Hi Charles,

Welcome to Yamaha Synth!
You don't give us really enough details about your particular Performance, but we can make some educated guesses as to the cause. Hopefully, this will allow you to "fix" your custom Performance.

That is our first educated guess: this is a custom Performance that you've made or edited yourself.
Our second guess is that Opening is mono synth lead sound, and what is making it cutoff is the fact that you are playing more than one note at a time or there is an arpeggiator involved that because the Note Limit ranges are not set properly, it interrupts (cuts off) the synth lead Part.

What we need to know or you need to check is the following:
What Voices are assigned to the Performance.
Which ones, if any, are under arpeggio control.
Verify that the ARP NOTE LIMITS are set so that they do not extend beyond the range you want to enter control over that Part
Verify that you PART NOTE LIMITS are set so that the Synth Lead Part is not interfered with by any other Part... In other word we'll assume you have the Synth Lead on the right hand side of the keyboard. It should have a unique range with no other Parts set to play in its region, it is mono after all. If your synth lead has the Part Note Limit set C-2 thru G8 then obviously any time you chord in the left hand it will grab the note from the synth lead... (This is the most common error when constructing your own Performances)

Arp Note Limits - determine which key range on the keyboard will be used to feed instructions to the arp controlled Part. So if, for example, you wish to send chord information to a Part via your left hand, you must set the Arp Note Limits accordingly... Limiting control to the left region of the keyboard. The Arp NOTE LIMIT settings are made on the [F2] ARP MAIN screen while in Part Edit.

Part Note Limits - determine which pitches will be allowed to 'sound' from a Part... which is quite different. You might want to set the synth lead in only the right side of the keyboard. The Part NOTE LIMIT settings are found on the screen you select the Voice for the Part ([F1] VOICE > [SF1] VOICE)

So setting the Arp Note Limits is about which keys are used to feed instructions to an arp controlled Part. And Part Note Limits is about the pitches that can be heard from a Part.

wow!!
thank you for that awesome answer Bad Mister. (I'm Chasmanian from Motifator forum. you helped me a ton over there.)
I will very carefully, and meticulously go through all of my Parts Performance Note Limit settings and Arp Note Limit settings.
thank you again for everything.
sincerely,
Charlie

Bad Mister,
I am writing to thank you again for your help.
I followed your advice.
I also got help from Yamaha via telephone.
Andy Z. helped me a lot. (really excellent nice guy.)
his hunch was that I was running out of polyphony, even after I made the Note Limit and Arp Limit setting changes (thanks to your advice).
Andy had me go to the Voice that I am using in Part 3 of my Performance.
(Barcelona guitar.)
he had go into Edit, and then change the AF switches in Elements 5 and 6 to OFF (they were on by default).
Bingo.
my Performance is working much much better.
my Opening Voice is working much much better.
very little fizzy and then sound dropping out troubles.
I am wondering if you have time, would you please tell me if there are other settings that I can adjust to
recover or save more polyphony?
(please tell me if you want me to rephrase that question, if it is not clear.)
thanks alot,
Charlie

I am wondering if you have time, would you please tell me if there are other settings that I can adjust to
recover or save more polyphony?

We'll repeat our request:
What we need to know
What Voices are assigned to the Performance.
Which ones, if any, are under arpeggio control.

As much info as you can give, otherwise we can only speak generally.

awesome.
thank you.
will report back.

the Performance is an edited: Piano Latino User 1 47 (C15).

Part 1 is Power Standard Kit 2 PDR 002(A02)
Part 2 is Mega Finger + Slap PRE 8 121(H09)
Part 3 is Barcelona USR 4 122(H10) (this is the Voice I tweaked Elements 5 and 6. originally Voice is PRE 2 053(D05)
Part 4 is Opening PRE 5 047(C15)
Part 1, 2 and 3 are assigned to Arpeggio control.

Parts 1, 2 and 3 Arpeggio Switches are On (Part 4 Off.)
Parts 1 and 2 Arpeggio Hold are On.
Parts 3 and 4 Arpeggio Hold are Off.

hi Bad Mister,
I posted more information per your last post.
1 week ago.
please, I am patiently waiting for a reply from you.
please?
thank you,
Charlie

Sorry, lost track of your thread... and I guess I've been just a little busy 😉

Again we can only speak generally, because, there are several *wild cards* between what you are working with and what I am. I assume your Edited Parts are not the cause of the issue, and that the Arp TYPES you have selected are appropriate for the selected Voices.

Check on the following ARP settings..
__ For drums, check ACCENT VELOCITY THRESHOLD which if set too low can cause unwanted "accents" when the velocity threshold is exceeded. Found under ARP OTHER parameters.
__ For bass, you have selected an XF "MegaVoice", there are specific "BaMG" Arp Types designed to work with these Voices. MegaVoices have specific velocity and key mapping that matches specific arpeggio data. Not all Bass Arp phrases will work properly with a Bass MegaVoice, and most certainly the BaMG arp Types will not work on regular Voices.
__ For guitar, we assume, well, we don't know what to assume here... Since Elements 5 and 6 are under XA CONTROL and were only used if the AF1 or AF2 button is activated, by not telling us HOW you tweaked Elements 5 and 6 means they are *wildcards* as well.

Make sure you are clear on what I covered previously... The ARP NOTE LIMITS are the keys you want to feed *chord/key intelligent* information to the bass and the acoustic guitar - the Parts under Arp control that care about the notes you press in order to construct their phrases. Therefore, if you are feeding "chords" to the acoustic guitar, I assume you are doing so with your left hand, only. Right? If not, please let me know...
Since "Opening" is a MONO synth lead, I assume it is set to play only in the right hand.

For example, I have the bass' Arp Note Limit C-2 thru B2 and its PART Note Limits set C-2 thru G8. Does that make sense? If not let me know.
I have the guitar's Arp Note Limit set to C-2 thru B2, and its PART Note Limits set C-2 thru G8.
I have the synth lead's PART Note Limits set to C3 thru G8.

This way what I play in my right hand does not influence the bass line (basic key) nor does it influence the guitar chords (chord quality). With Parts 1, 2, and 3 all being played by the arpeggiator, the only keys sounding in direct response to my key presses are those above middle C, that are sounding the synth lead sound "Opening".

If you have the PART Note Limit of PART 4 set improperly you will have points where it can seem to drop out, it isn't dropping out, it's just in use where you don't want it, in the left hand. The mono synth lead, Opening, being triggered directly by your left hand grabs it's only note of polyphony, since it has only one. Make sure the PART Note Limit is isolated from those Notes you are using to feed the Key to the bass arpeggiator, and the Chords to the guitar arpeggiator.

I set up a Performance with these Voices, and had no issues, at all.
The kind of detail that I provided is what I was asking for when I asked for as much as you could tell us.

thank you very much for your excellent reply.

I have gone through my Performance. here is what I have for settings per your post:

"
Check on the following ARP settings..
__ For drums, check ACCENT VELOCITY THRESHOLD..."

that is turned "off".

"For bass, you have selected an XF "MegaVoice", there are specific "BaMG" Arp Types..."

the selected Arp Types are BaMG.

for guitar. Elements 5 and 6:
- Element Switches are turned off.
also, XA Control are set to "all AF off".

my PART Note Limits and ARP Note Limits for PARTS 1, 2 and 3 are from C-2 to B1.

my PART Note Limit for Part 4 is C2 to G8.

my PART 4 ARP Switch is unchecked (so its off).

my problem with the Opening Voice in the PART 4 slot, persists.
it is bad.
it distorts and cuts out.
any help that you can please give me, to get this to work right, is super mega appreciated.
thank you for Bad Mister.
sincerely,
Charlie

I'll suggest something, try a different lead Voice (right hand). I'm thinking you may be mixing up PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) with what you are describing as distortion and disappearing... PWM can tend to vary between hollow and extremely nasal sounding - where the odd harmonics are spaced so far apart that sound can thin way out. Since the problem is clearly not anything discussed so far, and certainly the hour Voices you have selected work fine in any experiments I've done, I'm going to suggest you simply swap the Voice with another lead sound and see what your observations are now.

Or call up "Opening" in Voice mode and see if you hear the same disappearing and distortion.

Let us know.

thank you for another excellent reply Bad Mister.

I tried all you said.
here's what I found:

- in Voice mode, Opening plays better. alot better.

- playing other Synth Voices in Part 4 of my Performance, the only other Voice that has similar problems is Sweeper (Pre 3 121 H09).

- all other Synth Voices play normal in the Performance.

- Opening is an absolutely phenomenal amazing Voice. its a little like riding a bucking bronco.
it is completely magical. these words only hint at how much I love it.
the things it does with aftertouch are amazing.

- its not like I just discovered that. it is very frustrating though. it feels to me like the processor in Motif XF simply gets overloaded. it cannot keep up.

- the problem manifests like this:
I am playing chord progressions with my left hand.
with my right hand, I am soloing. I play many notes. 3 notes right next to each other. fast. and more notes.
it sounds like a space ship taking off and flying around.
very amazing beautiful intoxicating mesmerizing sound.
loving life.
I sound great.
now the sound gets quieter. a little buzz or crackle.
hey, why is there no sound?
or its so quiet, that I can't hear it.
this all happens over and over.
I think, well, I need to get another Motif XF. I'll play the left hand on one. and solo the Voice Opening with my right hand on the other Motif XF.
well, money and space will not be allowing that anytime soon.
if you have any more ideas that would help, please let me know.
thanks alot again,
Charlie

hey Bad Mister,
do you please by any chance have any more thoughts about this?

I am playing chord progressions with my left hand.
with my right hand, I am soloing. I play many notes. 3 notes right next to each other. fast. and more notes

Since "Opening" is a MONO synth lead, I assume you realize it only plays one of them. Do you know what mono mode means?
Or did you change the mode from mono to poly?

Bad Mister wrote:

I am playing chord progressions with my left hand.
with my right hand, I am soloing. I play many notes. 3 notes right next to each other. fast. and more notes

Since "Opening" is a MONO synth lead, I assume you realize it only plays one of them. Do you know what mono mode means?
Or did you change the mode from mono to poly?

no, I do not know what it means.
and no, I did not change the mode from mono to poly.

would you please elaborate or explain to me?

(I do remember that my old Casio VZ-1 had only 16 voices polyphony.
http://www.vintagesynth.com/casio/vz1.php
man, it has some nice sounds. I've never used the sampling function on my XF8. I was thinking of sampling the VZ-1. I wonder if it would be a worthwhile endeavor. any thoughts on that Bad Mister?)