry in Slot 6 can be stored at the Volume value you require.

The User Bank Live Set, is a user created play order selection list made from the currently available assortment of Performances. Each listing can contain 256 slots, which you move through by engaging Foot Switch.

Once a Live Set List is activated, you can be viewing any screen you like, to advance to the next program, simply step on the Foot Switch. You DO NOT have to be viewing the Live Set screen, necessarily... the act of stepping on the assigned Foot Switch will advance you to the next program on the list. This allows you to be viewing, for example, any screen area you like... say you are interacting with Motion Sequences, the instrument will simply advance to the next program on the list where you will be viewing its Motion Sequencer screen.

A Library Live Set list always started out as a User Bank Live Set List. This is because a Library represents a “frozen” User Bank.
You create a User Bank with as many as 640 of your own Performances, 8 User Bank listings of 256 each of your own Live Set slot lists, 2048 Waveforms, 256 of your own Arpeggio Phrases, 256 Motion Sequences, etc., etc., a complete set of user created memory makes up a LIBRARY.

Once you have assembled lots of sounds and custom setup data, you can write that into your instrument’s Flash ROM area for ‘permanent’ storage. A Library is Data you always want to carry with you. It’s 8 clones of the User writeable area.

The User Bank is saved as a .X8U File. This file ensures you can restore everything you’ve create back to the User “work area”. A .X8U File will always overwrite the current internal User work area... the new data simply replaces the old. This is never a problem IF YOU SAVE YOUR WORK! A good habit is always make a .X8U File of your daily work... even if you keep updating (overwriting) the same target file... make a change, SAVE a file.

If you save as a .X8L or Library File, the Contents of your current User Bank (including all Performances, Live Set listings, Waveforms, Arpeggios, etc., etc. are saved to a file that when loaded will NOT go back to the User ‘work area’, but instead will be “burned” into Flash ROM semi-permanent memory. A .X8L File can be burned into your instruments Flash memory... where it will remain until you manually DELETE it. You cannot make a change to Read Only Memory ... the data becomes like the Factory Preset Data...