Gabi wrote:

from the reference manual:
If you’ve selected another Performance without storing the one you were editing, you can recall your original edits, since the edit buffer’s contents are stored on backup memory, called the Recall buffer.

from the owners manual:
The edited Performance will be lost when selecting a different Performance.

Both are absolutely true... The second one is taken a bit out of context, but fundamentally it is true.

When you edit a Performance, that change is registered in the Edit Buffer... if you move away from that Performance without remembering you wanted to keep that edit (by storing it), all is not lost, that previous edit is in what is called the RECALL BUFFER, which you can still retrieve.

Try to understand the reason for this RECALL BUFFER. You created an edit, but moved away without storing (as the Owner's Manual says: "The edited Performance will be lost when selecting a different Performance"). Now you realize, "Bummer, I should have stored that edit it was actually pretty good"... That's when you can go and get that previous edit by recalling it from the aptly named RECALL BUFFER...

Here's how... as soon as you realize you want what you previously edited...
On the [PERFORMANCE (HOME)] screen touch the box with the Performance Name to see the pop-in menu
touch "Recall"
The latest edits will be retrieved by confirming "Recall Yes".

Extra Credit: When you press Edit and change a parameter, (a small blue flag will appear in the title box, it indicates you have changed a parameter but have not yet stored that change), your edit and the original sound are placed in a A/B swap situation called the EDIT/COMPARE buffer... You hear your edit immediately, but can hear the original programming by pressing the EDIT button again (flashes to indicate "compare").
If you now move to another Performance, and start to edit it, this new edit and program now move into the EDIT/COMPARE buffer and the previous edit moves to the RECALL Buffer with its original program. So you can get it back. Neat, huh!?

good to know the performance manual is right and the other manual isn´t, because when I read lost then to me lost means dead and not revivable.

I have never read the owners manual nor the performance manual because so many people here say it´s useless. so all my learning just comes from tutorials and videos. whatever was not covered in a tutorial I do not know. but that was wrong. the performance manual is definitely not useless like they say!
just watching tutorial videos is not enough, too many things aren´t covered. leads to half knowledge and confusion.

Users of complex electronics generally do not "like" manuals no matter how well written/accurate/informative they are.

This set of manuals for Montage is better than the MO6/8 (Motif ES era) manuals I have used previously. The manuals read fairly well and explain both the mundane and complex fairly completely with clarity.

I would tend to agree that "lost" has a catch ("unless you've only gone a single performance step away, (maybe) haven't edited anything in the current performance that's one 'hop' away from the previous one, etc"). It is much much safer to warn about the sky falling by not [STORE]'ing vs. relying on recall as a bad habit. There should probably be an asterisk with a blurb about recall - but the general notion that switching away from a performance you've edited is a recipe for loss -- this is on target.

Bowie thought throwing the manuals away is a good idea:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yadcdunOd7U

oh well, I dunno about that with the Montage...

anyway, so I can recall my edits when I accidentally switch to another performance but I cannot recall my last edit in the performance I´m editing if I don´t like what I just did, is that correct?

There you go, overthinking it. There is no "can't"!

The usual solution for being able to "go back" to a previous "version" of anything in the digital domain is to save often -- do not overwrite -- and then go back to a previous save as a self-managed "undo". Manual revision control.

There may be other features to help manage the "undo" concept - but the above is a "brute force" method that works.

Bowie's comments are good - it's one approach. Pat Martino (jazz guitarist) approached his instrument as a child - with wonder and excitement about how the instrument responded (not technical or academic) -- a similar spirit of approach to Bowie's. The manual comments I make are addressing those who want to leverage manuals to learn how Montage works (so they are already taking a different-than-Bowie approach). For those who want to leverage manuals - the notion that the manuals are "trash" or "perfect" are both unhelpful polar extremes. Personally, I would approach features without a manual until I get stuck - then use the "find" (PDF) feature to look for help in the various manuals: reference manual, new features list (of latest firmware - since this is a cumulative doc), data list, owner's manual, parameter guide -- in that order more-or-less. Then look for forum/video help. Then post here for help. That's my process - there is no "one size fits all" answer here.

well I´ve decided to struggle thru that performance manual page by page now. just like I did with cubase. it´s not exactly fun but it´s even less fun to constantly wonder what this or that is....
Bowie must be talking about analogue synths only. Ok, you turn some knobs and some crazy sounds come out even if you don´t know what you´re doing. But what about a DX7? How are you going to produce any sound if you don´t even know that a carrier has to be turned on for example...it´s silly. cannot work. did not work. "throw away the manual" is just foolish, I think....

There's merit in that approach certainly with FM. Eventually you learn what works and what doesn't. Producing, as Bowie put it, lots of "farts" and such along the way - unintended consequences of ignorance. This would lead to a more organic approach than thinking about frequency spectrum/harmonics as an academic approach. Eventually you do form an understanding of what works if you bump into enough walls. Mice do eventually find the cheese.

This may not work best for you - and that's OK. Nothing wrong with finding your balance.