Yamaha MOTIF XS6, MOTIF XS7, MOTIF XS8

Basic Structure

MOTIF XS Owner’s Manual

Basic Structure Basic Operation Connections

Basic Section

About MIDI

MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a standard which allows electronic musical instruments to communicate with

each other, by sending and receiving compatible Note, Control Change, Program Change and various other types of MIDI

data, or messages.

This synthesizer can control other MIDI devices by transmitting note related data and various types of controller data. It can

also be controlled by incoming MIDI messages which automatically determine the tone generator mode, select MIDI

channels, voices and effects, change parameter values, and of course play the voices speciﬁed for the various Parts.

MIDI channels

MIDI performance data is assigned to one of sixteen MIDI

channels. Using these channels, 1 – 16, the performance data

for sixteen different instrument parts can be simultaneously

sent over one MIDI cable.

Think of the MIDI channels as TV channels. Each TV station

transmits its broadcasts over a speciﬁc channel.

Your home TV set receives many different programs

simultaneously from several TV stations and you select the

appropriate channel to watch the desired program.

MIDI operates on the same basic principle.

The transmitting instrument sends MIDI data on a speciﬁc

MIDI channel (MIDI Transmit Channel) via a single MIDI cable

to the receiving instrument. If the receiving instrument’s MIDI

channel (MIDI Receive Channel) matches the Transmit

Channel, the receiving instrument will sound according to the

data sent by the transmitting instrument.

For information on how to set the MIDI transmit channel and

the MIDI receive channel, see page 267.

MIDI messages transmitted/

recognized by this synthesizer

The messages transmitted/received by the MOTIF XS are

shown in the MIDI Data Format and MIDI Implementation

Chart in the separate Data List booklet. The MOTIF XS tone

generator block (indicated “synth. part” in the Data List) and

sequencer block (indicated “seq. part” in the Data List) handle

different MIDI messages. The MIDI messages which the

sequencer block can receive can be recorded to tracks of a

Song/Pattern. On the other hand, the MIDI messages which

the tone generator can receive can affect the MOTIF XS

sound.

This section covers MIDI events, the data format by which the

MIDI messages generated by your keyboard performance are

recorded to a track of a Song/Pattern. Theses events

described below can be edited or inserted in the displays of

the Song Edit/Pattern Edit modes.

Note

These are the events that deﬁne notes, making up the largest

portion of all performance data. The note name (C -2 – G8)

deﬁnes the pitch. The gate time speciﬁes the length of the

note in beats and clocks. Velocity (1 – 127) is “how hard” the

note is played. The bar graph to the right is a graphic

representation of the value.

Pitch Bend

Pitch bend events are generated by pitch bend wheel

operation and deﬁne continuous changes in pitch. The value

(-8192 – +0000 – +8191) is a numerical representation of pitch

bend wheel position. The bar graph to the right is a graphic

representation of the value.

Program Change (PC)

Program change events select Voices. The Bank Select MSB

and LSB parameters are actually included in the Control

Change category, below, but since in the MOTIF XS these

Weather Report

News

MIDI Receive channel 2

MIDI Transmit channel 2

MIDI

cable

MIDI events handled by the MOTIF XS

Note name

Gate time

Velocity Bar graph

of velocity

Data value Bar graph of

the data value

Bank Select MSB

Bank Select LSB

Program number

Voice name