Thank you, I have gone trough all settings and went trough Motif XF Editor VST.

When you launch the Motif XF VST as a Rack Instrument, Cubase creates your first MIDI Track assigned to OUTPUT data on MIDI Channel 1.
You can either choose to create a new MIDI Track for each musical part you wish to record. Notice that the created MIDI Track is being routed OUT via "Motif XF VST - MIDI IN" - this literally route the MIDI signal to the INPUT zoo the Motif XF Editor... You will see the keys of the Editor's graphic interface respond to your playing and/or the currently selected Track.

You can create addition MIDI Track by either right clicking on the current Track and selecting ADD MIDI TRACK or you can click on PROJECT > ADD TRACK > MIDI. In general, say you create 7 MIDI tracks - as you select a MIDI Track in Cubase, notice the corresponding PART in the Editor is also selected.

We highly recommend that when working with the Motif XF VST Editor, you create your own DEFAULT Mix. The Default Mix will be one that launches whenever you start a New Project that includes the Motif XF VST. We recommend this over the Yamaha provided Templates, because a Te,plate is only as good as it serves YOU and your particular workflow. You are just developing one so take your time, try a few mock sessions where you are concentrating on getting the routine down (rather than composing a new composition.. Trust me, I've helped literally hundreds of musicians with this... When learning the routines of Cubase and the XF, don't split your brain into sitting a new composition while attempting to also learn the software/hardware... Instead record something you can play in your sleep, and concentrate on the routines until they are clear.

Next I direct your attention to the following articles and the following video, which will help you create your own DEFAULT Mix template:

Workflow: Creating a DEFAULT Mix 1

Workflow: Save the Default Mix as Cubase Preset

Video: Creating VST Preset Default Mix

One of the things you will want to do, since you will eventually be routing XF PARTs to audio Outputs, is begin thinking about the Output assignments. I recommend that initially you set all 16 XF PARTs so that the OUTPUT SELECT parameter (found to the far right on each XF numbered Part on the Editor window) is set to "L&R" (the main Left and Right Output). Later, when you are ready to commit the data to Audio you can make the Output assignments.

In general, working first with MIDI zips a preference for people who wish to take advantage of MIDI's workflow - where you can edit your performance (quantize, add controllers, etc), you can change you mind about the Voice you've selected, etc., etc. during this process routing all of the PARTs to OUTPUT SELECT = L&R simply makes sense.

In the lower left corner of the Editor screen find the Audio and MIDI settings - these are important to understand... Particularly when working with MIDI.

The QUICK SETUP should have the "REC ON PC" should be selected
The FW MONITOR should be set according to the function you are doing.

Understanding Signal Flow of VST Routing

Again take your time, concentrate on the setup routine and signal flow, if you have a question or cannot get something to happen post back here.

Thank you so much Mad Mister. There is a lot of things for me to do and learn. You are the best teacher EVER!
As you said, I got to work on it to get routine and understand it perfectly.
What I still didn't succeed is to route my Motif XF Sound In Voice mode to an audio Input in Cubase. Let's say I want to record my keyboard in Cubase directly without using MIDI. For this setup I should probably change audio setup. As I see this scenario is as follows: Motif L&R output connected to my SPL audio interface (it is always connected) to 1&2 channel and in device setup I should chose SPL as my sound input to Cubase? Is there any other way I could record Voice from Motif to Cubase like for example over FW over digital path? I mean it makes sense to me that Motif's FW is capable of sending Audio directly over FW to Cubase without using any VST.
Thanks again,
Damir

What I still didn't succeed is to route my Motif XF Sound In Voice mode to an audio Input in Cubase. Let's say I want to record my keyboard in Cubase directly without using MIDI.

The Motif XF can be routed via FW to your DAW in any Mode. In VOICE mode all Voices are hard wired to the Main Left/Right Outputs...

In Cubase... Do not launch the Motif XF VST if you don't want to use it - it does not change the ability to record to Cubase, in other words, you can record both MIDI and Audio to Cubase with or without the Editor VST.

In a Project ADD a Stereo Audio Track
If you are working with the Editor VST set it to VOICE mode; if you choose not to use the Editor you will connect audio as follows:

Go to DEVICES > VST CONNECTIONS -> select the INPUT tab
ADD BUS if one does not already exist. You'll need one STEREO BUS
AUDIO DEVICE = MOTIF XF7
Device Port = "Motif XF Main L" and "Motif XF Main R"

When you set your Audio Track to this Bus - it will receive audio from the Motif XF via FW.

In the Motif XF
Make sure you are set to LOCAL CONTROL = ON (you are not using Midi sequencing so you will want the keys to trigger the XF tone engine direct

For this setup I should probably change audio setup. As I see this scenario is as follows: Motif L&R output connected to my SPL audio interface (it is always connected) to 1&2 channel and in device setup I should chose SPL as my sound input to Cubase? Is there any other way I could record Voice from Motif to Cubase like for example over FW over digital path? I mean it makes sense to me that Motif's FW is capable of sending Audio directly over FW to Cubase without using any VST.
Thanks again,
Damir

I'm sorry you've lost me here, you don't need any external audio interface, the FW16E is your audio interface. If you decide not to use it please contact the makers of your other audio interface. But it is totally unnecessary... If you connect the XF to your computer via FW it IS both your MIDI and Audio interface, that's where we started.

Not only is the XF capable of sending MIDI and Audio to Cubase without VST, it can do what you need in Song mode, Pattern mode (multitimbral modes) or in Voice and Performance modes.

Great! Got ya... This is what I was missing ..to route XF in Voice mode to Cubase via FW.
Your help is extraordinary Mister. Now I am starting to realise how powerful my setup actually is! Awesome!
Thank you soooo much 😀

HI Bad Mister,
After a while I found some time to get back to my Motif - Cubase setup and you know what.....is seams like I never did all this homework from our previous conversation. I have feeling that I missing the point here simply because I still don't understand how all things works. Maybe I am old or stupid but all this looks so complicated to understand to me.
Did you ever make any video tutorial about seamless workflow and setup of Motif XF with Cubase over firewire? I would purchase it right away.
Thanks,

I was the talking head in several videos made for the Motif XF -several years ago.
Actually, if you download and install all components, the setup is fairly automatic. But of course, your mileage will vary because your computer is different and the longer you are away from the date of the video or instructions the more differences you will notice.

If the video was made installing to Cubase AI5 and you are now using Cubase AI8 well you can expect the video to look different.

While the overall process is similar those so focused on how it looks will certainly get lost. If you are running El Capitan, and the video was shot on Mountain Lion - and you are just looking for the same screenshot well, you might get just as lost. So its important to understand the broader concepts involved... This way you are not as dependent on specific steps.

And in this situation it's about signal flow. If you can follow the signal it is easier to grasp what is happening.

If you recognize the computer needs specific things from you (because it cannot do these certain things for itself) and you provide those things... The setup is fairly automatic. Troubleshooting is more than just remembering to make certain settings, you begin to naturally see it as a definite process that is orderly and useful.

Also you have to recognize the typical workflow (how most people work or how the basic workflow is designed to proceed)... THEN, you are better prepared to go out on your own and devise your own workflow. Integrating the Motif XF VST should come only after you have the basics down. Until you appreciate how things work without it, you cannot hope to understand it as an advantage.

For example, at minimum you are limited to having access to 16 musical parts at once when working with MIDI tracks. This is the hardware limitation. It is 16 part multi-timbral. So in a MIXING setup you normally are limited to just these instruments. The reason for recording MIDI include detailed correction of the actual musical performance and even changing your mind about the instrument playing back the data. Normally, to change instruments, you would use a MIDI zoom and called a Program Change event to switch instruments assigned to one or more of the tracks. This expands the palette of instrument sounds available to you to the size of the Motif XF's internal memory locations

Working with a computer integrated into your synthesizer, not only expands the number of multi-timbral Parts you can have simultaneously, it also increases the number of instrument sounds available to the entire combined collections of sounds you've amassed for the XF, including those requiring sampled waveforms. Working with the Motif XF VST and the Freeze function you can create multiple instances of your Motif XF hardware, each able to recall any Voice from any Library that you own. Cubase and the Motif XF VST are linked so you can create access to every sound you have amassed for the XF - recall able from the Sound Browser feature. Each instance of the XF can playback via the Freeze feature which creates a temporary audio file from each XF. The associated MIDI track is preserved and Muted during this process, do you have the ultimate level of "undo" before finally committing the musical parts to audio (

Take your time - it is a seamless workflow -it does not mean it has no learning curve, because OF COURSE, it does. All good things have learning curves. It starts to make more sense when you realize why it might work a certain way. Surely, when working with a computer as a part of your music production process you want it to enhance your experience. Understanding how the computer (and Cubase in this example) can broaden not only your sound selection, (by storing every XF Library so that it is a click away as a VST Preset), but the computer can allow you to create multiple "virtual" XF's so that you can experiment in the MIDI domain without limitations.

If you opt to bypass MIDI altogether (another viable workflow) then you can record from Voice mode, working by using the Les Paul original method, multi-tracking one at a time directly as full audio tracks. (No net, do to speak). You may still want to work the VST a because access to your sound library becomes invaluable in every instance!

Once you install a sample Library on your Flash Boards - your instrument's FL1/FL2 Waveform Lists becomes as familiar as the 3,977 Preset Waveforms. In other words, your Flash Boards don't change that often - you have amassed as many as 2048 selected Waveforms per Board. You can then, load a library of Voices quickly without having to wait for the Waveforms and Samples to load.

If you take the time to then capture the Voices in that Library to Cubase as a VST Presets, you can recall them from the Cubase Sound Browser with a click of your mouse. In seconds, it is so worth getting to that point when managing your XF that you'll wonder how anyone works any other way! 🙂