The best and really only way to determine for yourself how well Montage "plays" as an instrument is to play it yourself. Reach out to your local Yamaha dealer, let them know you are interested in getting a hands-on demonstration of this instrument. Ask exactly when, or if, they will have one on display for you to experience.

That video seems to have been done literally from the third row on a cell phone... I'm quite sure a slew of new Montage demos will be on the 'Net with Musikmesse opening tomorrow.

Shipping is projected to be May 2016...

(I'll reach out to Martin and see what they have planned)...

Obviously a hands-on is better, but not everyone will have to the luxury of trying it out in person. And obviously in person I won't be able to come up with an arrangement on par with Martin's work.

The more quality demos online the better, and after listening to Martin's performance it's quite obvious that the ones that are currently available don't do Montage justice 🙂

That cell phone video doesn't either 😉

Well, that's why I'm asking for a proper audio recording, Phil! And for more demos like that. As I said, not everyone will have the opportunity for a hands-on.

😉 is a communication tool. You used it but don't seem to be able to read it or interpret it when used in return... I know what you're saying. YOU don't like what you've heard from other demonstrators and would like more that cater to YOUR particular taste because after all, all the others don't "speak to" YOU. I get it. Patience. 😉

Or move to where you can get hands on 😉 😉

Just FYI: At the time of NAMM, back in January, some of the features that Martin is using in that presentation were not quite available yet... So as each passing day goes by, more features are obviously becoming available. His "backing tracks" made obviously using Montage, are setup so he can play along using the "featured" sound. Had this been available back in January I'm quite sure it would have been used by the presenters at that time. At the time of the NAMM show you would have had to have a computer on stage to do what Martin is doing, and that sends an entirely different message. So patience.

If it was a fully ready product back in January it would be shipping now. As you know we are shooting for May... (NAMM = Not Available Maybe May) in the time in between, the product gets to be finished (or more finished).

Yamaha is the industry leader in sound and technology and resources and yet they can't set up a decent professional recording for their employees in order to showcase their flagship synth in the best light possible for the entire world to see? Instead they're replying on Fred to post a cell phone recording of the event. I'm not buying this.

Jan wrote:

Well, that's why I'm asking for a proper audio recording, Phil! And for more demos like that. As I said, not everyone will have the opportunity for a hands-on.

We have been begging Yamaha to put a video of "last weeks streaming from Blake Andrews on this website" online... They promissed to do so, yet have failed to deliver on that... Seems Yamaha prefers to have their future customers kept in the dark... Untill everything is set into stone..

So, the same people that put the Martin Harris video up, have put up two more videos on youtube, showing Hans Peter Henkel explaining some of the features of the Montage, which shows how easy the Montage is to opperate... You cant judge sound from a youtube video, but those tutorials in that video are quite nice...