Hello all and good day. I bought a Roland JDXA keyboard which I have a love/hate relation with. My biggest complaints are the sequencer not having a song mode and the complexity and ass backward nature of its control and use, AND, the lack of explanation in the user manual. However, all of that, I can deal with since I am going to use a Yamaha Motif XS8 as a sequencer and controller. This leads me to my problem. It appears to me that there is no way to use the Roland JDXA in multi timbral mode....unless of course I am missing something. I want to use two different sounds on the JDXA. I set my Motif to output to channel 1 for the JDXA bank A, sound 1, and I set the Motif out on midi channel 2 to the JDXA bank A sound 2. The JDXA sounds are set to receive on both of these respective midi channels. I recorded two individual tracks using each of the these two different sounds in two different sound slots, but same bank. When I play back the sequenced tracks I can only hear one sound of the JDXA playing, even though the midi receive channels of the individual sounds on the JDXA have been set to receive on these two respective channels. Very simple, receive on JDXA on channels 1 and 2. Send on midi channels 1 and 2 from Motif. The only way I can hear the individual sounds while my sequence is playing from the Motif, is by selecting them on the JDXA by changing sound slots (pushing the button on the JDXA for the respective sound and switching between them while the sequence plays.) Then, and only then, can I hear the sounds on the Motif individual tracks. Can not hear both sounds. I want to listen to the sequence with both sounds from the JDXA playing simultaneously. I hope this isn't too long winded. Cheers all and happy music making. :D

I will experiment tonight on mine I have mine hooked up to ableton but midi is hooked up never used it though. I have used the onboarding sequencer with luck but yes a song mode would be nice. I am hooked to the pc with a usb.

In this case, make sure that the MOTIF XS is set to the Song mode or Pattern mode. If the instrument is set to the Voice mode
or to the Performance mode in which multi-channel MIDI messages are not recognized, the external sequence data
(containing multi-channel data) will not play back properly on the MOTIF XS. In addition, you may have to make certain MIDI
synchronization settings (see below). Likewise, make sure to set the MIDI tone generator (connected to the MIDI THRU
connector) to the multi-timbral mode. In addition, you’ll need to enable the MOTIF XS to respond to external clock, set from
the MIDI display (page 267) in the Utility mode.

This is in the motif manual

The PART Menu has Midi channel assignments for all parts - A1 to A4 Analog Voices default to channels 1-4 and D1 to D-4 default to 5-8 on Power up.
The part menu is where you set PAN / LEVEL / Reverb Send Amount / ARPO SW (on/off) / Key Range for that Part / Vocoder Send ? RX of Poly pressure, Volume, Bend , Modulation, Chan Pressure, Expression and Hold ON or OFF for each of the parts in any combination.
It is actually part of that Banks patch and set-up parameter and can be saved n a per patch basis so that all 8 parts behave in various ways.
For example 2 paired 4 OSC analog mono patches with 4 poly digital voices, all triggered via a single midi channel in a big layer/split combo and so on.
It works easily enough - I use and old MC-303 as a sketch pad for patterns over 4 measure long (it can do 32 bard patterns) and with 8 midi parts it is super quick.
You are doing something to majorly over complicate the issue as multimbral use on this synth is dead easy IMHO.

Here's what you're missing: the JD-XA only works in multi timbral mode. "bank A, sound 1" is really "bank A, multi 1" and the "part" buttons in the top left are what let you select which "sound" you'll be playing or editing within that multi:

What you need to understand here is that, as VennD68 explained, MIDI can be assigned and will point to these "parts". Starts at 4 analog mono parts, 4 digital poly parts, but, as you likely know, the JD-XA lets you combine them in various ways to make up your "sound". When that happens you just have to assign the same MIDI channel to all the relevant "parts".

So, to achieve what you wanted to do here:

I set my Motif to output to channel 1 for the JDXA bank A, sound 1, and I set the Motif out on midi channel 2 to the JDXA bank A sound 2.

You have to copy the relevant parts from "JDXA bank A Multi 2" back into "JDXA bank A, Multi 1" (assuming you still have enough parts free there for you to do so), and then assign the appropriate MIDI channels to each part.

Mmmm. I hope that cleared some things up

Correct. Each of th jdxa’s Programs is a multi. Once you know that it all becomes much clearer.

Actually, I called Roland and they told me that you can NOT use the JDXA in Multi Timbral mode (Playing two or more different sounds simultaneously triggered from a midi controller) I know all about these MIDI part settings. I was trying to choose a sound from bank A, sound 1, and one from bank A, sound 2 and make them play simultaneously in my sequence, triggered from a midi controller, in this case the Yamaha Motif XS8. The only way these individual banks and sounds can be triggered through MIDI after having been recorded, is to push the sound slot button on the JDXA for each sound individually, but you will NOT be able to hear these sounds play at the same time. This synth is not what I wanted and I will sell it and buy something else, because I believe Roland advertised this synth as being multi timbral and it is not, at least not in the traditional meaning of this word. I am not overcomplicating things at all, and you apparently did not read my comment. Thank you all for your kind input and happy music making for all.

Thank you friend for your kind reply. Yes I am aware that these sounds are composed of 4 analog and 4 digital parts and can be assigned in many different configs of these choices, according to Roland though, you can not play two or more sounds at the same time. I will in fact fool around with these part settings and see what I can get but as far as Roland is concerned it is not a multi timbral synth in the traditional meaning of the word. Again, thank you all kindly for your time and replies. Happy music making all.

Would you be interested in trading it for a JD-800 in mint condition?

There is absolutely nothing stopping you from you having 4 separate Poly Digital Pad Parts and 4 Monosynths or a crossover Analog Digital Poly patch and 3 other parts assigned however like, or have an analog kick, snare and hat + analog bass and two digital mono leads and two digital poly pad parts and so on and so forth all on separate midi channels.
It is multi-timbral it plays separate sounds over any combination of 8 midi channels spread across 4 digital and 4 analog parts.
A single patch slot on the JD-XA is made up of 8 different instruments with their own split, layer midi assignment mappings .Each patch is essentially a Multi-SetUp (and not a single voice patch like it is on other synths).
If there is a single bass part in a separate patch you can copy/paste it to a new slot, ditto for say an analog kick and lead you like for two other patches all those parts can be copied and pasted as you wish to customize your own 8 part multi-set up patch.
What you're asking for is multi-timbral operation of multiple multi-timbral setups, even your Yamaha XS will noted this.
Patches are not a conventional single voice single midi channel deal within a multi-set on there JD-XA.

The patch system is already a multi-set that can be configured in a myriad of ways.
I got your question - you didn't seem to grapple the notion that a patch in the JD-XA is its own multi-timbral set up.
Everyone else stated the same thing. It's not like I don't know how a JD-XA works.

@ taran2ula listen to this man. He REALLY knows what he's talking about here. Check out his Modulatons 1+2 patch banks to get a good idea of what this board is capable of, as the default presets aren't that strong JD-XA | Axial

Did you try switching off the remote keyboard function? With it on, all parts are going to respond to midi data coming in, as if you're playing it from it's own keyboard.

So switch it off, and you'll be able to play individual parts multitimbrally from say a DAW.

Here's a quick demo where I'm playing a bell/pad kind of sound on midi channel 5 while the XA is playing other sounds on other channels at the same time (it's all JD-XA you're hearing, with the analog bit doing the drums/bass, and all in one take!)

Is it possible to use the JDXA buttons, such as the analog part selectors, as cc controls for switches in VST synths ?

Well thank you kindly for all your input friends. I did not like the JDXA at all and sold it ultimately. I bought a Yamaha Montage and a Korg Kronos. Those keyboards act like a true multi timbral synth and are far more easier to understand. I did understand that each bank sound was a multi in itself and that they were composed of 4 different analog or digital sounds. I also understood that you could assign individual midi channels for each sound but when I tried doing this I ran into big issues. I was trying, without knowing a bank was a multi, to trigger several different multi's through the Motif. I guess what I didn't understand is that when Roland was telling me it wasn't a multi timbral synth, they meant it wasn't a multi MULTI timbral synth, lol. I was able to trigger individual sounds within that multi but still had issues with them playing back simultaneously. Either way it's all water under the dam now and I certainly do appreciate your help and input. Cheers all.

can i please add a new post just bought a system 8 and a jdxa. I totally new to using the sequencers on both instruments can any off you please suggest to me somewhere i can either find a tutorial or please give me some help to get me started the manual is awful at explaining even the basics.

http://forums.rolandclan.com/viewtopic.php?f=57&t=50659

Yes - MidiCtrl Mode appears on the unit for this very purpose.