Hi, when one stores a performance then it overwrites the default demo user performances. How to avoid this since they are a good inspiration?

That is correct, storing a Performance will overwrite one of the Factory Performances. All of your guess about how to work around this are wrong. Master mode only points to an existing Voice, Performance, Song or Pattern. If you overwrite the Voice, Performance, Song or Pattern it is pointing to you destroy that relationship... it will simply point to whatever you overwrote it with. Flash Memory boards hold only the large sampled audio data. No Voices, Performances, Songs or Patterns are written to Flash Memory boards, ever... they hold only Waveforms and Samples.

What you are supposed to do is overwrite the ones that are not inspirational. You cannot like them all. There are 256 Performances.

As you mention they are “demo” to give you an idea of what you can do with them. Yamaha made the Performance in USER memory so that you can edit, change and otherwise mangle them as you desire.

You are to use a USB Memory Stick to SAVE your creations to an ALL data file (.X6A)... this file will back up the Voices, Performances, Songs, Patterns, and even Master Mode Programs you’ve made. This way you have your own documentation of your own creations.

The Factory Performances can be restored at any time by executing a FACTORY SET:
Press [UTILITY]
Press [JOB]
Press [ENTER]
Press [YES]
This overwrites all User data and restores the Factory Set.

Extra Credit: If you go to FILE, set the TYPE = All, and then SAVE an All Data File containing the Factory Set... you can load any single Voice, single Performance, single Song, or single Pattern from within that ALL data file. By setting the load TYPE appropriately. So even if you have overwritten one you like, you can restore it by loading a single Performance.

Remember: there are only 2 kinds of technology users, those that backup their work, and those that eventually have a catastrophe.

Get several small USB sticks (8 GB or 16GB) are fine, not too expensive and will last you a good long time.
Better to get several small drives (keep safeties... they do fail, never when you’re ready)
Keep a backup copy of the data on your desktop or laptop.
Do not buy a big Terrabyte drive ... wishing no one anything bad, but you will not live long enough to fill it...

MTBF is an ugly thing to talk about ... but buying one large drive makes musicians lazy. You get that big a “basket” you wind up putting all your eggs in it. Mean Time Between Failures, is the ugly specification for all hard drives... it is not a matter of IF they will Fail it is a matter of WHEN... the smart musician has several small drives. Those you work with every day... those you backup to once a month... and keep in a safe place.

Great thanks a lot Mister Mister

I will definately use this advice as a point of reference. These are the golden eggs that one might else speculate about forever.

As I understood then I can choose to use a flash drive to save it all onto and this way I will not overwrite the factory performance demos. Is that correctly understood? I forgot to consider the flash drive though it seems an obvious possibility

Related question: is there any way to use the "Edit/Compare" button or other means to see if a saved user voice is the same/different as a voice in a .X6a on the USB?

As I understood then I can choose to use a flash drive to save it all onto and this way I will not overwrite the factory performance demos. Is that correctly understood? I forgot to consider the flash drive though it seems an obvious possibility

No, no. You DO overwrite the Factory Performances... making a backup of the data means you don’t lose them permanently. You can get them back by loading them back in. If you create data, like saving a letter you wrote on your computer, you’ll want to save it to a file. A file can be restored by reloading it into memory.

@ Valdis

is there any way to use the "Edit/Compare" button or other means to see if a saved user voice is the same/different as a voice in a .X6a on the USB?

No. This is why it is highly recommended when you create something or you edit an existing program, that you take the time to name the new program something appropriately different.

“Edit/Compare” lets you make changes to the current program (Edit), then by pressing the button again (flashes) you can recall the original status. This lets the programmer A/B the results original versus changes just made. While in “Compare” you can view but not change any parameter.

“Edit Recall” is a function that keeps a complete copy of the previous edit that you made in a special buffer that you can retrieve on demand (even when you have started to edit another one). But it cannot look on a .X6A File and do any comparisons.

What you can do is open the file .X6A data in the “Yamaha MOXF6/MOXF8 Editor Standalone/VST” - There you can look at a saved program and determine what you need. The Editor is available as a free DOWNLOAD on the MOXF Product Page (Yamaha.com)... runs on PC or Mac.

Valdis - sounds like you've already overwritten some Performances and now wonder what they were. As Bad mister carefully instructs, once you overwrite, you replace what was there with the new thing you save. It is gone, it is replaced by the new thing you saved. That applies to a User Voice, Performance, Song etc. Now the partially good news is all User Voices are just copies of ones that are permanently stored in Presets. But there are no Preset Performances, as you have learned.

What you do next depends on if you value the new things you've created and saved over the original factory settings. If you haven't saved anything you care about, you could do a factory reset. But that will wipe out ALL user locations you've saved new data to. Not the flash drive, just the user memory (voices, performances songs). - see Owners Manual page 20 "Resetting User Memory to the initial factory settings".

If you are curious to revisit those original Performances but you value work you've already saved, you have a multi-step process facing you

1. Save your current ALL file to a USB stick so you don't lose the new work you have created and saved.
2. Then you do a factory reset and restore the original factory settings

now you have those original Performances again. I recommend:

3. Save this Factory Setting to a new file on your USB stick (you can save more than one file to USB stick, just pay attention to what you name them.)

now, play around with them, do what you might like. make note of ones you want to keep or get to again. Now, its time to reload your own data

4. Load your first file (with your own created data) back into MOXF.

As BM notes, you can load a single Performance from the Factory file whenever you desire - but remember - anytime you load even a single Performance, you'll overwrite whatever Performance is in that location.

Refer to the manuals on how load (from USB to your MOXF) an ALL file, All without Samples, Voice bank, Single Voice, Single Performance, etc. I recommend you study up on file management in MOXF - do some practice tests of different types of loads so you understand what each does. The longer you wait with your new board, the more customized data you risk losing. it is the same as Motif XF was ... its not immediately intuitive to those of us with less knowledge than BM, but i finally got the gist of it, and you can too. Once you learn how data is safely moved into and out of the MOXF, you will live a happier life, trust me.

What you can do is open the file .X6A data in the “Yamaha MOXF6/MOXF8 Editor Standalone/VST”

Bingo. That solves the problem, thanks...

I would like to add that Google Drive has plenty of space that you can store your creations in and you get a certain amount of it for free (I think like 100GB?). You will never have to re-backup anything ever again because you have a lot of space and you can access all of your data anywhere, as long as you have that google account and an internet connection.

1) A relevant question: Can I copy the setup from one stored performance, into a new performance that I create?

I read somewhere that one can copy things from one place to another. Is this possible for settings/performances?

My current setup is stored in User 1:1 performance, thus I have overwritten the first performance.

I need to make many performances for different songs, that I can easily call up on stage. I need the to reuse the setup with regards to the USB cabeling (1/2 and 3/4 ports for the instrument parts), the A/D input etc.

2) ANother question is whether I can tailor suit the quick setup buttons or are they already covering my needs as they are? I remember I can change the default 1 for one of the others. SO turn the order around.

3) So, apropos your earlier image of the file being like a document which is loaded into the program itself, I assume that using a program directly from the file is impossible? It has to be loaded to work? Not to be run directly?

1) A relevant question: Can I copy the setup from one stored performance, into a new performance that I create?

Yes. To copy a PERFORMANCE
Call up the PERFORMANCE
Press [STORE]
Direct the storage to a new location (not the current location)
Press [ENTER]

The COPY can now be edited.

The USB I/O settings in the Performance are stored with the Performance.

2) ANother question is whether I can tailor suit the quick setup buttons or are they already covering my needs as they are?

Yes, the QUICK SETUPS are completely user configurable and get stored with your SYSTEM SETTINGS.
Whether or not the already cover your needs... Only you can answer that one!

3) So, apropos your earlier image of the file being like a document which is loaded into the program itself, I assume that using a program directly from the file is impossible? It has to be loaded to work? Not to be run directly?

Well, of course NOT...Haha, do you think that the USB stick is capable of 128 Note polyphony with nano-second access time, with filters, envelope generators, clock, etc., etc., etc. You knew that one, you just wanted to see if there was some "magic" going on? <grin> Sorry, you'll need to take the whole synth to the gig... besides the USB stick has no keyboard. :-)
Can't read the document without the computer and program.
Can't play the file without the keyboard and the synthesizer.

THanks for the answer and happy it was amusing

Well, in the case of a document, you can run a document from a flash drive without problems and without overwriting any document existing on the pc

But I guess it has to do with how the file is stored in memory and that those user performances ARE stored as MEMORY, so different from a pc, where the memory is used for whatever program you load into it; not used as a storage. But I don't know the technicalities of it.