Montage M (emulated)

Thanks, again, to Saul at Yamaha Musicians Forum. Quoting:

Yamaha has created a software version of the Montage M. This is a 1:1 emulation with all features present.
My understanding is that the software will come free with the purchase of a new Montage M but that it will also be available as a standalone purchase.

Of course, this raises many questions about capabilities, end user licensing, distribution, pricing, yada-yada. We’ll know soon. BTW, only n00bs launch a new product on a Monday. 🙂

Back in April, Steinberg announced a “rent-to-own” partnership with Splice. Could the new partnership bring the emulated Montage into fruition?

Will the emulated Montage M interoperate with Yamaha’s new control surface?

Flash: Major leakage

A few highlights from the Hispasonic article.

The Expanded Softsynth Plugin (E.S.P.) provides an “in the box” version of Montage M. Available in January (at no cost to Montage M users), E.S.P. provides hardware and software integration (editing, use of sounds, etc.)

AN-X polyphony is 16 voices (as rumored). The basic voice architecture includes 3 oscillators, noise source, double filter section, ring and FM modulation, autosync, PWM, 2/4-voice unison modes.

Each AWM2 part of a performance can stack up to 128 elements. AWM2 polyphony is doubled. The 8-part limit on Seamless Sound Switching (SSS) remains.

Montage M factory AWM2 preset sounds (7,620 multi-samples) occupy 10GB of memory when converted to 16-bit linear format. USER flash memory space is 3.7GB (presumably uncompressed). The article refers to an additional 128 voice polyphony when playing from USER flash memory — which is similar to Genos (gen 1).

FM-X polyphony remains 128.

Yamaha Pure Analog Circuit (PAC) is improved with better mids and bass.

As rumored, only the M8x model gets polyphonic aftertouch. The M6 and M7 have channel aftertouch. (Probably FSX keybeds as before.)

Overall, the Hispasonic article repeats, confirms or amplifies the most recent leak. I’m still waiting to see the manuals, especially the Data List PDF. The analog cultists hate everything already.

A few other random comments. A separate leak claims “VCM Rotary Speaker effect and realistic drawbar behavior deliver authentic organ control and sound.” Well, as far as eight sliders will take you, anyway. I think this means flipping the slider behavior. Maybe Yamaha ported the Stage YC rotary speaker effect to Montage M? That would be welcome on both Montage M and Genos (mark 2).

Wonder where all the preset waveform memory went? The “Best of Montage M” screen lists four pianos: CFX Concert, Ballad Piano, Hamburg Grand and Imperial. Pianos notoriously chew through sample memory.

The pictures aren’t up to Yamaha PR quality (resolution). Seem kind of home-brew. That carpet is hideous. I tore out one like it from our first house — 30 years ago. 🙂

Copyright © 2023 Paul J. Drongowski

 

Montage M: More early info?

Congrats to Saul and the folks at Yamaha Musicians Forum for snagging leaked Yamaha Montage M specs. We won’t have to wait too much longer for details. Maybe next week’s Yamaha Tech Talk will explain all?

Caution is recommended at this stage. Some of the numbers in the leaked specs don’t add up for me and the grammar doesn’t read like smooth marketing-speak. The dealer — who is now in trouble with Yamaha — might have transmogrified the original specs while copying them to their Web site. For example, Yamaha usually state whether wave memory size is physical capacity or “converted to 16-bit linear format.” [The latter is their current practice.]

The polyphony spec looks a little off, too. Yamaha avoid specifying polyphony in terms of notes, knowing that it’s number of active elements that matter.

As to pricing, the leak claims:

  • Yamaha Montage M6: $3,999.99
  • Yamaha Montage M7: $4,499.00
  • Yamaha Montage M8X: $4,999.00

MSRP? MAP (street)? The cents aren’t consistently stated either. Perhaps another transcription error?

For $5,000, the M8X had better have piano features comparable to Yamaha’s best (VRM, Grand Expression, etc.) I’m primarily chasing a good piano playing experience, so my needs probably don’t match yours — and that’s cool. 🙂

Have fun. Exciting times!

Copyright © 2023 Paul J. Drongowski

Yamaha P-525 digital piano announced

As predicted, the Yamaha portable digital piano line has a new flagship — the Yamaha P-525 — replacing the popular P-515.

Lucky for all of us, the price has not gone up. USA MAP is $1,600 USD ($2,000 MSRP). It is already appearing on retailer sites for pre-order.

The P-525 web page is up. Here are the improvements over the P-515 and a few extra highlights (for the impatient):

  • GrandTouch-S wooden (white) keys
  • Grand Expression Modeling
  • Registration memories
  • Bluetooth audio
  • USB to HOST (MIDI and audio)
  • Amplification: 2 x (20W + 6W)
  • Speakers: 2 x (Oval (12cm x 6 cm) + 2.5 cm (dome))
  • Sound Boost and adjustable EQ

A number of features carry over from the P-515: CFX and Bösendorfer Imperial featured pianos, binaural sampling (CFX only), VRM, and half damper pedal. The P-525 amplifiers got a small bump.

The big change is the GrandTouch-S keybed, replacing the NWX keybed. I really liked playing the P-515’s NWX. Here’s hoping that the P-525 has the same non-fatiguing action and key-to-sound connection. [I’m dying to try it.]

Giggers will truly welcome the registration memories and adjustable EQ. Now you’ll be able to store panel settings in the piano itself without resorting to the Yamaha Smart Pianist app. Nothing against Smart Pianist, but a tablet (or phone) is yet another thing to carry and set-up at the job.

The P-525 brought over the XG sound set and drum kits (480 voices and 18 drum/SFX kits). These are mainly used for MIDI file playback, but feel free to dip in. The P-525 adds four new effect types for specific voices (and cannot be selected by the Voice menu):

  • VCM EQ 501
  • CompDistortion
  • VintagePhaserStereo
  • StereoOverdrive

The new effect types bring the P-525 closer to CP88 territory although the P-525 still lacks several important stage piano features (zones, front panel gizmos to control effects in real time, etc., etc.)

The P-525 adds a few voices that make use of the new, voice-specific effect types:

  • Dance Grand (AP)
  • Old School Pf (AP)
  • Auto Pan EP (EP)
  • Dyno E.Piano (EP)

I noted inconsistencies in the MSB/LSB/PC numbers between the P-515 and P-525 (Data List PDF). I don’t know if these differences are significant. Perhaps Yamaha need to proofread the MIDI voice assignments? One PDF claims “1-128” numbering and the other PDF claims “0-127” numbering WRT program change numbers.

Also predicted, Yamaha have a new, portable triple pedal unit, the FC35. The FC35 plugs into the P-525 triple pedal port. The FC35 is compatible with other Yamaha digital pianos which implement the triple pedal port (e.g., DGX-670 and P-225). The FC35 retails for $100.

I’m going to call it a night and will take a close look at the Owner’s Manual tomorrow. Start browsing for deals on the P-515, if the 525 doesn’t float your boat!

Update (after a good night’s sleep)

I didn’t catch it last night, but the P-525 has an updated speaker box. Yamaha claim:

We also made significant improvements to the speaker boxes. Flared bass reflex ports and proprietary sound-absorbing tubes substantially reduce wind noise, vibration noise, and other excess noise, which helps to deliver a higher quality of sound.

The P-525 is also the first digital piano equipped with an FIR filter, which makes fine adjustments to the phase of the sound. This allows your audience to hear a naturally pleasing sound as you play.

I don’t think they’re lyin’ because I have not seen the FIR filter touted in other Yamaha digital piano blurbs.

The FIR filter is a digital crossover between the mid-range woofer and the tweeter. I haven’t reviewed it yet, but I’ve been playing through a Yamaha Stagepas 100BTR, which features a digital FIR crossover filter. It’s good stuff.

The P-525 adopts the registration memory scheme which should be familiar to Yamaha arranger people. The software engineers overloaded the “Piano Room” button with a REGIST operation, i.e., press and hold the button for registration operations. Use the arrow buttons to navigate to a bank, then press a (voice) button to select a registration within a bank. The bad news here is holding the REGIST button while hitting a second button to execute the selection. This would be an awkward gesture if you’re trying to change registration while playing.

The P-525 has a 3-band Master EQ (low, mid and high). You can select from three EQ presets or create your own USER setting. The Master EQ setting is saved in a registration along with a bunch of other important panel settings. Check the manual.

There is only one thing to bust Yamaha’s chops. The feature overview video demo claims “542 attractive voices.” The number is incorrect: 44 panel voices plus 480 XG voices is 524. Further, the 480 XG voices are really intended for MIDI file playback. There are some usable XG voices, but the entire lot of them smells like the 1990s. I laud the new AP/EP voices (and DSP effects), but C’mon man!

I have played the P-515 several times since my initial review. Each time, the P-515 left me favorably impressed. If the GrandTouch-S action is non-fatiguing and playable, the P-525 should be everybody’s serious candidate. You will get most of the benefits of a full-blown CLP in a quasi-portable package — $2,000 USD (street) for a slab, stand, bench and pedal unit. That’s excellent value.

Copyright © 2023 Paul J. Drongowski

The fair, the Princess and the unicorn

Yamaha at Synthfest UK 2023

Yamaha have issued the following statement regarding their participation at Synthfest UK 2023 this weekend:

“Yamaha are looking forward to joining SynthFest UK this weekend to display a wide range of hands-on products along with Yamaha specialist staff to support any enquiries.

We will be exhibiting our recent releases including the CK Stage Keyboard Series and Finger Drum Pads, in addition to our more established MODX+, CP, YC and Reface ranges.

There has been much speculation regarding the launch of our successor to the flagship Montage synth which has been announced as an October release. To manage any expectations ahead of the show, we would like to clarify that unfortunately the timing of this new release means that it will not be featured at the show.

We look forward to seeing you all there.”

Princess

Celebrate Hatsune Miku’s 16th birthday with a special Steinberg UR12 MK16th edition audio interface and an MK16th-themed VKB-100 Vocaloid™ keyboard.

Illustration by iXima [Yamaha]

Hatsune Miku Magical Mirai 2023

Unicorn

I couldn’t possibly comment. 🙂

Copyright © 2023 Paul J. Drongowski

The other unicorn in the room

With discussion focused on the upcoming Yamaha Montage M, we’ve forgotten about the other unicorn in the room: Yamaha SEQTRAK™.

It’s a Yamaha trademark

Before I add anything new, here’s a brief review of what we know from the public record. As many others have cited, “SEQTRAK” is a trademark registered by Yamaha. The “SEQTRAK” character mark is registered with both the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO). None of this should be surprising.

The USPTO trademark process has two major steps: intent to use and statement of use. The initial filing data — intent to use — was filed October 20, 2020. An applicant (Yamaha) must eventually file a Statement Of Use (SOU) when the mark is placed into actual use, i.e., the trademarked product is available for sale. If an applicant doesn’t file a timely SOU, they must apply for an SOU extension. As to “SEQTRAK”, Yamaha filed for and received its fourth extension on April 13, 2023.

Given the pandemic, supply chain issues, etc., SEQTRAK has been delayed. There may be technical reasons, but we don’t know that.

It’s got class

A trademark is valid only within a specific field of goods and services. “SEQTRAK” is valid within the following clases:

  • Primary class: 009 Electrical and Scientific Apparatus; US Classes: 0021, 023, 026, 036, 038
  • Primary class: 015 Musical Instruments; US Classes: 002, 021, 036

Breaking this down into English, we get the following uses under Class 009:

  • audio amplifiers;
  • audio mixers;
  • electric and electronic effects units for musical instruments;
  • sampling units, namely, digital phrase samplers used to record, replay, and edit digitally stored music samples;
  • music synthesizers, namely, desk top control units used to synthesize music that do not function independently as musical instruments;
  • electronic tone generators for musical instruments and audio effect processors;
  • electronic music sequencers;
  • electronic rhythm programmers;
  • downloadable computer software for generating, reproducing, effecting, and recording sound;
  • downloadable computer software for arranging, sequencing music;
  • downloadable computer software for creating computer music.

For class 015, Yamaha state:

  • electronic musical instruments;
  • electronic music synthesizer;
  • electronic drum machines;
  • electronic percussion instruments;
  • electronic rhythm machines.

Well, that really narrowed things down, didn’t it? Not. 🙂

Standing back, however, one gets the impression (gestalt) that SEQTRAK is a piece of hardware (like a sophisticated synth/beatbox) which integrates with downloadable software for sequencing. The software part kind of sounds like Steinberg Cubase, Groove Agent, Halion, etc.

What’s new?

First, I am not going to reveal sources and methods, and neither should you. The “SEQTRAK” name appeared in the warranty list spill to which Yamaha put a quick end. Zip it, Scott.

I’ve seen SEQTRAK described as a “music production studio”. Yamaha have used the term “music production studio” in the past. The most relevant past use is the venerable Yamaha RS7000 Music Production Studio. The Yamaha RS7000 is a groovebox combining a sequencer, sampler, synth, digital effects and mastering tools.

The RS7000 is the beast from 2001. [The year, Not the film.] Yamaha haven’t played in this space since then. They are due.

We know from the earlier reveal that there are two SEQTRAK models. Both models are functionally the same; you get a choice of black or orange livery. Physically, SEQTRAK is about 13.5″ wide, 3.8″ deep, 1.5″ high. That’s roughly the size of a small QWERTY keyboard. Connectivity is USB-C and Wi-Fi. Wired connections are made through one of the side panels. SEQTRAK is intended for desktop use, maybe in front of a QWERTY keyboard or laptop.

Let’s imagine an attractive, modern-looking desktop control surface. The surface is divided into five panels:

  • Sequencing (8 knobs, 16 buttons)
  • Mixing (4 knobs, 8 buttons)
  • Status (back-lit legends and LEDs)
  • Effects (4 knobs)
  • Output (master volume knob and built-in speaker)

On-board, one expects a synthesizer — oh, what the heck, make that two synthesizers — and a sampler.

Questions

Two big questions loom in my mind. First, what is the assignment of music production activies (synthesis, editing, ya-ya) to hardware and software? Is synthesis built in or is synthesis performed by Halion, for example? Second, does SEQTRAK integrate with other hardware products like Montage M and the new FGDP-50 finger drum? Please recall, FGDP-50 does not have standard MIDI IN/OUT and seems a little lonesome by itself. The FGDP-50 would be a natural companion for a groovebox. Is Montage M part of the “music production studio”?

Yamaha have been very, very busy…

Copyright © 2023 Paul J. Drongowski

Hammond M-solo announced

For some reason, the best news pops up over the weekend. In this case, it’s announcement of the four-octave Hammond M-solo tone-wheel organ+. You got your drawbars, percussion and scanner controls, and four-octave keyboard in one compact unit. Hammond is pitching the M-solo as a second board to add over your other stage instruments (e.g., slab piano). Four octaves, though, is enough for real two-handed sport.

“The 8 pound M-solo features 49 keys, driving our “MTW II” Drawbar engine as found in our XK-4 Organ. All the essential HAMMOND ingredients are aboard, like Vibrato-Chorus (C1,C2,C3 etc.) and Touch-response percussion. Our high-definition digital LESLIE™ is on hand.”

Hammond need to hire a native English-speaking tech writer to edit the M-solo manual right doggone now. The grammar is horrible. Please.

The Hammond M-solo has four engines:

  • MTWII tone-wheel organ (polyphony: 61)
  • Transistor organs (polyphony: 96)
  • String/vocal ensemble (polyphony: 96)
  • Polyphonic synthesizer (polyphony: 8)

You can read all of the Hammond M-solo specs here. The drawbars control mix/timbre for all four engines. You can store up to three patches.

The polyphonic synthesizer is a two oscillator (triangle, sawtooth, square, pulse main and sub osc), filter and envelope affair. No mod or pitch-bend wheels; articulations are produced by pushing the (percussion) buttons.

The transistor organs and string/vocal ensemble are throw-backs to yester year (the 70s).

The goes-ins and goes-outs have the essentials: expression pedal, stereo 1/4″ jacks, phones, AUX IN (3.5mm), USB-B TO HOST, 5-pin MIDI IN and OUT, and something labelled “Leslie FAST”. The AC adapter in looks like a Casio-standard jack, uh-oh.

Someone floated a Japanese price on Keyboard Corner, but I could not verify it on the Suzuki web site. I suspect that Hammond are aiming for the magic $999 USD price point. I wouldn’t expect much for $1,000 these days, so forget about luxury features. Hammond Suzuki are offering a limited number of units in burgundy color.

The big (errr, small) spec that jumps out at me is 7 pounds 15 ounces (3.6kg). After 71 years, I have herniated just about everything that can be herniated. Small is good; light is good.

For me, I see the M-solo replacing my Yamaha Reface YC. I mainly use the YC at rehearsals — quick in, quick out. I’ve used the YC at the church job, when slugging MODX is too much for my health. Several things about Reface YC really annoy me: the fast rotary speaker speed, its chorus/vibrato and the three octave keyboard. Mini-keys are somewhat annoying, but hot-damn, either my left and/or right hand runs out of space on that friggin’ three octave keyboard. Three octave keyboards should be outlawed. No diggity.

Demo-wise, the organ demos have me interested. If you only have time for one video demo, play this one.

Definitely a big step up from Reface YC. The poly synth demo sounds are pretty weak. I’m hoping to get one or two good pad sounds out of it, maybe a flute-y lead. The string ensemble is a little too “PAiA Stringz’n’Thingz”, but I expected that. (Solina? Not so sure.) I don’t need much for rehearsal. And the M-solo will scratch my occasional itch for combo organ.

Copyright © 2023 Paul J. Drongowski

Isn’t this awkward?

I checked out an interesting observation made on the Yamaha Musicians Forum. The Steinberg Online Shop is currently (and temporarily) kaput.

“Our online shop is run on our behalf by a third party, Asknet Solutions AG. Unfortunately, Asknet has entered into self-administered insolvency, and consequently Steinberg has decided to engage a new trusted business partner to restore our online shop.”

“The Steinberg online shop is currently unavailable. A wide range of Steinberg products is available via our worldwide network of authorized resellers. To find your nearest Steinberg reseller, use our reseller locator. We know you may have questions about this unusual situation, so please read: Online Shop Info

Makes it rather awkward to synchronize the Cubase 13 release (MIDI 2.0) with the Montage M or GENOS II announcements.  🙂

Launches are never that easy or turbulence free!  🙂

Copyright 2023 © Paul J. Drongowski

KORG Keystage MIDI 2.0

Thank you Gearnews and KORG for rescuing us from endless discussions about the meaning of “M”. [Be Zen. Labels are useless and wrong. Accept.]

A retailer slip-up previewed the new KORG Keystage line of MIDI 2.0 controllers. The retailer’s page is now gone.

Hmm, Gearnews and other big-name sites have been rather quiet about the Yamaha Montage M. Perhaps they have review units already? Rumor-wise, mark October 9th on your calendar. Gearnews, by the way, is a subsidiary of Thomann.

The Keystage are handsome beasts. The big news is polyphonic aftertouch (Polytouch®) in partnership with ASM. Neat! Keystage are equipped with an audio interface. Each of the eight parameter knobs has its own OLED display. Slider fans will be disappointed, however — no faders.

The 49- and 61-key models are light: 9.3 pounds and 11 pounds, respectively. Both have 5-pin MIDI IN and OUT. The 49 is priced at $599 USD (MSRP? MAP?) and the 61 is $699.

A small music/tablet rest is provided. The rest can be positioned at center or left/right. This is thoughtful.

From my own perspective, I wonder if the two pedal inputs support an expression pedal in addition to footswitch? At these prices, it should. The front panel seems a little short on assignable buttons. I like to use buttons for patch changes while playing. Hope it can send a full Bank MSB, Bank LSB, Program Change MIDI message sequence — my pet peeve and soapbox issue. Hope it’s all MIDI 1.x backward compatible, too.

Copyright © Paul J. Drongowski

Ridin’ the E-bus

Jan was kind enough to send me his thoughts about the “M” in “Montage M”. He hears evidence of MPE — MIDI Polyphonic Expression — in at least one of the audio examples posted by Yamaha.

Well, my ears probably aren’t as finely tuned as his, but his conjecture (“M” for “MPE”) makes sense. By now, you’ve probably seen the list of new Cubase 13 features including MIDI 2.0. Cubase has supported MPE for quite some time, and oddly, Yamaha synths (when used as external controllers) do not support MPE! Thus, it’s time for Montage M and future Yamaha synths to catch up with their Steinberg cousins.

MIDI 2.0 has a number of MPE-like features to control individual notes, e.g., pitch bend individual notes instead of all active notes in a MIDI channel. Some analysts regard MPE as a “bridge” to MIDI 2.0 with MIDI 2.0 as the final destination.

I was happy to leave it there, but my mind wandered down to the circuit level. In particular, I wondered if Yamaha’s internal controller design is up to the task of MPE and MIDI 2.0. MIDI 2.0, after all, increases controller resolution up to 32 bits and note velocity up to 16 bits. That’s quite a leap from MIDI 1.x 7-bit resolution in both cases (modulo the few situations where a few more bits are set aside).

Web discussions usually focus on synthesis and ignore control implementation. With the change to MIDI 2.0, suddenly the control infrastructure requires examination, too, and possibly an update. (“We cannot develop the current MONTAGE any further.”)

So, how are key, knob, slider and button gestures detected and communicated in a mid- to upper-tier Yamaha synth/arranger? By mid- to upper-tier, I mean those instruments which incorporate an SWP70 (SWP50/51) tone generator IC.

In the case of Montage (and MODX), keys, knobs, sliders and buttons are scanned by dedicated microcontrollers. The Montage has three microcontrollers:

  • E-PNS4: 40MHz ARM Cortex-M3 32-bit single core microcontroller (MB9AF131NBPQC)
  • E-VKS: 40MHz ARM Cortex-M3 32-bit single core microcontroller (MB9AF131KAPMC)
  • E-PNS3: 10MHz Toshiba 8-bit microcontroller (TMP89FW24AFG-7KH4)

E-PNS4 scans knobs (24 lines, 12-bit ADC) and the left/right front panel switches. E-PNS3 scans the sliders (8 lines, 10-bit ADC). E-VKS scans the keyboard.

The three microcontrollers and the Master SWP70 tone generator are connected by an I2C bus which Yamaha calls the “E-bus”. The three microcontrollers send events directly to the tone generator. The event message stream does not pass through the ARM host CPU (running Linux). Latency is minimized thanks to the direct path. And, as far as internal synthesis is concerned, the events are not converted nor passed through conventional MIDI links.

The ARM host CPU gets its E-bus messages from the Master SWP70. The Master SWP70 generates an E-bus interrupt request (SWP_EIRQN) when message data is available.

The best way to describe I2C is “poor man’s Ethernet.” I2C is serial and requires only three wires: clock (E-SCL), data (E-SDA) and reset (E-IC). I2C can send multiple bytes in a single bus transaction.

I found three European patents that describe the E-bus: EP1235202A2, EP1235202A3, EP1235202B1. Basically, Yamaha (re)filed three separate patents with the European Patent Office in order to extend the life of the IP. The patent title is “Bi-directional serial bus system for electronic musical instrument,” and the inventors are Shinya Sakurada, Akira Iizuka, Harumichi Hotta, Shizuhiko Kawai, Kozo Tokuda, Masaki Kudo. The first patent was published August 28, 2002.

There are two message data formats:

  • Standard data: 5 bytes in length (3 data bytes)
  • Extended data: 17 bytes in length (15 data bytes)

Generally, events are communicated in the 5-byte, standard data format. The following table (“FIG. 8”) is taken from the patent. It summarizes the E-bus events.

You probably picked up on the similarity to standard MIDI 1.x events. There aren’t any channels, however. The low-order nibble of the first data byte provides additional event-specific information (port number or 4 additional velocity bits).

This analysis opens a can of worms. Will Montage M scan analog signals at 10-bits? 12-bits? Can the existing E-bus protocol communicate values measured at higher resolution? Can the stock SWP70 tone generator at the receiving end of the event stream interpret and respond to higher resolution events? How will low resolution values be up-scaled to 32 bits? Is that even required by the MIDI 2.0 spec?

I guess we’re gonna find out! We should all thank the engineers who took on this rather unglamorous task.

Copyright © 2023 Paul J. Drongowski

Yamaha synthesizer sneak peek

Blake comes through! [Thanks, Blake.] If you’re interested in Montage M, go direct to the official sneak peek on YamahaSynth.com. Do not pass GO. Save $200 for your new Montage M, if you collect it. 🙂 The sneak peek page has Soundcloud audio demos.

Check out the large subdisplay on Montage M!

The “Vegas nightline” shots pretty well confirm the leak pictures. I loves that subdisplay above the knobs and sliders. It’s much bigger than Genos, can handle graphics, and will prove to be more informative than Genos. I wonder if GENOS2 will get the same subdisplay? That would be grand!

Jason’s labelled flow diagram (from YamahaSynth.com)

I’m trying to make sense of the fuzzy screenshot which looks like an effects routing diagram. Yamaha have clearly done some user interface work, here. Maybe the boxy icons open into parameter tables?

[Update: Jason at YamahaSynth.com did everyone a service by labelling the fuzzy flow diagram. It is the classic synth signal flow. At Yamaha Musicians Forum, a member noted the AN1x color scheme, and then Saul let on that AN-X is included in the M. Good times ahead!]

I don’t see texturing on the white piano keys (in the picture with the ribbon controller). I suspect that the “spy pictures” are an earlier prototype or sound development ‘board. I still have hopes for a decent 88 keybed. The grand piano audio snippets have that distinctive CFX brightness and clarity. The fusion-y “bass effect” audio example is 70s cool and I dig the playing.

The organ Soundcloud snippet has many pulses running fast — my own included. Dare we hope for Stage YC technology? I’ll settle for the improved, Stage YC rotary speaker sim. Yamaha must and will keep reserve special tech in order to differentiate product lines (Montage M vs. Stage vs. P-series).

The Soundcloud examples skew toward bread and butter sounds. The selection of examples will not please the synthbois. Maybe Yamaha is holding AN-X fire for the full Montage M announcement?

This is the way to create excitement for a product instead of boga-zoid teaser videos. The Genos (gen 1) pre-announcement teaser, for example, had nothing to do with the actual instrument — it was a promotional video for some idiotic, boring producer. I hope the GENOS2 roll-out is intelligent, too. Customers are not stoopid.

Now we have something to look at! See you later… If info is slow to appear on my site, it’s because WordPress has suddenly decided to inflict the Gutenberg UI on me. 🙁

Copyright © 2023 Paul J. Drongowski