Part of the magic of Motif is the name.  “Motif” is elegant.  It fits the concept of the instrument.  It just worked.  At the subconscious level, the name ‘Motif’ adds to why we love this instrument.

On the other hand “Montage”.  Yuck!  I know the name also fits the concept of that synthesizer.  It is a montage of FM synthesizers and AWM2 Engines.  But the name ‘Montage’ at least to me is ugly.  Sometimes the term montage has negative connotations.  It is often used to describe a bunch of things thrown together that should not be thrown together.

The term motif doesn’t have any negative connotations that I’m aware of.

So I think the Montage will never be the legend that Motif is.  Yes the Montage falls short on capability.  But its named all wrong!  The name ‘Montage’ is not a good name for a synthesizer.  The marketing team, or the focus group, or whoever came up with the name missed the mark!

The naming of the Motif was a home run.
The naming of the Montage was a strike out.

Some common synonyms for Montage are:

Patchwork, Mishmash, Hodgepodge.

If the focus group, or marketing team or whoever came up with the name ‘Montage’ had maybe required the Montage to come in koolaid colors, well that may have helped things a bit.  But a synth in black named ‘Montage’ Argh!

Also just how the word “MONTAGE” is printed on the instrument: no style.  The designers should came up with new kewl way to write the Word “Montage” different fonts or something.  It just doesn’t look good in print.  It screams for some kind of logo redo.

On the other hand “Motif” Just fits.  It’s Nice.  It looks nice in print.  It sounds nice when you tell others the name of what you play.  Yea I play the Motif.  It sounds good.

It may not be clear but the name ‘Motif’ helped to make the Motif the legend that it is.

Unfortunately the name ‘Montage’ will probably relegate the Montage to something less than a legend