1. Will a sound file that is .X7L work on the MODX?

Yes, the MODX can translate files for the MONTAGE (which are designated .X7L, .X7U) Library and User Files from a USB stick.

2. Is it always necessary to use a thumb drive to install sounds onto the MODX?

Yes. The word “install” is used when referring to writing data into one of the eight Flash ROM Library locations. It also refers to custom Waveform data written temporarily to the User Bank. This must always be done via a USB stick connected to the “To Device” port on the MODX back panel.
Special instructions (referred to as the Waveform listing) are written into these File Types by the synth concerning *where* the data is to be placed.

3. What's the purpose of the MODX Connect program if you can't use it to install a new sound onto the MODX?

Excellent question. When you understand the answer you will have taken a big step in understanding how Waveform and Sample data (Oscillator audio) is necessarily handled differently from parameters that turn that audio data into AWM2 synth sounds.

In any sample-based synth engine (like the AWM2 engine in the MODX), the building blocks are Oscillator (tone source), Filter (timbre shaper), Amplitude Generator (loudness control)... the Oscillator is made up of audio samples. Contrast this with an analog synth where the tone source is a voltage control circuit that uses 1 volt per octave (a fancy electrical buzzer).

While the sampled audio, (and the Waveforms that organize the individual samples) come from an actual Bosendorfer acoustic Imperial Grand and is easily over 400MB of data. Sampled audio uses approximately 10MB per stereo minute... all of the notes of the piano are sampled several times and organized (Waveform) into a form that allows the rest of the synth engine to use the audio as the synth Oscillator.

The Filter, the Amplitude EG, the LFOs, the Effect parameters, etc., etc., etc. and all the other parameters add up to a couple of Kilobytes of data (very, very small in comparison to the Waveform and Sample data).

An FM-X sound is pure synthesis... no large sets of data need to be stored and organized. An FM-X program is tiny in comparison to an AWM2 program. FM-X sounds can easily be moved in a MIDI bulk dump because, again, the data size is relatively small.

The Factory Wave ROM of the MODX is some 5.67GB of data
The Flash ROM that you install data to can hold an additional 1GB of your choosing (like the Bosendorfer Library)

ROM is Read Only Memory. So once “installed” the Bosendorfer Waveform/Sample data are burned into your instrument’s Flash ROM.
The data is as secure and in place as the Factory data. So now using programs like MODX CONNECT become personally useful to organize and recall programs for your personal MODX.

Say you install the Bosendorfer Library to your MODX - The Waveforms and Samples organized by the Bosendorfer data will be “burned” into ROM to the lowest numbered, empty locations on your Flash. The MODX will automatically create a detailed catalog of exactly where each Waveform and each Sample is installed. This cataloging is used whenever you create data with your particular MODX. It gets written into all subsequent files made with your MODX, and is used when you “bulk dump” a program to MODX CONNECT.

Instead of moving the 400,000,000 (four hundred million) bytes of data, it just *references* the catalog listings for the Waveforms and Samples... so you only move about 2,000 or 3,000 bytes of parameter data. (A substantial savings in time, even at high data transfer speeds).
While non-computer math based folks easily mix up kilobytes, megabytes, gigabytes. The differences are profound. Substitute dollars to grasp the scale of size. You’ve likely held $2,000 in your hand, (heck you’ve got a MODX), that’s the parameters that make up the Bosendorfer Imperial Grand minus the Waveform/Samples... the Waveform/Samples are like holding $400,000,000 in your hand... I will not say you haven’t, just that it’s unlikely Bulking dumping a megabyte-per-second would still be like significant ‘wait time’ for audio, but only an eye blink for the standard Performance parameters.

Conclusion: because Audio data is so large and cumbersome to deal with, particularly when compared to the parameters that shape it into playable sounds, the system separates the handling of the Audio data. The more detailed the sample based instrument the more sample data you wind up with...the Bosendorfer sample set, once “installed” is referenced exactly as the data installed by Yamaha at the factory.

MODX CONNECT handles the relatively small (parameter settings) data, not the humongous audio data.
So MODX CONNCET makes a great way to archive and retrieve your own stuff... but a poor way to share it with anyone else.
This has the added benefit of protecting Waveform and Sample data from being inadvertently shared with those not entitled to it.

Additionally, user data, like Arpeggios are also not bulked via the MODX CONNECT — they, too, are given a catalog reference number.

Well thank you very much Mr. Bad Mister.
That makes a ton of sense the way you laid it out there. I'm more of a player and less of a "synth guy", but I'm having fun digging in and trying
to figure out all this stuff. So far I really like the MODX, I'm just trying to get a grasp in my head of how I need to lay everything out for live performance.
The sounds are great, but I really want to hear this Bosendorfer and also the Chick Corea patch.

I've got one more quick question if you don't mind, just want to be sure I understand fully...

1. So let's say I use a USB Stick and I put this Bosendorfer piano on my MODX.
I should then be able to back up my keyboard to my computer using the MODX Connect program.
But backing up the keyboard with the MODX Connect program doesn't move the files back and forth, it just moves the info of
which sound were located where, and all the parameters and libraries etc.
So I would assume that if I had to reset my keyboard to factory settings for some reason, any sounds that I "make" by changing the stock instruments would be safe,
but the Bosendorfer for example would then need to be reinstalled, but the sounds and User libraries I had created would be set back up if I synced my MODX
with my computer using the MODX Connect Program.

Would you say that's accurate? (Sorry I know some of my terminology is a little off.

Thank you very much for your help.

Would you say that's accurate? (Sorry I know some of my terminology is a little off.

No, not at all.

1. So let's say I use a USB Stick and I put this Bosendorfer piano on my MODX.
I should then be able to back up my keyboard to my computer using the MODX Connect program.

To backup your keyboard you want to use a USB stick and one of MODX’s proprietary file formats: .X8U, .X8L, .X8A

.X8U = a File that Saves/Restores to the User Bank, the 640 User Bank Performances, 256 User Arps, 256 Motion Sequences, etc., etc.
.X8L = a File that can install 640 User Performances, 256 User Arps, 256 Motion Sequences, etc., etc., to one of 8 ROM Library locations. Each of the 8 Libraries is the equivalent of a User Bank that has been written (burned) into ROM.
.X8A = a File that (literally) backs up ALL DATA contained in your MODX... including the current User Bank, the 8 currently installed Libraries... everything!

Press [UTILITY] > touch “Contents” > “Store/Save” > set the “Content Type” = BACKUP FILE (.X8A)
This is the only way to completely backup your MODX... All Performances, Waveforms, Arpeggios, Songs, Patterns, etc., etc., etc., everything!

MODX CONNECT will Save to your computer a bulk dump (MIDI) of all the parameter settings of one Performance... the current (one) Performance. Just one at a time.
While a Backup File (.X8A) might contain 5,760 Performances, the MODX CONNECT file (.X8B) contains just one Performance bulk.
While a Backup File might contain as many as 2048 Waveforms, and include some 1GB of custom audio data, the MODX CONNECT data contains absolutely no Waveforms and absolutely no audio data.

You need a USB stick (8GB recommended) to Backup your data... the Backup File (.X8A) is the way to recover from a MODX that needed to be reset and completely initialized. The MODX CONNECT saves just parameters of one Performance at a time. And never deals with the large audio data... only *where* (what specific cataloged location) the actual data will be found. It does NOT keep that audio data. So if your MODX was initialized completely, you’d be able to restore your 640 User Performances one-at-a-time (yikes)!

So no, MODX CONNECT is not the way to recover from an initialized MODX.
It’s a way to keep items you are working on safe, you can keep a copy of your latest work-in-progress, and can conveniently bulk it to your MODX whenever you desire.