Man, did Yamaha (needlessly) complicate the sequencer in the XS or what? I miss the ES's simple sequencer. It was so fast and lightweight. Anyways, I'm going to be posting some tips from time to time. Hope they help. Here are a few common operations,issues and workarounds. Feel free to add on if I missed anything..
This tutorial applies to the Motif XS:
Copying a section within a pattern
When you want to copy, e.g. section A to section B in the same pattern, you use the pattern>job>copy pattern operation. On that screen you MUST check the "current sequence" box for both the source and destination sections. Beware though. If you have material on the destination section, and you copy another section to i, sometimes it wigs out. In my case every time I went to switch to the copied section, all MIDI hell broke loose. But if I copy to an empty section, no issues. Lesson: always clear your destination section first.
I am always surfing the web looking for resources on composing, arrangement, piano instruction, etc. Recently I came across a killer resource for composing and arrangement on a web site called Northern Sounds. If you're not familiar, Northern Sounds is known for its discussion forums. Specifically they have popular forums for the Garritan sample library, all of Spectrasonics products, sampling, and much more. There is a full course on arranging for jazz and orchestration. This is why I love the internet. :) Enjoy! 
