Motif 8 Music

These files are much smaller and quicker to download. Use these to get an idea of if you like my music. If you like it, then download the high fidelity, stereo versions if that's the kind of thing you like. You may be perfectly satisfied with mono low fidelity.

• Philo Vivero - Black Silky Asian Hair (2.9 MB)
• Philo Vivero - Call Her (2.9 MB)
• Philo Vivero - Desiderata V1.1 (3.3 MB)
• Philo Vivero - Flutimberous (2.8 MB)
• Philo Vivero - Image of the Tree (3.5 MB)
• Philo Vivero - Improvisation on a Beat, Extendo Version (4.0 MB)
• Philo Vivero - Improvisation on a Beat (3.4 MB)
• Philo Vivero - On a Clear Day (2.7 MB)
• Philo Vivero - On a Sunny Day (3.1 MB)
• Philo Vivero - Rainy Girl With Teary Eyes (4.5 MB)
• Philo Vivero - Source of Mystery (5.3 MB)
• Philo Vivero - Trial Lace Panties (3.5 MB)
• Philo Vivero - Trial Lace Panty Party (5.7 MB)

The links to the songs in the paragraphs below are to the high fidelity, stereo versions of the songs.

30 January 2005. Almost three months ago, I recorded this song, and left it unfinished. Then, a couple of days ago, I got the desire to finish it, and I did. It isn't the best I've done, but it is alright. And who knows? If it inspires you, you might get up the nerve to Call Her, stereo (8.1 MB) Rating: 7/10.

11 April 2004. This is sort of a continuation of Trial Lace Panties, with variations on the theme of that song. I'm not particularly pleased with this one, but you may like it. I suggest listening to some others first, before checking this one out. As it is, it sounds sort of like a band doing a jam session during a Trial Lace Panty Party, stereo (15 MB) Rating: 8/10.

11 December 2003. You thought Source of Mystery was a long song. Well, have I got some news for you. This is the first song I've done that is 5/4 time on the Motif, and it shows. When you listen to certain parts, like the guitar strums and drums, you'll hear they are very neutral to the beat (no real embellishments). All the embellishment are added by myself. The song is quiet, somber, melodic, dramatic, and trance-like. It's the story of a Rainy Girl With Teary Eyes, stereo (13 MB) Rating: 9/10.

1 December 2003. Trying to achieve a trance mix here, this a long, long song (something like 7 minutes) full of echo-ing bleeps and electronic drums and the standard flute, which I like a whole lot. There is an occasional buzzing of a thousand flies, too. Overall, this song is a Source of Mystery, stereo (12.1 MB) Rating: 8/10.

20 November 2003. The duet of a flute and piano echo each other in the distance. A steady beat of a bass drum and the banging on the percussion accompany them. Imagine standing for a moment in front of a pair of plaster-white legs in some dark corner of the nation. You look first at the feet, then shins, then knees, then thighs. Above that are a pair of Trial Lace Panties, stereo (9.5 MB) Rating: 10/10.

11 November 2003. You have to be a conoisseur to fully comprehend what you feel when you run your hands through an Asian woman's hair. But even the lay person can tell there's something special there. That aside, let's talk about the song. This is one of those "old fogey" rock songs in that there's kind of a loud distorted guitar, but it's still a somewhat slow-tempo melodic tune, rather than something you'd get from, say, Stratovarius. This is the slow, purposeful way you run your hand through her Black Silky Asian Hair, stereo (7.1 MB) Rating: 7/10.

30 October 2003. If you like Muzak, in all its uncanny mediocrity, then you might like this song. Okay, it's really not bad, but somehow the song just rubs me the wrong way. Maybe it's the cheesy faux saxophone you can hear out of a synthesiser On a Sunny Day, stereo (7.8 MB) Rating: 5/10.

21 September 2003. On a clear day, you can see a thousand miles. You can see the love of a mother for her child. You can hear the breeze through the hair of a young woman in the pasture. You can hear the thunder rumble from the valleys across the mountains. You can listen to the rhythms of the earth On a Clear Day, stereo (7.1 MB) Rating: 8/10.

13 September 2003. This is a song that's got a very strong beat, sort of along the House style, but with some jazz improvisation trumpet and piano bits mixed in for good effect. The more I listen to this song, the more I like it. Not overly complicated, nor overly simple, upbeat, and interesting. In fact, I'd have to up its rating to 10/10. Give it a listen. Improvisation on a Beat, stereo (7.3 MB) Rating: 10/10 or Philo Vivero - Improvisation on a Beat, Extendo Version, stereo (8.6 MB) Rating: 10/10.

1 September 2003. A tree has fallen in the forest, and the ants and bees are running around it wondering why the loud noise. No-one was around to hear it fall, but I assure you, there was a loud crash. It sounded a bit like the Image of the Tree, stereo (9.5 MB) Rating: 9/10.

17 August 2003. What do you name a nameless song? How can you explain in few words what a melody and a rhythm entail? You never really can. The best we can do, I suppose, is create a new word: Flutimberous, stereo (8.2 MB) Rating: 10/10.

Be yourself. Especially, do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass. Desiderata V1.1, stereo (9.4 MB) Rating: 5/10.

How are these songs created? What does the Yamaha Motif 8 (big eights!) do, and what do I do?

The Yamaha has a powerful music-creation tool called the 'arpeggio,' which isn't like the traditional sense of arpeggio. Now the arpeggio is a sequence of notes played by a real human on a guitar, flute, or other various instruments and somehow sampled into MIDI data. Then, I, the performer on the Motif 8 am able to command a very skilled 'virtual musician,' so to speak, to play the riff or flute sequence with whatever notes I desire.

In practice, I don't use this feature always, but it is what allows for some of the very professional-sounding drums and guitar strums, for example. Many times in fact I am performing the sounds exactly as you hear them. Most anytime you hear a piano it is being performed by me and, despite my example, I have not used the arpeggios for the flute noises, those were also performed by me.

Well, perhaps you should reconsider. If your music is ever in anything but 4/4 time, you might find the arpeggios to be less useful than you'd imagine (you can only record 4/4 arpeggios!!!) Since the most compelling feature of the Motif is the arpeggios (it really converts you from a musician into a producer), this is a huge limitation. Notice that all the songs I've put up here are 4/4 time. This is sad.

Also, several of the sounds built into this keyboard have the original musicians' imbellishments recorded directly into the sound. What this means is that on the violin sample, for example, there is a very professional-sounding vibrato on the sound. How is this a downside? you might ask. Well, there is no violin sample without the vibrato. Whenever you play the violin sample, you get vibrato. Which means that if you play anything more than about 5 seconds of a violin solo, the same old vibrato begins to sound repetitive and boring. The Motif should have included a sample without the vibrato on the violin. Other sounds that have the same issue are flute, viola, cello, and just about any solo instrument you could imagine.

If you are an electronica musician that only ever deals in 4/4 time, then this keyboard will make you very, very happy. If you ever deviate from 4/4 time, or ever try to make good acoustic-sounding solos, you'll find the limitations of this board a little off-putting.