Data written to the MIDI functions of the “Performance Recorder” (MIDI Song, Pattern) is immediately and automatically stored to the “Contents” > “Data Utility” > where there is a Folder for each type, “Song“ and “Pattern“.

Sequence data is not saved in the User, nor in the Library Files.
MIDI sequence data has its own universal file format (.mid) — both MONTAGE MIDI Songs and Pattern Scenes can be exported in this file format if you want additional off board storage.

We previously described the Performance as the ‘band’, the MIDI Sequencer data as the ‘composition’, we can now describe the Folders as being like a dedicated Flash Memory specifically for the Song or Pattern information. It is like having two separate internally mounted USB sticks just for your musical ‘compositions’. Each Folder can hold as many as 128 titles or approx. 500,000 notes.

Once a Song or Pattern is created (or loaded from an external file), it remains in this Folder until you DELETE it or until you initialize the MONTAGE. It is completely independent from the User Bank data, and completely independent of any Library Bank that you might Load. As you know the User Bank is overwritten when you load a .X7U File... and Library Banks are Read Only Memory.

Your musical compositions are always in memory!

Instead of using a proprietary format, you now manage your sequencer data by generating a universally readable .mid file. The Sequencer data in these Folders do not disappear when you Load a new set of Performances.

How you manage this data is with the ability to Link a “Song&Perf” or a “Pattern&Perf“ — recall the Sequence it will go and get the correct Performance.

This is particularly useful once you begin to create and install your own ‘permanent’ ROM LIBRARY data. Song and Pattern Sequences can be linked with any MONTAGE Performance. That Performance can be a Preset, User or Library Performance.

The Song Folder and Pattern Folder keep your sequence data in a vault. Because you can link the sequences with any Performance, you are not tied to just the current User Bank that is loaded.

Individual Storage (off board)
If you desire individualized long term storage (backup), you can Save each Song and/or each Pattern Scene as an independent .mid File (again, in a format that is universally transferable to any DAW or external sequencer).

MONTAGE CONNECT allows you direct access via your USB connection, if you wish to save backups of your sequence data on your computer.
Simply drag n drop them onto you computer Desktop... or directly into your favorite DAW software.

Comparison to former Workflow
In the past, Motif XF, the sequence data was stored in a proprietary file .X3S or .X3P format, because it had to address the Tone Generator (the band) data and the Sequence (the composition) data, and bundle them into a single file. It was totally possible to load a Song yet have the wrong Voices in memory. The MIXING VOICE was created so that your sounds could bundled into one (proprietary) file. Yes, you could export as .mid - but of course, the Voices used were not saved.

Or you could store an All Data file .X3A, which included all the possible Voices you might have used in creating those compositions... because the file did not contain every possible Voice you might have used, your file might point to a location containing the wrong Voice.

In the MONTAGE this is avoided by providing 5120 Performances in the Library area, in addition to the 640 in the User and the 2739 Presets... any of which can be linked to your Sequence data. Unlike the XF a Mixing can be associated with multiple compositions

You can load and keep your MIDI Songs and Patterns in the Folders, independent of the User Bank you load.
The User Performance Bank can be initialized independent of the Song and Pattern data (after all you may eventually move your Performance (band) into a Library - simply link the Sequence with the Library Performance location.

If you have initialized your entire MONTAGE, and wish to restore your Sequence data — you have the ability to load them back individually via .mid file or by restoring your .X7A BACKUP File.

Both your individual Performances (.X7B) and individual Sequences (.mid) can be easily moved and assembled/reassembled as you desire/require.

It is interesting that you want to have the Sequence data saved in the User File ... what is it with the new system that is troubling you?

It's a convenience/workflow thing.

When I'm working on a Pattern on the Montage, I am not interacting with my computer. I am in the touchscreen and the Montage's physical controls. Saving a User File is quick and easy and does not pull me out of the flow of what I'm doing. Jumping out of that into dealing with the computer is a context switch that breaks the flow.

My state of mind when I'm in a creative flow is like I'm that old vaudeville act where a guy has all of these spinning plates up on top of sticks and he runs around frantically shaking the sticks to keep the plates spinning. It takes a lot of effort to get into that mental state, and any distraction causes plates to fall off the sticks and come crashing down. Jumping out of the Montage breaks a lot of plates.

I'm a strong believer in backing up my work. I don't like having to redo things, especially not creative things which may not come out as well if I have to do them again. I understand that my Patterns are probably safe in the Montage's flash memory. But I am much more happy with "guaranteed" than I am with "probably."

This all started for me when I wanted to retrieve the Patterns that come with Montage 3.5. Doing this turned out to be a medium-level pain in the rear end, which initiated the thought process that ended up with my various suggestions about this topic.

This all started for me when I wanted to retrieve the Patterns that come with Montage 3.5. Doing this turned out to be a medium-level pain in the rear end, which initiated the thought process that ended up with my various suggestions about this topic.

But those Pattern examples added with firmware 3.00 were not YOUR Patterns. The significance of that is why you didn’t have the data. Had they been recorded by you, they would be in your Pattern Folder, and likely (since you like to save everything) you would have already made the .mid files for each and you would have backed them up in your Backup File.

I think the more you work with it, the more you’ll realize that you don’t have to save *your* Patterns, they automatically get saved to the Pattern Folder which is not overwritten by you and your LOAD activities (except restoring a BACKUP FILE which naturally only contains YOUR data).

What you needed to do, if you wanted to manage that example Pattern data, was Save the Scenes as .mid files... same as you would have if you had actually created those Patterns yourself. But you didn’t that’s the only thing that is different.

The idea of putting these examples in with the update, meant you could update your firmware — listen and review the example Patterns and Pattern Chains — then restore your Backup (overwriting the data). You don’t need this data for anything, it serves no purpose other than to learn from its example.

If you enjoy the music, cool, recall one of the Performances added with 3.00 and hit the [AUDITION] button... there you get to hear the “finished product“ including the lead instrument and/or solo. The example Patterns were all “Chained“, then converted to Songs (where the melody and/or solos were added) and then they were converted to Preset Audition Phrases... and assigned to the those Performances.