Here’s a few small items that you may have missed in the deluge of Montage-related videos and forum comments.
Stephen Fortner — former editor of Keyboard Magazine — shot an interview and demo with Yamaha’s Nate Nate Tschetter back in December 2015. It’s a sneak peak. Here’s the link:
Dave Polich is a sound programmer and musician who has contributed voices to many keyboards including the Motif series and now Montage. Dave made an interesting post to the Gearslutz.com site:
I’ve had one in my studio since January of 2015 (because I’m on the Yamaha sound design team).
It sounds great. It does not sound “thin”. You can make it sound thin with EQ or filters if you want. It’s very loud, about twice as loud as the Motif XF. Bottom end is warm, full, midrange is punchy and present, highs are detailed and clear. It’s the only true 8-operator FM synth on the market now. it is not the old DX7 style of FM sound, but very high-definition, the engine is similar to the FS1R but no formants, however, you do have more than just sine-waves as carriers/modulators, every operator can have resonance and its own amplitude envelope, plus you have global filter and amplitude envelopes available for an FM “part” (which is the same as a “voice”, or single sound, in the old Motif series), as well as DSP effects. There are loads of new samples. Effects are the usual superior Yamaha quality. The motion control features are insane. It has an envelope follower that works. Do I care about the lack of sequencer? Absolutely not. I just like a synth that sounds good. Montage is a true synthesizer (FM) with sample playback…great combination.
The factory sounds are a good balance between bread-and-butter and EDM. The electric pianos feature adjustable balance between the main tine sound and the mechanical noise. The organs feature adjustable overdrive, leakage, chorus/vibrato and percussion. Yes there is a 9-drawbar B3. Many of the sounds are hybrids of FM and sample playback, including string and brass sounds. There are FM bell and percussion sounds, guitars, sitars, dulcimers, basses, electric pianos, clavs, and tons of FM pads, soundscapes, and edgy EDM sounds too.
Don’t judge anything based on YouTube audio, that audio sucks. SoundCloud audio sucks. The only way you should hear it is in person.
I hope that Dave doesn’t mind that I quoted him here. He is a knowledgable, reliable guy.
In a separate comment, Dave mentioned that the sounds have not yet been finalized. I guess we won’t see the Data List any time soon! That might also explain why the Yamaha demonstrators seem to rely on the same Performances…