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Sampling questions

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Another question about sampling:

I'm sampling in song mode. I'm on the select screen at waveform selection. I can choose a number: one, two, three etc. But there are no names associated with these waveform numbers. However, if I go to the utilities screen and view my flash drive contents, my waveform list shows numbers and the names of the waveforms which I assigned to them. I would've thought these two lists would show the same thing.

I could use some clarification on how waveforms are organized and stored.

Thank you,
David

 
Posted : 30/03/2020 9:12 pm
Bad Mister
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If/When you are creating your own samples you are going to be viewing the USR (SDRAM) area - the Waveform List shown here can house 128 Waveforms. When you are looking at the FL1 or FL2 Waveform Lists you are viewing the data that has been installed (burned) to Flash Boards. Each Waveform List on a Flash Board has 2,048 Waveform slots.

When you are creating your own the slots are named “New Waveform 001”, “New Waveform 002”... and so on. They do not have a name until you give it a name.

If you load a dot wave file into the USR (SDRAM) it will inherit that name, but there is no way for the Motif XF to automatically name your a Sample other than with the default number system 001 thru 128 (after all it cannot hear).

You can, however! To Name your USR Waveform
Press [INTEGRATED SAMPLING] or if you are already on the Waveform Select screen
Call up the Waveform you wish to Name.
Press [JOB]
Press [F2] WAVEFORM
Select Job 05: Rename

USR (SDRAM) Waveforms are in the vulnerable memory location. By ‘vulnerable’ we mean they can be overwritten by loading a File. If you were to load an All Data File or an All Voice File the USR (SDRAM) is overwritten with each load.
FL1/FL2 (Flash Board) Waveforms are impervious to being overwritten by simply loading a file. When loading data to Flash Boards, new data goes to the lowest numbered empty slot location. Nothing is ever overwritten on a Flash Board.

These are (Flash) Waveforms that have written into permanent memory. There should be no expectation that the Waveform List here should be same as the USR (SDRAM) Waveform List. Why?

And, if you don’t take the time to Name your Waveforms, they will be identified by the default “New Waveform xxx”... numbering system.

A Waveform is a collection of samples. In the Motif XF 128 Keybanks can be assembled by the Waveform. A Keybank defines the Note range, Velocity range and play direction of each bit of sampled audio.

If you were to sample an acoustic piano, you could place 88 Keybanks (one for each Key you sampled) into a single Waveform... if these samples were all done as a soft-strike of the note, Waveform 001 might be renamed “MyPiano Soft”.
If you were to sample each key of that same piano again with a medium-strike velocity (again doing one for each Key) they would all be placed in Waveform 002... which you would rename “MyPiano Medium”.
And so on.

Waveforms can organize as many as 128 samples into a KeyBank mapping - that mapping can be horizontal (across the keyboard) and/or vertical (by velocity range)

For example, most of the snares and hihats are four or five different Keybanks using velocity. Since drum sounds typically occupy one key each, you can stack samples vertically.

The maximum number of samples that can sound from a single KeyBank is two. This accommodates Stereo (Left/Right). If you load 5 samples to the same key, you would set each to sound at a different range of velocities. You could stack samples vertically where a different velocity triggers a different sample.

Some combination of the vertical and the horizontal mapping is what is used... the theoretical maximum while interesting to play with are NOT how the memory is used in practice.
.

 
Posted : 31/03/2020 12:08 pm
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Bad Mister, i've been asking a lot of questions lately, and I'm very grateful for your help.

This is how I understand it so far:

I record some audio in song mode. I store the song, and I save the waveforms to fl1. I also name the waveforms something other than "new waveform".

When I turn the motif off and on, the Wf data in Sdram is lost. But that data is still on the flash drive because I saved it there.

Now when I go back to the same song, the audio plays just as before.

But,
The voices for the audio tracks say" waveform FL1 000". I don’t understand why they all have the same name even though they have different audio on them.

Also,
if I press record, and look over at the voice selection, it says Smpl 002, waveform fl1 003.
I'm not sure what this means, or why this should be different from what Appears up in the track name.

When I now go into integrated sampling, there appears to be no data. This is because the SD ram data was Erased when I turned off the machine.
The audio voices are now accessing The waveforms in the flash drive.

What if I wanted to do for other modifications to those waveforms? I can't seem to get at them. Can I load them from flash drive back to SD ram for the purposes of editing?

Thanks again. I feel like I'm very close to getting this. I hope.

Dave

 
Posted : 31/03/2020 7:29 pm
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Well, I think I may have answered some of my own questions:

I believe much of my confusion stemmed from the fact that when you record audio in song mode the sample/waveform attaches itself to a voice called something like "waveform fl 0002" or "waveform usr 0003".
The fact that the name of the voice is "waveform… etc" threw me off. I thought I was looking at a waveform name, And I didn't understand why I couldn't find it when I looked at my flash drive contents via utility mode.

Bottom line: I was looking at voice called waveform, not a waveform itself.

Another question I had was if I can load of flash waveforms into Sdram for more editing.
It looks like the answer is: sample job, 04 copy from flash memory.

Finally, I still don't understand why when I press record and look over at the list of waveform voices on the left(mix parts, I believe they are called), they are all numbered 0000. But I guess it doesn't really matter.

 
Posted : 01/04/2020 5:27 pm
Bad Mister
Posts: 12304
 

Sorry I had to dig into my notes — Motif XF going back ten years... where did that time go

The voices for the audio tracks say" waveform FL1 000".

Actually if you are on the XF SONG screen, press [F3] TRACK. This gives you a full view of the Track Name — all 20 characters. Only so many characters fit on the [F1] screen. You will see your Flash Board installed Waveforms named with a four digit number indicating where the data exists, 0001 ~ 2048.

Waveform FL1 0001
Waveform FL1 0002 and so on.

Also, if I press record, and look over at the voice selection, it says Smpl 002, waveform fl1 003.
I'm not sure what this means, or why this should be different from what's up in the track name.

Any time you see “Smpl” and a number it refers to the Sampler which will always direct its data to USR (SDRAM)... The Track you have selected or last selected is currently occupied by Waveform FL1 0003

When I now go into integrated sampling, there appears to be no data.
Is this because the audio voices are now accessing The waveforms in the flash drive?

Correct.

What if I wanted to do for other modifications to those waveforms? I can't seem to get it them. Can I load them from flash drive back to SD ram for the purposes of editing?

You can Copy data from FL1 or FL2 to the USR (SDRAM). You cannot edit data burned to Flash while it is in Flash. The Flash Board is ROM (Read Only Memory)... so yes, you must copy the data to RAM to work on it, then replace the data back to Flash ROM.

Extra Credit:
To really fully understand the Sampler in the XF

Samples are always organized by what Yamaha calls WAVEFORMS. Every sample that is installed on your Flash Board must have a Waveform that organizes it for musical use within the Motif XF.
So a sample cannot be installed on your Flash Boards without the information about how it is to be used. In general, a sample is always in some kind of VOICE. The Voice being the basic fundamental playable entity of your XF.

There are USER SAMPLE VOICES - recorded to the Integrated Sampling Sequencer
There are ‘normal’ User Voices - which reside in User 1, User 2, User 3, and User 4 Banks,
Mixing Voice are ‘normal’ Voices edited and stored locally to the Song or Pattern they are used in.
There are ‘drum’ User Kits - which reside in the User Drum Bank.

The User Sample Voice — which you’ll see referred to as SP01~SP128 or as SMPL — is the least complex of all the Voice type. The Integrated Sampling Sequencer does not record audio like a hard disk recorder. Rather it places the audio on a Key, creates a Note-on event with the precise duration of the recording. Punch in to punch out. We say it is least complex because unlike the other Voices, the User Sample Voice contains no Filters, no envelope generators, no Insertion Effects, no EQ, etc. it is just an audio sample placed in this bare-bones Voice.

A User Sample Voice has 128 Keys, like other ‘normal’ Voices so a different sample can be placed on each Key, C-2 thru G8.
But initially it has none of the other advantages of an XF Voice.

Mix Voices are 16 special locations available within each Song MIXING and each Pattern MIXING program. Each internal PART that contains a ‘normal’ Voice has the potential to be fully edited while you remain in the MIXING mode (except those recorded to the Integrated Sampling Sequencer). From the MIXING quick access screen, you will see “VCE EDIT” or Voice Edit above the [F6] button. This will drop you into full Voice Edit without having to go back to Voice mode. Normal Voices (i.e, non-Drum Kit Voices) can be converted into what Yamaha calles a MIX VOICE. Here you can completely customize the selection, change the Insertion Effects, etc. completely customize it for use within this Song or Pattern, and this Mix Voice is kept “locally” — means it is stored within the Zhongshan or Pattern data for which it was customized. Drum Kit Voices must be stored to the special USER Drum bank. Voices recorded to the ISS, must be *converted* to a normal Voice first.

When on the MIXING screen if you were to move the highlight over one of you Smpl Tracks (one recorded using the Integrated Sampling Sequencer), you will see “VCE CONV” (Voice Convert) listed above [F6].

The SMPL bank (also abbreviated “SP” and officially called the User Sample Voice) 63/50 is accessed:
1) directly from the INTEGRATED SAMPLING > REC feature.
2) by loading a .WAV or .AIF directly to a PART in the Integrated Sampling Sequencer

What the VCE CONV (Voice Convert) does is take the User Sample Voice (63/50) and create a normal Mixing Voice (63/60)

What is the difference between a USER SAMPLE VOICE (63/50) and the MIXING VOICE (63/60) or regular USER VOICE (63/08-63/11)?
The User Sample Voice has the same 128 slots (notes) to hold samples, but it has none of the other Voice parameters… When you use VCE CONV you are offered an option to store to either MIXV location or you can redirect it to the general USER 1, 2, 3, 4 bank locations. These Voices have a full compliment of parameters including Filters, envelopes, micro-tuning, Note Shift, access to Insert Effects, 3-band EQ, etc., etc., etc.

 
Posted : 01/04/2020 8:16 pm
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Thanks, Bad Mister.
And best of health to you and your loved ones in these unsettling times.
David

 
Posted : 01/04/2020 10:03 pm
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