March 2002
By David Battino
This page contains information and files designed to complement EM's Motif review. Click the links below to jump to the different sections.
The highlight of the Motif is its Integrated Sampling Sequencer, and you'll find several examples of this sound-slicing marvel in action at www.motifator.com. I particularly recommend the "ISS Magic" and "Weak Knees" demos. Below I'll highlight two lesser-known Motif goodies.
One of the Motif's more entertaining features is its collection of drum kits built of sound effects. The individual sounds are mapped to a General MIDI layout so you can play GM drum patterns and have them make rhythmic sense. For the following MP3, I repeatedly pasted a preset drum phrase into the Motif's sequencer, then changed the drum kit every two bars. This phrase uses only a handful of the sounds in each kit, but it does hint at the quality and possibilities of the Motif's drums. In order, you'll hear:
Download "Motif Drums" MP3 (488 KB)
The Motif offers a large arsenal of resonant filters. For the following example, I created seven variations on a patch by changing its filter type, then switched the patches as a four-bar sequence looped. The basic waveform is number 399, "FatSaw-", to which I added a slow filter envelope, a delayed sawtooth LFO, and a slight amount of reverb and delay. The LFO and delay are set to sync to the tempo of the sequence, a trick I used again in the next section. In order, you'll hear:
The final section also contains an automatic fadeout created with the Motif's cryptic "Create Continuous Data EXC" command.
Download "Motif Filters" MP3 (1.1 MB)
During the course of my review, I asked Yamaha's Athan Billias, who was heavily involved in the design of the Motif, what some of his favorite features were. He mentioned the touch-wah effect and tempo-synced LFOs and delays, and sent me a Pattern template demonstrating the latter. I added two tracks that use the touch-wah effect, as well as some additional tracks of pads, leads, and drum grooves. If you have a Motif and a computer with a SmartMedia reader, you can download the ALL file below, load it into your Motif, and try these features yourself. Here's how:
After you've loaded the file...
Fig. 1. SmartMedia cards are breaking out all over.
Flash RAM slots are increasingly common on music gear, and this emerging data-storage format offers many benefits. The RAM cards, which retain memory without needing power, are compatible with computers, ridiculously compact, faster and far more capacious than floppy disks, more convenient than CD-RWs and Zip disks, and increasingly affordable. Prices fell about 50 percent in 2001 and are expected to drop another 25 percent in 2002. You can now get a 128 MB SmartMedia card (the largest size the Motif supports) for less than $50.
Computer flash-RAM readers run as little as $20; they typically connect to the computer's USB port, although sluggish floppy-disk adapters are also available. When you plug in a card, it shows up as a new hard drive on the desktop, making file transfer drag-and-drop easy. (Macs without OS X will need the File Exchange control panel to access Motif cards, which are IBM DOS format.)
Although there's a bewildering number of flash-RAM formats for portable MP3 players and digital cameras, most musical-instrument manufacturers have settled on SmartMedia (see Fig. 1) or Compact Flash. Yamaha, Roland, and Korg all use SmartMedia, which is unfortunately the flimsier of the two types. Compact Flash also wins in capacity, with 512 MB cards readily available and 1 GB cards arriving soon. SmartMedia cards are the size of a matchbook and as thin as a credit card; I'm gloomily awaiting the day I'll snap one by accident. And unlike the thicker Compact Flash cards, SmartMedia cards have exposed electrical contacts, making them potentially more susceptible to static electricity. On the other hand, Yamaha's Avery Burdette, who consumes SmartMedia by the boxload, reports he inadvertently ran a card through a washing machine with no damage.
Fortunately, it's easy to find computer readers that handle both SmartMedia and Compact Flash. To keep my options open, I splurged on a PQI Travel Flash reader. Not only does it accept five different card formats, it's smaller than a cassette tape and cost just $35. But what I really like is that the Travel Flash has built-in flash RAM, letting it double as an ultraportable USB "hard drive" when my memory cards are tied up. The USB connection is fast enough to play MP3s and even some digital videos directly.
Motif players have three more reasons to invest in SmartMedia cards. One is that Yamaha has restricted the Motif's USB port to MIDI speeds (about as fast as a 33.6 kbps modem), which makes transferring files over USB excruciatingly slow. Another is that the Motif can be set to load files from the card automatically on power-up, which saves you from having to babysit the instrument should the power cut out momentarily at a gig. And third, complete firmware updates to the Motif can only be loaded from a SmartMedia card.