[quotePost id=116336]So for SSS does it literally play both voices (previous and new) simultaneously or is it some sort of a carry-over sustain trick? [/quotePost]
I believe it simply plays both, each complete with its own real-time effects processing, no "trick" whatever that might be. (Note that when you switch, any "moving" effects on the earlier sound continue to "move" so the processing is still happening on that earlier sound.)

I remember reading somewhere that, when Nord was designing the Stage 3, they chose between letting it play 4 panels at once with no seamless transition, or 2 panels at once with seamless transitions, and they chose the latter.

The Roland Fantom-0 lets you choose... you can toggle between 16 part scenes without seamless transitions between them, or 8 -part Scenes with the seamless transitions.

This is also consistent with the fact that, on these boards, you always lose the first held set of sounds if you switch beyond a second to a third while still trying to hold the first.

[quotePost id=116336]If it literally plays them both simultaneously via processing power why couldn't there be a mode to switch to a non-SSS capability where the board could play double the voices when you don't require the SSS? In certain cases double the power might be more valuable than SSS. [/quotePost]
Yes, that's the way the Roland Fantom-0 works, as I just described. But I don't see them implementing anything like that on the YC. The YC is generally oriented toward simple, direct, hands-on operation. The physical interface doesn't sensibly support more parts. A Live Set already includes, for example, a Keys A section and a Keys B section. There are a half dozen "Keys A, Keys B" toggles on the control surface. Without adding more controls to the panel, how would you even select and modify the sounds for a Keys C and a Keys D? Or if you took the approach of, not trying to put more sounds in a single Live Set but instead provide some way to play two Live Sets at the same time, what would you do about conflicts that could arise between the two Live Sets (like different MIDI settings)? How would a user be able to choose which sound, out of all the sounds playing, a given front panel control should affect? My gut feeling is that either there's no way to do this, or if there were, it would be a logistical/operational/ergonomic mess, at odds with the philosophy of the board. But you could always put it on ideascale anyway. 😉

Just think that if SSS requires the total sound including effects to continue to play while a totally different sound is selected and play that's equivalent two 2 completely layered and independent sound processing systems or brains. That's a ton of extravogance and additional cost to simply sustain one voice while switching to another. All that expense and power for a single transitional moment in time but you can't even turn if off to double your system's processing power even if there was a way to control it on YC. Even if a remote external keyboard could play one set of "A" and "B" voices while your internal keys play a diferent "A" & "B" selection with SSS turned off. Just seems like an amazing waste of power if this is the case.

David, I catch what you're throwing.

Bill, David has owned a Montage and is aware of how SSS works on Montage.

Something like MODX has the benefit of having 16 different sounds going at once. That count is mostly deemed good enough for MODX users. A synth player that adds something like a YC stage synth, and one that has owned the Montage, looks at SSS - implemented differently - as a way to get more simultaneous sounds. I think the problem statement here is that having 3 engines (sounds) on the stage is seen as limiting and it would be nice to add a few more simultaneous sounds. And that for a limited amount of time and under certain conditions you can add more simultaneous sounds using SSS on the YC. And then there's the leap -- a wish -- that if some tweak could be made to increase the amount of simultaneous sounds layered. SSS here, I think, is more of a cracked open window to a perceived opportunity.

You can't really bend SSS to do something it won't do - but maybe the firmware programmers can. Ideascale reviewed by the R&D team is your best bet.

Also, remember that each Live Set can include up to 4 additional zoned sounds over MIDI, from an iPhone/iPad or whatever. So if you really do sometimes need some extra sounds, there's a way to get them.