Specifications

manY controllers,
manY oPtions
Perhaps the described variety may seem
confusing at first. For example you might
ask yourself: „Why do I need to be able to
assign pitch bend to two wheels, one ribbon
controller and aftertouch?“
To be able make a good decision
concerning the controller assignment
you must first have to know the context
you want to play the Voice in. Another
criterion is whether a well-defined
intermediate value of the controller is to be
achievable (which is hardly possible using
aftertouch for instance) or not. Here are a
few tips and a practical example.
It is obvious that for operating all said
controllers - except aftertouch - a free hand
is required. For more complex organ-
works, it is not unusual that in addition to
the player another person is present for
choosing the registers and/or turning the
music sheets. Although there are plenty of
possible interventions for many hands on
modern synthesizers, current performances
rather not make use of additional
personnel.
So let‘s assume you want to play a
synthesizer solo and add a pad sound with
your left hand over the entire part of the
solo. For the solo sound you need pitch
bend (+ 2 semitones) and vibrato, you
want to influence the filter and at the end of
the solo the last note should disappear in a
giant „reverb cloud“. During the solo there
is no time to operate a wheel, so pitch bend
must be realized using aftertouch.
Pitch bend can not be assigned directly to
the aftertouch, but the same result can be
achieved by using the tuning parameters
(„coarse tune“ and „fine tune“).
The vibrato can be synchronised to the
tempo of the song and the speed of the
solo, it can also be faded in for longer
notes within a defined period of time. This
is achieved using a LFO - totally without any
controller.
Cutoff (Filter) is assigned to the ribbon
controller (set ribbon mode to „hold“) and
the reverb cloud to the modulation wheel.
By doing so you are able to play your solo
with one hand. For changing the filter
value, it is sufficient to briefly use your left
hand during a chord change. Alternatively,
you can use the sustain pedal exclusively
for the pad sound - that way your left hand
is available to operate controllers during
longer sustained chords.
As a cherry on the cake here‘s another
tip from the bag of tricks: Each controller
can be assigned more than once in order
to influence different parameters simul-
taneously. That is very suitable for sending
that last note of the solo into the planned
reverb cloud. With the parallel control of
AEG release value you can release the last
played key after having pulled the modu-
lation wheel up - then the note is slowly
decaying in an enlarged reverb cloud.
With a third assignment to the modulati-
on wheel even the self-settling vibrato can
either be eliminated or at least reduced to
a desired level.
Consider the possibility to set these
con troller assignments only to certain
Elements. The following screenshots show
the controller settings for the example, so
you might try them for yourself on a solo
sound. As a starting point we have used the
Preset Voice „Soft RnB“ from the „Ld“ (Lead)
category.
Knobs anD sliDers
On the MOTIF XF and MOTIF XS eight
knobs and eight sliders are available for the
real-time controlling of parameters.
While the sliders are responsible to control
the volume of each Part or Element, the
knobs are used for a variety of different
parameters.
Using the buttons SELECTED PART
CONTROL and MULTI PART CONTROL you
can select the current group of functions.
TONE 1, TONE 2, ARP FX for the Selected
Part Control and REVERB, CHORUS, PAN
for the Multi Part Control.
The MULTI PART CONTROL button can
only be used in Performance, Song, or
Pattern mode. The presence of two buttons
considerably facilitates switching, because
if only one button was provided, you would
have to press it five times to get from the
first to the last position.
The two buttons work together, so that of
all the function groups only one LED is lit,
namely the active function.
For example, if in a Performance the LED
for function TONE 1 is lit, pressing the
SELECTED PART CONTROL toggles
between the functions TONE 1, TONE 2,
and ARP FX. If the button is held a little
longer automatically the first function
TONE 1 is activated.
As soon as the button MULTI PART
CONTROL is pressed, the currently active
LED in the upper group (SELECTED PART
CONTROL) is switched off. Instead, the
first function of the lower group (REVERB)
is activated. Now you use SELECTED PART
CONTROL to toggle between the functions
REVERB, CHORUS, and PAN. A longer push
activates REVERB.
In the PLAY mode the functions assigned
to the knobs and the current knob settings
automatically appear in the display. In EDIT
mode it is sufficient to select a function with
SELECTED PART CONTROL or MULTI PART
CONTROL to display the knob‘s settings
and values.
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