As in Weather Report? Anyways, I'm not sure I understand what part of a drum break you're getting hung up on. Because you mention using Cubase - which can "score" the whole darn thing in software without Montage involved except for playback. Your MIDI channel needs to match what Montage expects for the drums.

But there are lots of ways to approach this - having an ARP which does the basic drum beat (you have 8 ARP variations available in one performance) - then switch to another ARP number to do the "breaks". Just so we're clear on the terms - I'm thinking a drum "break" is a moment (how ever many measures) of the drums doing something different other than keeping time - usually where other instruments cut out (or thin out) - but maybe not. And longer than a "fill" - although a "fill" is like a longer break where no instruments need to change anything. That said, a "fill" usually will be placed inside "gaps" (filling ... the gaps).

Just spelling this out so I'm clear on what the goal here is.

So you could program an ARP or use a preset ARP which does what you want. There are tons of preset ARPs "tuned" to match different drum kits. The data list has notes on which ARPs apply to what drum kits. So you could pick a fusion-fitting kit and then look for ARPs that "advertise" as matching that kit. Lots of kits share lots of similarities in construction - so you could try an ARP not advertised as matching a kit - because the alternate kit may be "close enough" to handle the "break" you're trying to invoke.

Then it would be a matter of triggering the ARP - and sending the ARP number change MIDI from the DAW back to Montage to make that approach work.

Or you could hand-score every note of the drum part and have a more "constructed" drum part where no ARPs are involved. This would take longer.

Or you could export every note of an ARP out of Montage (it's a setting) so that Cubase shows the full "score" of the drum part. Then go in and edit different things by hand. This is a hybrid approach.

Or you could program your own ARPs. There are not great tools for doing this. Lack of a sequencer means you will not be doing this effectively on the Montage itself. However, software can be used off-Montage then loading your custom (user) ARP as a MIDI file and converting to an ARP. There are some "gotchas" here, though - since not every trick up the Montage ARP sleeve is easily accomplished in this manner. The preset ARPs can enjoy all the tricks - so even if you make your own ARPs - you may or may not prefer your creation over the presets.

Im new to this world, do u remember the break button on yamaha clavinova ? i just want a button or a simple way to do feels/breaks.
Ty for the answer btw.

We all come from different equipment backgrounds. I'm not aware of Clavinova details beyond knowing what section of what music stores to go to to find one - and the general target market of those products.

... so I looked it up.

Basically there are 4 buttons of different what Montage would call ARPeggios to play as "main parts" of a song:

MAIN VARIATION [A] – [D] buttons
Press one of the MAIN VARIATION [A] – [D] buttons to select the desired Main section (the button lightsin red). Each is an accompaniment pattern of a few measures and it plays indefinitely. Pressing the selectedMAIN VARIATION button again plays an appropriate fill-in pattern to spice up the rhythm and break therepetition. After the fill-in finishes playing, it leads smoothly into the Main section

... then there's a button you can turn on so when the Clavinova is told to switch from the current "main variation" to a different one - Say "A" to "C" or "D" to "B" or .. you get the idea - then the keyboard will play some short connecting ARPeggio to bridge between the two variations:

AUTO FILL function
When the [AUTO FILL IN] button is turned on, pressing any of the Main [A] – [D] buttonsas you play automatically plays a fill-in section before switching to the next Main section

... and finally, there's a button which will insert just one measure of some other variation. Not only does the "break" variation only last one measure - but it returns back to the variation that was playing before pressing the "break" button.

[BREAK] button
This lets you add dynamic breaks in the rhythm of the accompaniment. Press the[BREAK] button during Style playback. When the one-measure Break pattern finishesplaying, the Style playback automatically shifts to the Main section

ABOVE SOURCE: CVP-701 Owner's Manual.

... and the question is - does Montage have this - a button that will, in Montage's terms, play an ARP for only one measure then automatically return to the ARP that was playing prior to hitting some button. The answer is no, it doesn't. You can play any ARP for exactly one measure, but in terms of available "buttons" - you have to manually select and "trigger" the ARP that will play for one measure - then manually select and trigger the ARP that was playing before you triggered the new ARP.

Since you can have ARPs switch only at the beginning of a measure (this is an ARP setting) - you could, for example:

(Note there are 8 buttons which will select the ARP. I'll call these ARP1-ARP8. Lets ignore the "trigger" discussion, because you can also setup an ARP to not require a re-trigger. Let's pretend like all ARPs are magically triggered automatically):

0) Setup ARP to switch on measures (a configuration setting)
1) Presss ARP1 (this will be like Variation A, in this example, on the Clavinova)
2) At some point where you want a 1 measure break, press ARP2 somewhere within the measure preceding the placement of the "break". If time signature is 4/4, then you have just about 4 beats worth of "slop"/timing to press the ARP2 button and have the break fall where you want it. This will be equivalent as pressing the "break" button on the Clavinova - except you need to do the next step manually as well
3) Any time between immediately after the break starts playing (the measure it falls under) until the last moment of the same measure (about 4 beats if time signature is 4/4) - you must press the ARP1 button to tell Montage to return to ARP1 after the "break".

Montage has less ARP "automation" than arranger type keyboards have - the Tyros series being the top-end of the arranger concept. Other keyboards like the Clavinova series have some elements of "arranger" features - and this break button is one such example. Montage, as a synthesizer, does not have "arranger" features - but does have more flexibility with the arpeggios themselves. By this, I mean you can manually program your own arpeggios and create your own "styles", etc where certainly the Clavinova series does not have this option. The buttons dedicated to ARPeggio playback on the Montage are more general-purpose. So any of the 8 buttons can be a "break" type ARPeggio (meaning in how it sounds - not in what it "does" in terms of the automation part - which Montage does not have) - and any of the 8 buttons can be a "main" part, or a "fill" part, or even do something else completely. The 8 ARPs do not have to be related. One can be a country shuffle and the next can be a techno beat and next can be an ARP which tells external lighting equipment to change the stage lights red. So there's more flexibility in how to assign/program the "ARP" buttons in Montage - and more limited in how they work in terms of "style" automation requiring more manual work to get the timing of the button presses correct (for the performer).

Montage has Arpeggios, the Clavinova (the grandfather of all Arrangers) has Styles. While there are similaritie, the difference is important to understand. Arrangers like the Clavinova have these chord intelligent musical phrases grouped together to create a backing band. A band that knows the appropriate thing to play in hundreds of different styles (or genres) of music.

There are Main Sections and Fill-ins that automatically transition from Section to Section.

The Montage has Arpeggiators, the Yamaha Arrangers do not have Arpeggiators. Arpeggios are listed separately (not grouped into Styles) - the whole presentation of the data is different in order to fuel a different workflow. And while if you select a Bossa Nova Drum groove, and assign a Bossa Nova Bass line, and Bossa Nova guitar ARP, with a Bossa Nova piano figure, you will have affectively assemble a Bossa Nova "Style" but that is not the workflow design in Montage.

It's more about mix and match. There are no automatic movements (ala the Fill-ins) there are fill-ins but they do not "have to" go somewhere specific. The Montage not only gives you individual phrases but they are freely constructable and you provide the automation by how you assign them.

Thank you for all the help you provide to this community 😀