Yamaha Motif Ram Upgrade: WHY?

[9th Ward Records]

I just added 64MB ram to my Motif because he sequencer starts 'skipping' (that's right, like a CD) when you have 10 or more instrument tracks. (Drums and sustained piano set it off every time).

I called Guitar Guys and they sold me an upgrade kit, but there's no difference. It still skips. What was the purpose of this ram upgrade? Was it just so I could use the built in sampler?

[tlennon]

Wow 9. That sounds very suspect. Unless you are using large samples, the Motif should have better performance than that. I don't believe I've ever experienced that before my upgrade. But, I feel your pain man.

Terrence

[9th Ward Records]

I don't even use the sampler.

[The Beatsmith]

ehhh, it's not a pc! the ram is just for the sampler. are you pushing the polyphony so the notes are cutting out? all you can do is change the arrangement or get a newer motif with a higher polyphony count. using the sustain pedal on piano (or any) tracks will spank away polyphony

or, there's some kind of fault... (nah, it's the polyphony)

[9th Ward Records]

Originally Posted by The Beatsmith

ehhh, it's not a pc! the ram is just for the sampler. are you pushing the polyphony so the notes are cutting out? all you can do is change the arrangement or get a newer motif with a higher polyphony count. using the sustain pedal on piano (or any) tracks will spank away polyphony

or, there's some kind of fault... (nah, it's the polyphony)

I figured as much, but the people on eBay were like "This ram upgrade will get you up to speed n' shit". (Of course, after the upgrade, I get latency.)

Newer equipment trips me out, but in the end, I guess polyphony's still the same. I don't know where i got the wild idea that RAM would increase polyphony- probably because that's how computers work.

I guess I need one of these boards, right?
Yamaha Motif 6, Motif 7, Motif 8 Keyboards

They CLAIM it adds 32 notes of polyphony. Can anyone verify that?

[tribeojudah]

Originally Posted by 9th Ward Records

I figured as much, but the people on eBay were like "This ram upgrade will get you up to speed n' shit". (Of course, after the upgrade, I get latency.)

Newer equipment trips me out, but in the end, I guess polyphony's still the same. I don't know where i got the wild idea that RAM would increase polyphony- probably because that's how computers work.

I guess I need one of these boards, right?
Yamaha Motif 6, Motif 7, Motif 8 Keyboards

They CLAIM it adds 32 notes of polyphony. Can anyone verify that?

Those expansion boards have their own polyphony and effects and can definitely help relieve your main host keyboard. Be advised however that you only get to use one voice from the plug-in. You might also want to better manage your polyphony by using voices without so many elements to a voice. For instance, a piano voice can have 3 elements to every one note. If you play a 4 finger chord, that's 12 notes of polyphony. If you use a piano with maybe 2 elements per note, or even the GM piano (which I believe is 1 element), you greatly reduce the polyphony. Hope this helps.

[9th Ward Records]

Originally Posted by tribeojudah

Those expansion boards have their own polyphony and effects and can definitely help relieve your main host keyboard. Be advised however that you only get to use one voice from the plug-in. You might also want to better manage your polyphony by using voices without so many elements to a voice. For instance, a piano voice can have 3 elements to every one note. If you play a 4 finger chord, that's 12 notes of polyphony. If you use a piano with maybe 2 elements per note, or even the GM piano (which I believe is 1 element), you greatly reduce the polyphony. Hope this helps.

so you're saying that if I get the drum expansion board it only increases polyphony on the drums, yes?

[tribeojudah]

This is correct. If you have a heavy drum arrangement in your sequence, you can use a drum expansion board to gain more polyphony for more drum parts. This works the same for the other expansion boards as well. It's best to look at the expansion boards as if it's another synth engine inside a synth engine. Each board has it's own sounds, effects, etc... You can get good info on all of the expansions here: motifator.com