The parts have a blue keyboard icon that can be turned on and off. This is keyboard control. You notice when you turn off this icon (make it grey) - mashing down on the keys doesn't make any sound for that PART. Now - even if keyboard control is OFF - there is an override which WILL make it sound if you have a part selected. This is a special case where Yamaha decided they would let you "audition" the part with internal tone generator even if you setup that part to NOT use the internal tone generator.

That's basically what it does - cuts off the internal tone generator for the PART if off.

Now, add a PART 9. It doesn't matter if you have one or 8 parts (part 1-8) - none of the PARTs 9-16 allow you to turn on keyboard control. There's no icon to turn it ON or OFF. So none of these (these=parts 9-16) are going to be sounding using the internal tone generators. Not AWM2 not FM-X. Parts 9-16 are for external devices. So the internal noises do not sound with PART9-16. They just send midi data for other devices to pick up.

If your connected MIDI devices don't "like" channels 9-16, you can use advanced utilities setting "Zone Master" turned on - then turn "Zone" on in the PART (9-16, any part really but just addressing these 8 upper parts). With Zone ON in a part, you can reroute the MIDI output of that PART to any channel you (or the downstream MIDI device) likes.

What doesn't make 100% sense to me is why FM-X can be in part 9-16 ( guess I know why - but there is a "penalty" at the moment in terms of support). Seems like parts 9-16 could just implement general MIDI as the audition to "clue" that this was an external MIDI targeting thing. And lock out FM-X. I get that using preset performances with ARPs and Motion sequence may be "ok" for external control - but so much of that is SysEx and probably more trouble than its worth when targeting anything other than another Montage. Or Montage rack unit. Or possibly Montage VSTi. Maybe that's where this is going. Just - in the here and now - FM-X and Montage proprietary stuff in PARTs 9-16 causes confusion and probably could use more visual clues to guide the snorkler.

Surely this is not correct? In the first instance the keyboard control icon is green not blue. Also this seems to suggest that parts 9-16 can only be used for the control of external devices. This certainly is not the case. It is correct that keyboard control is only available for parts 1-8 with the purpose of keyboard control being to allow parts to play simultaneously, however all 16 parts are available as single part sounds that can be accessed from the touch screen or the part select buttons.

I'll just address the important item: your testing/position agrees with what I've outlined. This is the special case I talked about. When you select a part (either through hilighting the white-around-the-part-name-and-cyan-around-the-arp/range/kb control/level/mute/solo-part; or by pressing a button to select a part) - you invoke the override. Any selected part is going to sound through the tone generator no matter what keyboard control is set to. This temporarily sets keyboard control to ON for the sake of auditioning parts that would otherwise not sound because keyboard control is off. Ignoring the override: for parts 1-8, you have the choice of keyboard control ON or OFF - for parts 9-16, keyboard control is forced OFF. This can lead to confusion, but its the way it is.

Now you can use this audition "feature" to force parts 9-16 to sound during a performance. But whenever you switch away from these parts (NOT selected) - they won't sound even though the key you're mashing falls within the note range of 9-16 part and the PART - if on 1-8 (part) would normally make noise.

This doesn't mean you can't use this fact to accomplish your goals. You could have parts 1-8 under keyboard control then use selecting only one of the parts 9-16 to force an extra PART to sound. ONLY that part sounds - the rest are cut off. It's the nature of an audition. This applies to selecting any part 1-16 that is not under keyboard control. You get to hear just that PART as if it was the only PART under keyboard control.

Now - even if keyboard control is OFF - there is an override which WILL make it sound if you have a part selected.

Setup parts 1-8 as a 9th chord using a -24 bass note and some doubles on the 9th or other intervals below the root (using pitch/note shift). I used Init AWM2 on all PARTs. Now part 9, make this any preset. For now, parts 1-8 have under keyboard control.

You'll hear selecting any of the parts 1-8 and all of them sound. That's because keyboard control is on - so there's no special override "feature" happening here. You should hear a dominant 9th chord (if that's what you setup) with a bunch of parts playing together. Now select part 9 - parts 1-8 no longer sound since part 9 is not under keyboard control and the "audition" feature kicks in. Normally, you can't hear part 9. It would have been more obvious its not playing if you selected a "crazy" sound that would stand out - or make it a minor 2nd interval from the root (note shift +1). I say this because we're listening for part 9 NOT to be sounding - so you're confirming that the "crazy" sound or minor second is not present when playing parts 1-8 (part 9 not selected).

Since it, part 9, is not under keyboard control - when parts 1-8 were selected (any one) you would not hear the part 9 at all. When you select part 9, you hear only part 9. It's the audition thing. Call it or frame it in a way that makes sense to you. Now go back to part 1-8 and select one of the parts to turn keyboard control OFF. That miles davis/coltrane blue-in-green icon. When you select whatever of these parts you switched keyboard control OFF - you notice you only hear that one part. Not part 9. Not parts 1-8 that have keyboard control ON.

OK, you are explaining what Yamaha did but, why should we not have across all 16 parts offering the following: local on/off, midi out on/off (ch.1-16) or both.What is the reason for 8 / 8? If it's resource driven, just say it. If not explain. Why the very long, complicated detailed explanations? modern synth design should create an elegant approach. I don't see from the above comments, why it has to be this way because....

My mistake - rereading your original question I see you're solid on what's going on and you are more after the rationale of why Yamaha did not take a more flexible approach.

I thought you were wondering about how the feature worked - this was not the case.

The tutorial is a good guide for someone who wants to learn-by-doing to get to the point where you already are.

Again, my bad - I was really just trying to help and didn't realize the core of what you were after.

I think you rightly "called out" Yamaha on this one - although past messaging has favored questions in the "how do I accomplish ..." camp over the "why is this feature like it is ..." questions.

It's going to boil down to that what we have in this device represents the "best" tradeoff of features given a variety of technical and non-technical constraints, market research, etc. Hopefully you can get to a satisfactory place.

This question and others like it could have been answered much easier with a video tutorial by Yamaha. It's going to be one year in January since the Montage was unveiled. SHAME ON YAMAHA for not coming out with a descriptive set of video tutorials!!

John

Jason:
I'm sorry that you offered a somewhat apologetic response. I see here that you invest a lot of time and effort in this forum which I value very highly. It should be me who apologizes. I appreciate all of your responses. You should be on the Montage development/support team.
Let me rephrase my response to you.
Obtaining information regarding "PERFORMANCE" may be obtained from several sources so, I would be very interested in knowing why Yamaha has designed the 8 + 8 situation. Not just more elaborate or detailed statements about HOW it works but, what were the constraints to arrive at it's present functioning. Is it memory driven, technical hurdle, etc?
I believe that Bad Mister would be quite capable of bringing clarity. Thank you in advance.