great information! how many user multisamples(waveforms) can Montage hold (loaded)?

I asked this question in the forum but I will ask it here as well.

Does a Montage Performance support both an AD Input Part (i.e, an external keyboard) and a USB Input Part ( i.e, a virtual instrument from my computer similar to the current Motif FW Part?

If so will there be similar Motif parameter control for these additional Performance Parts such as Volume, Pan, Reverb, Chorus and Dry Level. etc.?

Joe

MOTIF to MONTAGE Part 3 - "Arpeggio Content" = 10,000

Are you able to speak to how the user interface will facilitate PERFORMANCE Part arpeggio audition and selection?

Interested if the arpeggio-related workflow has been thought about given the new touch-based user interface e.g. new features like a unified view of the arpeggios used for up to 8 parts, a "Category-like" pop-up with capability to see related arpeggios by genre, arpname string (as in the MOTIF/MOXF VST Editor), ability to - in a unified view - turn off and on different parts while auditioning an arpeggio...that sort of thing.

P/S. Thanks for the articles.

Edited: added "Interested..."

Great question, and YES: the UI has really made searching and for, auditioning and assigning arps much easier. Here are some screen shots and explanations:

"arp1": This is the Part1/Common/Arpeggio/Individual Screen in Montage. You can see Category, Sub Category, the Name and both Velocity and Gate Time off sets. 8 Arps can be selected per part (and those can be assigned to scenes to call up in real time).
"arp2": Shows arp category search which can you can enter by touching in the different arp boxes in the screen or with the physical controls as well). You can see the extensive library and how you can search by instrument type (Main) or musical genre (sub). You can call up arps by number as well and not the "Sort" at the bottom of the screen.
"arp3": What if you just want to see any arp with the word "jazz" in it. You can search by text now!

The entire process of finding, searching and deploying arps is really an improvement and is just one example of the how the workflow in Montage has been streamlined. As we move forward look for some docs in the "Resources" part of Yamahasynth about the arpeggio capabilities of Montage. This feature, coupled with the amazing power of the Motion Control System, really gives Montage some amazingly expressive capabilities.

Hi, what about user arps? I recall that somewhere else BM said you cannot create user arps on Montage, is that true? If yes, I am confused, why are there 256 user arp slots if you cannot create any? It would be also strange because I don't see any way around this...I mean, okay, you don't need a built-in sequencer because you can use a software DAW. You don't need built-in sampling because you could buy the Melas Waveform editor (although Yamaha should provide one, imo). But how can I create user arps? Thanks

"why are there 256 user arp slots if you cannot create any?"

Because XS/XF libraries might have user arps in them and you have to load them somewhere for them to work, simple as that.

It was stated here that almost nobody used "create user arp" functionality so it was not ported over to the new OS.

But thats not a good design choice for a pro instrument, sorry 🙁 Even if you do it rarely, you still want to be able to create a custom arp ... the process for creating user arps / modify existing arps should have been streamlined, not killed.

Some of that thought process may have been that your Motif "workstation" retains its usefulness and does not become totally obsolete. Keep it and use it for everything that the Montage can't do. The Montage is not really a Motif replacement because they do different things. This is probably the reason that the Montage is not called the Motif ZF. 🙂

bangelos@yamaha.com wrote:

...As we move forward look for some docs in the "Resources" part of Yamahasynth about the arpeggio capabilities of Montage. This feature, coupled with the amazing power of the Motion Control System, really gives Montage some amazingly expressive capabilities.

Thanks for the comeback on the arpeggio user interface; looking forward to "how to's".

As a sidebar note, I'm pretty sure that everyone will like to see "instructional videos" integrating all the moving "Parts" (pun intended), e.g.
- Overview (say from Part Selection through Performance Recording)
-. FM-X Part Editing Deep Dive
- AWM2 Part Editing Deep Dive
-. Performance Construction - Bread and Butter, e.g. non EDM, splits, layers
- Performance Construction - an EDM Performance, integrating Arpeggio / Motion Control / Sidechaining, Scenes, etc.
- Live Performance, e.g. Live Set, on stage setup, ...?
- Performance Recording
- Song Composition in Cubase, e.g. Performance Recording Enhancement / Re-Arrangement / Mixing / Mastering in Cubase (a series?)

Cheers.

Thanks Mike!

We have lots of articles coming as we get closer to Montage shipping in May. Stay tuned!

Personally I think Yamaha are being a little selective in how the Montage is "spun", especially in the table in the 3rd article. Yes, you get an increase in performance parts from 4 to 8 (all with effects), but you have also dropped Multi Mode and the ability to have 16 parts available 😉

Also, I am intrigued about the constant reference to the DX7 heritage. You have forgotten the even more Advanced FM (AFM) in the SY Range (I still love my SY99/TG77), and when FM-X appears to be an FS1r with the formant bits stripped out (why), then I thought you would have been leaning on all of your FM heritage, not just the DX7.

A Montage Performance is defined by having up to sixteen Parts.

AFM as found in the SY77/99 circa 1989/1991 was a quite different engine. The interaction between that FM engine and the AWM2 was a far different animal from what is going on in the Motion Control Synthesis Engine. Back in SY days we were really excited about the potential of modifying a sine wave with a sample... On paper sounds like a great idea... I mean samples are such accurate renderings of instrument sounds, and sine waves start so devoid of harmonics (by definition a sine wave is only the Fundamental pitch)... In actual use, the more complex the Modifier the quicker the result goes to "noise" (all frequencies, chaos); while the whole interaction of AWM2 > AFM did create some very detailed and artful sounds, they mostly were in the noise end of the sound scale. Attack components, and other musical noises were its forte.

And the 'any Operator could modulate any other Operator' thing, well ... At the end of the day it did give you an infinite number of unexplored possibilities. (I do miss the crazy feedback possibilities). But when you visit how AWM2 and FM-X are integrated into this Motion Control Synthesis Engine, you'll find it a much more mature look at musical possibilities. Rather than integrating them at the wave level, the Montage has new unique ways to have the amplitude envelope of one thing, for example, modify the results of another.

As to your query on "formant shaping" being stripped out, yes, FS totally not necessary here (IMHO)... replaced with something we think musicians can actually use (without a need for degree in math and science) see your other post for details.

An while the FM-X is compatible with DX FM, to imply that this is all it is, is completely wrong. Yes it can translate all the original DX FM Voices, I mean, why not? This gives it the biggest library of sounds at time of launch of any synth ever, but if you think that's all it is... Hold on to your hat, you couldn't be more wrong. I can see a lot of thought went into what was selected and the control options that until now, never existed in any of the previous FM based engines.

Bagelos, thank you for your reply! but i was wondering about a theoretical maximum of waveforms. Because i will use a lot of small size waveforms.
for example i will need about 100 different multi-waveforms, each one of them about 5mb. 🙂 is that possible?

Bad Mister wrote:

A Montage Performance is defined by having up to sixteen Parts.

But it drops to eight if you are using sound switching? Which once you have used live you will not want to be without.

Thanks for taking the time to reply, I am genuinely interested, but accept Yamaha may never wish to answer it publicly, why the marketing spin on the DX7 where your FM start point is much further up the food chain. I.e. you have far more heritage to lean on than just the DX7

Why the interest? I am somebody who is still passionate about synths and how they actually make their sounds, as opposed to just being interested in the end result that pops out of the output jacks (important of course!) or what sound libraries are available.

I look forward to demoing the Montage when it is available.