Specifications

EUROPE.YAMAHA.COM
Multi is initially an acronym that in terms of
modern music equipment describes the po-
tential of a tone generator to be able to play
multiple sounds simultaneously. In Yamaha
synthesizers a Multi is a program in the in-
strument which organizes up to 16 Voices
that can be simultaneously controlled from
different MIDI channels - in contrast to the
previously described Performance. With the
S90XS/S70XS this label lived again in the
context of current Yamaha workstations. In
the MOTIF series this program was labeled
as a Mixing. It‘s in fact exactly the same
thing - at least in Yamaha terminology -, so
we basically just talk about a term and be-
cause of the greater spread we will continue
to talk about Mixings.
The term Mixing has its origin in „mxing“
sounds, obviously. Due to the fact that mul-
titimbrality can be considered as a matter of
course, Mixing is a better description of this
MOTIF‘s program, because the 16 Voices
are actually conducted through a virtual
mixing console within the instrument. As
with a hardware mixing console volume ra-
tios, equalizers, panorama positions, effect
units and a lot more can be set and stored,
making your Song a finished production di-
rectly out of the instrument. The MOTIF se-
ries features 64 Song and Pattern Mixings.
The current S series features 128 Multis, for
there is no true integrated Sequencer and
Pattern-oriented work is not possible.
Regardless of the built-in Sequencer Mi-
xings and Multis are also used to work with
an external DAW (eg Cubase, Logic). In this
case the instrument is used as a pure tone
generator. Since a version of Cubase AI is
included with all current Yamaha synthesi-
zers and corresponding editor softwares are
available as free downloads from Yamaha,
it is possible to seamlessly integrate the syn-
thesizers into the DAW environment and
work with the tone generation without ha-
ving to actually make any settings on the
instrument. Most current devices also offer
to use their hardware controls to control so-
meof the DAW‘s functions like the transport
control (Start, Stop, Record, etc.).
There is a further application scenario for
the Mixings apart from working with Patterns
and Songs: The live performance on stage.
The polyphony and multitimbral capacities
of modern workstations now no longer re-
quire the use of entire fleets of instruments,
like just a few years ago. You have alrea-
dy learned that Performances offer you the
possibility to customize up to four Voices to
meet your needs on stage. We have also
demonstrated the limits of Performance
and that they are significantly shifted with
the Mixings. You can use them to have up
to 16 Voices for your live performances at
hand. Mixings also allow to create split and
layer combinations. Especially in combina-
tion with external keyboards, expanders or
MIDI equipment in general it is very advan-
tageous to be able to assign each Voice to
its own MIDI channel.
For serious users of the instruments covered
by this guide, the knowledge of the struc-
ture of the Sample, the smallest unit, right
up to the finished production within a Mi-
xing is very helpful. Few musicians will re-
ally exploit any part of these very versatile
workstations. Perhaps that‘s why this little
guidance through the maze of terms and
parameters enables you to select which of
the coming episodes are of interest for you.
We hope this part could help you and see
you here again next time.