Tag Archives: Yamaha Montage

So much better in hi-rez

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Ahhhh, those folks at motifator.com! They have managed to access the high resolution images that accompanied the briefly revealed information on the Yamaha music production synthesizer pages. Thanks, folks. I’m sure that you will cruise over there to see all of the images. However, here are a few things that struck me.

The Motion Seq image is quite informative. As I suspected, the sequencer user interface has undergone a substantial revision. It is more “DAW-like” in appearance and operation. (Click on the images below to get full resolution.)

montage_sequence

It’s also clear — from the other images at motifator.com — that arpeggios (ARPs) have not gone away. I’m sure that Yamaha wants us to focus on the new product features first, rather than reading about old news.

Seamless Sound Switching (SSS) effectively switches between two Performances (eight part maximum per Performance). The eight part limitation comes from the need to keep the currently playing voice and effects chain live in the tone generator while the second Performance parts are enabled. The elements and effect units assigned to the first Performance have to remain active and processing while the second Performance spins up.

montage_sss

I am very glad to see SSS as I often hold a chord at the end of a verse or refrain while bringing up a new patch. It’s hard to transition around the current sound cut-off while keeping a congregation in sync. (Worship musicians everywhere will rejoice.)

The snapshot of the voice selection page shows “Best of Montage” voices. Yamaha are clearly proud enough of the Rhodes and Wurlitzer electric pianos to include them in “The Best.” There is also an organ voice called “All 9 Bars!”. Oh, oh, this bodes well for those of us in need of good bread and butter sounds! Plus, I have got to play the bars. Still need to hear the rotary speaker effect…

montage_best_of

It will be interesting to discover if Yamaha have continued to mine the SuperArticulation voices and technology in the Tyros and upper-end PSR arranger workstations. The Motif XF added an SA-inspired tenor sax and hopefully, the improved wooodwinds will offer more treats. Bring me an SA jazz flute, Santa. Please?! 🙂

I can’t wait to play this machine! Looking better all the time.

We shouldn’t forget about the software side. Steinberg have not been sitting on their hands. Plus, the Yamaha Mobile Music Sequencer (MMS) has only seen bug fixes in the last few releases. Shall we see a new version of MMS? What do Cubase and Cubasis have in store for us? Any new and cool apps?

Through a gap in the curtain…

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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:

New Yamaha workstation at NAMM 2016?
(Re)take the stage

Some hits, some misses.

Yamaha Montage: First (leaked) glimpse

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Looks like the first credible leak about the Yamaha Montage has appeared on the gearslutz.com web site. There is a post taken from the February 2016 issue of the Music Trades NAMM Show special edition, including a small amount of text paraphrased from a Yamaha press release. Here is a short list of product features taken from the leaked text:

  • 61-, 76- and 88-key models
  • New user interface with color touch screen
  • Two sound engines: AWM2 and FM-X
  • Ten times more wave memory
  • Two times the effects as Motif XF
  • Two times the polyphony
  • Motion Control Synthesizer Engine
  • Super Knob: A single knob to control multiple parameters at once
  • Integrated flash

The blurb has the link http://4wrd.it/Montage which leads to a page that is not yet enabled.

YamahaMontage

This information is consistent with my earlier analysis. The Montage uses integrated NAND flash (no more DIMMs!). Ten times the wave memory puts total wave memory around 8GBytes (compressed? uncompressed?). This memory will be shared between the factory sound set, libraries and user samples. Polyphony is 256 voices. The XF supports 16 effect units, so the Montage should have 32 effect units (reverb, chorus and insert) total.

The picture shows a clean front panel where the touch screen has subsumed many of the front panel buttons on the XF. There are eight assignable part sliders and a master slider, along with (presumably assignable) eight knobs and buttons. The knobs and buttons are back-lit.

The Super Knob is also back-lit. It will be interesting to find out how this will be used in performance.

Of course, there are a zillion unknown details. Will the UI really be easy to use and navigate? Are there improved pianos and Spectral Component Modeling (SCM) electric pianos? Does the Montage continue phrase-oriented composition? How much internal flash memory is set aside for user samples? How much weight do we need to lug to the gig? What is the street price?

In case you missed them, here are links to two of my earlier posts speculating about the Montage:

New Yamaha workstation at NAMM 2016?
(Re)take the stage