Hello,

I didn't see my type of keyboard in the drop down, but I'm using a Yamaha Motif ES8. I am new to DAWs and after many years, just sitting down to be serious with my Motif ES8. My question is, I am currently using Pro Tools. I have 16 tracks of course on my Motif. How do I assign track 1 of my Motif to (a midi and audio track) I create in Pro Tools; track 2 on the Motif to the second set of midi and audio tracks I create in Pro Tools, etc. Do I need any external equipment (such as a Midi interface) so that I can "link" channels from my Motif to the I/O settings of each track in Pro Tools?

Please explain in layman terms...again, I'm new to all of this.

This is why I ask. If I attempt to create a midi track in Pro Tools and then create an audio track to record the audio for the midi events I created using my Motif, I get both midi instructions from my keyboard (on the midi track) and the voice/audio (on the audio track) that I want to use in Pro Tools. Then I can edit the midi, if I want....then playback/record new audio for the audio track and I get a great combo of tracks with one voice...say, a saxophone.

But the problem is, when I try to use a second and/or different voice in the Motif...say, a snare drum. When I attempt to follow the same procedure above, the second midi track I create is somehow recording the same midi events from the FIRST midi track. And when I create a new audio track to pair with the second midi track, I hear both the saxophone AND the snare drum. Sounds horrid.

It seems the midi tracks are somehow tethered or grouped together. How do I separate the midi tracks (or assign each one to correspond to the tracks on my Motif), so that I get an individual sound/voice for each midi and audio combo track I record? There has to be other producers who can record more than one midi track with a corresponding audio track from the Motif in an entire session without the tracks somehow "hearing" one another. I've tried "record disabling" and even "muting" the first track. I've tried solo-ing the second midi track and then solo-ing it's corresponding audio track. But when I remove solo-ing and try to hear how everything sounds together, the copy cat midi/audio tracks make the session sound bad.

Here's my set up: I am using a brand new iMac (El Capitan OSX), an Apogee Duet as audio interface, DI box (to stop grounding noise during recording). Motif is plugged directly into iMac using a USB cable. I'm using the cable that one end has a "D" shape and the other end is USB going directly to my iMac.

I've been held up on recording for about 2 months on this. Virtual instruments are "okay," and I understand Instrument tracks are easy to use, but I'd prefer to have the option to record/edit (using midi and audio tracks), the rich sounds of the Motif into my Pro Tools sessions.

Any help is greatly appreciated. (If you need further clarification on my question, please feel free to ask. 🙂 Thanks everyone!