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Explanation(?) of file types and how to use them


Reading some of the messages here, it seems some owners shy away from editing Voices/Performances because they don't want to lose the originals....others are just plain puzzled by the file types.

Hopefully the following will help someone,and won't add to the confusion. But remember,before you complain......It's not supposed to be an exhaustive explanation,I don't work for Yamaha,I don't write manuals for a living......and I know where you live.

There's a full list of file types on manual page 263.
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The first file type to grasp is an ALL file (extension .W2A): Unsurprisingly, this contains "all" the Motif's user data.
It saves all the User Voices,Performances,Masters,Drum Voices,User Arpeggios,Utility Settings,Waveforms,Sample Voices,Songs,Patterns......Everything that is in the memory at the time.
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If you Save your work to an ALL file, when you Load it again,you will have exactly the same setup as when you Saved.
However, when you Load, you can choose whether or not to Load the Utility settings via the "without system" checkbox.

To Save an ALL file : Press FILE,Save(F2),Type=ALL; choose a name , then press Enter to Save.

To Load : Press FILE,Load(F3),Type=ALL,
select a file, then press Enter to load.
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Voices,Waveforms(samples) ,Songs and Patterns can also be loaded individually, from an ALL file......
For example.....say you've saved an ALL file containing the factory voices called "factory.W2A".

You want to load the factory voice:
"User:004 Ba Terminator".(maybe you edited it,and you want the original back....?)

Press FILE,Load(F3),Type=Voice. The right side of the display should show a list of files, including "factory.W2A"

Highlight this file, then press ENTER. You'll see a list of Voices ,from which you can select the one you want.

Select "004:Terminator", press ENTER.
Select a user Voice number to Load into,press Enter again, and it's done.

Loading individual Waveforms, Songs and Patterns is done in a similar way, by choosing the appropriate setting for Type.
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Voices,Waveforms,Songs and Patterns can also be loaded from All Voice,All Waveform,All Song and All Pattern files,respectively.

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Performances and Masters cannot be Loaded or Saved individually,only as part of an ALL file.
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Voices can be Loaded individually,from an All or All Voice(W2V) file.
They cannot be Saved individually, only to an All or All Voice file.
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Songs,Patterns and Waveforms(samples) are treated in the same way as Voices, but the file extensions are W2S,W2P and W2W, respectively.
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Drum Voices cannot be Loaded/Saved individually,only as part of an ALL or All Voice file.
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Sample Voices cannot be Loaded/Saved individually, only as part of an All,All Song or All Pattern file.

User Arpeggios are Saved/Loaded with an ALL file,
or you can Save/Load them as a Usr ARP file (.W2G).

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You can't load All Voice,All Song,All Pattern ,All Waveform or User Arpeggio) from an ALL file....I think this is a pity,since it would create extra flexiblity when using data from one project in another.
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Waveforms(samples) and Sample Voices are saved with the Song,Pattern or Voice that uses them.
So the following file types can all contain sample data:
All (W2A), All Voice (W2V),Pattern or All Pattern(W2P), Song or All Song (W2S),Waveform or All Wavefor(W2W),
Aif (AIF),Wav (.WAV).

But individual Waveforms can only be Loaded from the.W2A .W2W .WAV and .AIF file types.

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So what's the best way of working ? Here are some of my suggestions:others are welcome.
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Save your current Motif setup as an ALL file,preferably when you've no Waveforms(samples) in memory,name it "backup".

Restore all the factory defaults : Utility,Job,Factory Set (manual page 260).

Save the factory defaults as an ALL file, name it "factory".

Save the user Voices as an All Voice (W2V) file,
name it "factory".

Load the "backup.W2A" file you created in step 1.

You're now back where you started,except that you can Load any or all of the factory Voices whenever you need them from the "factory.W2V" file you created.

If you want to restore just the factory Performances and Masters : Load the "factory.W2A" file,but check the "without system" box, or you'll overwrite all your Utility settings.
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Saving Waveforms as WAV or AIF files takes much longer than the Motif's own format. However, it's the only way to edit/hear them on a computer, and can be convenient for Saving individual samples to use in another Motif project.
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RESAMPLING:


This will hopefully be helpful to any Motif owners who aren't too sure what resampling is, or if they know what it is,are vague about how and when to use it..

I'll start by saying that my way is just one way of working....find out as many different ways as possible, and use what you're comfortable with.
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The best way to describe the process of resampling is probably to run through an example, I'll use one of the demo songs that come inside Motif. You'll need at least 16MB of Sample Ram to run right through the example.

Firstly, a description of what we'll do,then the details

1: Backup the existing data and settings.

2: Load the Demo Songs: Select Song 05:Mondomotif,copy it to an empty Song ,so it's possible to compare the results.

3: Identify the appropriate track and measures to resample; using Song,Edit and the Event View Filter.
(Alternatively, you could Solo the track, play the Song and work it out that way).

4: Mute all the other tracks.

5: Stop the sequencer click from sounding

6: Sample with note, to an empty track.

7: Normalize the waveform(s).

8: Unmute the other tracks, and listen to the results

9: Clear the track that has been resampled.

10: Restore the previous settings

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The Details....

1: Backup the existing data and settings:

Press File,Save(F2),Type=All
Choose a name,press Enter
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2: Load the Demo Songs: Select Song 05:Mondomotif,copy it to another Song ,so it's possible to compare the results.

Press Utility,General(F1),Other(SF4).
Set Autodemoload to ON ( if autodemoload setting is blanked,it's because Autoload is On.....turn it off, then Autodemoload can be set.

Switch Motif off, then back on again

Select Song 05:Mondomotif

Press Job,Song(F6),01:Copy Song
copy Song 05 to Song 29
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3: Identify the appropriate track and measures to resample:

Assume that you've genuinely run out of polyphony, and have concluded that track 1 is the problem.....perhaps just too many notes playing a voice using four stereo elements ( that's eight polyphony slots per key played).

We'll further assume that you've decided that the voice selected is completely essential to the sound, so can't be replaced.

Press Song,Edit,Track 1 ( See manual pages 189-192)

To avoid recording long silences,we'll try to identify one or more groups of measures to resample.
Notice how many non-note events there are, and how difficult it is to see where the midi notes start.....(also notice the sysex events near the beginning.....these change the mix settings while the Song is playing.)
It's time for the Event View Filter

Press Viewflt(F2),Clrall(F5), Set the "Note" checkbox.
Press Change(F1)
Now you can see only the note data. Notice that "view" is now showing at the top of the Event Edit page, this shows that the View Filter is On, so some event types will not be visible.

The cursor up/down buttons and the sequencer control buttons will move through the list of events.

It's fairly easy(thanks to the Event View Filter ) to see that Note events start at measure 23, stop from 31 to 35 inclusive, and then run from measure 36 through 61.
So for the sake of example...we'll resample measures 23-31 and 36-61.

Reset the Event View Filter ( it's confusing if you forget that it's on)
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4: Mute all the other tracks:

Press Song, to return to Song Play Mode.
Mute all the tracks, other than the one to be resampled:track 1
(see manual page 180)
Then rewind the sequencer to the start....remember the sysex events near the start? that might affect the sound of the track,so we'll play back from the start,just in case.

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5: Stop the sequencer click from sounding

Press Utility,Seq(F3),Click(SF1) Set "mode" to Off

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6: Sample with note, to an empty track, then normalize the waveform(s):

Notice it says "empty track"...you may have noticed there isn't one....it's just an example,so we'll make one by clearing Track 12.(it only contains two cymbal crashes)
Press Song,Job,Track(F5),Clear Track(04)
and clear track 12,selecting all data types.

OK, back to the plot:see manual pages 235-238
Remember we decided to resample measures 23-31 and 36-61.

Press Source(F2). Set Type to Sample+note
Source to resample
Mono/Stereo to Stereo
Frequency to 44.1K

Press Sampling,Dest(F1) Set Track to 12,Keybank to C3

Press Rec(F6) to go to Sampling Standby
Set TriggerMode to meas
Set Punch to 023-031
Set RecGain to +12dB
Press Rec(F6) again, to go to Sampling Waiting

Press Play, to start Song playback.

Be patient here....there'll be silence until measure 23,because all the other tracks are muted,and we turned the click off.

Eventually.......Sampling will stop automatically, Motif will return to the Sampling Setup page. Now to resample measures 36-61.

The Source settings do not need to be changed
Set the Dest,Keybank to C#3

Press Rec(F6) Set Punch to 036-061
Press Rec(F6) again, to go to Sampling Waiting

Press Play, to start Song playback.

This time....if you watch the input level display on the Motif's screen you may notice the clipping indicators come on.
Doh!....RecGain is too high for this one,+6dB would be enough....no matter,don't resample it again.

Eventually.....Sampling stops automatically, just as before.
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7: Normalize the waveform(s).

See manual pages 242-243

Press Sampling,Job,Keybank(F1),05:Normalize

Select waveform 004,KeybankC3






Really fussy?

System Effects(Var,Cho and Rev) sends to 0 before resampling,note settings, and set track 12 to the same figures.