Great jamming keyboard and beats the strain from carrying the montage 8 in a flightcase.
Looking forward to have one. Pity the sliders aren't motorized.

That's around $10 per slider (motorized) vs. $0.75 per slider. That's $83.25 adder in just raw parts for that slider. Then you need another connector for the motor control. That's a cost - not a ton. Maybe bringing up to $84 (or probably slightly less) of an adder. Then there's the warranty cost because these things fail at a higher rate than non motorized sliders. We're probably adding $150-$200 to the sales price for this feature. And that slider I picked at $10 was bottom of the barrel. I'm not sure which parts the TF series mixers use with motorized sliders. If borrowing from that line - the raw part cost may be more.

One con of motorized sliders is the noise they produce on their own. That may be worth the cost of admission for you - but some complain about this. So motorized sliders is a bit of a polarizing feature. High cost - some drawbacks - but eliminates the slider sync. issue (in sync. with internal slider value).

For me - I'm already slightly on the fence with YC61 for cost. Because I look at the board and wonder if the cost is worth gaining the upright pianos (and other content from the CP that my Montage doesn't have) and better emulated organs. For the upright pianos if I had the YC I'd probably just assume Sample Robot pull those pianos into my own Montage library. And I'd have to "A->B" the organs vs. the Montage to see where/if the "special sauce" is in YC vs what I have. If I can get pretty close with Montage - then I'd go back to just one keyboard.

The "A->B" business I'd probably get done here once my local music store gets a YC61 in stock.

I say this because I would be less inclined to go through all the work of seeing how far my Montage can do what the YC61 does if the YC61 was more of a value (less expensive). As it stands, I'm firmly on the fence. An extra $100 or more for sliders would really sink it for me.

On the other hand - the YC61 isn't as wiz-bang of a MIDI controller as something else I have to take over that role. If it had 16 zones and splits per zone and all that jazz - then the YC61 would blow that dumb MIDI controller out of the water and I'd dump it (my MIDI controller) for the YC61.

I figure the ultimate keyboard doesn't exist. It's not only very personal, but also depending on the purpose within the song/gig. The weighted keys form the M8 vs. the waterfall from YC61.The big screen and the assign labels from Genos vs.the more detailed ones of M8. 88 vs 61 keys. It's good to have diversity.
I also use the organs from Easy-Sounds, but I am still layering in Montage in a way unable to do in Genos or the YC61.
The sliders from YC61 look great. Still, when switching scenes (or virtual upper/lower keyboard) I often run into mal adjusted sliders.For me it would be worth the additional costs.

??? What are we talking about??? First, there is the cost of motorized faders and then there is implementing them in a product which is something different; those prices you are just pulling out of the air... I doubt if you’re even in the same universe (no less ‘ballpark’) on the cost increase it would cause — in the YC61 there are physical drawbars and lighted drawbar indicators which allow you to see what you are doing on both manuals at anytime and a screen that also gives feedback to the performer.

I’d wait until I was sitting behind a YC61 before drawing any conclusions or even requesting “motorized faders”! But that’s just me...(lol). It’s fun to speculate, I guess... (more than just the cost, there is the heat involved). Yamaha has been implementing motorized faders on digital mixer products since 1987 (the year I joined the team), there is mostly no other reason than practicality that keyboards do not have motorized faders. But dream on, one day it may be practical.

Thanks Phill. It's like building the "perfect" woman. I wouldn't know where to start and am most certainly doubting about whether the result would be what I had in mind.
Maybe it's like wishing to go to the Moon or Mars. You do have the technology and maybe one day it will be practical. And isn't that what progress is all about? Dreaming the impossible and make it happen?

For now: Love my M8 and Genos. Most certain that I will love the YC61 (over the Osmond's Crazy Horses YC45D which I started with 45 years ago). And yes I am dreaming of having these 3 combined in one dual stacked, only 10 Kg weighing ultimate synth.

Thanks Phill. It's like building the "perfect" woman. I wouldn't know where to start and am most certainly doubting about whether the result would be what I had in mind.
Maybe it's like wishing to go to the Moon or Mars. You do have the technology and maybe one day it will be practical. And isn't that what progress is all about? Dreaming the impossible and make it happen?

For now: Love my M8 and Genos. Most certain that I will love the YC61 (over the Osmond's Crazy Horses YC45D which I started with 45 years ago). And yes I am dreaming of having these 3 combined in one dual stacked, only 10 Kg weighing ultimate synth.

BM, respectfully my area of expertise is electronic system design, parts procurement, costed BOM documentation, electrical/mechanical vendor collaboration, etc. Something I have done for decades in organizations selling products in the millions. The numbers were not pulled out of thin air. They are merely guidance based on local US sourcing and absolute rock-bottom. Yamaha products are generally sourcing locally - meaning not the US - so there is some disconnect for sure. But the point I made is valid (and apparently is consistent with your feedback as well) - motorized sliders are a BIG cost adder relative to other controllers no matter how you cut it.

I focused primarily on raw part cost - but also threw in other considerations -- as there's a much bigger ripple effect than just raw cost. But even at the level of raw cost (without the numerous other ripple-effect adders) the cost adder to the end customer is demonstrably significant. But yes, there are numerous other costs to consider.

Where I possibly go off the rails is the $66+ cost adder I threw in for "everything else" outside of raw parts cost. This is just a wag. Raw parts as 40% of the overall cost. Not an unreasonable wag. It's fair of you to critique. That said - sticking to just raw part cost would have also received critique: that there are other costs not captured. I'm not going to come out unscathed no matter what.

I don't want motorized sliders. Heat, if a hurdle, is a technical problem with solutions. Regardless, my perspective is that motorized sliders have too many drawbacks (cost, reliability) for my pain thresholds. That's a personal take that others can have differing viewpoints on.

If synchronization of the sliders to the internal slider value (physical vs. virtual) is a problem - then there could be a solution to this without sliders. May even be implemented (in YC61 - I'm not sure since it's a few months from hitting the streets here -- Montage isn't implemented this way). And that would be physical position is generally the internal slider value. Scenes can override - but should be a scene setting that releases to the sliders. This would mimic preset registrations vs. the last "Bb"/"B" in the preset area. So as long as you're not picking a preset (which would ignore drawbars) - the sliders are 1:1 just like Hammond.

And I suppose if motorized is something enough customers really want - I'd rather it be some kind of USB-connected bolt-on (snap on) option that doesn't burden the standard/base configuration. This would be minimal cost to the base configuration (no adding any additional connector, just use the existing USB - no costly mechanical extras). Highly unpopular for inventory - and not something we see (semi-modular) Yamaha or even competitors adopting. But if it breaks, my entire keyboard doesn't go down. Buy a new one (module) or pay twice as much as it costs to buy a new one to get it serviced.

I know the thing hasn't even hit the streets yet but I'd love to see a 73 note version, just to get the full keys on the RD sounds for me.