It would be difficult to narrow things down more than you have without some details about how you envision utilizing these pieces together. Strip away the technical "how" of it - but what do you see the Montage 8, ES Rack, drum machine, and Motif XF doing? Which keyboard(s) will be recording something? Which keyboard(s) will have their own audio sounding and how do you see this mixing together? Audio recorded anywhere?

(See my rig image attached and an MJQ-ish sample. All my opera are available at rcsullivan.com/tunes.) I would like to use the XF sequencer in song mode to concurrently record the XF lead voice (right hand), Montage Piano voice (left hand); ES rack bassline (left foot) and Roland R-8 Drum track on programmed pattern autopilot. Each synth would be a different channel. all connected in a MIDI in/out daisy chain. I had this setup years ago with a Motif and Motif ES. I am now retired and slowly getting back into production. I prefer not to use a DAW. If what I am asking is not feasible, I will use my Tascam 24 to multitrack analog recording.

You've been through this rodeo before. The MIDI connections are similar to what you did before. To simplify things you may want to place the Montage into single-channel MIDI mode although not entirely necessary.

That audio routing isn't going to fall into place without some kind of mixer. The ES Rack doesn't have an A/D input so you can't chain the drum machine through it to Montage through to the Motif. So, for audio, somewhere you'll need to mix two outputs together and feed them through Montage if you want Motif XF to record audio or through the Motif if you want Montage to record the audio. More post options are available by multi-tracking to the Tascam.

Jaon,

Thank you for responding.

My vague memory is that, using MIDI buses where necessary, I linked ALL the synths MIDI In and MIDI out, setting each device to a separate channel. With the XF sequencer recording in song mode (more complete than the Montage sequencer) I can edit individual track details and should be able to hear and record ALL the multitrack audio as routed to my Tascam 24.

That's true. I think using the Tascam 24 for audio is still best.

Montage doesn't come out of the box occupying one channel which is why I suggested using single-channel mode as a way to collapse Montage into occupying a single channel for MIDI I/O. That's about the only new component vs. your previous setup. Although not required - it would be easier to dedicate each device to its own MIDI channel to avoid some amount of custom programming to "weave" everything together.

Forgive my fuzzy recollection. If I number my synths from 1-4, what is the syntax to call 2,3 & 4 voices on the XF (1) sequencer?