Playing MOXF8 from another keyboard

[jeffkwells]

Hi all,

I've just bought an MOXF8 for live gigging and I want to play some voices from another keyboard. (A Hammond SK2). I've managed to select an MOXF8 voice ok and play it on the Hammond, But I want to play a different voice on the MOXF8 at the same time. - Say, piano on the MOXF8 and MOXF8 strings on the Hammond at the same time. Is this possible?

Thanks

 

[happyrat1]

Yeah it's doable.

Without getting into specifics, what you have to do is assign each voice to send and receive on a specific MIDI channel.

So more or less you'd play piano on the Yamaha with Channel 1 and Strings on the Yamaha using the Hammond keyboard on any other channel (ie. 2, 3, etc...)

Check your respective manuals for each keyboard to set up the MIDI send and receive channels for each one.

Gary

 

[jeffkwells]

Yeah it's doable.

Without getting into specifics, what you have to do is assign each voice to send and receive on a specific MIDI channel.

So more or less you'd play piano on the Yamaha with Channel 1 and Strings on the Yamaha using the Hammond keyboard on any other channel (ie. 2, 3, etc...)

Check your respective manuals for each keyboard to set up the MIDI send and receive channels for each one.

Gary

Thanks Gary,

That's the area I'm working in. I'll press on. It's good to know you think it's doable, I only got the MOXF8 today so I'm on a steep learning curve

best

Jeff

 

[happyrat1]

Good to hear. You're welcome.

Chances are you'll have to set things up as a Setup or Registration or Performance or whatever Yamaha calls them on a Motif.

BTW, for all things Motif you might want to check out http://motifator.com/ whenever you get stuck with the manuals.

Those guys are the experts on the subject.

Gary

 

[Mighty Motif Max]

Hi Jeff,

I don't own a MOXF but I do own a Motif XF. To my understanding the architecture is very similar.

What you want to do is something I do almost every time I perform. This is the simplest way. Set your midi controller to transmit on Midi channel 2. Your MOXF should automatically be transmitting on channel 1. Go to Song or Pattern mode. Then press the Mixing button. Press "EDIT" and then choose the sound that you want to be on channel one. That will play from the MOXF/s keyboard. Over on the right panel, you should see a row of buttons labeled "Part Select". Button one should be illuminated right now. Press button two. That should take you to the screen to assign a voice to part two, or MIDI channel 2. You can change the midi channel of any of the 16 parts so that you can have multiple sounds at the same time, or have them split across the keyboard, or a lot of other things, should you want to.
When you have everything set to your liking, store the song by pressing "Store", selecting the song number where you want to save it, and then press "Enter".



Here is an article from YamahaSynth: https://www.yamahasynth.com/moxf-category/using-a-mixing-program-in-your-live-setup

There was a better one but the link appears to be broken. It looks like somewhere around page 114 in your owners manual should detail other options in Mixing mode.



You can access multiple setups using Master Mode. https://www.yamahasynth.com/forum/moxf8-master-mode-for-performance-sets

Hope this helps,


-Max

 

[jeffkwells]

Hi Jeff,

I don't own a MOXF but I do own a Motif XF. To my understanding the architecture is very similar.

What you want to do is something I do almost every time I perform. This is the simplest way. Set your midi controller to transmit on Midi channel 2. Your MOXF should automatically be transmitting on channel 1. Go to Song or Pattern mode. Then press the Mixing button. Press "EDIT" and then choose the sound that you want to be on channel one. That will play from the MOXF/s keyboard. Over on the right panel, you should see a row of buttons labeled "Part Select". Button one should be illuminated right now. Press button two. That should take you to the screen to assign a voice to part two, or MIDI channel 2. You can change the midi channel of any of the 16 parts so that you can have multiple sounds at the same time, or have them split across the keyboard, or a lot of other things, should you want to.
When you have everything set to your liking, store the song by pressing "Store", selecting the song number where you want to save it, and then press "Enter".



Here is an article from YamahaSynth: https://www.yamahasynth.com/moxf-category/using-a-mixing-program-in-your-live-setup

There was a better one but the link appears to be broken. It looks like somewhere around page 114 in your owners manual should detail other options in Mixing mode.



You can access multiple setups using Master Mode. https://www.yamahasynth.com/forum/moxf8-master-mode-for-performance-sets

Hope this helps,


-Max

Thanks Max, that sounds very useful. I'll give it a go.

 

[jeffkwells]

Thanks Max, that sounds very useful. I'll give it a go.

Hi Max,

Excellent. I created a mix and both keyboards worked fine but when I pressed 'Store' the screen referred to saving a template and not saving a song. I saved it as a template and now I can't find it! Where did I go wrong?

best

Jeff

 

[Mighty Motif Max]

Hi Max,

Excellent. I created a mix and both keyboards worked fine but when I pressed 'Store' the screen referred to saving a template and not saving a song. I saved it as a template and now I can't find it! Where did I go wrong?

best

Jeff

Ok, sorry, try exiting Mixing mode and going back to the Song screen before saving. I’m not near my keyboard right now, so maybe that is actually necessary?



Also, something I thought I might mention, if you want to use Performance mode, be aware that the four parts can only be assigned to the one midi channel. So you can’t use it like Mixing mode. You can just layer/split on one midi channel (channel 1).

 

[jeffkwells]

Thanks again Max. I'm making progress but I've discovered another imponderable. I don 't seem to be getting any velocity sensitivity on the Hammond keyboard when connected to the MOXF8. I've definitely got the Hammond set to send the velocity info but the MOXF8 doesn't seem to be receiving it. It worked ok on the Roland Juno keyboard I've just got rid of. Any ideas?

best
Jeff

 

[SeaGtGruff]

That sounds weird-- so weird that I'm wondering if the problem really is whether or not the MOXF is receiving the info. What I mean is that certain types of traditional keyboard instruments can't vary the intensity of the sound based on how hard you strike the keys, the way a piano can-- a couple of examples are a harpsichord and an organ (an organ might have a "swell pedal," but that's a different matter). I believe that Yamaha likes to program certain types of patches or voices-- harpsichord, organ, etc.-- so they don't respond to note velocity, in order to be more "realistic" or faithful to the way that the actual instrument works. You should still be able to control the overall volume with an expression pedal, but for those types of voices you probably won't be able to get Note velocity to work-- unless there's a parameter in the patch information (voice element settings) that can toggle the velocity response on/off.

 

[jeffkwells]

Thanks for this but the Hammond is definitely sending velocity data and it definitely worked on piano sounds on my old Roland Juno D - a much less sophisticated keyboard.

 

[Mighty Motif Max]

Thanks for this but the Hammond is definitely sending velocity data and it definitely worked on piano sounds on my old Roland Juno D - a much less sophisticated keyboard.

I've never encountered this problem. I've used many keyboards as MIDI controllers with my Motif without issue. What sounds are you trying to play from the MOXF? Is there a possibility that there is a setting for a velocity curve or something like that on the SK2 that might have gotten changed??

This might be a good question for the previously-mentioned Motifator forums. Lots of help over there. I'm not sure what else I can do to help, since I don't know of any settings on the MOXF/Motif that would cause that.

Another thought, how old of a MIDI cable are you using? I had a cable I was using that eventually flaked out on me after 13 years. It only sent some MIDI messages and not others, randomly, so controllers wouldn't reset etc. I tried everything I could think of, and it turned out to be just one bad cable.

 

[SeaGtGruff]

I was not suggesting that the Hammond isn't sending the Note velocity data.

I was suggesting that the Yamaha might be ignoring the Note velocity data on specific types of patches, such as harpsichord and organ.

The Yamaha should definitely be responding to the Note velocities on other types of patches, such as piano and guitar. In fact, it should be responding to the Note velocities on most types of patches.

 

[Mighty Motif Max]

You mentioned that you have a Juno D. Can you hook that up to the MOXF in the same way you have the SK2 hooked up, and see if that works? Then we would know whether or not the MOXF is receiving data. If it isn't, try with a different MIDI cable.