Another day, another brief slip. The following Yamaha Montage information is taken from a credible posting at the gearslutz.com web site. It adds to the information that was inadvertently revealed earlier. Of course, all news before the official unveiling is unverified! If I’m all wrong about this, I will be the first one to have a good laugh! A good laugh is healthy. 🙂
- AWM2: 128-note, stereo polyphony.
- New AWM2 waveforms: Yamaha CFX Premium Grand Piano, Bösendorfer Imperial Premium Grand Piano, strings, woodwinds.
- FM-X: 128-note polyphony, 8-operator voice architecture.
- FM voices taken from the DX and TX series.
- DX-to-FM-X conversion utility is in development.
- Seamless Sound Switching (SSS) for Performances with 8 or fewer parts; no more sound cut-off when changing performances.
- Envelope follower to extract a routable, control envelope.
- 1.75GByte of internal user flash memory.
- Class compliant USB with multiple audio channels back to a DAW.
- Sampling rate up to 192 kHz.
- VCM effects including a compressor with sidechain; damper resonance.
- Pure Analog Circuit (PAC) postprocesses after-DAC audio.
- Eight rotary encoders and eight sliders.
- Direct Control Assignment for convenient assignment of parameters to physical controls.
- 61- and 76-note models have FSX action and aftertouch.
- 88-key model has fully-weighted balanced hammer action and aftertouch.
Thank you, thank you, for SSS!
The 128 stereo polyphony for AWM2 is interesting given the way Yamaha assigns voice generation elements on the fly. Also, given Yamaha’s tone generation scheme, this is true polyphony. Not to diss the Kronos, but Korg have to publish a lot of fine print about voice/effect trade-offs because the Kronos synthesis engines and effects share the same x86 cores.
Hopefully, the stereo polyphony spec implies a greater use of stereo waveforms for AWM2 voices. Improved woodwinds would really be a God-send for me, not to mention the new acoustic pianos. No word on the electric pianos or B3 organ emulation, though, so I’m still holding my breath. SCM, where are you? The latest reveal mentions “synth libraries from yamahasynth.com.” It would be cool (and useful!) if Yamaha follows the path taken by Nord with their downloadable sound libraries. Aftermarket accessories and sounds drive sales as well as a thriving environment for third party developers. I hope the Montage ecosystem ramps up fast.
One poster noted that 1.75 GBytes of user flash memory is kind of an odd amount. The Montage uses the flash memory scheme that is employed in the most recent arrangers. The flash memory feeding the tone generator holds both the factory voice samples and user samples. Users basically get whatever space is left over from the factory set. Yamaha essentially reserves this much space in the physical memory for your own use.
The motion control and motion sequencer appear to be similar to features implemented in the old Yamaha AN200 and DX200 table-top groove boxes. These allow dynamic control of multiple parameters for sound “morphing.”
The Motion Control Synthesis Engine “unifies” the treatment of AWM2 and FM-X voices across zones and layers in a Performance. Transparency of operation is good.
The visual styling is very nice! Rakish. (Always wanted to use that word.) The Montage appears to be physically smaller than the Motif. Hopefully, the Montage weighs less, too. Yamaha may get slagged for the lack of readable panel markings in low stage light.
Overall, pretty good stuff and I can’t wait to hear more!
Yamaha has now released the official Montage teaser video. If you’re on their mailing list, check your in-box. Otherwise, cruise on over to Youtube. (I don’t usually post Youtube links. You know how to use the Interwebs.) The video confirms the images that we have seen so far.
Yamaha has also opened up the Montage forum on yamahasynth.com. No manuals, yet. 🙂
More than a few people noticed that sequencing capabilities have not been mentioned in the leaked promotional material. Right now, it’s hard to read anything into the absence of this information. We’ll need to stay tuned, but don’t Bogart that Motif/MOX yet! It’s still an incredible time to buy a Motif XF, BTW, with the “Fully Loaded” package and all.
In case you missed them, here are links to two of my earlier posts speculating about the Montage:
Some hits, some misses.