![]() ![]() It's very welcome nevertheless, and is now at version 2.1. ![]() The Multi-part editor, which provides on-screen editing of multitimbral performances, or Multis, did not exist at the time of the original Rack review, and appeared two months later, in August 2003. In case you suffer from a similar problem, the missing ES Voice editor can be downloaded from but if you're on a dial-up connection, be aware that it is a substantial 29MB download! At least they are both meant to be on the disk according to the manual - only the Multi-part editor was included on the review disc. So what products are able to make use of this system? Currently, the DAWs compatible with Total Recall are Steinberg's Cubase SX3 and Nuendo, while the hardware devices currently supported are Yamaha's DM2000, DM1000, 02R96, 01V96, the 01X and the Motif ES keyboard and Rack synths (note that the mixers are only compatible from OS v2 onwards).Īlso bundled on the CD-ROM are the Motif ES Voice Editor and the Multi-part Editor. Additionally, devices' editing applications can be operated remotely, meaning that a Yamaha 01X control surface, for example, could be configured as a hardware control surface for the Rack ES. When installed, it can be directly invoked from within an OPT-compatible DAW, providing transparent access to, for example, a Motif ES voice editor, without having to run the editor as a separate, external application. The software that makes this all possible, Yamaha's Studio Manager (currently at v2.1.2), is bundled on a CD-ROM supplied in the box with the ES. Yamaha's Studio Manager software - if you have Steinberg's Cubase SX3, Nuendo 3, or Yamaha's own SQ01 sequencer, you can use them with this application to recall settings on compatible hardware. This concept is referred to as Total Recall. All the hardware settings (or simply those for a single device) can be stored along with the sequencer song data and recalled instantly. In effect, this allows compatible hardware devices to appear within the DAW, and be edited or automated as if they were software plug-ins. The initial aim is to integrate hardware-specific editing applications within software DAWs using Yamaha's Open Plug-in Technology (OPT) software format. The Studio Connections Initiative comes as a by-product of the long-standing alliance between Yamaha and Steinberg (now cemented by the Japanese conglomerate's recent purchase of the German firm). When played from within a Multi, Voices can be assigned their own MIDI channels for a full 16-part multitimbral sequencer-driven performance. Performances layer up to four Voices together, either split, layered or a combination of both, on a single MIDI channel. Voices can either be played singly, or from within Performances or Multis. Each complete synth Voice (or Patch) consists of up to four split or layered Elements (think of these as oscillators) and up to two different insert effects. ![]() The Voice architecture of the ES has been carried over from the original Rack, details of which you can find in that June 2003 review (for more details of the Motif concept, see the review of the Motif 7 keyboard in SOS September 2001, viewable on-line at Briefly, the Motif Rack is a 16-part multitimbral synth module, employing Yamaha's long-established AWM2 sample-based subtractive synthesis, and capable of playing a maximum of 128 notes of polyphony. The ES features a number of enhancements over the original Rack - but have Yamaha successfully addressed the crucial issue of the MIDI timing? A Quick Recap Now, nearly two years later, Yamaha have released an updated model, the Motif Rack ES. Changes were subsequently made to the unit in a bid to alleviate the problem, and although matters were slightly improved, the problem was not solved beyond all reasonable doubt. Yamaha acknowledged the problem, and undertook to find the cause and fix it. Specifically, this meant that the unit played out of time in response to incoming MIDI messages - not only relatively within itself, but very noticeably when played from within a MIDI sequencer in parallel with other MIDI instruments (see the original review at for full details). Whilst being a great-sounding, versatile synth module with bags of creative potential, the Motif Rack suffered from some serious timing problems. When SOS reviewed the Motif Rack back in June 2003, we were left in a bit of a quandary. Two years on, we put the follow-up Motif Rack ES to the test. Yamaha's original Motif Rack was a fine-sounding, well-specified synth module, but it suffered from MIDI timing problems when reviewed in SOS. ![]()
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