This is what the Owner manual says on page 56:

Data memory full. The internal memory is full, preventing storing of the recorded data in the Library.

Bad Mister discusses that message in this old thread
https://www.yamahasynth.com/forum/data-memory-full-message-whilst-recording-a-song-with-the-pattern-sequencer#reply-110654

And later in that same thread
https://www.yamahasynth.com/forum/data-memory-full-message-whilst-recording-a-song-with-the-pattern-sequencer#reply-110668

That is the only info I can find. You have too much of something already and there is no room to store more of whatever that 'something' is. When you are out of memory it can affect trying to store other things since there isn't a fixed amount of memory for each object type.

Some things, like waveforms, can take up a LOT of memory.

Please read that ENTIRE thread and all of Bad Mister's comments. He asks that user to provide some very specific info about the error message what they were doing.

Please provide that same info here.

Hi! Thanks for this. Okay, here are some stats from the Data utility function:

User Performance: 152/640
Arp: 0/256
Library: 3/8
Pattern: 128/128
Song: 111/128
Waveform: 671 MB / 1.0GB
Motion seq: empty

Apart from the patterns, it doesn't seem that maxxed. So again, if I pick a performance, select an available song slot to record in (ie 112: NewSong) as MIDI, as soon as I press the red RECORD button I get "Data memory full." with the yellow triangle and punctuation mark. I thought I was saving this to a USB stick to avoid data-maxxing issues, so not sure what to make of it / what the problem is. Can you help / advise? Thanks!

Apart from the patterns, it doesn't seem that maxxed.

That is all it takes.

You can't record a new pattern if you have used all of the slots.

So if the last thing you recorded was a pattern pressing 'Record' takes you to the
'Play/Rec' tab selection and to the LAST tab (MIDI, Audio, Pattern) you were on when you
left the Play/Rec tab.

My guess is that for you the last tab was 'Pattern' and there aren't any more available.

So you get the out of data because it tries to open the Pattern sub-tab and can't.

One thing you can try is delete at least ONE pattern and then see if you can select
the Play/Rec tab and get to the sub-screen without getting the error message.

If that works then you have two choices:

1. archive, and then delete, some of your patterns to free up some pattern slots
2. select either the MIDI or Audio sub-tab before you leave the Play/Rec tab.

Option #2 will allow you to record new MIDI or Audio but you won't be able to record any new patterns or even get to the sub-screen if you accidentally select the pattern tab before you exit the screen.

Let us know if that works.

Just completed tests on a Modx by creating 128 patterns.

If I go to the Play/Rec screen I get a 'Pattern Full' message and not a 'Data Memory Full' message.

I would expect the message to be the same on Montage but don't know.

okay thanks for that, will give it a go. Re archive patterns- how do you do that? You mean save them to the USB stick then delete from MODX so as to free up data? I did at first record everything in Patterns; when that got full started doing REC into MIDI / Songs, so maybe the performance is linked to an earlier Pattern. I'll go thru them and delete unused / outdated ones. Would be great if I could 'archive' them for future reference / use. How'd you do that? Is there an archive / save-to USB function or some such? Thanks!

The easiest thing to execute to store away your data is to create a backup file (X7A file). The downside to this is you cannot restore patterns you delete one at a time using the backup. You will restore the entire keyboard to the state when you made the backup including all song files, patterns, etc. It's the only bulk (meaning more than one object) save option that will store away your songs/patterns/etc. Otherwise, you'd need to go through the more difficult task of saving Patterns to MIDI files and then it's not a "perfect" reassembly project. So I would:

1) Make a complete backup. Put the date in the filename. Maybe mention "allpats" in the filename to clue you in that it has all of your patterns. Or "mfull" (for memory full) or what have you.

2) Do what you want to delete stuff. Modify stuff. Time goes on and your keyboard is different from the above backup.

... and when you "need" to restore something you lost:

3) Make a new backup to save all of your recent changes. You can call this one "lite_20230906.X7A" or what have you.

4) Restore your backup from "1)"

5) Do what you need to do with this pattern. Maybe this includes going through the trouble of saving the pattern to a MID file in the hopes of reconstructing the pattern using your more recent backup. At least now, using the old backup, you have your data back.

6) Load back the 2nd "lite" backup with all of your more recent changes when you're "done" with that pattern you deleted.

I don't have the Melas tools or know what they offer in terms of pattern management. When I search for "song" or "pattern" on JMelas's website, I don't see either word mentioned in the Total Librarian or Performance Editor or Waveform Editor or (of course) Live Set Editor.

I do wish there was an X7P file that could store patterns and songs. And that you could backup all of them or pick and choose which to store in an X7P file and then on the other end pick and choose which patterns/songs within an X7P file to load. That's a wish that doesn't (and won't) exist considering the EOL status of Montage (classic).

Someone with more experience using patterns can probably supply better details of best practices to arrive at the destination you're after.

You can either create a backup or use Montage Connect on your computer to transfer patterns to a DAW such as Cubase.
https://www.yamahasynth.com/learn/news/mastering-montage-using-montage-connect-to-import-performance-patterns

ok thanks this is good stuff, will take some time to digest and try out. So backup everything first, then delete and do what needs to be done, then save that. Can record straight to DAW but problem is bouncing cubase 12 to audio- probably an older computer prob will just have to try and work around it somehow

i basically need to delete the patterns, after saving them, to free up space, to create the data-space in which to save new recordings into, be it song, pattern, MIDI