DCP Productions Motif XS, Vintage Keys Owner's Manual

DCP PRODUCTIONS'

OWNER'S MANUAL

I n t r o d u c t i o n

I n t r o d u c t i o n

Thank you for purchasing the “Vintage Keys” sound library for the
Yamaha Motif XS. This sound library contains 128 voices and 1 user
arpeggio which is required for use with one of the voices.

“Vintage Keys” was the second DCP Productions sound library made
for the Yamaha Motif series synthesizer/workstations – dating all the
way back to 2003 and the original Motif “Classic”. This, the “XS”
version, represents a considerable leap forward from the Motif
Classic and ES-series versions, and includes significant re-workings
of the original voices, as well as a large number of brand new voices.
Additional research into the keyboards and synths emulated, plus
extensive use of the new features in the Motif XS (such as assignable
switches, 8 element architecture, key-off triggering, etc.) result in
what is the most comprehensive and authentic collection of vintage
keyboard and synth sounds ever created for any Yamaha
workstation.

The library is divided into two groups of 64 voices each. The first
group (A1 to D16) consists of electric pianos, clavinets and other
“keyboard” sounds. The second group (E1 to H16) consists of classic
“synthesizer “sounds. By "vintage", we refer to keyboards and
synthesizers built before 1987.

It would be impossible to include emulations of every electric
keyboard or synth ever built. For that reason, this collection largely
contains emulations of what could more or less be considered the
"greatest hits" of vintage keys - the Rhodes and Wurlitzer electric
pianos, the Hohner clavinet, Yamaha CP70, Yamaha FM
synthesizers, the Moog Minimoog and Memorymoog, ARP Odyssey
and 2600, Sequential Prophet 5 and T8, Oberheim OB synths, and
Roland Jupiter/Juno synths, with the occasional “honorable mention”
synth such as the Korg Polysix and EMS Synthi AKS.

There are a number of voices which are emulations of the hallmark
keyboard or synth sounds for particular classic songs, such as Van
Halen's "Jump", Edgar Winter Group's "Frankenstein", Emerson Lake
and Palmer's "Welcome Back My Friends (actually the song's title
was "Karn Evil 9 First Impression Part 2"), the Who's "Baba O'Riley"
and "Won't Get Fooled Again", and so on. Again, there simply wasn't
room to include every emulation for every synth sound that ever
appeared on a hit recording. This is where the Performance mode
comes in handy - any voice can be altered in Performance mode (for
example, changing the filter cutoff or resonance, or the attack time or
release) thus creating, in effect, as many variations on the existing
Vintage Keys voices as the user so desires.

TO LOAD THE VOICES:

FROM THE DOWNLOADED ZIP FILE TO USB DEVICE (JUMP
DRIVE or FLASH DRIVE):

CAUTION: Before you load “Vintage Keys” into your
Motif XS, MAKE SURE you have backed up any data you
want to save onto a USB storage medium (and your
computer). Loading “Vintage Keys” will overwrite the
data that exists in the Voice and Performance banks.

1. Insert your USB device into your computer’s available USB slot. It’s icon
should appear on your desktop.

2. Navigate to the “VINTAGE KEYS MOTIFXS” folder and double-click on it
to open it.

3. Navigate to the folder called “Vintage Keys Motif XS ALL File” and double­click to open it.

4. Copy the file called “VintageKeysXS.X0A” to your USB device’s icon (by
either dragging the file directly to the icon, or going to your file menu and
choosing “Copy” and “To” and selecting the USB device as your
destination).

5. When the file has copied completely to your USB device, properly eject
the USB device and insert it in the slot labeled “TO DEVICE” on the rear

panel of your Motif XS. You will see a screen message that says
“Connecting to USB device…”.

6. Press the FILE button on the front panel of the Motif XS. Use the cursor
buttons to move up to the top of the screen so that the “Device” field is
highlighted and turns blue-green. If necessary, turn your jog wheel to the
right until you see the name of your USB device in the field. This will
indicate that your USB device has been selected.

7. Using the cursor down buttons, cursor down to the first named folder in
the display and then turn the jog wheel to further move to the file called
“VintageKeysXS.X0A”. The file name will highlight in blue-green.

8. Using the cursor buttons, cursor down to the field marked “Type” and
make sure it is set to “all”.

9. Press SF2 “LOAD”. Then press the “YES” button on your XS.

10. The Vintage Keys library will load 128 voices to your VOICE User 3 bank.

11. To select the first voice, press the “VOICE” button, then the User Bank 3
button, and then button A1 to begin.

FROM THE DOWNLOADED ZIP FILE TO USB CD DRIVE:

CAUTION: Before you load “Vintage Keys” into your
Motif XS, MAKE SURE you have backed up any data you
want to save onto a USB storage medium (and your
computer). Loading “B’s Knees” will overwrite the data
that exists in the Voice and Performance banks.

1. Connect a USB CD-ROM drive to your Motif XS’ “To Device” slot located
on the rear panel of the Motif XS. Power up the drive. You will see a
message in the XS display that reads “Connecting to USB device…”.

2. Insert a blank CD in your computer’s CD drive. Its icon should appear on
your desktop..

3. Navigate to the folder called “Vintage Keys Motif XS ALL File” and double­click to open it.

4. Copy the file called “VintageKeysXS.X0A” to the CD (by either dragging
the file directly to the icon, or going to your file menu and choosing “Copy”
and “To” and selecting the CD as your destination).

5. When the file has copied completely to your CD, rename the CD to
something you want (like “Motif XS stuff”), properly eject it and insert it in
the CD-ROM drive connected to your Motif XS.

6. Press the FILE button on the front panel of the Motif XS. Use the cursor
buttons to move up to the top of the screen so that the “Device” field is
highlighted and turns blue-green. If necessary, turn your jog wheel to the

right until you see the name of your CD in the field. This will indicate that
your CD has been selected..

7. Using the cursor down buttons, cursor down to the first named folder in
the display and then turn the jog wheel to further move to the file called
“VintageKeysXS.X0A”. The file name will highlight in blue-green.

8. Using the cursor buttons, cursor down to the field marked “Type” and
make sure it is set to “all”.

9. Press SF2 “LOAD”. Then press the “YES” button on your XS.

10. The Vintage Keys library will load 128 voices to your VOICE User 3 bank.

11. To select the first voice, press the “VOICE” button, then User Bank 3
button, and then button A1 to begin.

About the VOICES

As previously stated, the voices are divided into two groups of 64
each, explained in all the sordid details below.

CONTROLLERS –
The Motif XS features an expanded set of controlling knobs – 8
altogether, with assignable Knobs 1 and 2 at the far right of the row.
Additionally, there are two assignable switches (labeled “Assignable
Function) immediately to the left of the eight sliders on the XS.
The assignable knobs 1 and 2, and the assignable switches 1 and 2,
almost always control some aspect of the voice sound. Turn the
knobs or press the switches to see what happens!
The ribbon controller and arpeggio on/off button are not assigned to
the “keyboard” voices of Vintage Keys. However, they are assigned
to some of the “synthesizer voices, where appropriate. More on that
in the notes preceding the synthesizer voice descriptions.

THANKS AGAIN –

To Julian Colbeck, whose book “Keyfax:Omnibus Collection” once
again proved to be an invaluable source of research data, and from
which I shall often quote liberally.

Thanks also to the entire staff of Keyfax New Media, who maintain
the site http://www.motifator.com, where you purchased and
downloaded this library.

GROUP 1 - electric pianos, clavinets, and

related sounds.

Rhodes electric pianos A1 thru B16.

The most popular electric piano of all time and still cherished and
used in music today, the Rhodes was invented by one Harold
Rhodes, who had the idea for building an electro-mechanical piano
using spun metal rods, or "tines" struck by hammers (you might think
of a tine as a cousin to the tuning fork). Harold's first Rhodes piano
was the 32-note PianoBass, used by notables such as Ray Manzarek
of the Doors for his bass sounds. In 1965 the design for the
PianoBass was modified and enlarged to create an 88-key piano,
complete with amplification and speaker enclosure. Thus began a line
of Rhodes electric pianos, manufactured until 1984.

Harold Rhodes with his first design for the “therapeutic” piano, to be distributed to
disabled World War II serviceman recuperating in hospitals.

Rhodes pianos (also referred to as Fender Rhodes as they were
marketed by the Fender company for quite a number of years) were a

lot like people - each one had its own character. Some were
temperamental, some sounded beautifully chime-like, others sounded
more harsh and squawky like an electric guitar, and many sounded
just plain bad. And so presented here are 32 Rhodes pianos, ranging
from the good (most of them) to the bad to the ugly.

A1 – Suitcase 1965

Modeled after a 1965 Suitcase 88. Called the Suitcase because it
consisted of two "suitcases" - a piano section with a detachable lid
and a curved black plastic top, and an amplified speaker section,
same length and depth as the piano section which fitted on top of the
speaker cabinet. A metal rod connected the keyboard to the sustain
pedal which was housed in the speaker cabinet.
At this time the tremolo circuit for the amp/speaker was mono, not
stereo, and felt hammer tips were used which gave the piano its
characteristic softer, more bell-like tone.

“Silver-top” Fender Rhodes Suitcase 73, circa 1965 (note Rhodes Piano Bass in
the bottom of the photo)

A2 - Suitcase 1971

Modeled after a 1969 Suitcase 73, with a stereo tremolo circuit.

A3 - Babe

Modeled after the Rhodes sound on the Styx hit "Babe". That
Rhodes had a "Dyno-My-Piano" modification – in the late 70’s thru
the mid-80’s,Chuck Monte of Los Angeles retrofitted Rhodes pianos
with a stereo tri-chorus and active equalization controls. The tines
were also moved closer to the hammers, and all this resulted in a
crystalline/metallic chorused tonal quality.

Mark I Stage 73

Probably the most popular model of Rhodes piano. The Stage
series were identical to the Suitcase models, except they didn't come
with a speaker cabinet. Instead the piano rested on four tubular metal
legs which screwed into the bottom of the piano. This is a model of a
Stage 73 with the Neoprene hammers which replaced the earlier felt
ones, resulting in a harder more aggressive sound with a bit less
bottom end and more midrange tone.

Mark I Stage 73 piano.

A5 – Stereo Phaze

Modeled after a Stage 73 run through a phaser pedal.

A6 – Transistor 1

You could say this piano sounds bad, and you'd be right. You
could say it sounds cool and you'd also be right. I actually had a
Rhodes Stage 73 that sounded just like this - there was something
rather strange going on with the pre-amp which caused the piano to
sound distorted and brash no matter what the loudness was. It was
"bitchin' cool" in its own metallic weird way as well, depending on how
you looked at the situation.

A7 – Transistor 2

Variation on the same theme - a Stage 73 with pre-amp distortion.

A8 - Transistor 3

And yet another Stage 73 with cool/terrible pre-amp distortion of a
different color. Notice the uneven timbre and loudness response in
the upper octaves - ah, the memories.

A9 – Rhodes Compressed

Rhodes Suitcase 73, circa 1975, fed through a compressor unit.
You can hear this kind of sound on Chick Corea/Return to Forever's
album "Where Have I Known You Before".

A-10 – Felt Hammers

Suitcase 73 with felt hammers and very soft bell-like tone.

A11 – Neoprene Hammers

Modeled after a 1976 Suitcase piano with Neoprene (hard rubber)
hammers.

A12 - Sunshine

The famous Rhodes sound from Stevie Wonder's "You re the
Sunshine Of My Life" hit song. Warmer, darker Suitcase piano sound
with stereo tremolo engaged.

A13 - Mutron

Classic sound of a Rhodes through a Mutron Bi-Phase pedal. The
Mu-Tron BiPhase featured two independent phasers, which could be
switched on and off independently of each other (both phaser
switches could be on simultaneously as well – which is the effect you
hear on this voice).

Mu-Tron Bi-Phase pedal.

A14 – Suitcase Speaker

Rhodes suitcase piano with a noisy amp/speaker system.

A15 – Piano Bass

This was Harold Rhodes first successful commercial creation ­the 32-note PianoBass. Used by keyboardists for playing - what else ­left hand bass lines. Since it only had 32 notes, this voice is zoned so
the main 32 notes fall in the correct range - E1 to E4. Additional bass
sounds are on either side of that range.

Rhodes Piano Bass.

A16 - Lacquered

Some folks would do anything to get more brightness out of their
Rhodes pianos, including lacquering the rubber tips, which resulted in
a tone like this - thinner, percussive, and very very bright.

B1 - Dayride

Modeled after the sound of Chick Corea's Rhodes on the song
"Dayride" from return to Forever's album No Mystery. Highly
compressed, bright, thin and metallic.

B2 – Distorted 1

Rhodes through a distortion pedal - a la Corea's sound on some of
the cuts like "Captain Senor Mouse" and "The Game Maker" from
Return to Forever's Hymn To The Seventh Galaxy.

B3 – Distorted 2

Variation on Voice B2

B4 - Distorted 3

Another variation on the same theme.

B5 – Felt Hammers 2

Another soft bell-like Rhodes tone.

B6 - 80's Session

There's a story that back in the early 80's, the best Rhodes to rent
for a particularly heavy session was one owned by Leeds Rentals in
L.A., referred to as the "Stage Model E" piano. Solid and bright, it
usually was run through a chorus pedal and eq'd even brighter at the
mixing console. This voice was modeled with that Rhodes in mind ­that classic 80's electric piano sound.

B7 - Amp Noise

Stage 73 Rhodes fed through a noisy small combo amp. Perfect
for rap and hip-hop.

B8 - Filtered

Rhodes through an external envelope filter, giving it that "nasal"
quality for funkin'.

B9 - Bad Ground

Okay, this one is like a blind date gone wrong. Rhodes with a
noisy amp/speaker and a bad electrical ground to boot - which
sometimes happened. As said before, not all Rhodes pianos were
pretty.

B10 - Led Song

That swirling moody sound you heard John Paul Jones wring
from his Rhodes in the Led Zeppelin concert film The Song Remains

The Same.

B11 - Nosy Tine

Anther thinner, more nasal Rhodes piano tone.

B12 – Wah-Wah Rhodes

Rhodes through a wah-wah pedal.

B13 - Mark II Suitcase 73

Although production standards got better and the Rhodes pianos
generally got more reliable as the years went on, there isn't any truth
to the rumor that the Rhodes Mark II sounded different than the Mark

1. It looked different - the top of the piano was redesigned to be flat,
so you could put another keyboard (or two) on top of it. That, and
Rhodes changed the piano’s control panel to include sliders for the
EQ. The classic combo was a Rhodes and a Minimoog synth, or a
Rhodes with a Clavinet on top of it and the minimoog on top of the
clav.

Mark II stage piano – same as the suitcase Mark II, but no speakers.

Rhodes Mark II control panel.

B14 – Compressed 2

Another Fender Rhodes Stage piano through a compressor.

B15 – Mark II Stage 73

Another Rhodes Stage 73 with a unique character (see picture
above).

B16 - No AC

Since the Rhodes was mechanical as well as electronic, it could
still produce a little bit of sound even when the power went out or
someone accidentally tripped over the piano amplifier’s AC cord.
To hear the sound of the Rhodes unplugged in all its glory, you had to
go one step further and pull the lid off, revealing the harp assembly.
One also did this if the Rhodes needed tuning (which you did by
physically repositioning the individual tines).

Wurlitzer electric pianos - C1 thru C7.

The moniker "Mighty Wurlitzer" referred to the huge theatre organs

the Wurlitzer Company built in the first third of the twentieth century.
But one could argue that the little Wurlitzer electric piano was a bit of
a scrappy contender in music as well, having fueled hits by
Supertramp, Queen, Rod Stewart and the Faces, and many others in
the late 60's, 70's and 80's. Later in the 90's, artists like Lenny Kravitz
and Jellyfish also employed the retro sound of the Wurlitzer.
Though not as popular (and certainly not as well-built) as the
Rhodes pianos, Wurlitzers maintained a special charm and
possessed a unique, clarinet-like tone and a wobbly tremolo,
controlled by a push-pull switch which you turned to increase or
decrease the tremolo speed. They were quite a bit lighter and easier
to move than the Rhodes as well. And best of all, the later models
came in different colors!

C1 - Vintage Wurly

Classic Wurlitzer tone with a bit of compression and equalization.

Wurlitzer Model 200A – the most popular model.

C2 – Ray’s Wurli

The classic sound of Ray Charles’ Wurlitzer 200 piano, like the one
heard on his smash hit “What’d I Say”.

C3 – Queen “Best Friend”

Modeled after the unique sound from Queen's mega-hit "You're
My Best Friend" (A Night At The Opera album). There's argument as
to whether it was actually a Rhodes piano used on the recording, but
close listening reveals what is unmistakably Wurlitzer. Curiously,
producer Roy Thomas Baker split the piano sound so that the lowest
notes (the song is in the key of C) are panned hard left and the body
of the piano sound is panned slightly off to the right. As the Wurlitzer
wasn't a stereo instrument, one can only conclude that Baker tracked
the left and right hand parts separately.

C4 – Faces Wurly

Modeled after the heavily overdriven Wurly sound from the Rod
Stewart/Faces hit "Stay With Me.”

C5 – Wurlitzer 129 Woodie

More “throaty” sound of the Wurlitzer 129, one of the early “wooden”
models. The electronics “short out” when you turn assignable knob 2
to the right.

Wurlitzer Model 129.

C6 – Paisely Wurli

"Psychedelic" Wurlitzer sound. And you'd have to be trippin'
indeed to have heard this from an original Wurly's mono audio output.

Blonde Wurlitzer 200 – trip out on this.

C7 – Wurly Phazor

Another Wurlitzer with a bit of studio trickery involving stereo
phasing.

Hohner keyboards - C8 thru C16.

Hohner, an old German musical instrument company which sold a lot
of harmonicas, dreamed up their electric keyboards in response to
requests for something like a harpsichord that was portable and easy
to maintain. Well, they got the portable part sort of right and did a little
better than that on the maintenance end. But the sound of their
clavinet became THE staple sound for funk and disco in the 70's, and
continues to make its presence felt today in everything from rock to
country to r&b to rap and hip-hop. Or at least synthesizer patches that
sound like it carry on the torch. I've met some musicians who thought
"clavinet" was the name of a synth patch and wasn't a real
instrument….that's how prevalent the sound is on everything from
megabuck synth workstations to home digital pianos.

C8 - Pianet

What better way to start off a collection of Hohner sounds than
with the sound of something other than the clavinet - like the pianet?
Sounding like a cross between an anemic Wurlitzer and a ukulele, the
Pianet nevertheless found its way onto recordings by superstar acts
like Fleetwood Mac and others. I happened to own one at one time,
and was recently reminded by Mr. Julian Colbeck in his book Keyfax
Omnibus Edition that the Pianet didn't require a power cord - which
was true. You plugged it into a pre-amp and it drew its power through
the connecting plug - truly genius! It had no sustain pedal, and the
keyboard had a curious sticky action - almost like some sort of delay
occurred between the time you depressed a key and the time you
heard a note sound.

Dig the 60’s ad for the Pianet – what a crazy way to pick up chicks!

C9 – Clavinet D6

Although Hohner marketed other models of Clavinet, and the D6
wasn't the first, it was truly the model that everyone refers to when
speaking of the "clavinet sound".
The D6 was wooden, more or less rectangular and boxy, and
despite its seemingly smaller size it weighed what felt like a ton.
When a key on a clavinet is depressed, a plunger underneath
touches what is essentially a guitar string and presses it onto an
anvil. Depending on velocity, the string changes tone and dynamics.
When the key is released, contact between the plunger and anvil is

broken, and the string's vibration is muted. The clavinet has a simple
damper mechanism operated by a lever (not a foot pedal) which
allows the player to let notes ring or remain muted. For the most part,
this means that less than superstar clav jockeys end up playing parts
that don't bother with the damper mechanism. To make a long story
short, try NOT using the sustain pedal for your authentic clavinet­ness.

Hohner Clavinet D6

C10 - Wonderclav -

Yes, it's the clavinet sound from Stevie Wonder's "Superstition" ­probably the song that defined the use of the clav in pop music.

C11 - Stickyclav

Clavinet with a different tonality and a little more of that sticky "pull"
sound so characteristic of it.

C12 – Wah-Wah Clavinet

Clavinet through a wah-wah pedal - a classic funk sound.

C13 - Amped Clav 1

Clavinet through a guitar amp on overdrive.

C14 - Amped Clav 2

Overdriven, amped clavinet sound.

C15 - Amped Clav 3

Clavinet through a different guitar amp.

C16 - Amped Clav 4

Clavinet through amp with slight overdrive.

YAMAHA KEYBOARDS D1 thru D11

With groundbreaking FM instruments like the GS1 and GS2, its
mega-selling DX series of synths and its innovative CP electric grand
pianos, Yamaha easily lived up to the claim made by one of its DX7
wall posters, which promoted the DX7 as being just as significant an
invention as the light bulb. Many companies claim to have products in
development for a significant time before they come to market, but in
Yamaha's case development was (and continues to be) years ahead
of a product's actual release. Sometimes as many as ten years.

A very astute young Yamaha engineer by the name of Mr. Ichimura
was dispatched to Stanford University in 1971 to observe a form of
synthesis invented by electronic music teacher John Chowning.
Chowning's associates had convinced him that his synthesis method,
called FM (Frequency Modulation) might be of interest to organ
companies. Chowning had approached several other organ
manufacturers, none of whom were either interested or even
understood what it was. Mr. Ichimura understood, and the result was
that Yamaha took a ten-year license out on FM technology. The first
commercial FM product was the GS1, released in 1982. Its asking