But I'm puzzled. I thought that muting a Track would prevent it from sending MIDI note events to the sound engine. But apparently that was not the case when playing my Pattern via a Master. I'm hoping to get some light shed on what's happening so I can learn something new about my Motif XF.

Thinking that muting a Track would prevent it from sending MIDI note events to the sound engine is absolutely correct, but the Track is not what is "sending" to the sound engine. It is your KEYBOARD - not the data in the SEQUENCER TRACK

The Music Production Synth combines 3 main components: A KEYBOARD (the controller that includes the keybed, the MW, PB, Assignable knobs/sliders, ribbon, Foot Controllers, Pedals, etc.). A SEQUENCER (the recording and playback device that receives incoming MIDI data and routes that MIDI data OUT to the...) TONE GENERATOR (the synth engine).

The KEYBOARD only Transmits
The SEQUENCER Receives data from the KEYBOARD and Transmits data to the TONE GENERATOR
The TONE GENERATOR only Receives

The TRACK MUTES stop the SEQUENCER Tracks from sending data to the TONE GENERATOR. You can still trigger the associated sound with the KEYBOARD, directly. Track Mutes DO NOT stop the KEYBOARD from transmitting to the TONE GENERATOR (only the events on the sequencer track are muted). This is why when you have a sequence in the XF's internal sequencer, you can use a Track Mute to stop the data in the track from triggering a sound, and you can replace that sound by playing the keys. Try it! To replace the LEAD sound in a GM file for example, simply use TRACK MUTE on PART 1. Now you can play the associated sound "live", because your KEYBOARD is still in touch with the TONE GENERATOR.

The PART MUTES stop the TONE GENERATOR from sounding. The TRACK in this case continues to transmit to external devices connected to the Channel. This is why when you have a sequence in the XF's internal sequencer, when you use the Part Mute you can continue to play the keys and trigger an external module assigned to corresponding MIDI channel. But the XF's internal PART will not sound, not in response to the Sequencer, nor to the Keyboard. You have silenced the internal tone generator completely.

Track Mutes can be documented in SCENES by the special SCENE Track Mute events. Track Mutes, literally, prevent the Track data from being transmitted (not the Keyboard - the Keyboard continues to transmit data).
Part Mutes are temporary and can be seen as simply preventing the tone generator from sounding (so turning the volume to zero accomplishes pretty much the same as a PART MUTE - because it simply prevents the internal PART from sounding). MIDI data being transmitting by the track is still being transmitted OUT via MIDI while the PART MUTE is engaged. Not even the KEYBOARD can trigger the sound while the PART is MUTED. There is no special PART MUTE event... what works, as you have properly discovered, is reducing the VOLUME of the internal PART to zero - which can be stored in a SCENE!

Do you see the difference between Track and Part? A Track is apart of the sequencer. A Part is apart of the tone engine.
Track Mutes take place when the [SONG] or [PATTERN] button alone is lit - use the

button and the [1]-[16] buttons
Part Mutes take place when the [SONG] + [MIXING] buttons or [PATTERN] + [MIXING] buttons are lit - use the

button and the [1]-[16] buttons

Hope that helps clarify it.

Extra Credit:
When in MASTER mode:
_ If the ZONE SWITCH = ON, then the KEYBOARD of the XF will send MIDI OUT according to the settings you have made within the individual active Zones.
If the ZONE SWITCH = OFF, then the KEYBOARD of the XF will send MIDI OUT according to the KEYBOARD TRANSMIT CHANNEL parameter setting as set in UTILITY mode (or by pressing

followed by a number [1]-[16]).

That cleared things up. And the "Extra Credit" concept will be useful when I'm not splitting the keyboard with Zones.

Thanks!

For more answers to the same question see here.

Best regards, 😉
Jo