If there was a way for Performance 001 to be like Grand Piano, Wurli Bright, DrawCtrl Organ, etc., and Performance 002 to be Rock Piano, WurliPhazr, Accordion, etc. without it adjusting the original voice sounds and without any arpeggiator or rhythm tracks with it, that would be ideal.

The whole idea of the User Performances is to setup the instruments that you would like to appear on the 16 buttons.

You do not get to change "Vintage'74" from being the first Voice in the Category listing of Keyboard sounds.... but what you can do is place what Voice appears on each of the sixteen buttons when the [PART SELECT] button is lit.

Here's how that works: there are two different functions in play here:
1) CATEGORY SEARCH
2) PART SELECTION

When two Voice names appear in the screen you are viewing Parts 1 and 2 of the current Performance. Let's start from a "Quick Reset" so we are clear on how this works....
Press [SHIFT] + [SELECT] = Quick Reset... this returns you to Single mode, with an Acoustic Piano...

AP:> CncrtGrand
ST: Amb Pizza

... this is Part 1 (Acoustic Piano category) Concert Grand
Part 2 String category) "in waiting" as the Layer or Split Part

The cursor is blinking indicating that PART 1 is selected and if you where to touch one of the 16 right front panel buttons you would be looking through the 16 Categories... reading what is listed above the buttons. Because AP has the flashing cursor you are currently looking at the Acoustic Piano category. And the Piano category is lit.

If you were to touch the button labeled "Keyboard" you would see the first item in the Keyboard category "Vintage'74". Hitting [KEYBOARD] repeatedly will advance down the list... hitting INC/+ or turn the Data Dial will also accomplish this same thing.
We are in Category Search.

Using the Down Cursor arrow you can select the PART 2 sound ST: Amb Pizza (ambient pizzicato) the Cursor triangle flashes next to Part 2
You can now see that the [STRING] category is selected- indicating Amb Pizza is in the String Category. In a similar fashion to above you can repeatedly hit the STRING button to advance through other string category Voices... use the DEC/- button to reverse direction or the Data Dial counterclockwise to view String listings.

Now that is how you navigate the Part 1 and Part 2 settings.

Next let's take a look at a completely different view of these same buttons. We were reading the Category Names as listed above the front panel buttons...
Let's start again with a "Quick Reset"
[SHIFT] + [SELECT] = Quick Reset

This time press the button on the far right front panel [PART SELECT]
Notice how "Part Select" is connected to the numbers 1-16 listed *under* the sixteen buttons.
Yes, this means when this button is lit, you now are looking at a view that can show you what sound (which Voice) is assigned to each of the sixteen Parts, in turn.

You will see a screen with the numbers 1-16 and a cursor underline to show you which Part number you are currently viewing.
This is how you can, do exactly what you desire in your post. You are now viewing the PART by number and the list will give you access to the various edit parameters volume, pan, effect sends, etc., etc., you access the list of parameters with the DOWN CURSOR arrow. The arrows in the screen show you to move up/down

Select Part 1 - set it for the CncrtGrand
Select Part 2 - set it for the Wurlitzer Brite
Select Part 3 - set it for Draw Organ
Select Part 4 - set it for any sound you desire from any category... remember these are no longer Category buttons you are selecting a PART... Any Voice from any category can be placed in any Part. You do not have to activate any arpeggios, you do not have to place a Drum in Part 10, nor do you have to link a rhythm pattern. It is entirely up to you! Place any Voice in any Part

Name and STORE your Performance in 001...

Create a new Performance with another set of your favorite 16 Voices and store it to Performance 002, and so on. You can create 128 Performances.

When you have your favorite 16 Voices side-by-side in a 16 Part Performance, you can seamlessly switch between Voices without any interruption in the sound. You can hold the Strings in one Part, and using your 16 [PART SELECT] buttons recall another Part and begin to play it while holding the Strings (by hand or with sustain pedal) Seamless.

So any Voices you are playing and need immediate access to when on stage, place them side-by-side, in the same Performance, use the PART SELECT function to recall each sound as you need it.

[PART SELECT] button is the answer!

Hope that helps.

So first of all, I cannot thank you enough for taking the time to spell that out for me, I really needed it. This was extremely helpful and I really appreciate it.

I've successfully figured out how to do everything you explained. I still have one issue though. When I select the Voice KB 027 WurliPhaze without Part Select on, it has the exact sound I want. However when I go to Part Select and try to put that 027 into the Part 4 slot, it sounds completely different. Is there a way to put it in the Part 4 slot with its original Voice sound without having to manually edit all the different factors?

Thank you again for your time and patience!

When you select a Voice for a Part of your Performance, you are adding a new instrument to the band's mixer. Each instrument is connected to a channel of the Performance mixer. The mixer has two Aux Sends... one called Reverb the other Chorus. All the different channels on this 16 channel mixer have a Send amount to the Rev and the Chorus... you may need to adjust the Sends to the effects.

Also in a Performance four of the Parts can have their Insert Effect active. Long story short... the Insert Effect is a specialty Effect within the instrument; Insert effects can be applied to any four of the sixteen sounds... it is the personal Effect of the instrument... in the case of a B3 organ sound, the Rotary Speaker would likely be the Insert Effect. The Distortion would be an Insert Effect on a Distortion Guitar...

The Insert Effect on the WurliePhaze is, as you might guess, is the Phaser... you will want to make sure this is one of the four sounds set to recall its Insert Effect. Here's how to select which four Parts

Press [PART SELECT]
Move the cursor to Part 4
Using the UP/DOWN cursor, starting at the top most, select "KB" as the Category
Hit the Down Cursor, select 027: WurliPhaze
Hit the Down Cursor, Pan > Volume > Chorus Send > Reverb Send > Dry Level > INSERT SWITCH

Four Parts can be marked, at maximum. If four are already active you will need to move the cursor left or right and turn OFF one of the four before you can mark Part 4.

By activating the WurliPhaze's IntSw you will have restored its Insertion Effect.

AAAHH!!!

This explains why I'm having so much trouble with the performance I'm currently working on!
I thought maybe I could put our whole set into one performance, but that does not seem in the cards...

I've created something like ten or eleven User Voices that I play throughout our set. Every time I try to put them all together for ease of use, I loose most of the Insert Effects... The problem, I now see, is that more than 4 voices have an effect on them. For some reason I was under the impression that I had to limit myself to four different TYPES of effects, but could use each one on as many Parts as I wanted...

So, basically I guess I just have to either give each song it's own performance, or figure out if there are ways to break the whole set into maybe two or three performances that can each cover a few songs. Now the "Performance Select" mode is looking a little more useful than I initially thought.

Is there any way to make an insert effect global? as in, give all 11 Parts the same... I don't know... Distortion, or something?

Is there any way to make an insert effect global?

No, by definition, an INSERT EFFECT is one that is "inserted" in line with an instrument signal. The analogy in the real world would go as follows:

The 16 Parts of a MX PERFORMANCE are like a 16 piece band
Each Voice is an instrument. When you select them for Performance each Voice is placed in a PART.
Think of this as the band's mixer... each Part is like a different channel on the band's mixer.

On the band's mixer, each channel has two AUX SENDS... One feeds the Reverb processor, the other feeds the Chorus processor. You can see a list of Effect Types for each of these processors in the DATA LIST booklet on page 33

As I mentioned previously the Insert Effect is an Effect that belongs to the musician (the individual Voice) - in our real world band the equivalent would be, for example, the guitar player's Distortion stomp box... that is their personal Effect. No one else is plugged into it, only the guitar is physically plugged into the Distortion... the guitar player takes a cable from the guitar "inserts" it to the stomp box, another cable comes out of the stomp box before going to the band's mixer.

Another example, the Rotary Speaker on the B3 Organ... only the Organ player is using this Rotary Speaker, it is on the Organ as their personal Effect. And the output of the Effect is before the Organ is plugged into the band's mixer.

Any four PARTS can recall their assigned Insertion Effect
All sixteen PARTS can utilize the System Effects via the REV SEND and CHO SEND

That all said, here's what you can do:
Choose the Effect Types carefully, and recognize that even though the second System Effect is called "Chorus", it can set to a wide variety of different Types, including the various Distortions, Amp Simulators, Vompressor/Distortions, etc. Selecting one of these TYPES as the second System Effects, gives all 16 Parts a Send amount to this Effect.

Insert = individual Part can be assigned
System = any/all Parts can be sent, your choice.

See the diagram on page 12 of the MX Reference Manual for a view of this discussion.

Hope this helps.

I've been using this technique now for the past two gigs and I gotta tell you it has saved my life - switching between specific parts in the matter of an 8th note has been a beautiful and wonderful thing. Thank you so much for your thorough explanations and easy-to-follow directions. Cheers!