As it is now I don't even know how to get that PERFORMANCE into a SONG on the MOXF8 itself.

I would highly recommend you start with this. Learn how the MOXF is able to record four things to four separate track simultaneously, keeping each Part's MIDI data separate, then copy the Parts of a Performance to the Parts of SONG/PATTERN MIXING setup, and then reunite the musical data with the Part that makes it sound properly.

Direct Performance Record see page 36 of the MOXF Owner's Manual "Recording in the Performance mode". Once you can see how this is done, you'll understand why recording multiple Parts to a DAW is perhaps at the very "deep end" of the learning curve pool.

Wildo (PERFORMANCE REC on MOXF). And thanks for the quick reply!

So they don't make it easy to arrange in Cubase.

Reason I wanted to do this - in addition to being DAW oriented - is that I play free-form on the MOXF and want to record everything (as much as an hour!) and then cut up the good bits for songs. From your reply it seems I should do this on the MOXF itself and then - somehow (given the deep-end!) - can transfer this to Cubase.

Ok will master (!) the recording on MOXF and then ask about transferring to Cubase if I can't figure it out.

Thanks again.

So they don't make it easy to arrange in Cubase.

Who's "they"? 🙂 Yamaha made it extremely easy to record the four Parts of a Performance to the internal sequencer -via the innovative direct Performance Record feature! This is why I suggest starting here so that you can appreciate what it does that can be done with your favorite DAW but not easily... You will appreciate what it takes when you realize all that takes place!

Reason I wanted to do this - in addition to being DAW oriented - is that I play free-form on the MOXF and want to record everything (as much as an hour!) and then cut up the good bits for songs. From your reply it seems I should do this on the MOXF itself and then - somehow (given the deep-end!) - can transfer this to Cubase.

"Being DAW oriented" then you must know, DAWs are designed to record one track at a time. If you are playing a Performance you are seen as four separate keyboard players playing four separate parts of music simultaneously. Keeping the data separate is the first challenge for the DAW.

If arpeggios are involved the DAW cannot tell the difference between Notes you play directly (by pressing the keys) and Notes being generated by the MOXF arpeggiators... To your DAW they are just Notes... So it records them all.
So say you are triggering a Cminor7 chord, this could generate a guitar picking result from one Part, a bass line from another Part, and a drum grove from yet another Part... Yet, trust me, you Do Not Want to hear those notes triggering those sound directly. You are just holding a whole note chord that would sound silly on the drum kit, if allowed to playback directly. Would sound silly on the bass which you expect to play a single note line, and instead of hearing guitar picking you would hear both the sustained chord and the notes being picked - and the unfortunate choking if data as the same Midi note is told to hold for a whole note and play as an eighth note!?! Chaos.

The thing people so quickly forget is: it is NOT YOU playing that drum groove, it is not you playing that bass line, it is not you finger picking that guitar when there are arpeggios involved. And your computer DAW (as smart as it is) cannot tell which notes are YOU triggering the keys directly, and which are notes generated by the arpeggio. They all look like incoming MIDI notes.

Direct Performance Record will sort that out... But it does it in the MOXF... Naturally.

Set up direct Perfirmance record to SONG mode
Record as long as want
When finished the MOXF will switch to SONG mode and setup the Performance Parts into the appropriate MIXING Parts of the destination Song.

You can then export the MIDI data as .mid and simply drag and drop it into your DAW for editing, chopping up or whatever.

Make sense?

It does now!

Thanks much

Ok, Got my SONG into Cubase (via output as a .MID on a USB stick) yay! (And btw it was very straightforward, as you described)

How do I play this back into the MOXF? When I put the MOXF into the corresponding PERFORMANCE and then play this Cubase song by e.g. sending track1 to Port 1 channel 1, Track 2 to Port 1 Channel 2, etc, I get garbage. (I also turned OFF the ARP in MOXF). If I send Track1 to Port 1 Channel 10, I also get garbage. (This is all via the MOXF MIDI/Audio USB interface

Or is the idea that I edit it in Cubase (without hearing anything!) and then put it back onto a USB stick as a .MID and import in MOXF as a new SONG? i.e. reverse the process?

It would be very unfortunate if one cannot now listen to the song as one edits!!

Hey I just figured it out!

(after all the xfer to cubase as in previous posts ...)

I put MOXF into SONG (the original version I free-formed). Then MIXING mode, with ARP OFF

Then sent all the tracks (including the SYSEX track) to Port 1 of the MOXF with each track going to channel 1-4 in the right order.

And viola it seems to work just fine!! i.e. I am playing the tracks in Cubase and listening to the right sounds coming out of MOXF

Thanks for your help - it was just what I needed