Hi,

So now that the new Yamaha Montage has been officially announced.

Who has decided to buy the new and great looking Montage Synth ?  and who has decided not to buy one, and why ? or if you are Undecided about buying the Montage, what is holding you back ? 

Cheers,
Muziksculp

I upgraded my pre-order from the M7 to the M8. I think I was the first pre-order at Sweetwater on the M7. Not sure about the M8. I’ve sold my FS1r last week, sold my Kronos, sold my Tyros 5, sold my Motif XF over the last few years but I kept my CP1. The FS1r required ZeeEdit, the Kronos was different (never owned a Korg prior to) but it was cool, Loved the Tyros 5 but it was an arranger and I never learned how to build a style, I didn’t spend enough time with the XF but the arps were nice. I wasn’t the biggest ROMpler fan but the T5 and CP1 were amazing. The Montage new abilities and hi fidelity have me very interested. I rarely pre-order unless I really want to demo it. I bought the T4 & T5, EX5 and now Montage on pre-order. Maybe I bought the XS, can’t recall whether it was a pre-order. I repair/restore all vintage Yamaha synths on the side, countless RS7000s and lots of SY99/77s. I can’t wait to turn out all of the lights just to watch that super knob blink!

I upgraded to the M8 because with this high fidelity and FMX I really want to feel the range across all 88 keys. This device should do wonders on the far ends of the spectrum which I don’t want to miss out on.

I’m getting the Montage7 later this year because I’m looking forward to use it connected to my iPad and Cubasis and/or my macbook air and Cubase....but in my case there is no rush so I’m not pre-ordering.

For now I’m just enjoying my XF6 and my CP4. 

Cheers.

davlippo7 - 25 January 2016 07:02 PM

I upgraded to the M8 because with this high fidelity and FMX I really want to feel the range across all 88 keys. This device should do wonders on the far ends of the spectrum which I don’t want to miss out on.

Well, I haven’t taken a decision yet, but for me it makes more sense
to wait like half a year (until the Montage has been released and tested by users).
For some missing features I see no real problem.
However, there might be other missing ones which might be more dramatic to me.

To be honest, there is plenty of stuff on the XF I haven’t discovered or used yet.
(I’m still learning a lot.)
For example I have an FL 1024 MB installed but not used yet.
I plan to do this.
For the Montage this should be redundant since it doesn’t support that(?)

The Master mode of the XF is something I plan to use because there you
can change the CCs of all the faders and knobs.
For vst controlling this might be very interesting and useful.
It could be that the Montage doesn’t have this feature.

Also for the sequencer I’m not really sure if I will miss it or not.
Important for me is that when I like to jam around, I want to record something quickly and build on that.
(E.g. having a rhythm, playing bass and chords; and then playing melody)
So at least 1 recording.
As I understood the Montage supports recording performances.
I would like to see/read deeper how exactly this works and which limitations exist.

For DAW control I would also like to see/read what possibilities are available.
I guess the DAW control will be very good because in all videos they mention working with DAWs.

If i can change performances in a live set with pedals, like you can on the Kronos, then i guess i gonna buy it.

Hi --

I’m waiting. Why? 1. Want to study the Data List and Reference Manual. 2. Want to actually play one. 3. Want to hear a Montage without lousy Youtube, etc. compression.

No test drive, no buy. After watching Roland recycle waveforms for so many years, I do a pretty thorough comparison of the Data Lists to make sure that the improvements are worth the money.

The radiator in my car is leaky, the tires are shot and the brake pads are shot. :-) I can wait until June (or beyond for that matter).

All the best to everyone and thanks for sharing your thoughts!

-- pj

I personally am not considering a Montage because the Motif XF8 does everything I need and then some.  I love the ability to sample on the Motif and love the sequencer on board

There is so much to the Motif, it will take a long, long time to know every aspect of this instrument.  If I ever learn it all.

I have many “vintage synthesizers” from the 80’s and I’m still exploring things with them!

I’m a firm believer of if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it.

It’s all about the music and the performer on the keyboard.  A true musician can take equipment from decades ago and do wondrous things with it.  Take a listen at Wendy Carlos, Larry Fast of Synergy, etc.  They used equipment in the 60’s and 70’s and as (and I stress) musicians did incredible things.

The latest greatest will not sprinkle fairy dust on you and turn you into a great musician.  People lose themselves in the technology and forget about the musicianship.  I’ve been playing piano since the 60’s and synthesizers since the 70’s.

There’s a lot of music in instruments of each decade.

I’m not downing the Montage, it gives the appearance of being a good synthesizer, it’s just not for me.

Want to see what someone did with a Yamaha HS-8 which was in production from 1987-1992?  Check this out:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oyjv5qKmuDA

Let’s never forget to be musicians above wanting the latest tech.

Great words Jim. I forget them too often.

I’m sticking with my Motif XS8.  I like having the sampling, sequencing ability, I only wait 4 minutes to load my samples, and the firewire connection still works with the version of Logic and Digital Performer.  For live performance I like what Roland is doing.  I have the VR-09 and that is a powerful little keyboard.  For what little live playing I do now it’s enough.  Plus having the organ and the PK-6 pedals gives my an organ rig that is close enough for the small churches I play in.  I might get the Mon8 or whatever the light version of the Montage is in a couple of years.  I am a little disappointed that Yamaha moved away from a complete workstation.

Since I don’t have any synth. at the moment, the Montage will give me a reason to buy a laptop for the sequencing. What is the best laptop? Obviously I’m leaning toward a pretty large screen. I’m familiar with the PC but not Mac. What specs on the system would be most important? I know that the software has minimum requirements but what’s best for sequencing applications? Also most of these are windows 10 and Cubase says to use windows 8. Will 10 work or I’ll have to use 8?

pjd - 26 January 2016 06:22 PM

Hi --

I’m waiting. Why? 1. Want to study the Data List and Reference Manual. 2. Want to actually play one. 3. Want to hear a Montage without lousy Youtube, etc. compression.

No test drive, no buy. After watching Roland recycle waveforms for so many years, I do a pretty thorough comparison of the Data Lists to make sure that the improvements are worth the money.

The radiator in my car is leaky, the tires are shot and the brake pads are shot. :-) I can wait until June (or beyond for that matter).

All the best to everyone and thanks for sharing your thoughts!

-- pj

manual is up

http://download.yamaha.com/api/asset/file/?language=en&site=usa.yamaha.com&asset_id=66554

Hi djnoah,

Thanks for the heads up regarding the Montage User Manual being available !

Cheers,
Muziksculp

Definitely won’t be buying the Montage! I’ve never heard of anyone paying $3500 for a rompler lol.

Arturia’s “KeyLab 61” is an awesome keyboard-controller, so the Montage is of no benefit to me in this regard, and the 15gig of 24bit samples which come with Studio One are superior to the sounds in Montage.

Besides, the people at Yamaha still haven’t figured-out how to build natural-sounding synth engines, they need to throw-away the ancient AWM2 sh_t and start again! And Yamaha hasn’t figured-out how to compile samples properly. The sound of the Montage reminds me of the XF, but worse. Here’s the thing… The best-sounding Motif was the XS. Then Yamaha claimed to have upped the anti on the XF but the general consensus from users was that the XF didn’t sound as good as the XS, but now we have the Montage and again Yamaha claim to have upped the ante (Pure Analog circuit etc blah blah) and now from demo vids I see the Montage is a step backward again in it’s sound compared to the XF.

Yamaha’s sound gets worse every time they release a new synth. The problem with the Montage sound? Typical Yamaha tone cheap&tacky;. Always appears artificial and plastic/synthetic, don’t know what’s causing it, but more specifically “clinical” < don’t know why, but that has always been Yamaha’s signature-sound, quite unbearable, and you suckers keep buying this sh_t. That’s on top of the fact that the Montage sounds like a cheap 80’s Casio keyboard. There are other things about the sound which put me off too, every Montage Youtube vid i’ve seen so far seems to exhibit a glassy top-end with bright pitch on nearly every sound, and the bottom-end seems too heavy, and the midrange in general is far too warm/rich to an unnatural sickening degree. All this adds-up to basically something I wouldn’t use even if you gave me a Montage for free. Yamaha is dreaming if they think people these days will give them $3,500 for sh_tty dubious sound and no proper workstation features. Don’t you know what happened to the XBOX One console when Microsoft got too big for it’s britches and dared to dictate how it’s gonna be? Let’s just say that the PS4 console has currently sold 33 million units and the XBOX ONE 11 million. I’m guessing the Kronos will do to the Montage what the PS4 is doing to the XBOX ONE… i’m saying the Kronos will outsell the Montage 3-to-1.

Definately not until I’ve had my hands on a real life version.

Even then, the Motif XS is still doing everything I need. I like the subtle changes in sound from FM, but as I use the Motif mostly live I didn’t miss it badly all these years. And apart from the FM, it was possible to create every sound I needed. The abuse of song/pattern mode for live performace is a bit of a pain, but I got used to it.
When Yamaha sell you a synth, they intend you’d use it for at least 10 years. That’s why you shouldn’t think your current XF/XS or even ES is obsolete the moment something new is released. These things have a lifespan that’s larger than a cell phone. Your instrument is a tool to create music. If you’ve liked your music before, you’ll still like it. If you always thought something essential was missing, then go ahead.
So no need for me to buy a Montage right away. But it’s nice to know what’s on the market. Disaster could happen to the Motif and I’d need a replacement right away.

Thanks for the link to the Owner’s Manual, DJNoah.

I’m waiting for the Reference manual. That’s where the details are hiding.

All the best, pj