The 4 knobs can assume many different modes of operation. First, be sure the knobs are in the proper mode for what you're trying to do.

Usually, these knobs will be in a mode where they are acting as "Assignable Knobs". This mode is active when you see the amber [ASSIGN] button illuminated which is on the same row as these 4 knobs just to the left of the 1st knob. This button needs to NOT be illuminated.

Then there are 4 "fixed function" modes that these knobs can assume. Selecting which mode is accomplished by pressing the button directly above the [ASSIGN] button. Pressing this button will illuminate one of the 4 indicator lights to the right of "Tone"or "EQ/FX" or "EQ" or "ARP/MS". You want to press this button until the indicator is illuminated to the right of "ARP/MS".

While playing or recording a pattern - sometimes parts of the interface are disabled. If this is an issue, make sure that you change the mode of the 4 knobs to match what you want before placing the instrument a state where parts of the interface are disabled.

Let me know what state your knobs are in by conveying which button or indicator light(s) are illuminated discussed here.

Secondly, the knobs assume different modes depending on context. What I mean is that it matters if a Part is selected or if no Part is selected. One way to select a Part is from the [PERFORMANCE] (HOME) screen where either there will be a white box around the Performance name (no Part selected) or around one of the Parts. Touching a Part from this screen will bring up a menu on the left side of the screen you can dismiss - but after touching a Part that Part will be selected. When selected, the knobs will control Part-level resources for the selected Part. This goes for all modes of these 4 knobs. I'm not advocating to use [PERFORMANCE] (HOME) for all selecting - but it's an easy way to become acclimated.

Note that when you press the [PERFORMANCE] (HOME) button - this, on its own, deselects selected Parts. You should always see after pressing this button that the Performance name has the white box around it indicating no Part is selected.

This is clearly the same logic as on my MX49. On further investigation, I find that only the Tone & EG/FX modes are unlocked; the EQ and ARP/MS modes are both locked. The ASSIGN button is unlit.

Now I find that this is a problem related to Cubase, as it is happening only when I choose Utility: Quick Setup: Arp Rec on Daw with the Cubase track having MIDI in and out connected to the MODX. This, from what I can understand, is different than the MX, in that the MX requires MIDI Thru to be Off to prevent a loop. The MODX requires Cubase to have MIDI Thru On, as I can see from the MIDI Activity meter at the bottom right of the Cubase screen. From this, it appears that when the MODX is set up to send its arpeggios over MIDI, it locks the lower two modes of the control knobs. That was not the case with the MX, so far as I remember. Is this right? Is there a solution?

When you press the Quick Setup / Template buttons (such as "Arp Rec on DAW" ), lots of parameters are changed. It's just a button that automates setting parameters a certain way. You could also accomplish the same task by individually going to each parameter affected and setting the parameters the same as the button would do. Also, it's possible that nothing happens if your settings already match the values that the quick setup button has for each parameter.

Therefore, it's important to know what (under the "hood" ) is going on here. What parameters are being changed. Also, what each of these parameters do and what the implications are of setting them one way or the other.

To cut to the chase, the setting that's tripping you up here is "Local Control = OFF". Whenever the DAW is involved, the quick setup buttons will turn off Local Control. What this means is that your local controllers (knobs, buttons, even piano keys) will not target the internal tone generator. They will only send MIDI out and, with "Local Control = OFF" expect that an external device (PC, tablet, etc) will route the MIDI back to your instrument. The reason for this is because it gives the external device control over the timing and compensate (if needed) for VST latency, etc. Such that the DAW, in this case, can make sure that your MODX as a tone generator is under slave control of the DAW rather than being directly controlled by your keyboard keys and such.

So yes, echoing MIDI from your DAW's input to the output targeting MODX is a normal part of the configuration when using a DAW. There are also cases where you would want to bypass ARPs (on MODX) when playing back a recorded arpeggio because you've asked MODX to send (MIDI) the arpeggio notes that the arpeggiator plays ("rendered" arpeggio) rather than the trigger notes that the arpeggiator responds to.

If you really didn't want to have to do this (and by "this" I mean properly setup your DAW to echo back MIDI) - then you could turn Local Control ON. You would do this after pressing "Arp Rec on DAW" to change Local Control back ON.

https://www.yamahasynth.com/learn/modx/mastering-modx-midi-settings-explained

... and the "Arp Rec on DAW" settings are fairly similar to the "MIDI Rec on DAW" - so this article may be helpful:

https://www.yamahasynth.com/learn/modx/modx-midi-record-on-daw

... and finally:

https://www.yamahasynth.com/learn/modx/arp-record-on-daw-mastering-modx

which explains more about the arpeggio bypass I alluded to above.

From the 1st link (MIDI Settings Explained) - "Arp Rec on DAW" sets the following:

FACTORY DEFAULTS FOR QUICK SETUP #2: ARP RECORD ON DAW

MIDI I/O = USB
LOCAL CONTROL = Off
ARP MIDI OUT = On
MIDI SYNC = MIDI
CLOCK OUT = On
REC/TRANS SEQ CONTROL = On/On
CONTROLLER RESET = Reset
GLOBAL ASSIGN (FS/SK/SCENE) = Arp Sw, 95, 92

For MODX the way the "MIDI Loop" problem is avoided is by using "Local Control = OFF" so it is intended to be managed at the instrument side and not at the DAW side. MIDI data received by the DAW is expected to be sent back to MODX on the channel it was received. The "MIDI Record On DAW" article (2nd one linked) goes into more detail.

Thanks for that detailed and helpful reply, Jason. I tried turning Local Control on and I found I could control the gate time whilst the arpeggio was being recorded into the DAW as MIDI notes. Exactly what I need. The article 'Arp Record on DAW' advised that more about Gate Time would appear in a later article but I don't think it did. It seems to change more than just the envelope decay time but I could be wrong. Can you tell me what the arpeggio gate time controls?

For every note, the arpeggio (I'm simplifying here - not covering all of the different arpeggio types) records a few items:

1) MIDI note value (which "pitch" for the arpeggio note to play)
2) Velocity of note
3) Duration (as in timing) of note. Quarter note, whole note, etc
4) Legato/Staccato - or how much of the duration of a note value the note is sounding. This is gate time.

A short gate time will make a staccato note. If you have 4 quarter notes at a given tempo, all 4 notes are going to start at a given time. Lets say tempo is 60bpm. That's 1 note per second. At time 0 (when ARP initially starts) one quarter note starts. At time 1(second) the second quarter note starts ... and so on through time 3(seconds) when the 4th/last quarter note starts.

Gate time is about the space between seconds 0s-1s where the first note is sounding. Does it sound throughout the whole duration for maximum legato? This would be maximum gate time. Or does the note just "blip" super short. This would be a minimum gate time. Each note has a gate time defined as each note has an intrinsic shortness/longness (in terms of staccato/legato).

There are "post production" modifications you can make to arpeggios which will lengthen or shorten the gate times all of the notes. This is what you're experimenting with here.

So what you're telling the arpeggiator here when you adjust gate time is to interpret the notes in the arpeggio "sheet music" as being longer or shorter than the "score". The arpeggiator as a robot automatic note player will hold on to a note longer or lift its robot fingers sooner vs. the nominal note lengths.

EDIT: Adding some information you would get if you read the Motif article I linked -- gate time may NOT affect notes in the case where the arpeggio is applied to a Drum Part AND the particular note(s) played by the arpeggiator ignore "note off". Drums keys have the ability to ignore "note off" messages. These particular keys ignoring "note off" will not be impacted by changing the gate time. Even the shortest "blip" of the arpeggiator will cause this drum key to play the full duration of the sample the same as if the gate time was very long since "note off" is ignored.

EDIT2: And, no, gate time does not change the AEG (amplitude envelope generator - which consists of attack, decay1, decay2, release). This envelope stays put and what is changing here is how long the arpeggiator robotically "holds down" a key it is being told to play by the arpeggio. The note will respond the same as if you could manually play notes matching a given gate time and will follow the AEG as programmed (and possibly offset by something else). The arpeggio itself does not change the AEG at all no matter what "play fx" are applied.

Regarding the Play FX article that maybe never materialized - it would have been highly leveraged from the Motif article since these basic concepts do not change from generation to generation. Only the look of the menu and buttons you press to pull up the menu(s).

https://yamahasynth.com/learn/2010s/swing-quantize-and-play-fx

Most of the article in terms of concepts and definitions apply to MODX.

[quotePost id=117682]

The article 'Arp Record on DAW' advised that more about Gate Time would appear in a later article but I don't think it did.

I can't find any subsequent article that goes into more detail.

It seems to change more than just the envelope decay time but I could be wrong. Can you tell me what the arpeggio gate time controls?

Re conrolling arps and their parameters - Yamaha added a lot more functionality for this when they added the Pattern Sequencer to the instruments.

The supplementary manual covers the pattern sequencer in detail and the sequencer screens provide a lot more settings and detail for controlling the arps in a pattern.
https://usa.yamaha.com/files/download/other_assets/8/1219148/modx_en_sm_c0.pdf

The pattern sequencer section begins on page 27 and the sequencer has an entire screen ('Note -> Gate Time' devoted to the arp parameters, especially gate time. This screen lets you change the gate time for a specified range of notes.

Although some of this may not be directly applicable to standalone arps you may find this more detailed info helpful in understanding the topic.
[/quotePost]

page 33?

Your claims don't match the text of page 33, nor the reality of using the Pattern Sequencer.

Hence the question.

[quotePost id=117682]
Re conrolling arps and their parameters - Yamaha added a lot more functionality for this when they added the Pattern Sequencer to the instruments.

The supplementary manual covers the pattern sequencer in detail and the sequencer screens provide a lot more settings and detail for controlling the arps in a pattern.
https://usa.yamaha.com/files/download/other_assets/8/1219148/modx_en_sm_c0.pdf

The pattern sequencer section begins on page 27 and the sequencer has an entire screen ('Note -> Gate Time' devoted to the arp parameters, especially gate time. This screen lets you change the gate time for a specified range of notes.

[/quotePost]

None of these claims is true. Further, they're distracting from Jason's excellent description of Gate Time by alluding to there being something more/extra to know about and/or consider.

But much worse, once an arp is recorded into the Sequencer it's no longer an arp. It becomes a series of note events, which changes both how it responds to some LFO features and how it responds to the specific knobs the OP is asking about.

It's not merely that "some of this may not be directly applicable", it's also red herrings.

[quotePost id=117679]Thanks for that detailed and helpful reply, Jason. I tried turning Local Control on and I found I could control the gate time whilst the arpeggio was being recorded into the DAW as MIDI notes. Exactly what I need. The article 'Arp Record on DAW' advised that more about Gate Time would appear in a later article but I don't think it did. It seems to change more than just the envelope decay time but I could be wrong. Can you tell me what the arpeggio gate time controls?[/quotePost]

The sense is that it changes more than decay time... and it kind of does.

There's some situations where shortening and lengthening Gate Time give counter intuitive results...

A couple of examples of the ways this can be at odds with your knob swizzling:

The Attack phase of the envelopes, if not fully realised through a long enough Gate Time to reach their peak, dump only as far as they got (up) into the Release phase.

If the Decay phase is much longer than the Release phase and you're used to hearing significant portions of that Decay phase progressively drop the sound out, then short Gate Times that only impact how far the Attack reaches (up) will immediately enter the rapid Release, and not get longer tails (only louder) until your Gate Time is sufficient to start using some of the Decay phase.

Similarly, if you're experimenting with Gate Times that progress through a very rapid Decay, increases in Gate Time will seem to shorten the notes, not lengthen them, as the longer you make the Gate Time the more the Decay crimps the sound. In these cases, a shorter Gate Time that reaches only the peak of the Attack then transitions to the long Release, so shorter Gates = longer sound.

This is all true for Filter Envelopes, too, which are sometimes somewhat at odds with Amp Envelopes, for the nature of the sound.

Generally speaking, there's some fun to be had with very short Gate Times, because Gate Times can be very short, shorter than we might be able to easily play, so with Arps and extremely short Gate Times you can often get at long tail Releases with more volume (less Decay influence) than you might when playing with your fingers.

[quotePost id=117690]Once again you can't see the forest for the trees. It isn't about the pattern sequencer. It is about providing more info for the OP re the last question they ask:

Can you tell me what the arpeggio gate time controls?

Although it appears to be beyond your understanding the pattern sequencer section of the supp doc helps explain just what arpeggio gate time is and what it does.

[/quotePost]

Key word being ARPEGGIO ?

Or is that the Commons within which I'm missing the forest?

I kid. Of course it's the Common Arp Settings > Gate Time that is being adjusted.

Keywords being Common and Arp.

And their Gate Time.

Which is exposed to the Knob that's being asked about.

@John When arps are playing, try swizzling the Attack, Decay and Release knobs, as this is often, in conjunction with Gate Time, able to get you things you might want/like.

If you come across changes that you'd like to animate, this is possible! I might even contend this is the most significant feature of the combined prowess of the Assignability, Motion Sequences and Arps within the MODX.

The properties these knobs drive (Attack, Decay and Release) can be driven by the Motion Sequencer, so you can create swells and drops, and because the Motion Sequencer can be synced to the Arp time (or Tempo), you can do this across predictable lengths of bars/notes, and then time your arp playing accordantly, and have a whole heap of fun.

Unfortunately none of the dynamics of player input can be animated with the Motion Sequence. This would be wonderful. But isn't a thing.