Not compatible generally means there's some swiss-cheese to the content. Meaning some works and some does not within the library. For instance, IIAF:

(Easysounds) Inspiration In A Flash (InspirationInAFlash.X3A):

S700SftSt -
Notes C-2 through D2 are LPC (not compatible)
D#2 through G2 are compatible and should play
G#2 through B2 are LPC (not compatible)
C3 note by itself is compatible and should play
... and so on. There are patches of notes that work and ones that do not

S700MedSt - similar

S700HrdSt - similar

Piano1 St - Completely LPC (not compatible)
Piano2 St - Same
MarimbaS - Same
MarimbaM - B2 through G3 are compatible but rest are not

... not detailing everything from MarimbaM (Waveform 6) to Sitar_BendUp (#113)

Sitar_BendUp (Waveform 113) has 2 ranges of notes that are compatible, but most ranges (7 out of 9) are not compatible.

FL1 Waveform 114-137 mostly ethnic instruments have compatible waveforms and should work.

SweetPanFl (Waveform 138) - Lowest notes and highest notes are compatible, but middle of instrument (E3-B5) are LPC - not compatible.

Ethnic Inst Samples (FL1 Waveform 139-147) - Waveforms are compatible and should work
Drum/Percussion Samples (FL1 Waveform 148-353) - Waveforms are compatible and should work.

NOT SWISS-CHEESE (since it's all OK):

(Easysounds) Symphonic XF (Symphonic.X3A) - All waveforms seem ok

======================================

Or Not Easysounds ...

Jamal's Flash (jFlash.X6A) - Out of 24 waveforms, 2 are not compatible (no notes are compatible). These are the JazzGrand and PowerGrand pianos from the original Motif (LPC).
Rest of content is OK.

======================================

I don't see a list of what is not compatible. Yamahamusicsoft has a "list" of what is fully compatible as the search for "Montage" or, hopefully by now, "MODX" should return content which is fully compatible.

I do not have a full collection of material here so I can't check through whatever you happen to have.

I contacted Easysounds about their XF libraries and got a disappointing reply:

Are there any XF libraries with voices that will not work properly in MODX?

Unfortunately we don’t have a detailed overview which library is affected more or less. In some sets i’ts just a few small samples and some others are nearly unusable. On the other hand loading this legacy content means that Voices and Performances have to be loaded separately. That leads also to waveform duplicates and it is quite a lot of work to organize this content to be used in the new instrument. All new versions of our MODX libraries are provided in a „no-brainer“-version and not just fully compatible but also improved.

Bummer 🙁

The reply rephrases what's been stated here already.

It is not true that there's a full compatibility between Motif XF, XS and MOXF and Montage.

This is a warning to anybody who wants to buy some Motif libraries from YamahaMusicSoft. I bought some recently using New Year discount for my Montage 7 brought by Santa, but to my surprise they don't work properly in Montage. Many samples are out of tune or they have other problems.

I have purchased MOXF versions (format X6_) because I supposed higher number in extension means newer and somehow better instrument, and by number it is the latest format before Montage (X7U or X7L) so I have expected even better compatibility than X3_ format. All available documents assured me that there’s a compatibility and Montage will read older formats. Which probably depends on how libraries are done - many packs I have bought (or those offered gratis) work with small or no problems.

To be more concrete - I have purchased these packs:

DCP Complete Orchestra (from 256 sounds 75 have problem)
DCP Orchestral Strings (banks A to D are the same as previous pack, from 64 sounds 41 have problem, from 16 sounds in bank E 8 have problem)
DCP Brass (banks A to D are the same like E to H in Complete Orchestra, from 128 sounds 50 have problem, bank E is the same like bank E in Complete Orchestra USER4, all 16 sounds are OK)
DCP Majestic Pipes (2 sounds from 64 have small problem)
DCP Renaissance/Folk Instruments (12 sounds from 64 have problem)
Bolder Sounds Crystal Voices (22 sounds from 64 have problem)
DSF Symphonic Strings (no sounds at all, only names are to see after loading)
DSF World Xpedition (no sounds at all, only names are to see after loading)

So there’s a lot of problems, and both DSF packs even don’t work at all. I have the last version of OS, and I’m not aware of any mistake in Montage setting I could do. Only one pack from nine for Motif I have purchased is without problems - Bolder Sounds Celtic Pipes.

I have bought all this in good trust that it will work in Montage, and this trust was based on the information about the compatibility available from Yamaha. But unfortunately they are not compatible. This fact was not written in detailed info about sound packs - just few days ago YamahaMusicSoft published warning about compatibility with Montage, at least in some of them. I suppose you have added this warning just after I have reported problems recently.
They should add this warning to other packs as well - and maybe to much more packs than these above. I wonder why they didn’t check compatibility before selling these packs… Yamaha announces full Montage compatibility with older formats, which is not true.

Another problem I see now after checking all packs and their contents - DCP Orchestral Strings and DCP Brass packs contain the same sounds included in DCP Complete Orchestra pack. Because the lists of contents are missing in detailed info about packs, there’s no chance to compare what’s inside and decide properly what to buy. Manuals are the part of download after purchasing, that’s bad - customers have no chance to check detailed contents.
In the hope there’s something more I bought all three libraries, which was quite disappointing - now I have doubled sound sets, and what more - almost unusable because these focused packs have the same problems as Complete Orchestra pack.

I have contacted Mr. Polich from DCP, he refused any help, saying that he is aware of all mistakes, and will work on Montage version, but it will take few months. He refused to send me repaired packs, but at least he forwarded my mail to YamahaMusic Soft. They added warning to their info about these sound packs, and offered me X3? versions. Unfortunately the result was the same - it doesn't work in Montage. Now I'm waiting answer from them how to solve this problem. For me it's a big loss, not only financial but also professional - I bought these sound packs for my studio recordings, now I can't use it fully.

Concerning two sets from DSF which doesn't sound at all, only show names of Performances, I contacted DSF, they answered with some obvious tips, nothing concrete which would make the set sound.

I just want to warn other potential buyers. If somebody is interested, I have a detailed list of all problems. Mr. Polich refused my offer to send it to him with the remark that he knows well what's wrong. I wonder why he didn't stop selling his products when he was aware about problem. Not nice. I have full right to feel tricked. Quite disappointing.

Let's see what will happen.

Daniel Forro

Thanks for the warning, Daniel. Thus far the guidance from Yamaha was that one can expect some of the free packs to have compatibility issues and that paid commercial packs should not have compatibility issues assuming they are a format that can be converted.

The previous guidance (BM):

I’ve asked around, best I can find out/figure... the LPC and WXC formats aren’t used any longer. And as far as I know are found in the promotional Libraries only. So it’s unlikely you will run into it in other Motif or Montage Libraries. That’s as best as I could find out...

It's unfortunate that this guidance does not seem to apply given this random sampling of XF series commercial packs attempted to convert. It's true that the message was in the form of "college try" and did not have the language of a guarantee. I think the statement certainly needs some adjustment given your feedback. Or at least investigated. If Yamaha, as shown by the above statement, simply isn't aware of the number of legacy packs that are not compatible - this may have been leading their efforts astray when it was time to decide to add conversion/encoding capability to Montage (or not). Or perhaps write a utility to offline convert (without Montage) and provide a converted file on Yamahamusicsoft using this internal-use-only tool.

The lack of compatibility with formats XF supports does seem to have caused a headache for users and content providers alike. True conversion on the provider side (meaning creating native X7L or X7U files) has been slow for any content that was previously not compatible - so I have to assume that tools or assistance from Yamaha to ensure a vast/thriving ecosystem of paid content is not happening.

I've had a simmilar problem. I purchased the "American Grand" library (piano samples taken form a Steinway model D) some time ago, when I had the MOXF, and after selling it for getting my current MODX, I installed the library and it didn't worked as intended (noises, sound cutoffs...). I contacted Yamaha MusicSoft and they sent me the Montage version of the library for free, which works perfectly. But there are lots of Motif sound libraries which have no native Montage version, and many people have invested quite a lot of money just to find out that they don't work properly in their new Montage/MODX (or, even worse, they have purchased the libraries thinking that they work flawlessly for the Montage/MODX). When Yamaha claims "full compatibility", one expects having no problems, and sadly this is not the case in many cases. In fact, for me (and I suspect that for many other people also) one of the main reasons for selling the MOXF and getting a MODX was that, in theory, I would be able to use all my sound libraries.
That said, I'm also expecting the Montage/MODX version of IIAF, because I miss some of its sounds.

I've had a simmilar problem. I purchased the "American Grand" library (piano samples taken form a Steinway model D) some time ago, when I had the MOXF, and after selling it for getting my current MODX, I installed the library and it didn't worked as intended (noises, sound cutoffs...). I contacted Yamaha MusicSoft and they sent me the Montage version of the library for free, which works perfectly.

Synthogy did a great job with that library for the Montage! Glad you got the Montage version for free...
I came across this 'Piano Lab' channel on YouTube that compares most of the piano libraries that are available to the Montage/MODX playing the same MIDI file on all of them.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLTcNMjqSXgt8yyQqhr1r1w

The Synthogy American Grand was one of the few that sounded like an actual acoustic grand, along with the Montage CFX and Bosendorfer. All the others had a staccato-like sound to the notes when doing fast scales from top to bottom. If you listen at around the 7:49 mark you can hear the difference. The 'Digital Sound Factory' pianos were the worst offenders, but most of them had a subtle bit of a staccato-like sound that was mainly only noticeable with this type of playing, except for the three I mentioned...

That's why I really wish Synthogy would release a Montage library of their C7 Grand (my favorite all time VST piano)!

I inquired again about this. What I know: The data has been fixed (all non-compatible Waveforms removed and replaced) The data works; loads and plays (sounds awesome in MONTAGE)... you would think that’s the hard part.... now it’s up to those who must sign off on releasing it.

The only clue I can give you about this (lengthy) process is fill in some of the history... the data was collected from various sources dating back more than a decade now. Some of the data goes as far back as the Motif ES - created almost 15 years ago... different authors, various sources, etc., etc., etc. Somebody must research and find any (and probably all) original agreements about usage and distribution of said data. Once that gets cleared up I’m sure we’ll hear something. (Hopefully it will be good news).

Anyone who has created data on the scale of sampling a symphony orchestra, or assembling a collection of instruments from, literally, all over the world and then meticulously sampling it and then programming... knows it is no frivolous task (it’s a ton of work). Crossing the t’s and dotting the i’s is important. If you’re interested in that data, then you’ll just have to be patient... as soon as we hear something we’ll let you know....

Any update on this @Bad Mister?