Yamaha MOTIF XS7 Manuel D’Utilisation

The tone generator block is what actually produces sound in response to the MIDI messages received from the Sequencer 
block, the Controller block, the Arpeggio block and from the external MIDI instrument via the MIDI IN connector or the USB 
connector. The structure of the tone generator block differs depending on the mode. 

In this mode, the tone generator block receives MIDI data 
over a single channel. This status is referred to as a “single 
timbre” tone generator. A Voice is played from the 
keyboard, using a single part. 
Keep in mind that song data on an external sequencer 
consisting of multiple MIDI channels will not play back 
properly in this mode. If you are using an external MIDI 
sequencer or computer to play the instrument, make sure 
to use the Song mode or Pattern mode.

A program that contains the sonic elements for generating 
a specific musical instrument sound is referred to as a 
“Voice.” Internally, there are two Voice Types: Normal 
Voices and Drum Voices. Normal Voices are mainly pitched 
musical instrument type sounds that can be played over 
the range of the keyboard. Drum Voices are mainly 
percussion/drum sounds that are assigned to individual 
notes on the keyboard. 

n For instructions on editing a Normal Voice, see page 96. For 

instructions on editing a Drum Voice, see page 127. 

This is a Voice which is played conventionally from the 
keyboard, with standard pitches sounding for each key. A 
Normal Voice consists of up to eight Elements. Depending 
on the settings in the Voice Edit mode, these Elements are 
sounded simultaneously, or the different Elements are 
sounded according to the note range, velocity range and 
the XA (Expanded Articulation) settings. 
The illustration below is an example of a Normal Voice. 
Since the six Elements here are distributed across both the 
note range of the keyboard and the velocity range, a 
different Element sounds depending on which note you 
play and how strongly you play it. In the note distribution, 
Elements 1 and 2 sound in the lower range of the 
keyboard, Elements 3 and 4 sound in the middle range, 
and Elements 5 and 6 sound in the higher range. In the 
velocity distribution, Elements 1, 3 and 5 sound when 

playing the keyboard softly, while Elements 2, 4 and 6 
sound when playing it strongly. In a practical example of 
this in use, a piano Voice could be composed of six 
different samples. Elements 1, 3 and 5 would be the 
sounds of the piano played softly, over the respective note 
ranges, while Elements 2, 4 and 6 would be strongly 
played sounds, for each respective note range. Actually, 
the MOTIF XS is even more flexible than this, since it allows 
up to eight independent Elements. 

Drum Voices are mainly percussion/drum sounds that are 
assigned to individual notes on the keyboard. A collection 
of assigned percussion/drum waves or Normal Voices is 
known as a Drum Kit.

Expanded Articulation (XA) is a specially designed tone 
generation system of the MOTIF XS that provides greater 
performance flexibility and acoustic realism. It allows you 
to more effectively recreate realistic sound and natural 
performance techniques—such as legato and staccato—
and provides other unique modes for random and alternate 
sound changes as you play. 

Conventional synthesizers recreate a legato effect by 
continuing the volume envelope of a previous note on to 
the next one, in the mono mode. However, this results in an 
unnatural sound different from that of an actual acoustic 
instrument. The MOTIF XS more accurately reproduces a 
legato effect by allowing specific Elements to be sounded 
when playing legato and other Elements to be played 

Velocity

Element 1

Element 2

Element 3

Element 4

Element 5

Element 6

Key 1

Key 5 Key 10 Key 18 Key 21

Key 73

C0

C1

C6

Individual 

drum sounds 

(different for 

each key)