Now that I'm back in the studio I tried importing some converted voices from my Motif XF archives in .x3v format. It gets about 90% of the way through and then says "illegal file." Any idea what could cause this if it worked on a Motif XF? These aren't huge files (just some small pads and synths I sampled) so I know it's not a memory issue..:

Thanks!

Hey guys,

I just imported a .X3V to my Montage. It works great. Make sure you are probably importing the file.

Good luck.

I've managed to import some .x3v files I found on the web - the issue seems to be with custom sounds I made on the Motif XF years ago that involved user samples. I'm not sure what's causing the "illegal file" issue, but I'm going to keep digging. It's got to be something simple somewhere. I thought maybe it was the samples themselves, but they're all stereo 44.1 WAVs, so they should be fine...

Could be some illegal shortcut taken by the author, or since it starts and gets most of the way through it could simply be corrupted data.
It could be one of those things that should have been cleaned up - while the XF forgives this rogue data, the conversion algorithm that is translating it for the Montage cannot.

Check your data, particularly things you may have partially removed... Perhaps more than two samples occupy a key (trying to think of an example) if you stack multiple samples in a Keybank the XF will simply play the first two and ignore the rest, who knows what the conversion algorithm does when it sees this illogical data?

Thanks Phil. I've been working on this with Garth at Chicken Systems. We've been doing some digging under the hood with Motif Creator and Translator, and here's one thing he found:

"There's something funny about the Coldplay patch: the first Element is disabled (and the second element, referencing pre-PIANO, is enabled) but yet it references the waveform contained. If you load the All Voice, you get the Illegal File error but it does load everything. You just have to enable Element 1 and disable Element 2. If you load the Voice only, it loads fine but the Waveform is not loaded, apparently because Element 1 is not enabled. Just the way the Motif works I guess.

So what I'd do is get everything in one .X3V and load the All Voice. You'll get the Illegal File but just ignore it and play away. Of course this is how the MOXF reacts, the Montage may be more picky but if it is, let me know how picky - what isn't loaded etc."

Unfortunately the Montage won't load anything if it flags it as an illegal file - it just aborts the process. So, we'll keep working on it!

Jim

This probably won't help your situation - but I have seen illegal file under different circumstances.

When I get a random WAV file off the net - it'll show up as an illegal file. This was when I was trying to import silence as a waveform into the Montage. I ended up using the wav recorder onboard to generate silence - which it saw as a non-illegal file (OK file). At least for wavs - comparing the properties of these two would be fairly easy to find out what Montage is complaining about.

It'd be nice to have a reported rationale for what is wrong - but digging will often uncover other "nuggets" of information along the way.

That said - please do report back when you uncover what's tripping Montage's import.

Great news: I got everything working properly and am happily importing all my custom samples, thanks to Garth at Chicken Systems and their Motif Creator software. This makes it super easy to drag & drop other formats (Logic's EXS24 in this case) directly to Motif Creator, which exports .X3V files that Montage can read.

Here's the catch though: the Montage architecture doesn't let you edit raw sample mapping within a "Waveform" (Yamaha speak - quite a misnomer). For example, you can't get do course/fine tuning offsets, panning, etc. on the single sample level - so any patches that use that kind of thing in one format won't reflect that in the Montage. So, you just have to make sure you get everything right before importing to Montage - because once it's in there, you can't get at the raw sample data.

Anyway, it's all good with that workaround. I'm noticing that my custom samples are sounding REALLY good coming out of Montage - the audio quality is stellar!

JD

I stand corrected - you can indeed edit key mapping, velocity range, volume, pan, coarse & fine tuning per sample within a "Waveform." I must have missed the little “edit Waveform” tab; once you’re in there, you can edit a “key bank” - Yamaha’s word for individual sample. Geez, I wish they would use the same terminology as the rest of the world... that aside, it is possible to edit down to the single sample level.

One request if anyone's listening - it would be great to edit sample loop points including crossfade capability - unless I've missed that somewhere too 😉

I've got a Yamaha Montage 7 too, and would love to have the motif xf performance sounds added. I tried this yesterday but not working as it says illegal file!!. Bought a 64GB USB 3.0, formatted on the montage and downloaded Motif xf performances from PC. Please let me know if you can do this as I am totally confused as to why it doesn't work. Yamaha have advertised this saying it can be done but I need step by step instructions that my manual does not have. Please, please help!!!!!:( 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁

Paul wrote:

I've got a Yamaha Montage 7 too, and would love to have the motif xf performance sounds added. I tried this yesterday but not working as it says illegal file!!. Bought a 64GB USB 3.0, formatted on the montage and downloaded Motif xf performances from PC. Please let me know if you can do this as I am totally confused as to why it doesn't work. Yamaha have advertised this saying it can be done but I need step by step instructions that my manual does not have. Please, please help!!!!!:( 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁

You tagged on to the end of a thread from two years ago. MONTAGE has had several firmware updates since then. Version 2.00 added Motif XF Performance compatibility to Voice, Arpeggio, and Waveform compatibility with the Motif XF.

Make sure your MONTAGE has the latest firmware.

You mention it says “Illegal File” which is an error message when you attempt to load a file NOT compatible with the MONTAGE.
File Types from the Motif XF that are compatible are the following:
.X3A - Motif XF All Data File (Voices, Performances, Waveforms, and Arpeggio only)
.X3V - Motif XF All Voice File
.X3G - Motif XF All Arpeggio File
.X3W - Motif XF All Waveform

The MONTAGE is USB 2.0 although devices 1.1 ~ 3.0 can be used.

The 512 Motif XF (FACTORY) PERFORMANCES are available for free download... here under “Other Downloads”
While there take the time to download the latest (updated versions) of the DATA LIST, the REFERENCE MANUAL, and make sure you download the MONTAGE CONNECT utility software for your computer type.

We have been conducting an online tutorial series on how to MONTAGify these Motif XF Performances here

Update your firmware, if you still have issues let us know. Please check the File extension make sure you have a potentially compatible file.

How to check your firmware version:
Press [UTILITY]
Touch “Setting” > “System”
The version appears at the bottom of the screen, Current is 2.00.x

I'm getting illegal file after minutes of loading, x3a files almost near the end of loading. Then some x3a files load but the samples don't sound in performances even tho the samples play fine if I put them into another performance part and element

In the programs where it does not sound:
Make sure the Element Switch is set to ON
Check the Note Limit and Velocity Limits
In general, review what was translated.
Check whether an Arp is set as active and verify the Arp KEY MODE

Yes! I have an old library (.X3A) which, when loaded, wouldn't make any sound. All the waveforms were there and linked, but nadda.
I found that disabling the "Arp Play Only" setting on the element solved this issue.

Yes! I have an old library (.X3A) which, when loaded, wouldn't make any sound. All the waveforms were there and linked, but nadda.
The sounds work when I enable "Arp Bypass" in the Global FX screen.

I'm not sure what that does exactly (I just got this 'board) - Any ideas what's going on, and how to fix the Performances?

Without seeing the data it is difficult to say. Data waiting for Arp Phrases need the MIDI SYNC parameter set to “Internal” so that they follow Tempo.

But typically not all programs use the Arpeggiator. When you load a Motif XF ALL data file (.X3A) you get a couple of choices:
Did you load the data as a User File or a Library File?
Did you select to load “Voice” or “Performance“?
Does the original data contain User Arpeggios?
Can you describe a particular program specifically... how many Parts, how many Parts with Arps active?