It is a simple fact that .mid playback on anything other than the original keyboard it was developed on is very much a hit and miss affair. Expecting a ten year old (or more) SMF to play back accurately on a cutting edge keyboard is just asking a bit much, IMO. In all likelihood, the vast majority of SMF's are going to need at least a BIT of tweaking to play acceptably, and for these files to sound their BEST, quite a bit of work will be needed...

This is where the tools your keyboard provides for editing all the main header, dynamics and drum kit assignments is of paramount importance. Arcane tools that are unintuitive, hard to figure out, and just plain clunky will tend to slow you down to the point that the work just doesn't seem worth it. I encourage everyone to take a CLOSE look at the way that Roland (always the SMF masters) have chosen to do this task (and the similar tools for reworking styles, as well) and encourage your manufacturer of choice to consider implementing something as easy to use as the Makeup Tools section of the current E and G-series arrangers.

The truth is, the vast majority of SMF's that are available (public domain or commercially) were developed on older Roland gear. Little is optimized even for Fantom or Sonic Cell, yet alone Motif or Tyros. You ARE going to have to edit to get the best out of these files (we all are!). Make some noise to make this task easier..!