Under touchscreen (TS) menu "Settings" -> "System" (or [UTILITY] then TS: "Settings") try turning OFF "Animation". While you're at it, turning off "Blur" would be helpful not for speed but clarity.

Yamaha and many other hardware synths have been using an operating system behind the user interface (instead of direct microprocessor firmware code that is not riding on top of a host OS) - so most hardware synths these days are a hybrid. Certainly the GUI is an application within an OS while other pieces are pure autonomous hardware that does not execute within the OS.

Mr. Spock wrote:

Its annoying to me the the Montage is so sluggish , is this normal , have anyone else notice this ?
Is there away to speed it up ?
I thought the whole point of a hardware synth was to be free from computer software base headachs but here we are agin in 2016/17 .
I hope Yamaha can speed this thing up .

No, it is not normal for the Montage to be sluggish. There are ways to transition between programs with virtually no delay. There are different methods for different type of uses. Please spend some more time with it, and please try to describe exactly what you are doing when it is behaving in what you consider a "sluggish" fashion and also include what you wish to accomplish.

Obviously, with 1920 Performances, hitting the [INC/YES] button as a way to access programs is not an efficient way. You can assemble your favorite sounds in a Performance. You can assemble your favorite Performances in a Live Set. So there might be a better way to accomplish your goal.

I say that because it may not be immediately clear or apparent how best to accomplish a task. A Performance can hold 16 Parts, yet none of the Factory Presets use more than eight and many are simply Single Parts. The entire USER Performance bank is empty when you first get your Montage. You are supposed to create your own setups, and set them up so they work in the most efficient way for your requirement.

If you are asking, is it possible to use the Montage in a way that it doesn't work for your needs, I'm sure that's possible and I'm just as confident it can be remedied with a different configuration or different approach.

And why every-time you change a arp it needs to be re-triggerd instead of just flowing major inspiration killer .

That is a choice you make. You can program the Arps to change at the top of the next measure (meaning you can give it a command to change, anywhere in the measure prior to the downbeat of the bar line you want the phrase to change). Normally, one phrase goes into the next without you having to retrigger the keys, you must have set your Arps to not do this. This can happen, I guess, if you are unaware of how to set the parameters.

For example, if you store Arp On/Off status to a Scene, this would be the incorrect way to setup if you want the arp to continue when you select a new Arp number. If you want it to continue automatically once Arp is On, leave it On.

In other words, it will always be true to start an arpeggio the following conditions must exist: 1) the Main ARP On/Off Switch must be On, 2) the Part Arp On/Off Switch must be On, and 3)you must trigger a Note-On event within the Key Range and Velocity Range as setup for the Part's Arpeggiator. Once started the arp will continue, throughout all Arp Selects 1-8, unless you turn "Off" the Arp, or hit the [STOP] button.

If you turn Off, the Arp, you must reactivate it and trigger it again.

So my guess (because you don't tell us what you are doing) is you are some how using Arp Off, instead of using a "blank" Arp pattern, when you don't want an arpeggio to sound. A blank Arp is one that counts the time signature but causes no notes to be played. It works like placing a musical Rest on a chart, you are telling the instrument to layout, (tacet). These blank Arps are listed in Montage as "Mute x/x", where x/x is the time signature.

Using the Arp phrase "Mute 4/4" is like programming a 4/4 rest. A "Rest" is quite different from "On/Off". A Rest allows the arp Part to continue to be active without having to restart the flow by retriggering.

Hope that makes sense... if not, tell us what you are doing. Because maybe you really have a problem... (although I doubt it). But let us know.

Jason wrote:

Under touchscreen (TS) menu "Settings" -> "System" (or [UTILITY] then TS: "Settings") try turning OFF "Animation".

Yes, I agree here. The Animation made the OS feel sluggish to me. At first I was also disappointed. Switched off the animations and now it's really fast in pretty much everything. And certainly switching sounds is much faster for me than on the a soft synth. BTW: Did you install OS 1.20? That changes speed quite a bit.

Are you saying that Yamaha has designed this synth, such that, when you use animation the machine becomes strained and loses responsiveness. Have you found that other settings also cause this?
Please elaborate

Animation is a GUI construct only. It's like a powerpoint presentation with fade-in and fade-outs between slides. Who needs all that "bling?" Turn it off already. It contributes zero to the user experience. I've said before, I'm surprised the default is not to have it off. Same with blur. Before you know how the menu items are associated - why obscure the association by using blur? It obscures the interface more than it adds any value.

I don't think beep does anything to delay. Honestly, I haven't tested with beep off since, in the studio, I kind of like the feedback that I've pressed something on the touchscreen. Haptic feedback would have been better considering the noisy environment of the stage - but it's not exactly the kind of touchscreen for that. I'd kind of want to plug a tablet into the USB and use the tablet screen with haptic - but this is kind of a non-starter I'm sure. (sorry, tangent).

There's not much else in terms of settings that can possibly change the response of the GUI. I think it's plenty fast and use it to do all sorts of deep dive things.

Certainly there is always room for improvement - but the speed is more than acceptable from this seat.

Also, I personally do not think the animation taxes the CPU. I just think it makes the experience seem slower because there's a "cute" movie between screens if you leave animation on. Off, please.