High Quality Sounds to Spark Your Creativity
The MOTIF XS provides an exceptionally broad selection of realistic sounds to spark your creativity, with a massive 355 MB of high-quality waveforms and samples on board. A single Voice can have up to eight separate sound Elements, enabling composite sounds of remarkable complexity and nuance. Among the standout Voices is a resonant, meticulously recorded concert grand piano sound that is practically worth the price of admission by itself. New acoustic piano, electric piano and orchestral samples - not to mention the richly textured and distinctly electronic synthesizer waves -- give you the sonic tools to fully realize virtually any style of music and any instrumentation.
Another new feature is the Expanded Articulation (XA) tone generation system. Using the 8 available Elements, XA allows you to more effectively recreate realistic sound and natural performance techniques -- such as legato, staccato and key release sounds -- often used on acoustic instruments but unavailable or difficult to realize on electronic keyboards. It also lets you assign Elements to on/off panel switches, and change sounds within a Voice in real time -- for example, playing a classical guitar voice and switch between playing normally and playing high harmonics. XA also offers other unique modes for random and alternate sound changes as you play.
A wide selection of special Mega Voices provide even more expressive nuance, when used with sequencer tracks or the special Mega Voice Arpeggios. Mega Voices are not meant to be played from the keyboard because of their complex velocity layers, but have special expressive sounds that are designed to be precisely triggered by recorded data -- for example, letting you create an acoustic guitar track with authentic sounding muted playing, slides and bell-like harmonics.
Other Voice-related features include a uniquely natural "half damper" effect for acoustic piano sounds. This gives you nuanced control over the sustained sound when pressing the damper pedal, depending on how far down you press the pedal. The MOTIF XS has a full complement of effects, both insert (Insertion) and send (System), and includes a special set of VCM (Virtual Circuitry Modeling) effects that authentically model the elements in analog circuitry, realistically recreating the uniquely warm characteristics of vintage processing gear. Speaking of "vintage," the instrument also includes a sophisticated Vocoder effect that produces classic robotic synthesizer sounds, molded by your speaking or singing voice through a connected microphone.
Ideal for Live Performance, Song Creating and Arranging
The MOTIF XS has so many sophisticated features that help jump-start your creativity and live performance potential. One of the most powerful of these is Arpeggio, which lets you trigger a variety of sequenced phrases from the keyboard. There are approximately 6,000 different Arpeggio phrases on board, and you can have four different Arpeggios, playing four different instrument parts, running simultaneously-in perfect sync, of course. The music making possibilities are virtually endless. Have a drum Voice play an automatic rhythm, add an Arpeggio bass phrase, and fly in other instrument phrases as the inspiration hits you. Everything stays in sync, and everything follows your chord changes.
While you experiment and play around with Arpeggios in the Performance mode, the song ideas will come fast and fierce-maybe too many to remember. No worries, though. You can capture them easily and directly by recording them to a Song or Pattern (which can be stored to the built-in flash memory). Since the data is MIDI, you don't have to worry about running out of recording space. You can record your keyboard playing, freely calling up various Arpeggio types as you improvise, then edit the Song later as necessary. You may even want to 'keep the recorder running' as you play, then listen back later and pick out the best parts to create your final composition.
Another powerful feature is the Integrated Sampling Sequencer, which seamlessly combines audio and MIDI recording. Simply install optional DIMM modules (up to 1 GB) and record the audio directly to tracks on the MOTIF XS. Record your vocals or acoustic guitar (with a microphone), electric guitar or bass, or even short rhythm loops from a sample CD.
There's also a Slice feature that automatically chops up your rhythms and riffs into their individual beats and notes, letting you manipulate the component parts of your sample loops as MIDI data -- giving you the power to easily change tempo and rhythmic feel, without disturbing the pitch or sound quality.
Intuitive Interface, Easy Operation
Despite all the advanced technology and wealth of features packed tightly into the instrument, the MOTIF XS is exceptionally intuitive and easy to use. It gives you a large, full-dot color LCD that lets you see multiple parameters at a glance, and has clear, high-resolution graphics with virtual sliders, knobs and more.
The panel of the MOTIF XS provides an amazing level of control and flexibility. Eight knobs and 8 sliders let you instantly tweak a variety of parameters and effects as you play. The eight knobs are especially versatile, letting you use the knobs to independently control eight different parameters (out of 24 selectable), or use them to control a certain effect setting (reverb, chorus or pan) for up to 8 different parts (in a song, for example). The knobs can also be used to change the rhythmic feel and other settings of Arpeggios and Patterns while they play back. Two Assignable Function buttons give you added control over the sound of the new Expanded Articulation (XA) Voices, letting you change sounds within a Voice in real time.
Other convenient operation features include the improved Category Search function, which now is organized with Dual Categories that help you find the Voice you want. Calling up the Guitar category, for instance, gives you access to the Dual (sub) Categories, such as Acoustic, Electric Clean and Electric Distortion. The Mega Arpeggio Voices also have their own Dual Category for easy selection of those unique Voices.
The MOTIF XS is not only exceptionally intuitive and easy to operate, it's a true joy to play -- right down to the newly designed expressive keyboards. The MOTIF XS6 and XS7 have a new, natural FSX keyboard (61/76 keys), while the MOTIF XS8 features the grand piano-like BH (Balanced Hammer) keyboard (88 keys).
Computer Integration
A full-featured music production synthesizer in every way, the MOTIF XS comes equipped with a variety of connectors and interfaces-for virtually any application and any studio situation. These include independent Assignable Outputs, A/D Inputs (for recording external sources), S/PDIF Digital Output, MIDI, Ethernet, IEEE1394 (standard on the MOTIF XS8 and available on the MOTIF XS6/7 with the IEEE1394 optional board) and two USB connectors, compatible with the high-speed USB 2.0 standard.
The comprehensive set of connectors -- Ethernet, IEEE1394 and USB TO HOST -- make interfacing with computers and your favorite software exceptionally easy. In particular, the new Ethernet connection gives you fast transfer of your MOTIF XS files to and from a computer on the same network. IEEE1394 interface gives you a one-cable, one-network solution for high-speed, realtime transfer of multi-channel digital audio and MIDI data over a 1394 FireWire connection.
Software Integration
Today's music production is highly dependent on software, and the MOTIF XS is designed to work seamlessly and transparently in your computer-based environment. The Remote Control mode lets you control your DAW software right from the panel of the MOTIF XS -- for example, starting and stopping playback/recording with the special transport buttons, changing track levels with the sliders, and tweaking parameters with the knobs.
The MOTIF XS is also compatible with the MOTIF XS Editor -- a comprehensive, easy-to-use editing software program that lets you edit (via USB connection) the Mixing setups and Mixing Voices to be used for Song/Pattern playback directly on your computer. The MOTIF XS Editor is free and can be downloaded from the Yamaha website. Naturally, the editor can be used within Cubase as part of Studio Connections, and all settings can be saved with each project for instant recall.
If Cubase is not yet part of your software arsenal, a copy of the new Cubase AI is bundled with the instrument, letting you dive in and start using the versatile features of Studio Connections right out of the box. Cubase AI is a full-featured music production software that integrates fully with the MOTIF XS, and can easily be upgraded to Cubase 4. It gives you all the tools to produce professional level recordings -- quickly and easily -- with a system that you can expand into the future.
