I seem to be in the minority, but I'm really excited about this synth. I wasn't even looking for something like this, either - two weeks ago I was planning on buying a Moog Voyager! Now I have to put that on hold and get one of these first.

The big selling point for me is the FM-X synthesis. I'm a total FM synthesis freak! My first synthesizer was a Yamaha V50 workstation, which was 4-Op FM, like the TX81Z with PEGs, effects and 16 note polyphony. I wrote a software editor for the TX81Z called TX81Z Programmer in 2004.

In 1998 I had my FS1R preordered weeks in advance and I still have it to this day. I love that thing, but it's so difficult to program as a rackmount unit. You really have to edit the FS1R's sounds on a computer, but working on a computer with keyboards is something I've always found really difficult to do. There just seems to be no ergonomic way to set it up. I don't know how people do it. I guess you need custom furniture built? (Hey Yamaha: how about an 88-key board with a shelf in the middle to put your laptop...the knobs and such can be placed to either side) So I really wished they made a keyboard version of the FS1R. The Montage really sounds like what I've been waiting for. I hope the onscreen editor is efficient to use. The increased sound quality is just icing on the cake.

I think FM is the best, most organic sounding type of synthesis, with the possible exception of modular synthesis (which I don't have any experience with, so I can't really judge). What's cool with FM is not all those bells and clanging noises people do (that classic DX7 E.Piano sound is horrendous!), but just taking a bread and butter synth sound and setting up different velocity sensitivities on each of the different operators. Now instead of velocity affecting just the volume or just one end of the harmonic spectrum, you're modifying 16 (8 ops times 2 sides of each band) different areas of the spectrum at once. It's just so much more interesting and less tiring to listen to than a normal synth sound. Just 8 modulation parameters like that is plenty to put a lot of interest in the sound, and the FS1R can do a lot more than that. I think you can set up 8 parameters at once on any controller (per voice). And of course there's scaling and all this other stuff. It's not going to turn heads or anything, but in my opinion it's better to be subdued with FM. Trying to be flashy with FM leads to all that clanging noise and ear-piercing bell crap.

So I think this idea of blending AWM2 with FM is really interesting and I'm looking forward to seeing what I can do with it.