There is no scene function which selects a PART.

The only way to locally control PARTs 9-16 (which have keyboard control turned off permanently) is to select one of the PARTs 9-16. Once doing so, you can use the keyboard to play that single PART.

The combination of buttons you're using is the fastest way (to me) to accomplish what you're after.

In a live gig, I would exit out of live set to a mode which will accept pressing the switch for selecting PART 9 - so at least it boils down to one button press.

This isn't perfect - because on the gig remembering to setup the keyboard properly before a song is sometimes hit-and-miss.

I guess there are other options out there. I'd have to experiment with one to see if it's going to work. The one I know will work would be a second external keyboard (can be a "dumb" MIDI keyboard) for playing PART 9.

Here's the other way I wanted to test first:

1) Use a 5-pin MIDI DIN cable and plug one end to Montage MIDI OUT and the other end to Montage MIDI IN (loopback)
2) Setup Montage to use standard MIDI mode instead of USB-MIDI mode
3) Take any of your parts 1-8 and link them to PART 9. To do this, enable Zone Master and then in the PART you link (1-8), select the Zone Transmit option - turn PART Zone ON - set the transmit channel to Ch 9.

Now when you play the keyboard - PART 9 will play along with everything else - not requiring you to select PART 9 first

4) Use Scenes to MUTE all PARTs except for PART 9 if you want to quickly get Montage to play only PART 9 by itself. It's not the same as what you were doing before - selecting PART 9 by exiting out of Live Set first. This method doesn't allow for the other PARTs (if there are held notes) to continue to sound -- because we're using MUTE. I'm not sure exactly what your requirements are - so this may not matter.

You can instead use XA control if you want to accomplish something which allows the other PARTs' notes to continue to sound. That's a little more involved to convey, so I'll leave it there.

Note that using this "trick" - there may be a way to shuffle PART 9 back into PART 1-8 and stick something else on PART 9 instead. Something that will always play with the other PARTs or be isolated with a key range instead.

Doing something like a MIDI loop is not without its potential for issues. I believe this can be effective and benign.

I've created an elaborate performance which requires a scene using a sound I've saved in part 9. This doesn't play however unless I switch from "Live Set" to "Performance" mode and physically hit the part 9 button upper right.

How can I change this link so simply by hitting my scene 4 button, I hear nothing but the sound saved in part 9?

(I do everything in my shows in Live Set mode and it's a pain switching and hitting all these extra buttons).

Thanks in advance for any help.

Get yourself a Yamaha FC5, or any momentary pedal (TS jack)will work.
Set your MONTAGE to FS = LIVE SET+

Once you have activated a Live Set, you no longer have to be looking at the Live Set Grid screen. The grid is helpful for seeing what’s next, but if you’ve placed them in order already, you can be on any screen when you step on the momentary FS, it will advance to the next Performance on your Live Set List.

Therefore you can remain on the [PART CONTROL] screen with access to your Part [1] - [16] buttons immediately when you recall the slot.

Using a FS to advance through your Live Set Performances will free you from a ton of button pushes. It allows you to be looking at any screen (any screen) when you step on the pedal it will advance to your next LIVE SET slot.

Press [UTILITY]
Touch “Settings” > “MIDI I/O” > Set FS = “Live Set+”

Plug your momentary FS into the Assignable Foot Switch jack.

This is covered in the tutorial article:
Performance Basics and the “Live Set” Part II

Yes, I've already tried as you've suggested BM. This works, but the sustaining sounds from the "1st" performance gets cut off abruptly when changing, perhaps because my "part 9" is an imported waveform, and not an internal sound per se, though I'm not sure that's the reason. I'll be fine doing it by digging into the "Performance" mode and hitting Part 9 when the time comes, as Jason confirmed.

If you're using anything in PART 9 - doesn't matter what's in there - PART 9 could contain no Waveforms - then when you switch to another Performance SSS is disabled. Therefore, held notes will not carry through a Performance change. This goes for any Performance you start with OR any Performance you end up with after the Performance change (aka "FROM" and "TO" Performances during the switch). This is just to explain the nature of sounds cutting off during a Performance switch and really isn't related to what you're trying to do here.

What BM wasn't suggesting is using a Performance change to solve your issue and do a Performance change instead of using Part 9. He was only saying that if you're wanting to keep the Live Set screen up - then perhaps you're doing this so you can press the screen for the next Performance on the list when you're ready to move to the next Performance in your gig. And, if this is true, then you don't need the Live Set screen there IF all of your Performances in the Live Set are in order and you play them at the gig that way. After the song is over - you're not playing anything - you just need to advance to the next Performance - press the footswitch instead of having to fiddle with the touch screen.

The possible real-world hole with this suggestion, at least for me - maybe not you - is that my set list is never the same gig-to-gig AND the band leader calls audibles all the time. Therefore, I leave Live Set as my main screen and never leave this mode. The next song is either on page 1 or page 2 of my Set List. I jump around and do not go in order. It's not super-easy to rearrange the Live Set for every gig and really easier for me to deal with manually choosing the correct Performance manually than advancing to the next Live Set slot. Since audibles are called - this is going to breakdown at some point anyhow.

Yes, I've already tried as you've suggested BM. This works, but the sustaining sounds from the "1st" performance gets cut off abruptly when changing, perhaps because my "part 9" is an imported waveform, and not an internal sound per se, though I'm not sure that's the reason.

No, if you have something in Part 9-16 you do not get to use SSS when switching Performances, that is spec. Nothing to do with Live Sets, nor the Foot Switch, nor the fact that your Part 9 is made from an imported Waveform... Spec is that a Multi Part KBD CTRL Performance (of up to 8 Parts maximum) can SSS to another Multi Part KBD CTRL Performance of up to 8 Parts.

The fact that you have a “Part 9”, at all, is why you lose SSS.

If you need seamless transitions between sounds you might look into MONTAGE’s ability to “merge” multiple instruments into a Performance... then use the Motion Control engine or even the Expanded Articulation Control to transition between instruments. When you can’t seamlessly move to new Performance because you have used Part 9-16, you might consider if there is another way to build your Performance.

For example: Are you using all eight of the first eight Parts? In other words, why did you place the imported Waveform in Part 9?
If you knew this negated the Seamless Sound Switching might you placed it in one of the first eight Parts instead (with the KBD CTRL deactivated)?

The KBD CTRL icon, when activated, allows that a Part is selected to ‘play’ when the Performance is recalled. If you wish to have a specific Part ready when you recall a Performance you should store that Performance with the KBD CTRL icon active on the Part(s) you want to sound initially
The KBD CTRL icon is available for any of the first eight Parts.

You can easily EXCHANGE your Part 9 with any other Part
Select [PART SELECT 9]
Press [SHIFT] + [EDIT]

If you are using all eight of the KBD CTRL, then there is no problem other than, as explained, you have exceeded the scope of the SSS spec.

Hi Gentlemen,
2 points;
1) I have not responded sooner to your recent helpful posts because the website has some issues. For 3 days it would not recognize my username/password combo that I have been logging in with. Then I requested a 'new password' code to change mine. That was on Friday. I never have received this code, nor even an automated email verifying that my request was received. Very frustrating. Only now for reasons I can't fathom, I was able to sign in once again. Tomorrow, who knows. Please see if your staff can make this more reliable, and more responsive to password change requests.

2) Jason, like you, my sets are often audibles, never in order, never in the same order, so I couldn't do that option any more than you could. I do see your points BM - excellent idea trying to merge parts. I may do that. What I DID notice when playing this live for the first time Saturday night without any merging, was that I could simply hold the sustain pedal on a big chord on this performance, switch to part 9, hit my waveform trigger key, and viola - the sustain held the chord up until I hit part 9, no dropout, nothing but bliss! The audience was ecstatic. I'm not sure it is intended to work thus, and I know it is not SSS, but work, it did, and still is today.
The merge may still be simpler and 'fool' (--> me <--) proof.

Thanks for the help as always!
Gary

First, connect MIDI in to MIDI out and setup the transmit channel of one of the PARTs 1-8 to transmit CH 9 (as described before). Then, set all the elements in PARTs 1-8 to XA Control "A.SW Off". Also set all the elements in PART 9 XA Control to "A.SW1 On".

With this setup, you can press A.SW1 (assignable switch) to ON when you want PART 9 to sound. Anything you are holding with the other PARTs will continue to sound until you let go of the sustain or the keyboard. It's like a pseudo-SSS within the context of a single Performance.

A full XA control tutorial is here: https://hub.yamaha.com/mastering-montage-13-assign-switches-1-2/

This is that missing part of the suggestion if you wanted for the notes not to "cut off" by using MUTE (because this example doesn't need to use MUTE).

If you wanted for SCENE buttons to be pressed -instead- of A.SW1 - you could automate pressing A.SW1 with an ARP. There are ARPs that will toggle A.SW1 ON or OFF. The Arpeggio Category Search has a main category of "Control / HybridSeq" and some ARPs have "AF1" in the title. These turn on "AF1". You should be able to use scenes to start control ARPs which turn on/off AF1 (A.SW1). Although I haven't tried it - you may be able to create a user ARP that sends CC messages to turn on or turn off AF1.

The default CCs are 56 for A.SW1 and 57 for A.SW2.

Point being is that it is possible for a SCENE to change the ARP and certain ARPs can change the setting of A.SW1 (or A.SW2).

This is the "it's not the easiest way". I'm not suggesting it over anything else. Just that it's a possibility if you want to use PART 9 without compressing AND have "SSS-like" behavior when switching to PART 9 AND only want to press a scene button to accomplish this.

For a recent discussion on the SSS function and the myriad of other ways to seamlessly transition please see this thread/post
SSS and transitioning instrument sounds

There is two things Yamaha might want to take from this discussion for future patches.. or versions of Montage.
1) make it possible to assign the keyboard on/off switch to a scene...
This would allow you more flexibillity in choosing 8 of the 16 parts as you need them
I can’t imagine any real time performance where i would need more then 16 parts..
Or more then 8 parts at the same time when not sequencing(and thats a non issue with the montage)

2) make sss more flexible..
so if you use 9 parts and switch performances..
The instrument chooses the 7 smartest sounds to keep alive..
I would guess thats not hard to program in an algorythm..

Just making suggestions here for the future, to make Montage even more formidable then it allready is...
Over the past 2 years i was hugely impressed with all those things Yamaha allready added to the Montage..
Which certainly means they are listening o customers overhere..

Finding out half of the PARTs were essentially not available for use (as I would have) was a bummer. However, there's a workaround that can bring those PARTs back in the fold that I've never employed because there are other ways to manage.

I completely understand the suggestions to expand the capabilities of the next generation (or current, if possible - likely not). And do not disagree that more is better.

That said, I also find that limitations present much of the fun of synth programming as it pulls for creative solutions.