What makes it tick inside is not at all like an old (ticking) pocket watch, visually; it's more like a digital watch, when you look inside, with no moving or user serviceable parts on board! 🙂

But quickly, the Voice architecture is virtually the same as its siblings (MOXF and Motif-series):
8 Elements can be used to make up a Normal Voice and 73 Elements make up a Drum Kit Voice.

Each Element references a single Waveform. A Waveform is a multi-sample that can contain a single sample or as many as 256 samples. An Element can be a complete instrument, or it can be one component (layer or region) that makes up an instrument.

A single Element could be an acoustic piano. Or, for example, you could construct a piano using three sets of multi-sampled Elements... A soft strike Element, a medium strike Element, and a hard strike Element. Because an Element can be set to respond to a specific range of velocities and/or a specific region of notes, it is possible to construct an instrument by using multiple Elements to "specialize" in a specific area.

You may notice as you hit a key harder the articulation changes... An electric piano sound seems to "bark" when you exceed a specific velocity. An electric bass may do a "slap" articulation above a certain velocity... An so on.

As I think I've mentioned, only in the top-of-the-line MOTIF-series can you actually create your own samples from scratch. But the Motif, MOXF, and MX share the basic same construction within the Voice - as you go up the line you, naturally, have greater access.

A basic synth engine is designed to recreate or emulate musical instrument sounds. It is based on three main building blocks: Pitch, Timbre, Loudness

Pitch is handled in the Oscillator (Element Waveform)
Timbre is handled in the Filter
Loudness is handled in the Amplifier

Oscillator - Filter - Amplifier

In any acoustic instrument you can easily see these three functions represented:
Take a trumpet...
_ The pitch is determined by the speed of vibration. The source of vibration in a trumpet making a musical tone is the players oscillating lips.
_ The timbre or tone of the sound is determined, to a great degree, by the length, girth, material, and shape of the horn itself. A coronet sounds different from a Bb trumpet which sounds different from a flugelhorn, etc., a brass trumpet sounds different from one made from nickel. Of course, the steadiness and control over air flow also greatly influence what we call tone.
_ The loudness (amplifier) is principally the players lungs, cheeks, diaphragm and is directed by the bell of the horn.

There is a modifier (called "modulation"), in this generic synth engine... Modulation can be applied via a special oscillator that specializes in very low rates of speed. This Low Frequency Oscillator (LFO) can be used to apply modulation to the three main blocks.

If you apply a low frequency oscillation to Pitch (Pitch Modulation) musicians call this "vibrato".
If you apply a low frequency oscillation to the Timbre (Filter Modulation) musicians call this "wah-wah".
If you apply a low frequency oscillation to Loudness (Amplitude Modulation) musicians call this "tremolo".

Controllers are used to refine your performance. Starting with Velocity - the speed with which you press a key. It can be applied to the three main blocks to control how the sound responds. An acoustic instrument gets brighter in tone the harder you strike it, pluck it, blow through it or bow it... This is why having a filter that allows more high frequencies as you play harder makes sense musically. A LPF or Low Pass Filter is used for this purpose... It naturally allows Lows to pass, so you must increase your velocity (how hard you hit the keys) to make the sound brighter
Envelope Generators control what happens while a note is sounding... Does it go up or down in pitch during a held note. Does it change timbre over time. Does it get louder or does it fade out over time. There is an EG for each of the three main blocks... Times 8 Elements!!!

Having 8 Elements is like having 8 simultaneous tone sources available. Mostly the programmers find additional 'articulations' and make those available for you via controllers. 8 complete synths - each with a Oscillator, Filter, Amplifer, LFO, Pitch EG, Filter EG, Amplitude EG... and so on.

That's quickly a look at what makes it tick. Please come here often as these are topics we will cover in tutorials and blogs ... Week to week. And because you've asked... We will take that look under the hood of the MX via the Editors. Promise!