ray wrote:

greetings, in pattern mode, what does voice with arp do? i notice its always off.

Welcome to Yamaha Synth! Thanks for the question

The VOICE WITH ARP parameter is designed to help you when you want to assign the Voice that was used originally to create the Arpeggio Phrase. Arpeggios in the Motif XF, there are 7,881 arpeggio phrases are independently stored and can be assigned to any Voice in the Motif XF. Voices do not have arpeggios - rather Voices exist and arpeggios exist, you can use any arpeggio with any Voice, and any Voice can use any arpeggio.

It is absolutely ridiculous when a Drum Arpeggio Phrase is set to playback from a Bass or Flute or Piano Voice. And some times just as bad when the Arpeggio Phrase was prepared with specific percussion and drum sounds in mind (originally), but does not find a few key sounds on the notes it is requesting. Nothing forces you to use a drum arpeggio phrase with the original kit, you can assign it (sometimes with great results) to any Drum Kit you desire. In fact, changing the target Voice for an arpeggio phrase can sometimes breathe a whole new life into it. (Some times, not so much)... that is a production decision.

Also there are a couple of specialty Arpeggio Phrase Types (Guitar Mega Voice and Bass Mega Voice phrases, for example) that require a specific mapping of the VOICE data. We give a very detailed look at one of these in the RECENTLY posted article: Guitar Arpeggio Study

Because of the very detailed Velocity mapping and Key Range mapping involved in these Arp Phrases, the GtMG (Guitar MegaVoice) arpeggio Types will only make sense with certain Guitar Mega Voices - those specifically prepared to take advantage of this data. Give the article a quick read through... if you assign the Arp GtMG #1707 to just any Voice you will hear some rather strange behavior (as weird as a drum pattern played on a piano sound).

This is where the VOICE WITH ARP parameter helps: When you are looking for a specific type of ARPEGGIO Phrase, and you are auditioning the Phrases... you can easily discover what was originally intended for this particular arpeggio phrase. When you have found the ARP Phrase you want to use - but do not know what VOICE was the originally intended Voice, you can set VOICE WITH ARP = ON. Now when you *select* the ARP Phrase, the VOICE that was used to originally program it will come along with the ARP selection. VOICE WITH ARP - literally, select the ARP the VOICE comes with it.

Some arp phrases make little or no sense when taken out of the context of the sound used to create them. Others can easily be exchanged - no penalties. Some ARP TYPES are not note data at all, some are strictly Controller events, others are strictly empty place holders (musical 'rests'), others are velocity zoned so that specific Elements play at specific times within the phrase... with over 7000 arps it was necessary to have this utility feature that automatically matches the ARP phrase with its SOURCE Voice. It defaults to OFF because it is strictly for when you are searching for Phrases to use.