It's not more complicated than the pianoforte! 🙂

Welcome to YamahaSynth! We highly recommend that you narrow your focus a bit and take one mode at a time - instead of trying to learn both Pattern and Song mode, start with one or the other based on what you would like to do. Recording is a very broad subject. And the Motif XF7 like any creative device has several ways to proceed. Imagine you purchased a multi-track recorder, there is no one-way to proceed. If we were to interview 10 musicians who own Motif XF's we might get that many different methods of starting.

The best guide for the beginner, though, to answer your question is probably to start with the Owner's Manual. I know, I know, you think you have read it already. But this time try to do the specific steps as outlined in the "Creating an Original Song", Creating an Original Pattern" and "Multi-timbral Tone Generator Settings for Song/Pattern Playback (Mixing mode)" - these sections of the Manual will give you a good background on the basics of recording, selecting sounds, making Sections, Chaining Sections into Songs... and then you can decide if any or all of these approaches seem to work for you.

The fundamentals that you must get include:
Use SONG or PATTERN mode when you want to work with the SEQUENCER - these are the modes in which the Motif XF is multi-timbral and can play 16 different sounds on 16 discreet MIDI channels. SONG is a single linear structure. PATTERN is divided into 16 Sections; a Section can be 1 measure to 256 measures in length. Significantly they automatically loop and can be used to assemble a composition by musical sections by then "chaining" them in a specific playback order.

SONG MIXING and PATTERN MIXING are modes... the [MIXING] mode refers to the TONE GENERATOR (synth engine) while the SONG and PATTERN refers to the recording (sequencer)... here's what I mean: When you press the [SONG] button you enter SONG mode, if you were to then press [EDIT] or [JOB] you would see Edit parameter and Job functions that apply to the sequencer Song mode. If you additionally press the [MIXING] button while in SONG mode, you will enter the associated mode that handles the synth engine. While [MIXING] is lit, if you press [EDIT] or [JOB] you will now see edit parameters for the synthesizer and Job functions that apply to the synthesizer.

The Motif XF Sequencer is referred to as the Integrated Sampling Sequencer - because it has an audio sampler built-into it. While the sequencer only records MIDI data, it can sample AUDIO and synchronize that audio with your MIDI sequence. The Motif XF has 128MB of built-in SDRAM which allows you to record (sample) audio directly on board the instrument. You can record your basic MIDI tracks, overdub vocals, guitars, or whatever you like. The entire recording can be done on board the instrument or you can do some on the XF, then EXPORT your work to a DAW, like Cubase (Cubase can open and import sequence and audio sample data from the Motif XF - so you can continue your work in the computer-based environment, if you prefer. Or you can finish the product on the XF itself, since it is able to mixdown audio directly to an attached USB drive or to your computer via Ethernet.

If you are looking for specific help with getting started - please let us know some idea of what you are thinking about doing. Start by listening to the DEMO SONGS and PATTERNS... study them track by track... then erase them and start making your own. Press [SONG] - the lit track buttons will indicate which tracks are active. Press [MIXING] take a look at the Voices assigned to the different PARTS> Use the Guide section of the manual to explore the data... If you get stuck post back here with specific questions.

Any guide that starts with an explanation of recording drums makes an assumption that your composition includes drums... So it is really wide open as yo what you record first. Although many like to start with drums, nothing says you have to, and nothing says you have to record the drums yourself. You can record with the metronome, or use the sequencer to construct a rhythm track. There are no real rules an out how or what you record first.

This is why while the mechanics of selecting a Voice for the Part, arming the Track and recording may seem basic when covered by the manual but beyond these basics what you record and other decisions are your own production decisions.