EDIT: @Rob... you have my Sympathy... as a new User, the filing system drove me bonkers, and If I played something I liked on a Friday night, by Saturday Afternoon I could never find it again. But over time, I re-discovered them all again. Its just a case of understanding and getting used to it. It is a long way short of "Windows Explorer", but at least it works, and there are a lot worse systems.

Best advice....

get a 64G USB Memory stick. Plug it in. Make a Backup with todays date. Do an "Initialise All" from Utilities. Start afresh.

This time... don't try to "Tidy Up" and "Catalogue" your MODX 😀 . It is what it is.

Preset Performances are Factory and cannot be changed or deleted... totally safe.

Library Performances cannot be changed (totally safe), although the Library and all its Assets (Waveforms, Arps, Motion Sequences etc) can be deleted... if you specifically want to.

Your User Bank is precious.

It is where you Store:-
a) Performances created from scratch.
b) Factory Performances you have modified and customised to your preference.
c) Library Performances* you have modified and customised to your preference.
d) Library Imported Performances**.
e) User/Custom Waveforms, ARPs, Motion Sequence/Control User Curves, Patterns, MIDI Songs etc.
f) Basically.... any work you do.

* Library Performances you have modified and STORED to your User Bank will continue to work normally as long as the Library remains installed. Also, they will not use up extra Memory... any embedded Samples will be "called" from the existing Library.

** You would only IMPORT Library Performances if you intended to delete the Library (to free up memory), but wanted to keep a few of your favourite Performances (including their Library Assets) to hand (i.e. in User Bank).

If you decide to Import the whole Library to your User Bank, you are effectively Doubling Memory Usage.

Example:- You install Library "KApro CS80" which uses 470Mb of your available 1Gb of User Memory.
You decide you want to rename every single CS80 Library Performance to something more suitable for your needs. You can either:-

1) "Store" each CS80 Performance in your User Bank with a New Name. These renamed USER Performances will work identically to the Library Performances, and will not use extra Memory. They will however use up most of your User Performance Slots. The Performances will not work if you delete the Library.

2) Import Each CS80 Performance. The Imported Performances will appear in your User Bank with the same name. You will also have doubled your memory Usage from 470Mb to 940Mb... you will have 60Mb left... maybe, depending what else you have stored.

Neither 1) or 2) are wise options. If you enjoy playing certain Library Performances as they are, you will soon remember their names and where they are. You could also keep a note-book, or just "Yellow Star" them with a Favourite tag.

Hopefully you have Libraries stored on your PC and on a handy USB Stick, so they are always to hand if needed. I delete and re-install my libraries all the time... depending on what musical mood I am in.

On the other hand, I regard my User Files as sacred and make regular Backups AND User Libraries. I also regularly "house clean" by deleting all User Performances I no longer use/need, and if I make a mistake, I can retrieve it from a recent User Backup or User Library.

Thanks Antony. What you're saying makes perfect sense. Though it feels scarry, doing such an "Initialize All" is probably a good idea. I still think that it is a real pity that Library performances have no category assigned to them, and that you also cannot assign them to a category without importing them to the user bank. This would definitely make a huge difference to me - and probably many other users. Therefore, I will suggest the latter as an enhancement idea on https://yamahasynth.ideascale.com/.

If you support the idea of assigning a performance (sub)category to library performances, please upvote here: https://yamahasynth.ideascale.com/c/idea/285063

@Rob....

some Libraries do have categories, it all depends on who compiled them.

Anyway, just to give you a quick tip to instant view if the Library does or does not have Main and Sub categories

1) Exit out of everything till you get to either the Live Set Screen or the Performance Home Screen
2) Press the "Category" button. This should take you to the Performance Category Search screen.
3) Note in the Top Left of the Screen you will see a Selection Window thats says "Bank/Favourite".
4) If you keep pressing the Category button, the Bank/Favourite will scroll through "All -> Favourite -> Preset -> User -> Library 1 - Library 2 -> etc -> All"
5) Scroll through to the Library you wish to view using the method described above.
6) Press the "All" button in the "Main" Category menu.
7) This will list All Performances in the Library (no others).
8) Now flick through all the other "Main" categories... Piano, Keyboard, Organ etc
9) If the bottom part of the screen does not show any performances, for any Main category, then the Library Vendor did not choose to include these indexes... shame on them! It can happen.
10) If this is the case, touch the Main Category "No Assign".... this may list all your Library Performances again (like the "All" button).If it does, you can at least use this to separate out the "non-assigned" library Performances from all the others (Factory, User, Other Libraries etc).
11) As per 10 above... this may be why you could never find your Library Performances when searching on "Brass" for example.
12) For Non-Assigned Libraries, you may also find that their Samples/Waveforms are likewise not assigned a Category (Synth, Brass etc). Similar to above, use the "No Assign" button to "see" them in Waveform Category Search (or select the Library in Bank/Favourite).

To restore your faith I highly recommend you download 2 FREE Libraries... "Montage_Expanded" and "KApro CS80". If memory serves me well, these are catalogued, although the waveforms maybe "No Assign".

Something else to watch out for with the "more professional" Library vendors, is repurposed use of the Main and Sub categories to allow you to filter amongst their own "boutique" types of Performances.

For example, the vendor EasySounds sometimes use existing Main & Sub categories to distinguish between Performances based on different Synth Models (e.g. MiniMoog vs Jupiter 8 vs Oberheim 3), then another Main/Sub Category may filter out "Full 8 Part Performances" vs "Basic Template Performances". They provide instructions so you don't get confused e.g. Syn Lead/Dance = Jupiter 8 Performances.

Out of interest... which "Library" and Vendor caused you all this trouble?

Thanks Antony. I am having "all this trouble" with the MOTIF XF Performance library, which contains many performances that I really like which are not in MODX presets. I have also explored Montage Expanded and KApro CS80; also nice but these contain only a few performances that I would like to add. I guess it all depends on how you use the MODX...

I never had a Motif or MOXF, and I haven't downloaded that Library.

However , I did learn through reading these forums that the Montage and MODX have ALL the same samples that were used in the Motif/MOXF. This means, apparently, that the Motif XF Performance Library has no samples, it uses the MODX Factory Samples. In turn this means, it uses no User Sample Memory (of the available 1Gb).

As stated above, I would still advise you leave the Motif Library performances where they are, where you can always find them and use them.

Before you do an Initialise All....

I assume you have no User Performances that you need to keep.... for example, Performances you have built from scratch, with many hours of work in them?

If you do, make (save) your own User Library (not User File) AND a Backup before doing the Initialise All.

You can load your User Library later and Import any valuable Performances you created... then delete the User Library from your MODX.

I'm sure you're right Antony. That's probably why the memory usage of this libary is no problem, however the number of performances is IF you import to the user bank. The added value of the MOTIF XF Performance library to me is mostly in drum and arpeggio patterns, which is important to me.

When pressing 'Initialize All' I do have user performances to keep. Therefore, I intended to save user performances before initializing, and then reload the ones I created or need.
=> What is the 'User Library', and how is this different from my performances in the user bank?

BM recently explained the difference between User Backup, User Library and User File... do a search.

For now, it sounds like your User BANK is in a total mess.

create a User Library and a User Backup.

Name the Library ROB14FEB_LIB.
Name the Backup ROB14FEB_BUP

Once you have done that, it is safe to do an INITIALISE ALL.

This will restore your MODX to out-of-the-box Factory Spec but still at latest version OS.

Now Load Library ROB14FEB_LIB.

Once it has loaded, go to the Library and you will see it contains all your User Performances.

Write down the names of the Performances that are "valuable" to you (hopefully not too many).

These performances should not be straight copies of the MotifXF Library... you do not want/need to import those.

Go to Utility, select Library Import - ROB14FEB_LIB.

Use the bottom right Page buttons to scroll through all the Performances. Click each performance you want to Import (refer to your paper list), then click "Import to User Bank".

Delete Library ROB14FEB_LIB (Data Utility - Library screen).

Load Library "Motif XF".

Going forward, I suggest you leave all MotifXF Performances where they are, and do not Store or Import them to your UserBank... unless you use one as a basis to create your own Custom Performance.

2) There are many performances in my user bank which I did not intentionally add, and I wouldn't mind deleting. Probably these ended up here as a result of importing library performances. I hesitate to delete performances however, because I cannot oversee what impact this may have.

You can safely delete user Performances. It's libraries you have to "worry" about deleting due to the chance that say user Performances "point" to the Library area.

Thank you Jason, that's good to know!

Thank you also Antony, I will do as you advise and get rid of the 'total mess' ;-). I think I found BM's explanation on this: https://yamahasynth.com/ask-a-question/understanding-user-vs-library-memory/latest. Very useful!!

If I understand BM correctly, it seems to me that this exporting and importing libraries approach, may even also solve my 'absence of library performance categories' problem:

• If I first save my user performances as a user library, this allows me to clean up my user performances, save what’s really relevant/needed as a User Library, and then clear my user bank;
• If I then load an expansion library (e.g. MOTIF XF) and only import performances that I want to keep to the user bank, (I think) I can assign categories/sub-categories to these performances, and then save these as a smaller (#) and enriched (including category info) version of the expansion library;
• If I then clear the user bank again and load both my user library and the expansion library, I can search by (Sub)Category for performances across all banks (preset, user and libraries) and still have the user bank available as working area (I think/hope).

Will further investigate and report back on the outcome!

Have a read of BM's reply to another Post... linked below... regards loading the MOTIF XF Files.

This may explain why you have no Main & Sub Categories. I dunno... worth a look.

https://www.yamahasynth.com/ask-a-question/part-location

Thanks Bill and Antony, will do!

For all users who like to search for sounds via Performance Categories and Sub Categories across multiple banks: I have tried the discussed "Libraries approach" and I’m happy to let you know that it works perfectly!

This approach not only allows you to assign Categories and Sub Categories to Library Performances that do not have Category information (e.g. MOTIF XF expansion library), you can also adjust (Sub) Category information to your own liking.

For those who are not familiar with this approach, here’s how it works:

Changing the (Sub) Category of a Performance:

• Select the Performance
• Select Part 1
• Choose Edit – Main, here you can change the Category and/or Sub Category
• Store the Performance (this Part 1 Category information will be applied to the Performance)

Assigning (or changing) Category information to Library Performances:

• Load the Expansion Library (v1) and decide which Performances you want to keep (e.g. by marking as favorite)
• Save your (user) Performances as a User Library (Utility - Contents - Store/Save - Library file). You can also do a full back-up for maximum safety.
• Clear your User Bank: Utility – Settings – System – Initialize all user data
• Import (only) Library Performances that you want to keep. These will show up in your User Bank
• Assign (or change) Categories and Sub Categories to these Performances
• When you’re done, save your performances as a Library (v2). This will create a smaller (#) and enriched (including Category info) version of the Expansion Library
• Delete the original Expansion Library (v1)
• Clear the User bank again (Utility – Settings – System – Initialize all user data)
• Load your User Library and the newly created Expansion Library (v2) (and other libraries if you wish)

The beauty of this approach is that you can now search across all memory banks (preset, user, libraries) by (Sub) Category, while keeping memory usage limited and organized. You can also search Favorites by Sub Category across all memory banks, so it doesn’t matter where a Performance is stored.

For more on User and Library memory, also read: https://yamahasynth.com/ask-a-question/understanding-user-vs-library-memory/latest