Hi Bill,

Thank you for the question. First, congrats for getting back to performing music live, and we all have a keyboard tie some where in the closet! 🙂

Hopefully, others doing exactly what you are doing will also chime in, but I can give you some ideas on how you might like to work, using the gear to its fullest. Some times to get to a certain workflow you have to compromise, only you will know what makes you comfortable. Some like to keep it totally simply... As in click a switch to call up the next setup, period. Others are more relaxed and can vamp and improvise while on stage - for some this is too stressful... Only you know how much you want to "think" under the spotlights. Everyone's comfort level is different.

...much of my material is coming from SMF files, and they need some surgery to play correctly in the MOXF.

Excellent, even though SMF are supposed to be plug and play, definitely perform surgery on them. Especially with Yamaha synths... The GM bank is simply sounds organized in GM order, you will need to make tweaks, substitute other sounds, change filter settings, use the available EQ, effects, etc., etc.,

Tip: For example, many GM files use filter tricks in lieu of there being a proper Equalizer. Your MOXF and MX have EQs - if ever you hear too much resonance on a sound, that's a GM programmers trick to brighten a sound when no Eq is available. When you crack open the resonance on the Yamaha filters - it can begin to howl long before the typical GM module will.. So look out for cc071 and cc074 being used to brighten the timbre, they tend to have a severe impact on the big filters in the synth.

Tip: Also when you switch to any other Bass sound (outside of the GM basses) you will notice the Bass is an octave too low. Yamaha's internal non-GM Bank bass Voices are all an octave higher than those in the pseudo-GM Bank. So you will need to either transpose the Track or Note Shift the Part to get the basses to sound properly. This happens because Yamaha feels the lowest notes on the acoustic and electric bass should be reachable by the customer with a 61 note keyboard without having to transpose the keyboard.

My big questions are:

1. Should I avoid the on board sequencer in favor of a sequencer out from an iPad, and just set up a Master/song template for each sequence? There seems to be several ways I could approach this gig, and I'm looking for the best, safest and most flexible way to approach.

The "best" way is subjective and will depend on your comfort zone. The safest typically requires work, and at the end of the day has the least moving parts (to go wrong).

No disrespect to the iPad, (I'm using one now) but I must keep my eye on the battery life... It's an extra, one more moving part. But it is an option. Playing from a MIDI sequencer does allow you to make changes, playing back audio has less moving parts. Consider the iPad as a secondary option.

If you can have all your music playing back from the MOXF sequencer and the MXs ability to playback .MID from a USB stick. Seems to be the least 'moving parts' method. Once you've dialed in your sequence you have hands on control.

Playing back audio (or MIDI) files from an iPad connected to the MOXF is a possibility... Giving you a separate volume control for playback (audio arriving at the MOXF's USB "To Host" port travels through the DAW LEVEL slider.

MIDI does offer flexibility if you want to extend sections, rearrange on the fly, nothing beats the real time access to Pattern Sections.
But for complicated compositions nothing beats the automation of Song mode.
You might wind up with different compositions using different methods.. at one extreme. And pre recording everything...at the other.

2. I'm having trouble replacing GM program changes with MOXF voices. I need a good example (a little confused still by the bank-program change inserting) s there a way to insert an MOXF program change by selecting the desired voice while in the edit mode without all the MSB/LSB stuff? Can't I somehow just select the voice needed when in edit mode and it put the needed numbers in for me?

Not exactly. But if fiddling with the Bank Select MSB/LSB numbers is not your thing, you can have the MOXF remember what Voice you want to use without the coded message.

The Bank Select simply tells the receiving device from which bank of 128 sounds to find the Voice you want. The MOXF has nine banks of Preset Voices in banks of 128, plus there are the three User banks of 128, in addition to the pseudo-GM Bank of 128, and 256 Mixing Voices. So if you opt to use the Program Change and Bank Select method, I'm afraid you have to substitute the numbers. But if you are clever, you can DELETE that command from the EVENT LIST. If there is no event on the EVENT LIST to the contrary, the Part receiving information from that Track will recall the Voice YOU select for that Part on the MOXF/MX MIXING setup.

I mentioned being clever... You need to know what the author recommends for the Part, what instrument sound. Once you've seen the author's selection make your substitute, then DELETE the Program Change event. Yamaha sequencers make this easy as they bundle the MSB LSB and Program Change into a single line event. So once you've selected your substitute, DELETE the Program Change event, then simply [STORE] the MIX setup.

GM uses the message because it cannot count on the receiving module to have the type of memory that stores setups (this is one way GM modules can be made in expensively, they don't have to have the type of ROM that backs up setups. By removing the message you can additionally store and recall your custom settings on the MOXF mixer...

Those messages in the Track data make changes to you tone engine. So you want to pay attention... to these
cc007 main channel volume
cc010 pan position
cc011 expression (volume)
cc071 resonance (harmonic content)
cc074 cutoff (brightness)
cc091 reverb send
cc093 chorus send

They will override setting you make on the MOXF mixer.

3. Is there a way to create a song playlist or chain? I understand pattern chains, but is it possible to do the same with songs? Again, hoping to find a best approach to set lists and four hours worth of songs, program changes, two sound producing keyboards and probably a key tar somewhere in all of it!

Yes, there's is... A SONG CHAIN can even include pauses... You create a list of Titles, or commands, that then allows you to automate your set list.

From the main SONG screen Press [F6] CHAIN
A list appears, you can use the Data Dial to insert a Title, or a Command at each slot.
Another title will cause one song to follow the other (a measure pause is automatically inserted to allow the next song and mix to load)
A Stop command will pause the list at this location - while you make appropriate announcements, etc.
An End command will end the play completely (Set break)
The Skip command allows you to remove an item at the gig.

Badmister,

Thank you so much for the prompt and excellent reply! The song chaining feature is excellent. I think it makes a lot of sense to keep the sequences in the MOXF and do some editing to remove GM program changes in these SMF files, and then just creating a mix template within the song that I like for each tune, that includes the MOXF program sounds.

The iPad as backup (using just a stereo audio recording of the sequenced parts) makes a lot of sense, and will probably save us from total meltdown should we ever need to use it.

I've been working in Cubase Elements to try to edit the files and replace GM changes with MOXF programs, etc., but maybe it's just I don't know the program well enough but I can't seem to find where I can edit MIDI program changes directly (as in from a list of MIDI events). I see the controller lanes but still don't know where to find an event list that I could insert the bank and program change of my choosing. I may end up just editing all of the sequences in the MOXF and forget about trying to edit from a computer and then export and import the file into the MOXF.

I thought about one setup scenario where I could clean up the sequence files in Cubase and assign real MOXF sounds there, and then use Cubasis on the iPad to drive everything live to the MOXF or MX, and just using song templates rather than the actual sequence data residing in the MOXF. There could be advantages to this if I want to do more complicated transitions between songs and create those transitions in Cubase.

So many options, some better than others! Thanks again for your response - and yes, this should be a fun gig. I'm pretty excited about it and have a partner that is an amazing singer, very versatile.

At some point I'm also considering automating lyrics a'la karaoke style and projecting them. Gonna have to research how to control all that from the sequence too. We want to have audience participation and some karaoke numbers for the whole audience, hence the lyric projection. If you know good ways of skinning that cat too, I'm all ears!

Editing of Bank Select and Program Changes is more easily done, contrary to popular belief, in the MOXF hardware sequencer than it is in Cubase.
Yamaha makes Bank Select and Program Change a single line item event, where software like Cubase breaks it into three separate events you must manage. Please see the following short article on this topic:

Working with and Creating Proper GM Files

At some point I'm also considering automating lyrics a'la karaoke style and projecting them. Gonna have to research how to control all that from the sequence too. We want to have audience participation and some karaoke numbers for the whole audience, hence the lyric projection. If you know good ways of skinning that cat too, I'm all ears!

Yamaha makes keyboards (and we used to make software) that actually allowed you to type lyrics into .mid files and keyboards that can output them to the screen, highlighting the lyric in time with the music.

We'll find you some links....

Sweet! Thank you in advance, anything to make this easier!