although Im not quite sure how the yes and no buttons and jog wheel cycle through presets. it seems to jump around on the performance screen. it changes categories really quickly and is clearly not in the same order as when in the performance search screen. Is there an answer to this mystery?

This might be considered the most common operation of the Montage/MODX... the loading of Performances, Parts, Samples and Arpeggios.

There's even a special Category button for its operation.

Yet they can't get this right.

That should have been a warning to us all as to the nature of the rest of the Operating System in these things.

although Im not quite sure how the yes and no buttons and jog wheel cycle through presets. it seems to jump around on the performance screen. it changes categories really quickly and is clearly not in the same order as when in the performance search screen. Is there an answer to this mystery?

That is correct. The Performance Search screen can be sorted in several different orders — some of which do not match the actual order of the Performances.

After owning the keyboard for several years, it is a good idea to sit down and reread the Owner’s Manual… you’ll be amazed at how much stuff now makes more sense.

Hint: the actual order of the Performances start with the first Factory Performance “CFX + FM EP”
If you recall it and tap the “Performance Name” box > a pop-in menu will appear at screen left,> then select “Property”, you will see that this Performance is
MSB 64
LSB 0
Program Change No. 001

If you “Sort” the Performance Category Search such that
“Bank/Favorite” = Preset
“Attribute” = All
“Main” = All
“Sort” = Default
with these parameter settings the Preset Performances will be listed in numerical order
In Banks of 128 programs (001-128) … and will follow the Performance listing in the Data List booklet.

The next Preset Bank begins
MSB 64
LSB 1
Program Change No. 001

And so on…

If, however, you set “Sort” = “Name” you can view them in alphabetical order or by tapping again, reverse alphabetical order in the Search result field.
The “Date” and reverse “Date” work only on the order in which you created your “User” Bank data… which start with
MSB 64
LSB 32
Program Change No. 001

If you type one or more letters in the character search field, any program containing those letters, and only programs containing those letters, will appear in the result field.

So when you are on a [PERFORMANCE (HOME)] screen, with the Performance Name highlighted, the [Yes/+] and [No/-] buttons and the Data Dial increment through the Presets in their Default order… whether this is the same as the Performance Category Search very much depends on the Search parameter settings you have configured. They will only be in the real factory (listed) order if you set it to view them that way.

I think most people mostly understand how it works.

The problems are how it doesn't work, and the odd things it does that compound those problems.

ok thanks for the explanation. Back to my original point the way the Montage handles presets and performances is really good. As I look at other other hardware out there I see that many other companies have challenges doing this.

Adding to all the great information that BM provided, I love the Category Search button, as pressing it multiple times changes the category from All, to Favorites, Preset, MOTIF XF, User, and then cycles through all the various libraries I have loaded. I find it a quick way to get to my User Performances that I'm working on, just pressing the Category Search button quickly 5 times after it boots up. 😉
Then there's all the sorting and searching options that make it great to navigate!

Montage also has all of those buttons. They're mapped pretty much like everything on the [CATEGORY SEARCH] screen. At the top you can select categories and even the ones "off the grid" will select things - in keeping with the organization of the "buttons" on the touchscreen.

The top two rows of 8 buttons select the main category. The 3rd row of 8 buttons selects the sub-category. And then the bottom row of 8 buttons selects an item 1-8. On the lower-right of these buttons are two buttons labeled "PAGE" (as one label). You press one for page down and the other for page up. This only advances by 1/2 a page since you can only access 1/2 of the page with the buttons. So these page up/down are optimized for button use. The onscreen page up/down on the touchscreen will move by complete pages.

Rather than select the "Init" category on the touchscreen my habit is usually to hit the physical button for that.

Adding to @Jason's thoughts, I use those buttons a lot when programming sounds. Especially the top 8 for both selecting & muting PARTs, as well as the bottom 8 for selecting & muting FM-X Operators, as well as AWM2 Elements.

Then there's the SHIFT button...!

[quotePost id=119147]Adding to all the great information that BM provided, I love the Category Search button, as pressing it multiple times changes the category from All, to Favorites, Preset, MOTIF XF, User, and then cycles through all the various libraries I have loaded. I find it a quick way to get to my User Performances that I'm working on, just pressing the Category Search button quickly 5 times after it boots up. 😉
Then there's all the sorting and searching options that make it great to navigate![/quotePost] Press and Hold the [CATEGORY SEARCH] button and it returns you to first option, “All”

Yeah [CATEGORY SEARCH] button Hold to return to All is another good one!