Tag Archives: analog modeling

Montage M preseason

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Forum folks are picking over the Yamaha Montage M leak photos, so no need to duplicate that here! Wish we spent as much attention on world peace. 🙂

Many comments — my own included — are reading personal hopes and dreams into the new boxen. My own special hope is a decent keybed action for piano practice. I’m seriously looking for a practice digital piano in order to work out arrangements and get ready for Sundays when I need to sit down at the Petrof acoustic grand. That’s why my own guess of “X” for “escapement” is an act of wishful thinking. Dare I hope for Virtual Resonance Modeling?

The time period between leak and reality is much like football preseason. Right now, it’s the perfect season. Your team looks pretty good, no major injuries, and “Superbowl here we come!” Then, like a perennial Browns fan, your hope is slowly extinguished week by week. [Well, that was bleak.]

When I saw Yamaha’s parting gift — the character pianos — I thought, “We’ll be seeing these, again, shortly.” So, I won’t be surprised to find CFX, Bösendorfer, U1 Felt, U1 upright, Nashville C3 and friends in Montage M. Even if the pianos aren’t factory installed, there’s always expansion flash memory. Could I hope for the CK pipe organs? Same answer.

The most striking features in those horribly blurry, low-rez, leak pictures are the textured keys, six new knobs below the main touch screen and a new subdisplay above the bank of eight knobs and eight sliders. The subdisplay is a feature borrowed from Genos. On Genos, it’s called the “Live Control” subdisplay. Instead of fixing internal parameters to TONE, EQ/FX and ARP/Motion FX, the user can assign internal parameters to knob/slider groups and switch between groups in real-time. The subdisplay tracks current parameter values, updates and so forth.

Of course, the big question is “What are the internal engines?” AWM2 and FM-X are givens. Wishes include AN-X and the YC stage tonewheel organ. More engines means more parameters, so that Live Control subdisplay seems like a really good ideaâ„¢.

The more I contemplate functional details, a larger question arises: “How will Yamaha keep the Montage M, Stage CP and Stage YC in their own lanes?” Yamaha need to make Montage M inviting while keeping the CP and YC specialists special. I think Montage M will follow the Montage line and remain a jack of all trades, integrating multiple engines into motion control, sequencing and studio audio/MIDI channels. Sound designers and players who need a generalist keyboard will still turn to Montage M.

Organists and pianists will turn to Stage YC and Stage CP. The simplified, focused user interfaces have proven successful — little or no menu-diving required. Yamaha have learned a lot after introducing the Stage CPs at January NAMM 2019. [The Stage CP tech is even older; check dates in the manuals.] The Stage YC interface is an improvement on the Stage CP. Hopefully, some of this experience has trickled over to the Montage M.

Which brings me to my concluding question. Even if we see AN-X in Montage M, will we eventually see an AN-X specialist keyboard, a Stage AN? Montage M would need to fit AN-X into its generalist usage model and I don’t think that will satisfy analog purists/players. [How ’bout alternate MPE control, too?] I think there is an open lane for a control-studded Stage AN specialist.

Copyright © 2023 Paul J. Drongowski

Montage: Thank you for playing!

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Splashed all over the Interwebs — Yamaha Montage is discontinued after a seven year run.

A tribute

I quite liked Montage from the moment I played it. I opted not to buy it because I need a light-weight gigging instrument and the 61 was simply too much to schlep and set up every week (and/or rehearsal). Thus, I was positively elated when Yamaha announced the MODX as the younger sibling which had all of the Montage sounds I was craving.

As a MODX player, I had the benefit of Yamaha’s new “platform” approach to product development and lifetime management. Instead of forcing customers to buy a new instrument every few years in order to get new features, Yamaha provided periodic updates to Montage. Because Montage and MODX share large amounts of code and content, I got the new stuff as it trickled over to MODX.

I also got the benefit of all the Montage usage tips, explanations and other content posted by Phil Clendennin and Blake Angelos. Thank you, fellows!

The parsing

And, now, everyone is parsing Blake’s announcement. 🙂

“As much as we would have liked to, we cannot develop the current MONTAGE any further.”

Yep, the current hardware platform has run its course. (Even more about the internal design here.)

There is huge expressed demand for a virtual analog engine. The AN-X trademark drove the feeding frenzy throwing chum in the water. For quite some time, I’ve maintained the argument that SWP70 alone is not enough to implement VA synthesis with multiple channels (polyphony). Yamaha tried grafting AN/VL into an AWM synth — the wonderful EX5 — and know the limitations of that approach. Plus, would a punter really be happy controlling VA through the MONTAGE front panel?

“And one more thing… the next generation MONTAGE synthesizer is coming in October.”

October is the important fact, here. If you’ve been reading my recent posts, you know I’m looking for an 88 at home in the studio. If the new ax has wonderful pianos and a decent 88 action, count me in.

Will the new synth bear the mark “MONTAGE”? After a lifetime of choosing variable names, I don’t really care what it’s called. 🙂 How does it play? How does it sound? What’s inside?

Wither MODX+? I think we will see, again, a major split between the MODX product line and the future MONTAGE line. Yamaha is going to monetize those new features (AN-X) and I expect MODX+ to be left behind. That’s marketing for ya.

A gift

“As a thank you we are providing a final set of content free of charge for all MONTAGE owners.” The pack includes three of the character pianos that were released for the YC/CP product lines: Yamaha U1 upright piano, Yamaha C3 grand piano and Felt Yamaha U1 upright piano. I love that felt piano!

I expect to see all of these pianos on the other side along with CFX and Bösendorfer Imperial. Pretty please, Yamaha, with all that extra DSP, may we have VRM, too?

The waiting

So, there you go.

As to the Interwebs, it will be groundhog day all over again as people churn the same bloomin’ rumors, half-truths and nonsense.

As to me, I was getting set to spring for an 88 digital piano. Maybe this is the kick I need to be patient? Yamaha have been rolling out new product like Christmas morn. October isn’t that far away, is it, Santa?

Copyright © Paul J. Drongowski

AWM, AN and VL in one Yamaha synth

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What if you could buy a Yamaha synth with AWM2, AN and VL synthesis and buy it today? It’s not the unicorn super-Montage, it’s the Yamaha EX5 (released in 1998). The EX5 supports:

  • AWM tone generation
  • VL tone generation
  • AN tone generation, and
  • FDSP tone generation.

The EX5 had brothers, the EX5R rack module, and the diminuitive EX7. The EX7 is more limited in a number of ways including the absence of VL. Formulated Digital Sound Processing (FDSP) is a note- and velocity-dependent effect processor — an early version of Virtual Circuit Modeling. FDSP models electromagnetic pick-ups, water, PWM, flanger, phaser, etc. [I won’t say too much more about FDSP.]

AWM, AN, VL and FDSP can be combined (layered) in a variety of ways. (See the EX5/EX7 manual for details.) All of the synthesis methods share a common element structure as shown in the image below.

Yamaha EX5 common element structure [Yamaha]

The main difference between the synthesis types is how the “oscillator” is handled:

  • AWM: The oscillator is formed via sample-playback.
  • VL: The oscillator is the instrument model (mouthpiece, bow/string, etc.)
  • AN: The oscillator is a simulated VCO (Voltage Controller Oscillator).
  • FDSP: Same as AWM.

The remainder of sound processing is based on the standard AWM pipeline with the addition of a few extra VL, AN and FDSP parameters.

Yamaha EX5 allowed combinations of synthesis methods

All is exciting and fantastic until one reads the polyphony spec:

    Voice Type      EX5/5R Polyphony  EX7 Polyphony 
    --------------  ----------------  ------------- 
    AWM/Drum              126               64 
    VL+AWM               1+AWM 
    FDSP                   16                8 
    AN(Poly)+AWM         2+AWM             1+AWM 
    AN(Layer)+AWM        1+AWM 
    AN+FDSP           AN:1; FDSP:8

So, I would forget about that fat stack of AN or VL oscillators (layers). Forget phat two-handed analog chords.

How did Yamaha create this many-headed beast? Glancing at the EX5 service manual, the EX5 tone generation hardware consists of two SWP30B processors configured in the age-old master/slave tandem. (The SWP30B is two generations older than the current SWP70.) The EX7 has only one SWP30B. Further clues come from Yamaha itself:

The DSP (Digital Signal Processing) system used to create the EX effects is also used by the AN, FDSP, and VL (EX5/5R only) tone generators to create voices. This means that less DSP capacity is available to produce effects when the aforementioned voice types are used. This imposes limitations which are different for the EX5/5R and EX7. The Reverb and Chorus effect units function normally regardless of the type of voice used.

There are no limitations to using insertion effects in the EX5 or EX5R Voice mode. In the Performance mode, however, insertion effects can be used on a maximum of 4 parts (voices) if the performance setup consists entirely of AWM voices. If a VL, AN, or FDSP voice is used in the performance setup, however, an insertion effect can only be used on one part (voice).

Colloquially, Yamaha have robbed Peter to give to Paul.

Yamaha EX5 DSP limitations [Yamaha]

In EX5, DSP1 is always assigned to reverb, chorus and one level of insert effects. DSP2, however, is flexibly assigned between insert (AWM), VL, AN, and FDSP. Likely, Yamaha returns DSP2 output to a single TG channel in the front-end of the AWM2 pipeline (i.e., a return datapath).

Given the limitations in the EX5 internal architecture, I understand why Yamaha deployed the SSP2 digital signal processor in the Reface CS. Reface CS uses AN Analog Physical Modeling and is eight voice polyphonic. Although Yamaha don’t say much about its filter, Reface CS is not restricted as to filter algorithm (i.e., can be something other than the AWM2 hardware filters).

Sometimes you need to look back in order to see forward. AN-Xâ„¢ is on the horizon and we will soon see if Yamaha raids its treasure vault. [Again, 25 years later.]

Copyright © 2023 Paul J. Drongowski

Ancient weapons and tools

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Back in the mid- to late-1990s, Yamaha developed and manufactured a wide range of plug-in cards and modules. In many cases, the technology is unique and is still useful today. I have two old Yamaha modules:

  • The VL70m analog modeling synthesizer module and
  • The AN200 desktop beatbox and analog modeling synthesizer.

Both are based on Yamaha’s analog/physical modeling techniques. The VL70m, which has a native WX11 breath controller interface, models string- and pipe-based instruments both acoustic and “virtual.” The AN200 models a 5 voice Sequential Circuits Prophet 5 analog synthesizer. The AN200 also has patterns, a sequencer and a three channel AWM (sample-based) rhythm section.

Although you can program either one of these boxes through the front panel, you really need software tools for deep editing. Yamaha provided editors for both the AN200 and the VL70m. There are also editors for the PLG100 and PLG150 line of hardware plug-in boards that are the module’s cousins. The PLG series use the same analog modeling, FM, AWM, and XG technology as Yamaha modules and synthesizers of that era. The PLG boards can be plugged into a PLG-compatible synthesizer thereby expanding the synth’s sonic capability. The first models in the Motif product family, for example, accepted PLG boards. Unfortunately, the PLG boards and the analog modeling technology was phased out in the early 2000s.

The software tools of that era never advanced beyond Windows 2000 or Windows XP. So, if a guy or gal wants to use these tools today on Windows 7, they better strap in.

Yamaha provided three kinds of tools and plug-ins over the years:

  • Plug-ins hosted by XGWorks or XGWorks Lite (up to version 3.x).
  • OPT tool plug-ins hosted by SQ01, Studio Manager or XGWorks version 4 and later.
  • Standalone tools.

A few of these tool names may not be familiar to you. XGWorks (version 3.x and earlier) is a standalone sequencer that initially ran on Windows 95/98. A patch makes XGWorks (version 3.0.7) run under Windows XP. XGWorks was replaced by Yamaha’s Open Plug-in Technology or “OPT.” OPT is a Microsoft OLE-based standard for plug-in tools. Yamaha dropped the early version of XGWorks and substituted the OPT-compatible SQ01 sequencer in its place. Yamaha also released XGWorks 4 and XGWorks ST in Japan; both are OPT-based. SQ01 and XGWorks 4/ST are OPT plug-in hosts. Old-time users today lament these changes because SQ01 and XGWorks 4/ST do not have some of the features of the early XGWorks. The arranger-like style features, for example, were lost.

It’s worth noting that a few other manufacturers adopted the OPT standard. Cakewalk SONAR can host OPT-based plug-ins. So, if you have a VL or AN editor in OPT plug-in form, then SONAR can find and launch the plug-in editor! Functionality may be limited depending upon the OPT level supported by the host and plug-in.

Well, as if that history isn’t complicated enough, Yamaha eventually bought Steinberg and its Cubase DAW. Support for SQ01 and XGWorks 4/ST was dropped. Studio management is handled by the Yamaha Studio Manager which can host OPT plug-ins among other things. Studio Manager v2.3.1 runs on Windows 7 and Windows 8 (with a minor caveat). This is a modern era host!

Unfortunately, OPT-based plug-ins for the VL70m and AN200 are not readily available for download. The Yamaha web site only has standalone editors or editors which work with the very old XGWorks 3.x. It is possible to get XGworks 3.0.7 running on 32- and 64-bit Windows 7 with persistence and patience. The following produced worked on 64-bit Win 7:

  • Install XGWorks or XGWorks Lite v3.0. You must run the installer in Windows XP compatibility mode.
  • Immediately install the v3.0.7 update also known as the “XP patch.” Again, run the installer in Windows XP compatibility mode.
  • Immediately, restart your machine.

With any luck, XGWorks will now run on Win 7. Of course, this assumes that you even found a copy of the original XGWorks installer or the update! I suggest looking on a Yamaha tools CD-ROM from the late 1990s such as the AN200 tools disk where I found my copy. Then download the appropriate AN or VL editor for XGWorks and install them into the XGWorks directory. Again, you should run these installers in XP compatibility mode.

After a lot of searching and browsing, I did manage to locate the latest version (v1.2.2 released in 2003) of the AN Expert Editor for the PLG-150AN board. This version is OPT-compatible. OPT plug-ins, by the way, are stored in “C:\Program Files (x86)\YAMAHA\OPT Tools” just in case you want to double check the installation. I installed the AN Expert Editor and thought I was home free. Indeed, you can launch the editor via Studio Manager and tweak voices. The editor in standalone mode does not detect the MIDI interface and does not communicate with the AN200. Thank you, Studio Manager.

Version 1.2.2 of the AN Expert Editor, however, really wants to communicate with an AN1x synthesizer and does not handle MIDI bulk dumps from the AN200! The editor refers specifically to “AN1x” bulk dump, not “AN200” like the earlier XGWorks AN200 plug-in. One can still perform a bulk dump/receive through the AN200 front panel and the MIDI-OX utility. Although this is an adequate work around for back-ups, lack of AN200 bulk support may hinder voice management through the editor.

I still need to experiment with the VL editors. At least I have backed up the AN200 voices that I created years ago.

So, there you have it. Some successes, some failures. The old tech is great as long as you don’t let expectations about software support get too high. A deep breath or two along the way definitely helps!