So, I have to be conscience to bring the Mod Wheel back to a neutral position each time...one more thing to think about.

Correct - that is the way it works.

I understand that by going into Utilities/MIDI I/o I can change it from HOLD to RESET, which should do the trick. It does not.

Is it possible you are getting tripped up by the dual nature of the mod wheel?

Unlike the knobs the mod wheel has both a 'logical' position (0-127) and a 'physical' position.

A reset ONLY resets the logical position to 0.

Whenever the Mod Wheel is activated (i.e. fully up or fully down depending on what's programmed

There are two important things in that statement:

1. that 'fully up' and 'fully down' means the wheel is physically at an extreme position. The ONLY thing that can change that physical position is your hand (unless your big toe is very flexible).

A 'reset' when you change performances will not, and can not, change that physical position.

2. depending on what's programmed - Jason said it best in this thread
https://www.yamahasynth.com/forum/fc7-configuration-mw#reply-120708

Anything that the modwheel is doing involves a programming assignment with modwheel as the source and some parameter as the modulated destination.

If the mod wheel is doing something in your new patch it is only because there is some programming for it in the patch.

Otherwise the only thing it would do is send CC01 by default when you move it. But with no programming there is nothing to receive that CC01 so no action will be taken.

FULLY UP - that is a physical position/limit. Once the mod wheel is 'fully up' there is no where to go but down.

So even though a reset changes the 'logical' position/value to 0 the 'physical' value is still 'fully up'.

As soon as you begin moving the wheel down that logical position (0 after a reset) will get synced with the new 'almost fully up' physical position and the resulting value will be 126 or 120 or similar.

Here is an example that illustrates what is happening:

1. create a new Init Normal (AWM2)
2. Edit part 1 and go to the Mod /Control -> Control Assign page
3. Assign the Mod Wheel to Part Volume
4. On the Part Settings page set the volume to 0
5. save the performance as 'test1' and 'test2' - use any names you like but save it as two performances

Now for the test

1. set the mod wheel to 'fully down'
2. load test1
3. play a key and you hear nothing - because the part volume is 0 and the mod wheel is 'fully down'. Fully down is a PHYSICAL position of 0 and the volume of 0 is a LOGICAL value.
4. move the mod wheel to 'fully up' - the sound increases in volume to a maximum of 127.

5. load test2
6. play a key and you hear nothing - because the part volume is 0. Even though the mod wheel is 'fully up' it doesn't have an effect yet.
7. move the mod wheel a TEENY BIT down - you hear a LOUD sound because as soon as the wheel moves its PHYSICAL position becomes the new LOGICAL position.

The 'sync' between the logical and physical positions doesn't happen until the wheel is actually moved.

I think that example is what you are seeing.

You may have noticed that SLIDERS can have a similar issue. If you leave a slider in the 'fully up' position when you load a new performance it may not be effective until you manually 'sync' it with the LOGICAL value by moving the slider so that the physical position matches the logical position shown on the display.

Knobs don't have that issue because there is no physical 'fully up' or 'fully down' position - only a logical one.

I have my keyboard set to reset and I had thought the position does reset to the reset value even if the physical position doesn't agree.

I guess one thing that could throw this off is if the wheel is glitchy due to some problem (needing service). You can look at this using a MIDI monitor and seeing if the modwheel value dances around without your moving it. I would doubt this is the case -- but still a (far fetched) possibility.

I have my keyboard set to reset and I had thought the position does reset to the reset value even if the physical position doesn't agree.

Correct - that is what I said above.

The 'logical' position resets to 0 which is why the 2nd performance produces no sound at first.

But as soon as you move the mod wheel the 'logical' position assumes the value of the 'physical' position of the wheel and you go from 0 to 126, 125, 124, etc.

My tests were on a Modx and both my ears and MIDI-OX validate the results I got. I am quite certain there is no 'glitch' needing service.

I can't speak to what results you get on the Montage. It would be useful to know what results you get from the test example I posted.

"That's the way it works?" I remember when vintage keyboards didn't have this problem. Ah, the old days 🙁

Does anyone know of a good time machine available?

To me, it's not logical. But that's not a surprise.

To me, it's not logical. But that's not a surprise.

I agree but please try the test I suggested to confirm that you get the same results I got.

IMO the mod wheel should work the same as the sliders. Do this test and you will see that the sliders do what you expected the mod wheel to do.

1. load the test1 performance
2. move slider 1 from bottom (0) to top (127)
3. notice the top of the display shows the volume level go from 0 to 127
4. leave the slider at the top (127)
5. load the test2 performance
6. slowly move slider 1 from top towards the bottom but don't go to the bottom
7. notice the top of the display shows the volume level stay at (0) no matter where you move the slider as long as you don't go to the bottom.
8. move the slider to the bottom
9. notice that the level is shown as 0 (without parenthesis). The PHYSICAL slider position is now 'synced' with the LOGICAL value.
10. move the slider around and notice that the volume level now tracks properly from 0 to 127.

Don't know why the mod wheel doesn't work the same way but it doesn't.

I've reported it so support.

I wasn't addressing anything other than the original post. The glitch stuff would only be IF the OP's keyboard isn't resetting to 0 when reset is turned on (thus "throwing off" that feature). Like I said - there's a fairly unlikely set of failures that would make that occur. Dirty pot, leaving the modwheel in the "dirty pot" zone. That's one mode of failure - there are others equally as unlikely.

Modwheel normally gets reset unless you have the setting set to HOLD (which holds "everything", not just modwheel - which may not be desirable). So the old days way would be to set the controllers to hold. There's even less of a guarantee that leaving the mod wheel in the position it was left in before the Performance recall would do what you want. It's not deterministic (the modwheel's final position). It can be (if you always leave it in the same spot) - but generally it isn't.

However, that said - there's a lot of value in how it does work today using/leveraging reset. Assuming every time you recall (load, switch to, etc) the problematic Performance you want the modwheel to be forced to behave like the modwheel does when it's all the way up (127 instead of 0) then you would edit the modwheel curve and reverse the polarity so that the "0" value does what you want -- opposite of how it's been programmed currently.

Whatever is your "neutral position" you can make the modwheel behave like that at the 0 position which would be ultimately what you want.