Beats made on Yamaha Motif - how to track out?

M

MrNocturn

New member
Newb question here, but I'm not sure so I figured I would ask.

I'm buying a few beats from a guy. I specifically wanted beats tracked out so I could bring them in the studio and have the engineer mix. I don't know the production side that well... but I was under the impression this meant the DAW session files ( Pro Tools ) or, a collection of WAV files, one for each instrument... in real time with the song so they all align perfectly when stacked.

So it turns out these beats I want to buy were live recorded on a Motif. The producer tells me he has to "chop them up and set them on point, and include the BPM on them so I can know what the deal is".

I'm not really sure what that means. I guess I'm just nervous .... will this still work for what I want to do?

any insight is appreciated!
 
Last edited:
Try and get the "Producer" to track the beat to .wav 24/32bit files and have them all start at the same time/bar like you said, it'll make life alot easier. But from the sounds of it he wants to give you files that start at different times and wants you to line them up? This isn't a problem if he give you the tempo and clear instructions on where things start, it also might not be a bad idea to have a stereo file of the beat to help you put it all together.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Why doesn't he just sync the motif to a daw thru midi and then track out each track to a .wav
 
if you were to buy a beat, it would already be tracked out...you're going to spend a lot of money to have someone else track it out for you...why dont you just buy a beat?
 
This whole, ahem, "Producer" sounds fishy to me. I hope he isn't charging you more than five bucks. Tell you the truth, that might be too much too.
 
MrNocturn said:
The producer tells me he has to "chop them up and set them on point, and include the BPM on them so I can know what the deal is".
Click to expand...

I wouldn't worry at all since the guy said that he would do it. It sounds like he does what I do. Everytime I have a MIDI part, I eventually have to record that part, import the audio into my sequencer and then have the sequencer trigger that audio clip when that song plays. For a long time, I didn't have Pro Tools so when I had to track out a beat I would export every mixer channel to its own audio file. All the files are synced up by default if you just throw them each on their own track in whatever DAW you use.

It sounds like he's going to do something like that.

I wouldn't worry though. How he does it isn't really important. The important part is that you want the beat tracked out and he said that he can deliver to you tracked out.
 
Doesn't matter how he does it, as long as it sounds good and you have something to work with.
 
I would say also that I don't like the sound of having you do extra work with tempo information, and lining things up. I mean, you need to know the tempo, but it's normal to just sequence the beat to a sequencer and export the wave files from there. I figured everybody would work like that since that's the way it was all designed to work. You sync up with any sequencer be it Fruity Loops or Cubase, and record directly into that sequencer. Then bounce each track down to a separate wave file from there and burn it on a CD. If he has to do all kinds of chopping and anything more than that, he just needs to learn how do do what I just described. I'm not saying he's a bad producer at all. Just he should get this part straight. It'll save him trouble and time if he's selling beats.
 
Why is it that so many people don't like using a tempo when recording? It makes it so much easier to change up the arrangement. You don't have to constantly nudge stuff to make sure it stayed lined up.

Plus, you can set up tempo based effects with insane ease
 
If ya boy has sample memory in his board (he might not unless he purchased it or he bought the board with it installed already) he can export each tracc as a wav. its a pain in the necc but its the simplest way to go. Unless he has SQ01.... Then he can easily bounce each tracc to a wav. with a couple mouse cliccs. as far as lining up tempos and stuff thats a new one to me.. Really if he does it the first way I explained all you have to do is run the wavs in a program with a sequencer, loop the traccs and hit mute buttons and whala!

hope that helps...

also what I mention is applicable to the Motif ES, I cant speak for the XS or Classic.
 
Last edited:
He's making the process more difficult than it has to be. Sometimes folk create these crazy process for completing a task and call it "their style" unfortunately, their style may create a tedious workflow which affects productivity and efficiency.

Not sure what model Motif he's using, but with my XS I use my assignable outs along with my stereo outs. This allows me to multi-track 4 tracks at a time into my interface which then is fed into Cubase. I also set my tempo in Cubase to the tempo of the Motif file.

Cubase is then synced with the motif and I begin recording using the transport.

Once, I have done that, I repeat until each instrument track is recorded. I then switch my Motif into "remote" mode and use the Motif as a control surface for mixing in Cubase.

Mix down...burn...done!

It's a very efficient workflow and I can modify it to track midi into Cubase in the beginning for editing if I want to, but I typically do all of my work on the Motif and nail it there. [I hate using the mouse].

All that chopping and adjusting is wasted energy unless he is trying to work around a hardware/software issue. More than likely, he probably isn't familiar with his equipment/software or he wants to make it appear difficult to keep his skills in demand.

Hope this helps!

-J.Rance

MrNocturn said:
Newb question here, but I'm not sure so I figured I would ask.

I'm buying a few beats from a guy. I specifically wanted beats tracked out so I could bring them in the studio and have the engineer mix. I don't know the production side that well... but I was under the impression this meant the DAW session files ( Pro Tools ) or, a collection of WAV files, one for each instrument... in real time with the song so they all align perfectly when stacked.

So it turns out these beats I want to buy were live recorded on a Motif. The producer tells me he has to "chop them up and set them on point, and include the BPM on them so I can know what the deal is".

I'm not really sure what that means. I guess I'm just nervous .... will this still work for what I want to do?

any insight is appreciated!
Click to expand...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top