WOW! Gotta say it - you sure have a way of covering all the nooks and crannies that other videos ignore.

Anyone that uses A/D needs to watch this video and bookmark it for future reference. It has at least THREE 'golden nuggets' of info about A/D processing that you won't see covered in other videos.

1. the difference between effect routing for A/D versus AWM2 - no parallel effect option is available for A/D.
2. that A/D only has a 2 band post-effect EQ and doesn't have the 3 band pre-effect EQ of AWM2
3. that the Global A/D setting is NOT preserved when you power off.

That 3rd item can really affect you if you have to use someone else's instrument at a gig because you can't just load a backup file and have the instrument set up properly if you depend on that Global A/D functionality. As you point out it isn't enough to just set the parameter ON - you have to make sure the A/D params are set to what you want to use as global values - and that means loading that KEY performance first as you show in the video.

The Global A/D switch was added to Montage in an OS update and is NOT documented in the reference manual. It is documented in the supplementary manual (p.84) but the wording is WRONG - it is backwards:

Global A/D
When set to ON, neither the A/D Part volume nor other related parameters are retained even after switching to a different
Performance. When set to OFF, the A/D Part volume and other related parameters change according to the Volume setting in the
Performance.
Settings: Off, On

Notice it says when ON that 'neither the A/D Part volume nor other related parameters are retained even after switching to a different performance.

Actually volume and other params ARE RETAINED - that is the whole purpose of Global A/D.

P.506 of the Montage Operation manual states it properly:

Global A/D

When this parameter is set to on, the volume of the A/D Part stays the same when you change
the Performance, and other parameters related to the A/D Part also stay the same.
When this parameter is set to off, the volume set for the Performance is used when you change
Performances, and other parameters related to the A/D Part will change accordingly.
Master FX and Master EQ are switched on and off simultaneously.
Settings: Off, On

 

One of us covered that same topic about 1 1/2 years ago here: https://yamahasynth.com/community/montage-series-synthesizers/audio-input/#post-126803

There are no fewer than FOUR possible 'GOTCHA!' to be aware of:

1. The 'Global A/D' setting is NOT saved when you power down so it will be OFF whenever you power up.

2. Turning the 'Global A/D' setting ON means 'use the current A/D settings for ALL performances'. Make sure the current performance has the A/D settings you need for ALL performances BEFORE you turn that switch ON. So you would normally load that 'preferred' performance and then turn the switch on.

You might want to create a custom 'LIVE SET' with that 'preferred' performance as the first one. Then you need to create a 'GIG SETUP' doc that reminds you to load the live set and THEN turn the 'Global A/D' switch ON.

3. The 'A/D Input' parameter on the 'Settings -> Audio I/O' screen (p.168 of the reference doc) can be set to 'Mic' or 'Line' but it won't change when you turn 'Global A/D' to ON. So if you use ON you need to make sure that ALL of your performances are configured to use the same Mic/Line setting since those two typically provide different signal levels.

If any of your performances in that special live set use a mic you need to remember to change the 'A/D Input parm to 'Mic' and then change it back to 'Line' if the next performance isn't using the mic.

4. Then there is the, obvious, front panel 'A/D INPUT' switch (p.17 Owner doc) since if it isn't ON then nothing else matters.

Note that the 'Mic' or 'Line' param also needs to be set properly before turning Global A/D switch ON. The use of 'Mic' was covered in the video but the above issues, and caveats, apply if you use the 'Line' setting also.

There is a 5th 'GOTCHA' re the Global A/D switch.

When you turn the switch ON it automatically turns both the Master FX and Master EQ switches OFF. So you need to manually turn those switches back to ON if you want a performance to be able to use them.

That wasn't covered in the video.

Thank you for your detailled feedback Pete, you're right, i forget to cover the Master EQ and FX switch ! Have a nice week-end