Prior discussion can be found here:

https://www.yamahasynth.com/forum/montage-motif-xf-performance-“free-fall”

Hello - I am a little confused ... I understand (or thought I did) that Montage has on board all the voices of the Motif XF - so why are we getting these conversions? Are they not already there?

All the Voices are, but these are Motif XF Performances. Those who owned a Motif XF are familiar with the separate Voice and Performance modes. And while all 1354 Motif XF Voices are in the MONTAGE, the factory set does not include the 512 Motif XF Performances.

These serve as a great way to “jump start” the learning curve of customizing your own MONTAGE creations. If you owned a Motif XF you will immediately relate to how the MONTAGE expands upon the programming of the XF... and hopefully, just how awesome that expansion is

For example, in Motif XF each Part had two AssignKnobs, and six Control Sets. In MONTAGE each Part has eight AssignKnobs and sixteen Control Sets. So what we’ve been showing with these conversions is how you can begin to create using the XF programming as a starting point (instead of starting from scratch every time)... and there is an added benefit of knowing that You have plenty of room to explore, add to and change what has already been programmed.

Plus it’s a great way to explore different new features and functions... that were previously unavailable on the Motif series... Motion Control and integration of the Super Knob, etc.

In the XF, the Assign Knobs were active only when you actively “selected” the Part. In the Motif XF Performance there were four Parts, each Part had two AssignKnobs, but you had to press [PART SELECT x] for the selected Part’s Knob to be active. This allowed you to directly control your right hand lead for example separate from the others.

On the MONTAGE, the AssignKnobs work the same way, although each Part has eight of them - so you customize what you want to have available for real time manipulation. Then on a macro level, you can link the functions of several of them so that you can address multiple parameters in multiple Parts, with a single gesture... at All Times.

So I’ve been taking old XF favorites and using them to introduce new concepts things like Motion Control, editing Effect Routing, Arpeggio study, Filter functions, etc., etc., Our early Series on the MONTAGE was about minimal stuff going on so that understanding the concept of Controller Assignment was clear. Here we start with existing programs - take a look at what is going on, and directions you can take to customize them.

If you knew your way around the XF, this serves as a good way to find and see how the MONTAGE operates in a very similar fashion and where it extends the Concept. And even if you are not familiar with the Motif XF we are using these to introduce how to get around the architecture... hopefully it is fun while learning... we invite you to follow along. Consider it an “Easter Egg” hunt.

Hello BM - that makes perfect sense, thank you! I never had an XF, but I did dabble with an XS for a while, which I imagine would have been similar? I had forgotten that it was 'Mode' orientated (like Tyros) though, having become used to Montage's single mode simplicity. Pretty good idea - lets one see what the real experts have done with a simplified format - thanks for the opportunity!

Thanks for the great conversations and tutorials, they are helping me a lot. Listening to the Tom Petty track alongside, they are spot on