Be happy to help, but need a few more details.
Do you want to put the delay Effect on the Mic, or on the vocoded sound?

The delay can be applied to mic signal (the A/D Input) or it can be applied to the vocoded result (the synth result).

I'm wanting to have the delay on the vocoder / voice sound

Also "Add Delay" is a bit non-specific. One way to "add delay" is to have a set delay (meaning delay time and other parameters do not change) and mix-in more or less of a delayed version of the signal vs. the dry level. If you recall the preset "Vocoder With Delay" - that's how this preset does it.

The control in the preset is not the mod wheel (mod wheel changes the level of Element 4, which is set to "Noise" ). The control of the Delay Send amount is PART 1 Assignable Knob 2 - which is set to "Var Send".

If you want to hear this in action, recall "Vocoder With Delay" then press: [PERFORMANCE] (HOME), then touch PART 1 on the touchscreen (just to right of "Name" ), then make sure [ASSIGN] button is ON (illuminated amber). By the default the [TONE] button is illuminated amber - so the [ASSIGN] button is OFF. With the [ASSIGN] button lit, spin knob 2 (PART 1 Assignable Knob 2). This will add or subtract from the "Var Send" offset which should add or remove the amount of delay mixed into the signal.

If you want to accomplish the same sort of thing, you would have to modify this idea to fit modwheel control. Modwheel cannot be a SOURCE in the "Common/Audio" section of modulation control - (EDIT: ) although this is NOT the only place where "Var Send" can be assigned as a destination. To add delay to the whole Performance (not just the Vocoder Part -- sort of assumes you only have a single Vocoder part) What you'll have to do is, instead, setup an insertion effect for your delay and control the "Dry/Wet" level of that insertion effect as the destination. The "Vocoder With Delay" uses the effect "Tempo Cross Delay" as its delay. So if I was to put this control inside of "Vocoder With Delay", I would go to PART1, edit the effects. Change InsB from "Thru" to "Tempo Cross Delay". Change the parameters of InsB to match the Variation effect (which is also Tempo Cross Delay) - set the Dry/Wet level to the default Variation send of PART 1. Delete the Variation Effect (change to Thru or Off - can't remember right off). Then add a "Mod/Control" -> "Control Assign" source of modwheel and destination of "InsB Dry/Wet". I'd setup the curve to match the same curve as was set for "Var Send" (what popped up when spinning Part 1 Assign Knob 2 for this same screen).

thanks. What I am wanting to achieve is to have a vocoder sound and be able to dial in a delay (using the mod wheel) which is sync'd to the tempo. the more I rotate the mod wheel, the more delay I get. What is the best way to do this?

for example, if I take the patch "funky vocoder" how do I add delay to that (sync'd to the tempo) and assign it to the mod wheel so I can dial it in and regulate the amount applied?

1) Recall "Funky Vocoder"
NOTE: Unlike what was initially said, Var Send is perfectly valid as a PART level parameter. You can either "Var Send" adjust the entire performance or just a single PART. Which makes sense since each PART has its own Variation Send.

2) "Funky Vocoder" already has a control that adjusts the delay amount - so we'll just replace the control that is assigned with modwheel.
Push the [PERFORMANCE] (HOME) button, Touchscreen (TS): Touch PART 1, press the [EDIT] button or select "Edit" on touchscreen from menu that pops up.

3) Make sure "Common" is selected (lower-left) and TS: Touch Menu "Control/Mod" -> "Control Assign" -- make sure "Auto Select" is ON (green)

4) Press the [ASSIGN] button to the left of Superknob. Then spin Knob 2. You will see the screen change to "Destination 1: Var Send" with a Source of "AsgnKnob 2". This is PART 1's Assignable Knob 2. We just want to replace the source with Modwheel. So press "Source" which is located UNDER the Destination (and above the Curve Type). A menu pops up - you can touch the "===" looking icon which expands the list to all sources. Modwheel is the 2nd in the list - select it.

That's it for making modwheel add and subtract from the delay send.

On this preset, the Variation is already setup for you. The Return happens to be 96 (Common/Audio level Effects "Routing" screen). You can bump this up if you want your maximum delay "wetness" to be even more saturated. There's also a level of "13" from Variation (Delay) going to Reverb. You can bump this up if you want to chain in more Reverb after the Delay stage. This is the "Variation Wet" amount of Reverb - not to be confused with the amount of Reverb that is applied to the "dry" PARTs (with respect to Variation -- they do have the insertion effects).

All this did was move the delay variation send from PART1 Assignable Knob 2 (which is controlled by SuperKnob for this Performance) to Modwheel (so now delay var send is no longer controlled by SuperKnob).

... that said, I believe this is what you're asking for.

This is just one way - as effects have all sorts of options of how to push and pull them (different stages, different parameters).

Brilliant! Thank you so much. Is the delay tempo sync’d?

btw, you guys really know your stuff, this forum is awesome! Thanks

The delay "built in" to Variation of the "Funky Vocoder" preset Performance is "Tempo Cross Delay". This is a tempo-based delay. It isn't the only tempo-sync'd delay - but it's the one that programmers included for the Vocoder delays.

The Montage Synthesizer Parameter Manual defines Tempo Cross Delay in relation to Cross Delay:

CROSS DELAY The feedback of the two delayed sounds is crossed.

TEMPO CROSS DELAY Tempo-synchronized Cross delay

sorry - more questions! I've followed your instructions and now have delay being dialled in to the vocoder sound using the mod wheel. Where do I set the curve of the mod wheel? I want it so that the further I push the mod wheel, the more delay gets added. at the moment it appears to be set so that I have to dial the mod wheel to half way, then the delay kicks in. And if I dial the mod wheel to full, then it doesn't add any more delay than when the mod wheel was at half way?

Also - in the funky vocoder sound, where do I get to select the type of reverb (and also delay) that is applied - I can't find where to do this!

thanks in advance

As mentioned, delay is the variation effect.

https://uk.yamaha.com/files/download/other_assets/9/812529/montage_en_rm_a0.pdf

Read page 18-19 for an overview of the effects. Notice page 19 has links to pages 67, 122, 136, and 154 for modifying variation parameters.

Look at page 154. From this screen, you can modify variation, reverb, and master effects. Touch the "type" to change the type of variation (delay in this case). Read through the following pages through page 157 for details on variation and reverb.

Regarding the mod wheel and "half way up". The parameter for variation send (which adjusts the amount of delayed signal mixed in to your dry signal) - the curve is setup as bidirectional. The mod wheel all the way "rolled back" SUBTRACTS from the default variation level. With the mod wheel at the half-way point, there is no offset (subtracting or adding) to the variation level. As you roll past the mid-way point, variation level is increased.

Set variation return to 127, for starters, just to hear what the maximum amount of variation in your signal would sound like. Not as a target final setting - but in order to ensure all the send level changes make their way back to the affected ("effected" ) signal.

thanks heaps, again - super helpful

sorry - more questions! I've followed your instructions and now have delay being dialled in to the vocoder sound using the mod wheel. Where do I set the curve of the mod wheel? I want it so that the further I push the mod wheel, the more delay gets added. at the moment it appears to be set so that I have to dial the mod wheel to half way, then the delay kicks in. And if I dial the mod wheel to full, then it doesn't add any more delay than when the mod wheel was at half way?

The answer to the “where” is on the Part “Control Assign” screen. This is one of MONTAGE’s most powerful areas. Each Part has 16 Control Sets. A Control Set consists of a SOURCE (controller), a DESTINATION (parameter), and an set of items that define exactly how it is applied (CURVE, POLARITY RATIO, PARAMETER 1/2). This definition of how it gets applied will determine just how far you will need to move a Control to get the response you desire... and this is extremely programmable on the MONTAGE. And is a very important part of programming when a single physical control may be doing other things (simultaneously) elsewhere in your setup. Being able to “scale” the response is a critical advantage.

Understanding the POLARITY (uni and bi) can be approached this way... some parameters are 0 thru 127... minimum-to-maximum. Others benefit from remaining at at rest in the middle and go above and below or left and right a centerline... perhaps -64 thru 0 thru to +63.

Think about Volume, and Send Level as examples of parameters that go minimum-to-maximum.
Think about Pan and Pitch Bend as examples of parameters that go left/right of center or above/below center.

Controllers have a tendency to lend themselves to certain parameters... MW, for example, is better suited for min-to-max parameters, than it would be for above and below parameters. PB Wheel is ideally suited fit the above/below centerline applications.

When you “replaced” the MW for the original AssignKnob as the Control as the Source to apply Send Level... you swapped a Min-to-Max Controller for one that worked from either side of a centerline.

Stay with me a minute more. MW can only change the setting in one direction. So if the initial Send amount is 20 you will be able to increase it from 20, but when you return to minimum it will return to 20
When you seek to use a SOURCE (controller) that naturally does min-to-max, and set it to control a “bi” Polarity DESTINATION, what happens is 0 is halfway. All values beyond the halfway point are positive, and all values below are negative. If a DESTINATION is Send Level then 0 occurs halfway through its movement. Max occurs when fully up. All values below halfway are “negative” (no level). When the parameter is level related negative 20 is just as quiet as negative 3 or negative 64. So all values below halfway are equal to no level.

MW is a Uni directional controller.
The value you set for the initial Var Send will represent Minimum.
Var Send is uni directional parameter
Set the POLARITY to UNI

You can “shape” the Curve of the travel from minimum-to-maximum using the RATIO (amount) and PARAM 1 (weights it toward earlier or later in the movement of the controlj; 5 is linear, 10 is very late in the movement, 1 is very early in the movement.

Also - in the funky vocoder sound, where do I get to select the type of reverb (and also delay) that is applied - I can't find where to do this!

from the HOME screen
Press [EDIT]
Press the upper [COMMON] button
Touch “Effects” > “Routing”
Move the cursor to highlight the Reverb block, or the Var block to make your selections.

When you “replaced” the MW for the original AssignKnob as the Control as the Source to apply Send Level... you swapped a Min-to-Max Controller for one that worked from either side of a centerline.

Not sure I follow the part about modwheel being very much different from an assignable knob. Both have a range of 0 to 127 and both will stay at the set value when you "let go" of the control. The primary difference between the two from a physical standpoint is that one, the knob, is a free rotary encoder so it needs some visual feedback (the lights) to show the current setting while the modwheel has physical stops at the extremes (0 and 127). This doesn't seem to fundamentally change the basic relationship of these controls to values.

On the other hand, pitch bend "snaps back" to a center line. This type of controller is different from both the assignable knobs and modwheel in a way that relates to output values. It has a physical center-line which is returned to when you let go and isn't able to "remember" a setting you were at while adjusting the controller away from center.

... if the request was to use Pitch-Bend as the controller, the instructions were to replace the assignable knob as source with pitch-bend as source, and the quoted part above was referencing pitch-bend -- then I'd follow that statement/logic completely.

That doesn't diminish the general idea that there is a real difference between some controllers.

"Snap Back" resting-value type: Pitch Bend, Ribbon (in reset mode), Aftertouch, even buttons in momentary mode (like A.SW1, A.SW2 or use of a momentary footswitch)
There's a sub-class that Aftertouch is always 0 when not offset and using the controller will add positive values 1-127. Pitch Bend and Ribbon both are centered in the middle at 64 and when moved away from their center-lines yield up to -64 from the middle (center) value or +63 from the middle value.
If "snap back" buttons (momentary) are used - these only give two values: 0 or 127.

Switches (Foot/Push) which are not momentary - but latched provide a value of 0 or 127 and keep that value until you press the button or switch again - then the value toggles.

"Set and forget" type - like superknob, FC1/FC2, modwheel, knobs, ribbon in "hold" mode. These controllers provide values 0-127 and allow adjusting the value anywhere within that range and will keep the last adjusted value when you "let go" of the controller. This is assuming the expression pedals from Yamaha such as the FC7. There are expression pedals out there which are spring loaded - in which case you would turn the FC1/FC2 jacks into a "snap back" type by virtue of the pedal mechanics.

What you're trying to accomplish does physically have a difference depending on what type of controller you use.

Uni vs. Bi for controllers does not make a big difference when moving a controller assuming you've adjusted the programmed value. The primary difference when using uni vs. bi is in the "reset" position. Meaning - if the controller is reset - what will the output be? This makes a bigger difference with virtual controllers than physical ones. Virtual controllers tend to assume reset values more often while physical controllers (like modwheel, pitchbend, aftertouch) do not really get "reset". They are "always" some value under control of the physical controller. To be more specific - uni vs. bi makes a fairly big difference when using Lanes of Motion Sequence because these are virtual and encounter the reset position.

To use a specific example - if you're using a physical controller like modwheel - then uni vs. bi doesn't make a difference assuming you adjust the programmed value (using standard curve as a more specific example). Take a standard uni-directional standard curve that goes from 0 to 19. The destination is pitch so when the modwheel is at 0 (rolled all the way back), the pitch is not affected and when the modwheel is all the way "up" - the pitch is +19.

Now bi-polar. Set the range so with the modwheel all the way back is -10 (subtracting 10) and with the modwheel all the way "up" the controller is adding +9. Adjust the pitch by ADDING 10 using noteshift. Now with the modwheel all the way rolled back - you accomplish an effective noteshift of +0 because the offset pitch is -10 and you added +10 to the programmed value. As you roll the modwheel forward, you get the same result as using the uni-polar curve because the programmed value was adjusted.

For a physical controller such as modwheel - the choice of uni vs. bi would primarily depend on what is easier to "read" (makes more sense to you). This will vary from programmer to programmer -- so the choice, in this narrow band of usage, is fairly arbitrary.