I for one am still trying to wrap my head around how to use it in my musical world. I'm learning a lot, fast, but it's still drinking from a fire hose. it's a very different paradigm. Very complex, but designed to make powerful sounds with ease once those setups are developed. They seem very song-specific. Some things I like, a lot, others seem geared toward the dumbing down of, uh, I mean, "using technology" to make modern music.

Maybe it IS the new way though. Time will tell, but I'll be gone by then. In the meantime, it's the synth I've been waiting 35 years for. I get up at 5:00 am just to have a couple of hours with it before work. I haven't done that in a decade, and I've gone through a couple dozen synths in that time.

Give it time, it's a great instrument.

Lgm wrote:
Not much talk on forums, no knock my socks off demos or music from buyers. (that I have heard)
More talk about what elektron will do NEXT! and way more about the basic VCO polys from dsi.
A lot dialogue here is from disgruntled Motif owners about not having this or that.
Considering is supposed to be a synthheads synth, I'm wondering has it been marketed wrong.
Yes I know its expensive, but so are the P6/OB6
I think Yamaha would be concerned about this, any opinions?

Where have you been?

This is one of the best promoted & talked about synths ever, from any company.
The reason why you notice some disgruntled Motif owners is because you're primed to notice that. Look through the posts here and you'll see that most posts are innocent questions about features and how to do this or that.

No, Yamaha has marketed it very well indeed. Compare the Yamaha marketing with Casio for their PX560, or Roland for their JD-XA, or Korg for their latest Kronos. They don't come close to Yamaha's marketing and user support.

Many people have unrealistic expectations of manufacturers and the instruments they develop & release. They expect the new instrument to be a be-all to end-all aspirations. That the new instrument, for example the Montage, will fulfill EVERY dream that they ever had about their PERFECT keyboard, and do it for less than $100 ! Oh, that would be great, wouldn't it? Don't worry about the staff at Yamaha, or other company, putting food on their table. We want it, we must have it at garage-sale prices, and we want it NOW!

I'm reminded of when Zoom released their magnificent R24 digital recorder a few years back. Amazing 24 track with lots of built-in features. But you still had some forum posts griping about why it didn't do some obscure or irrelevant thing, and rubbishing the affordably priced powerful recorder based on what THEY would have done....Except that they wouldn't be able to in a century of Sundays.

The Montage is priced well for what it does, and offers beautiful new possibilities for music creation... Shame that it isn't clairvoyant as well, eh?

My Montage is going to need to be replaced because the lights under the orange buttons are mis-aligned. I talked to the great guys at Sweetwater, and they're going to take care of this as soon as they get their next shipment of Montages (sometime in July) because at the moment they are completely sold out.

Sounds to me like Yamaha is selling as many Montages as they can make. Marketing can't do any better than that, but I'm willing to bet they're running around with their hair on fire in the factory, working to boost production to meet demand.

As for me, after 2 weeks I'm hooked. I've literally never been able to make sounds this deep and pretty, and so far I'm just using the built-in ones.The phrase that keeps occurring to me is "God's own synthesizer," and I'm hoping He doesn't show up to take it back…

Okay so a couple of reasoned replies and a fanboi rant who doesnt appear to own one.:o

BTW Sam I've been around this stuff since 1982, worked as a pro musician, in retail/wholsale, in studios, in product development,
in repairs and modifications, owning hundred over the years, currently about 14 synths and drum machines, even a Yamaha Upright and RGX A2 guitar
I'm hardly a novice, so lay off product juice.;)

So back to reasoned replies,

Micheal, first production runs are always limited in numbers, and nearly always sell out as people rush to have the latest thing

To Scott and Micheal I am not questioning the quality of the synth itself.

The response online has imo been very underwhelming and thats what i'm getting at.

I did just waste half a day on public transport to check one out only to find the place closed on a saturday afternoon,:(

Lgm wrote:
Okay so a couple of reasoned replies and a fanboi [sic] rant who doesnt appear to own one.:o
BTW Sam I've been around this stuff since 1982, worked as a pro musician, in retail/wholsale, in studios, in product development,
in repairs and modifications, owning hundred over the years, currently about 14 synths and drum machines, even a Yamaha Upright and RGX A2 guitar
I'm hardly a novice, so lay off product juice.;)

Good for you, we all believe you...don't we? Then you go ahead & contradict yourself in two consecutive sentences:

To Scott and Micheal I am not questioning the quality of the synth itself.
The response online has imo been very underwhelming and thats what i'm getting at.

You're not questioning the quality of the synth.... but the response has been underwhelming. Implication being? The bulk of musicians/fanboi (sic) are tone deaf or dumb & can't appreciate the quality of the Montage, 'cause if they did, they'd write about it, eh? Then your level of research shows:

I did just waste half a day on public transport to check one out only to find the place closed on a saturday afternoon

Most of us would find out if a shop is open on a Saturday afternoon, so as not to "waste half a day on public transport".
So you admit to not owning one either. No surprise there, since it's only been out a couple of weeks. It won't be commonly available for another month, so why have a go at others who don't own one yet?

This fanboi (sic) has been around long enough to know that Yamaha's level of promotion & support has been excellent, and that the Montage has had great write-ups. Most of that not simply due to manufacturer enthusiasm, but the high sound quality & new creativity directions the Montage offers. Or is that too much fanboi (sic) for you to stomach?

The introduction of the Montage was certainly not a surprise to me, and since it's showing at NAMM 2016, it seems like it's everywhere I turn. Being a big fan of the Motif line, I have been following the anticipation of the Momtage for a long (over a year) time on the Internet. Owing to the fact that the Motif line is so immensely popular, this is almost a foregone conclusion (especially in light of the introduction of the Kronos). We have been waiting on a response from Yamaha ever since the Kronos hit. And boy, did it ever hit !!
The first real clue was the leaked news that Yamaha licensed the "Montage" name...this was not the XFIi or any other Motif...this was something completely new, as a new name would imply. Now, I have owned each Motif...but I am not a Yamaha fanboy per se (I own the Kronos as well)...but, this Montage that I now own is a completely new beast...it seems to be more than just a Motif on steroids !! I have been working with it for about a week, and the layers/splits that I get with it are unreal. The sounds are so good, and the GUI is so easy.
I sensed the hype...and I feel that the Montage has lived up to every bit of it !! Bravo, Yamaha !!

Sam wrote:

Lgm wrote:
Okay so a couple of reasoned replies and a fanboi [sic] rant who doesnt appear to own one.:o
BTW Sam I've been around this stuff since 1982, worked as a pro musician, in retail/wholsale, in studios, in product development,
in repairs and modifications, owning hundred over the years, currently about 14 synths and drum machines, even a Yamaha Upright and RGX A2 guitar
I'm hardly a novice, so lay off product juice.;)

Good for you, we all believe you...don't we? Then you go ahead & contradict yourself in two consecutive sentences:

To Scott and Micheal I am not questioning the quality of the synth itself.
The response online has imo been very underwhelming and thats what i'm getting at.

You're not questioning the quality of the synth.... but the response has been underwhelming. Implication being? The bulk of musicians/fanboi (sic) are tone deaf or dumb & can't appreciate the quality of the Montage, 'cause if they did, they'd write about it, eh? Then your level of research shows:

I did just waste half a day on public transport to check one out only to find the place closed on a saturday afternoon

Most of us would find out if a shop is open on a Saturday afternoon, so as not to "waste half a day on public transport".
So you admit to not owning one either. No surprise there, since it's only been out a couple of weeks. It won't be commonly available for another month, so why have a go at others who don't own one yet?

This fanboi (sic) has been around long enough to know that Yamaha's level of promotion & support has been excellent, and that the Montage has had great write-ups. Most of that not simply due to manufacturer enthusiasm, but the high sound quality & new creativity directions the Montage offers. Or is that too much fanboi (sic) for you to stomach?

You're simply not worth my time, I only skip read your post as it was predictable, and take note: I wont even do that for your next one as i know you wont be able to
help yourself with another rant that includes personal attacks.

Sorry guys to take it to this level but I dont suffer fools lightly, and I am trying to have discussion about how well the Montage has been received.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=fanboi

So you can drop the (sic).

I also thought there was a bit less posting activity than I would have expected on forums after the release. But the gearslutz electronic music forum seems to have a bias toward analog synths and digital doesn't exist for them. And there's quite a lot of interest there on lower-cost products. I'm not saying all people there, but a lot. The Keyboard corner forum is more about pro keyboard players. I think they see Montage as a matter-of-fact update to their bread-and-butter Motif. Not a lot of excitement or talk, you just upgrade and get on with your work.

When there is a lot of talk it's usually complaints, and negative (internet chatter) stuff, this is like the quiet that happens at the big family get together when the food arrives. All conversation drops to a low point 'cause everyone is enjoying the food. A lot of time, the quietest meals are the best, means everyone's eating! 🙂

Trust me, sales are not quiet...