You can find one if you call around. But some dealers don't have them in stock right now.

Might be a sign

Isn't this a perfect time for Yamaha to release something for the Montage? I mean, some time between the 1st of May and end of June... Great time to announce something new and build on the hype before the summer... 😉

Maybe it's just wishful thinking, but there's not a whole lot going on in May-June, so Yamaha would have peoples' full attention!

I definitely would not guess they will release a Full flagship replacement like a new Yamaha 'Mosaic' line of synthesizers (just a made up name that I think fits the Motif, Montage, etc. flagship naming, and would be a great choice for the next Flagship) 😉
I think we'll know about that before it happens as we see Yamaha submit specs/details for approval and trademarking, etc.

I could see them releasing a Montage Blue, basically the exact same keyboard in a different colour, but it doesn't make enough sense why stock is so low on the regular Montage right now...something slightly bigger is in the works, as it quite similar to how the MODX stock fizzled out at music stores before releasing the MODX+ replacement.

So my best guess is that there is a new Montage+ soon to be released... It could happen anytime between now and September, as the last major OS update (3.0) was released in Sept 2019, but it's possible they release it sooner in the May-June timeframe, before summer hits and keyboard players look for a new synth to play gigs with..!?

Ok I just realized there is Superbooth 2023 in May, so my guess has changed to June 1st (same as when the Montage 3.5 update was released) or September... :p

I had my 88 at the time Smart Morph was released because the Fantom had that (4) Morph feature for any voice. Yamaha copied the idea to the FM engine. When was that? I sold it after that thinking the next generation was coming but the 88 was too big anyway and I found a factory refurbished Fantom for $2,300 which was stupid cheap as it was pretty new at the time. I couldn't find a scratch on it. Something happen because there was a line of refurbished directly from Roland.

So the rumor is a new OS update with an AN engine or a new line completely with an AN engine? I'm guessing but I seriously doubt they change the line completely. I'm thinking they add an engine and double the power to 16 voices internal and make room for other inclusions going forward. Try to reuse parts that are already in production to keep costs down. A Montage + makes more sense than a totally new line.

Oh and yes that when you press the screen it actually responds quickly. That lag was awful.

[quotePost id=121342]Oh and yes that when you press the screen it actually responds quickly. That lag was awful. [/quotePost]Did you turn off the animation and blur effects? Response can be snappier without them.

Yes I remember that was a thing. It's still funny to offer features that inhibit the use of the actual touch screen such as blur and animation. That means you don't have enough horsepower for those features. I looped the MIDI cable and got it to play all 16 voices. Still not sure why that option isn't built-in internally if you need it because it has that capability but you have to sacrifice the MIDI interface and the SSS and poly I guess. Same thing here is that you sacrifice the blur and animation for faster response. Yamaha would never respond concerning the MIDI loop almost like they never admitted you could outsource the display but they did in demos. Hopefully that will be a display out to touch screen jack directly. I still have that Dell touchscreen BTW which I'm not sure they still make. Maybe all functions can be bluetooth out/in to an app because our phones or tablets are way more high powered than their screen. I know Yamaha is not a software company so someone would have to help streamline the effort. Big upcharges etc. but CK has BT for music. I always say if you don't do it someone else eventually will.

The Musical Instruments part of the Yamaha Europe site still has the message:

"Due to the difficulty in procuring semiconductors and procuring parts worldwide, some of our product area deliveries may be delayed. Thank you for your understanding."

If I were Yamaha facing short supply of AKM DACs (the most likely part in short supply), I would put the DACs on allocation. That is, I would allocate the DACs carefully to specific production runs. Intuitively, I would target newly announced products because why spend a ton of money announcing and promoting a new product then not deliver it for months -- while customers lose interest.

As to consider this a "sign," that's too "Heaven's Gate" for me...

All the best -- pj

Either way something is coming. Either they are retooling and repurposing the assembly lines and/or parts are in short supply for that same reason or otherwise. Move all parts and resources to the priority item which isn't the 7 year old Montage. If they are about to announce and release they must have an inventory including shipping boxes and materials, manuals, packaging foam etc. Also an item that has been proof tested and reps who have been trained to present the product. It's probably been in design for 7 years since 2016. If it's based on Montage then training isn't as big a deal which is probably the case. I'm assuming it's wasn't ready for NAMM. IF the form factor stays nearly identical all the shipping stuff stays the same which is no little matter. The manual can take a lot of editing and pouring over. Also interesting was the timing of the CK release actually before NAMM. They got that ready and didn't wait and will get a serious boost in profits because that one is really affordable for the masses. Let me look to see it that is one is in short supply. That could be due to popularity unlike Montage.

It's even possible a second source is being ramped up and nothing more than a BOM change to the new footprint/function compatible part would be needed. Who knows.

Certainly there has been time to invest into a small speedbump (i.e. a "+" model or some such thing).

The blur and animations aren't a matter of horsepower. For me, they are just terrible unnecessary features that need to be the configurable option and not the default. Animation has the intention of slowing things down so you can see the animation happen (increasing the "horsepower" wouldn't change the nature of an animation). I have no reason to see anything fly around. And blur just makes the screen harder to read. I don't need that. There's no reason for me to kind of see what's in the graphic layer below. Even tutorials are littered with less clear screen captures because blur was turned on. This all would have been "fixed" by changing the default to not blur, not animate, and I guess beeping on taps could go either way. I have this turned on for me. It doesn't get in the way of anything.

No such shortages that I can tell on Amazon and SW concerning the CK and it also needs parts although some very different from Montage. Tells me there's not necessarily any general shortage. Also Amazon has zero Montages available. They have slowed or halted Montage production.

When you fabricate a PCB - you select the parts around a year before the product release. So that puts the Montage parts in approximately the 2015 timeframe. Memory parts (specifically DRAM) have a particularly short shelf life since memory technology is constantly evolving at a rapid pace. For my own projects, these DRAM parts tend to be the parts that go EOL first. I don't (currently) design any audio related PCBs - so I don't have such a handle on the general lifespan of those. However, it has been stated before that parts that deal with analog audio have been problematic for Montage. The problem with these parts - similar to memory parts - is that they are single sourced. There's not typically a footprint/function compatible replacement to help manage supply issues or EOL (end of life). Often DRAM parts, since they conform to a standard, could have a number of parts that could be interchanged. However, even if on paper two parts are "identical" - you have to run a memory qualification for each part since the timing closure has small windows. Outside of memory and audio ICs - there are plenty of other possible single-source parts. Certainly all of the Yamaha parts are this way although I suppose Yamaha could have established multiple lines from different silicon manufacturers. This is not very common at all, however, due to the costs involved. You would usually partner with a reliable manufacturer but natural disasters or other events have been shown to thwart otherwise careful planning (such as the Fukushima disaster that impacted all Japanese production -- such as NEC -- for a while, or floods in the Philippines that had a big impact on hard drives among other things produced there). More recently, Covid has been presented as a reason for shortages primarily due to impacts to the labor force at multiple levels of the product chain (production, distribution, etc). Things are leveling off a bit for this particular "disaster" - but at least my experience is that the electronics supply chain is not back to being as healthy as it was before Covid.

A product released years later has a wholly different collection of parts to choose from when it comes to these single-sourced parts. The Yamaha parts are probably relatively stable but memory parts, clocks, etc are selected with EOL in mind and therefore would not be the same parts as a keyboard released almost a decade earlier.

And of course, you've correctly mentioned that the two products (CK and Montage) are - to paraphrase - apples and oranges. The part overlap for major components is likely very minimal.

They did manage to successfully release CK in two sizes (YC was only the 61 for the first year) however we don't know what delays or challenges occurred to that original ETA projection. It's only been 3 years since YC and 2 for the 73/88? So the stage board market is fast paced even if they encountered delays. Hopefully if Montage + has been a long time coming they were able to procure all of what they needed long before now. I've always wanted to know exactly how many units were in boxes ready to ship at the availability date. Wasn't it the Genos where the US got the first release globally and we're not even the arranger super power. Not sure about Montage. I pre-ordered it and probably wasn't more than a month wait.

Guitar Center, Musician's Friend, Kraft are also out of all colors and sizes except the 88 in black at GC.

Let us know if you can find any Montages:

1)Sweetwater 0
2) GC/MF 88key in black
3) Kraft 0
4) Amazon 0
5) Zzounds 0
6) Levin's 61key black & 76key white (Site claims new In Stock)

Saul commented "Bonners in Eastbourne are no longer listing the Montage and tell me that they are not stocking it anymore. This was the same situation with the MODX before it was replaced. I think it is now a safe bet that Montage is being replaced, either with a Montage Plus or something completely new."

This speculation goes on for days I couldn't read all of it. "Yamaha Montage Replacement"
https://yamahamusicians.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=19182&start=180