The Bank Select and Program Change being set to Off will prevent the Part from responding to those types of Channel messages on the Track. If, however, the file you are dealing with is a General MIDI File, the GM RESET command, usually found as the very first event on Track 1, will likely be responsible for changing/resetting the Performance to a “GM” default.

There is no event editing in the MONTAGE Performance Recorder. If you want to re-voice a GM File you would be wise to remove the GM Reset command using a computer DAW.

Hi.
All those years of event editing on my Yamaha synths and it is gone in the Montage? I wish I had asked that before buying. I honestly cannot see any reason to remove that function?

Ok then. So I am not a huge fan of using a DAW since I can do all that I need to do on the hardware side (well I could!!)

I own Cubase Elements 10.5. I do not use it very often so I am unfamiliar with editing midi Files. I quickly imported a GM file and it automatically allocated Halion sounds to it and it played rather nicely on my PC. I, however, cannot find how to remove the GM reset command in track one that you mention above.

Can you advise how I do that?

However is that really my problem? What if my GM file has a program change in the middle of the song? On my Motif, I simply edited it out. How do I remove all program changes from a gm file?

When preparing your music files on a computer, you no longer need to use GM RESET, nor do you need to put Bank Select and Program Changes into the data. The MONTAGE Performance can memorize and recall sixteen Parts.

The MONTAGE/MODX will respect the GM Bank and Programs, without being an official GM device (same as the Motif XF/MOXF series). A Bank has been assembled that conforms to the GM List. These sounds are not from some separate chip, but are MONTAGE sounds simply listed so they respond to the 128 GM normal sounds, plus there is one GM drum Kit..

The MONTAGE can automatically follow the commands put in by the original GM author of the data and it will pretty faithfully playback the file and make the programmed selections, as programmed. If you, now want to contribute to selection/creative process, by changing the data, you will need to make the changes prior to loading it to the MONTAGE Performance Recorder. The Recorder does not have an Event Editor. If you are “borrowing” work from professionally prepared GM Files (basically data that someone else has prepared), you will want to remove some of the automated GM data. You must prepare the GM Files by removing the commands that you do not want to apply.

Admittedly, it is getting harder to just straight borrow other people’s work! (lol)

When you open a MIDI File in Cubase, you can have Cubase place the System Exclusive (Sysex Data) on its own Track. The GM RESET appears as a Sysex message.
You can simply delete this track, before exporting it as a MIDI file (.mid)

To prevent Bank and Program Changes you can set the “Receive Switch” = Off within your Performance for the PARTs you wish to customize your selection. You can manually go into the file and remove changes you don’t want.

But realize that being able to turn Bank Select and Program Change on a per Part basis is the way to go. You probably want to only change a few of the sounds. And since you didn’t select the original programs, you’ll want to keep these messages active until you familiarize yourself with what instrument the original file was requesting.

If you decide to make a new selection, deactivate Bank Select and Program Change for that Part, and store the Performance with your selection in place.

If you have Cubase pro - it's easier to do this. An older version of Cubase - but probably still applies (for Pro): https://www.steinberg.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=86940

BM, it's not about straight borrowing other people's work. Some of the midi files I have purchased so they are mine to do with whatever I want. I often do not like the sounds the creator chose and so change them to suit, however, I do not use midi files when playing live, I use them for learning. I cannot read music and have no desire to learn. I learn songs by ear and playing. That works or me. Also, there are seven members in our band and some live too far away to always make rehearsals so I use the midi file to replicate the Bass player, or the drummer, etc so the rest of use can practice a new song with a sort of full accompaniment, which is very helpful when learning a new song. Its good to be able to do this without having a laptop running, a totally unnecessary part of the equation.

I do of course understand that being able to turn Bank Select and Program Change on a per Part basis is the way to go. That's what I used to do on my Motif ES, simply using mixing and editing to remove program changes etc just on the parts I wanted to change. I do not want to remove every control parameter from the entire midi file, but it appeared that since there was no event editing on the Montage, that this might be the way I had to go.

I have now used the Receive Switch to turn off the Bank and Program Changes on the parts I want to change. I have had mixed results on this. On a recent file, I turned off the Bank and Program Changes on part 1 and changed the sound to suit, then stored it as a new performance. As soon as I played the song, the Bank and Program Changes switches were back on and the sound reverted back to its original. I have subsequently discovered through trial and error that the way it seems to work reasonably consistently is to move into the song a few bars, so away from the start, then do the changes, then store the performance. That seemed to work most of the time, but not always. But its progress.

Jason, I did indeed find that article you linked to. I do as much research as I can on a challenge and only post to a forum when I cannot find the answer. As you pointed out, that is only relevant to the pro version. Ironically, I would be cheaper to purchase a second-hand Motif ES than Cubase Pro lol.

I do so miss my Motif ES. I knew it well. I only let it go because one night at a gig, the power went down and my Autoload took six minutes to load my sounds and samples from my USB drive. We had fourteen keyboards on stage (I admit that is absolutely ludicrous lol) and I was not about to start lugging a UPS around as well. If only the ES had flash memory. It was always a strange omission since my battered and bruised and still performing well old EX5 had flash memory. Still, it's not as if Yamaha is famous for nearly getting a keyboard perfect if only they had just not removed a great function that was included in a previous synth lol.

Anyways, thanks guys for your help. Progress is being made and I fully intend to master the Montage just in time for it to be replaced 😉

Sampling, sequencing, MIDI flexibility/configuration options have been drastically changed this generation - so I always advise keeping previous Motif keyboard(s) if any of those features are of value. I would say perhaps one year overlap would be best to try to "shake out" workflow on Montage/MODX before determining you can let go of features in the past generations.

Recently the sequencer has received an update in Montage/MODX. This takes it about the 1/3-way point vs. the previous generation. It's that 2/3 of missing features where you find something in the past would help you - but that doesn't mean there isn't still a way to accomplish it. The new generation's philosophy is to use the computer for editing MIDI in a surgical manner. And this operation is regarded as surgery. Cubase isn't the only game in town. There are other free MIDI editing tools on Windows PCs (that's my world - not as familiar with Mac) that can also handle this. One such program is: https://www.midieditor.org/index.php?category=manual&subcategory=editing-midi-files

I'm not convinced (one way or the other) that removing program change messages cannot be done in lower versions of Cubase. I was able to do lots of "pro" features a different/harder/longer-winded way in my past dealings with running into the wall of "that's a pro feature". I didn't try to remove PC messages - so I'm just not sure if there's a way to get it done or not. But I know there's a variety of other MIDI editors out there that you can use to get this going for you in the meantime.

As I mentioned (right after the joke about it getting harder to borrow from already made MIDI Files) I mention that the GM RESET, being the very first command will override your Bank Select and Program Change set to Off. It is NOT sufficient to just use the Receive Switches!

GM RESET is a System Exclusive message, which must be removed for the “Receive Switch” settings to be respected.

If you fail to remove this, the very first thing that happens is all Parts will RESET to “Concert Grand” except Part 10 which will go to “GM Stereo Kit”. This a Reset also returns all Parts to GM default. Therefore, you must Remove this SYSEX Message, before your Receive Switch settings and any other stored Performance settings can be respected.

I was not judging you for using GM File, but hinting that knowing how a GM File is prepared and how it works, is essential if you want to do what you are attempting to do.

Remove the GM RESET F0 7E 7F 09 01 F7 usually found as one of the very first events on Track 1

A properly prepared GM file will have all the setup data in measure 001, and music data will begin in measure 002.
If you cannot remove the GM RESET manually, you can start from measure 002 as long as you defeat EVENT CHASE.

EVENT CHASE is a feature found in many MIDI sequencers where it looks into the track data to retrieve the most recently sent value for all CC, SYSEX, Bank and Program messages, etc. if you are starting from measure 2, make sure Chase is defeated.