Bad Mister maybe??

i am interested also in this

well, any news ?

Sorry, it took a while to get to this question. I knew the data (Sonidos de Mexico) was in the works, was not aware it had arrived.
I'm researching this so I can give a correct answer and I've not heard the data that was being referenced in the original post.

While it is possible to make chord intelligent arpeggios, the user doesn't have access to all the advanced Note Transposition Tables used to create some of the arpeggios.

Creating your own chord intelligent arpeggios is possible, but you must follow the rules. Using the PUT TRACK TO ARPEGGIO function requires you choose data that can make a good arpeggio. And that takes knowing what actually will work as an arpeggio. Particularly, if you want to use it in any key with correct chord qualities. If you give it wrong information your results will not be useable from a musical theory point of view.

There are some things that Yamaha can do in creating arpeggio data that you will not be able to do, but to create arpeggios that are "chord intelligent" is definitely possible.

There are Convert Types:
Fixed Note - probably the easiest to understand. The selected data will playback exactly as played. This is ideal for drum Arps because there is no need to transpose notes, drums have fixed notes. But it is also a good one to explain one of the important rules: you can only have sixteen different notes in an arpeggio phrase. What this means us 16 unique notes. In a drum kit the note C1 is typically a kick drum, D1 is a snare drum, and so on... When the arp limit say 16 unique note numbers - it is not talking about the length of the phrase but the number of unique notes.

In other words, the kick drum could be played scores of times, no real limit on the number of times you play it, but the Kick drum counts as one of 16 unique notes. The snare drum on D1, you can hit over and over it counts as your second unique note. So again the arpeggio rule is you can have 16 unique notes in an arpeggio phrase. So think of it as the drummer can have only 16 pieces in their drum kit. They can hit it many. Many times but they cannot added a 17th drum.

Original Note _ this Convert Type will create chord intelligent arp phrase. Again only sixteen unique notes can be used. The notes you use should be in one key because the idea is to allow the performer to define what the chord quality is. So the chords you play should be in a single key. This is very important. If you use a chord progression in the source data, say a II7-V7-I progression, this will make a poor arpeggio. Arps that become chord intelligent should be limited to a single key, so the user can outline the chord progression- the chord progression should not be in the arp creation data.

The point about recognizing inversions is in the original question... And I'm not sure that's possible in creating a user arp, but I'll research it further. The factory "XS Type" Arps can be limited in range, so that even though a chord is played low on the keyboard, the notes that sound remain in a specific range - the range of the instrument. Sophisticated NTTs are used in the creation of some of the Arps.

Please see the articles in the RESOURCES area here on Yamaha Synth for more details on working with and creating Arps.

Very interesting. Thanks for your answer Phil. I also noticed the difference in MOX but I was thinking it's me who can't make them properly so I was playing them the way I had recorded them. But wha't the reason behind this? I mean why is there something in the unit that users can't reproduce? Although MOTIF XF is a deep instrument, Isn't it going to lessen its professionalism?

BTW, I guess this feature is implemented in PSR series. Am I right? PSR-740 could play and recognize the chords even for the user Styles (If I'm not wrong).

Very interesting. Thanks for your answer Phil. I also noticed the difference in MOX but I was thinking it's me who can't make them properly so I was playing them the way I had recorded them. But wha't the reason behind this? I mean why is there something in the unit that users can't reproduce? Although MOTIF XF is a deep instrument, Isn't it going to lessen its professionalism?

Thanks for the question. I'd say no, not at all. There is technology that goes deeper than the user wants or needs to go, practically speaking. And just because something is potentially possible does not mean it will be a usuable feature - I mean, why not have each key so it is individually tunable, like with a piano tuner's tool? Why not? Because the tech to do this for 88 keys is a lot of number crunching, and falls tragically short unless you've got access to all 230 or so piano strings individually. So why even open that can of worms? Most (I know that's a very presumptuous word) people just use standard tunings and are happy and we'd need to address a ton more tuning issues before we get to individually tuning 230 piano strings. 🙂

Look, it could be done, lots of things are not user programmable... price being no object... But it is always an "object" when building a product. Everything is prioritized to some degree.

When it comes to arpeggios, the designer's put the most user friendly portion of the Arpeggio data creation functions in the synthesizers. As people learn, arp creation is quite different from just sequencing. You have to understand that a musically useful arpeggio is not easy to create. This means it must be capable of playing back major, minor, diminished, augmented, dominant, chord qualities on demand and do the right thing when used in a variety of musical situations.

I've created articles where I've disassembled a guitar arpeggio phrase, these can be found in the RESOURCES section, so you can see and hear how chord intelligent phrases are made, and how noise and sound effects are added. The really, really complex phrases are done with many man-hours of work. The idea in giving the player 7000+ arpeggios is based on the knowledge of how difficult it is to create good ones. Arp creation is not a matter of how well you play, it's a matter of how well you understand the transformation from what's actually played into the finished arp phrase.

There are several things that cannot be accessed/edited/created by the user, certainly doesn't affect the professionalism, not one bit. Gear is not 'professional', the person sitting in front of it is the professional.

Nor does it diminish its ability to be a professional's tool.

Considering what an arpeggio is, versus what recording to the sequencer is... One can be adjusted as to chord quality according notes triggered _ via realtime input, the sequencer plays back exactly what you want it to play.

I see you point Phil, this is so true but I still appreciate if Yamaha could provide a mean for some of the users who want to control the finest details of this instrument. For example a file description for ARPs and how they're organized so that they could make their own ARP files manually (or may be using a programming language) and then load it back.

We discuss it often. But the reality is it has never been truly made available. The EX5 had the ability to do a lot more in the way of arp creation, the feedback was, well let's just say, nothing that deep was attempted in future products. It is quite intense and not at all like you'd imagine. We surely know there is interest. We'll just have to wait and see. Thanks for the interest.