Incredible instrument. I’m a synth noob who ended up picking up the MX49 based on your recent video but I hope to eventually get good enough to justify picking up something of this caliber.
That shimmer is tasteful. I find most workstations/synths with shimmers tend to sound pretty shrill and lack smoothness (I'm looking at you Fantom!). Some interesting updates here. Still pretty much impossible to get hold of a Montage M in the UK though, I'll upgrade one day!
My upgrade went well. The button to separate the different OS sounds is great. The ESP upgrade went well. The Audition button is great as well with the new sounds.
Nice job. Particularly on the update procedure! Suggestion: turn folks on to using the [AUDITION] button function because often it points out exactly what is unique or hidden about a particular Performance… it will put Knobs, controllers, switches and effects in motion often giving important clues as to how to approach playing the Performance yourself.
Thanks Scott, great video. It’s a shame though that the organ drawbars didn’t go to the sub screen and have the organ setting for manipulating the sound in the main screen.
I've never owned a Montage so forgive the dumb questions. I assume that the new CFX2 and CP80 samples are put into the user sample area. True? I thought the Factory sample area must either be ROM or not writable or was full. But if it got stored into the user sample area then that reduces your remaining space? Loved the CP80 for Arenas sound when you play hard. It really seems to have the character.
The new CFX2 and CP80 samples are in the preset area and so are the 58 new performances -> the new firmware essentially overwrites the entire original factory (and user) data on the synth including the wave ROM and preset performances (it’s a 4GB file as noted)… this is also the reason you need to do a backup before updating. During the update, you’ll actually see where the status says it’s updating the wave ROM.
@@Dr88Keyz I probably should have re-watched the video on the internals. The storage for factory samples is flash and not just ROM. That was apparently not full. So there was still room for the additional CFX2 and CP80 sample data. (Hmmm... is the CFX2 really that different from the CFX to make it worth the space?) The Sitara CPU has a flash to store OS and preset data. Preset data must have gotten overwritten due to that code being updated.
one comment on the drawbars.. Its mildly helpful for someone trying to do some organ patches, but the screen really should switch to an organ interface that shows other settings like rotary, perc, chorus/vibrato, not sure where the 9th drawbar is.. otherwise its lacking and for a 5000 instrument it should do better than that.. In the end if organ is important, you may as well get an ipad and install hammond..
Maybe with the next update? Have you made this suggestion on the Yamaha Ideascale? I think it would get a lot of support from other users. Of course, one of the most important aspects of playing organs is the keybed. The hammer action and synth action keybeds of the Montage line are not ideal for organ performances. That's why I got a YC61.
I think that a flagship workstation should be the top technology available, and this would be extremely performing considering Yamaha know-how. Seeing not perfect organ simulation (far away from YC series) was for me a kind of no buying decision. I was hoping about an update but it seems they are not planning that. Pity...
So you still cannot play more then 8 parts simultaneously? Part 9 to 16 must be externally triggered? So if I need drums running and have a bass split, I only have 6 part slots left? Is there a trick to play all 16 parts?
Correct. That said, with up to 128 elements per part now, you can be far more flexible about cramming different sounds into an individual part, to make better use of parts 1-8.
You can play all 16 easy but without SSS. You have to loop the MIDI cable out to back in so it tricks the system into thinking the signal is external. You have to use one part for example #8 to control parts 9 thru 16 by pointing them back to part 8. I posted some examples in Soundmondo (davlippo7) where parts 2 thru 7 were available or empty and part 8 was controlling 9 thru 16 for example a brass section. There's one setting that must be changed or turned off I think it's the MIDI program change because it kept making everything a piano.
@@ScottsSynthStuff Yeah that seems the only way. Because i don't need Keyboard control or actually play drums realtime (i trigger midi files), I was hoping the Montage M let me use part 9. There is no workaround as far as you know? Does part 9-16 go through the master FX chain? Thanks Scott!
Strange I can watch RUclips unless I leave a comment then I makes me sign in and then the video stops working "An Error Occurred" yet I've been watching and posting for many, many years. However now I can leave a comment just can't watch the video. Not sure what is going on with RUclips but it's now broken. Concerning the "Element" feature, it is supposed to be 1 thru 8 in groups of 8 all the way up to 128 on the small screen however I couldn't figure out the button combination to make it shift in groups of 8. Originally you could only see 1 thru 8 elements on the small screen. Also shimmer can be done on the Game Changer Analog Light Pedals it's called Harmonics which is what this reminds me of. Now to continue watching I have to log back out of RUclips.
I wonder why the "oscilloscope" is so badly designed. It seems it could be worked to be quite a lot better (disclaimer: I am used to real oscilloscopes and those on synths are really pretty poor compared to the real thing, both in X-Y axis visualization and on triggering)
Incredible instrument. I’m a synth noob who ended up picking up the MX49 based on your recent video but I hope to eventually get good enough to justify picking up something of this caliber.
thanks, Scott. I'm updating my montage m by watching your video.😊
That shimmer is tasteful. I find most workstations/synths with shimmers tend to sound pretty shrill and lack smoothness (I'm looking at you Fantom!). Some interesting updates here. Still pretty much impossible to get hold of a Montage M in the UK though, I'll upgrade one day!
Great review.
Thank you so much for these clear and concise instructions! 🎉
Thanks Scott, can’t wait to receive mine
My upgrade went well. The button to separate the different OS sounds is great. The ESP upgrade went well. The Audition button is great as well with the new sounds.
Great Video BTW.
Nice job. Particularly on the update procedure! Suggestion: turn folks on to using the [AUDITION] button function because often it points out exactly what is unique or hidden about a particular Performance… it will put Knobs, controllers, switches and effects in motion often giving important clues as to how to approach playing the Performance yourself.
- Cool.
Listening to the Bass gallery that you played…you can assign filter attack EG to the Superknob now?
i hope yamaha starts making soft versions of their classic synths like the VL7
Thanks for this elaborate guide 😊 Isn't it necessary to "Initialize All Data" upon reboot, before reloading your backup file?🙂
Scott is there a way now to send CC information from the sliders and knobs to another program like mainstage? Thanks
Thanks Scott, great video. It’s a shame though that the organ drawbars didn’t go to the sub screen and have the organ setting for manipulating the sound in the main screen.
Do I still need to reload the back up user data if I haven’t made any custom files once you update?
I've never owned a Montage so forgive the dumb questions. I assume that the new CFX2 and CP80 samples are put into the user sample area. True? I thought the Factory sample area must either be ROM or not writable or was full. But if it got stored into the user sample area then that reduces your remaining space?
Loved the CP80 for Arenas sound when you play hard. It really seems to have the character.
The new CFX2 and CP80 samples are in the preset area and so are the 58 new performances -> the new firmware essentially overwrites the entire original factory (and user) data on the synth including the wave ROM and preset performances (it’s a 4GB file as noted)… this is also the reason you need to do a backup before updating. During the update, you’ll actually see where the status says it’s updating the wave ROM.
@@Dr88Keyz I probably should have re-watched the video on the internals. The storage for factory samples is flash and not just ROM. That was apparently not full. So there was still room for the additional CFX2 and CP80 sample data. (Hmmm... is the CFX2 really that different from the CFX to make it worth the space?)
The Sitara CPU has a flash to store OS and preset data. Preset data must have gotten overwritten due to that code being updated.
one comment on the drawbars.. Its mildly helpful for someone trying to do some organ patches, but the screen really should switch to an organ interface that shows other settings like rotary, perc, chorus/vibrato, not sure where the 9th drawbar is.. otherwise its lacking and for a 5000 instrument it should do better than that.. In the end if organ is important, you may as well get an ipad and install hammond..
Maybe with the next update?
Have you made this suggestion on the Yamaha Ideascale? I think it would get a lot of support from other users.
Of course, one of the most important aspects of playing organs is the keybed. The hammer action and synth action keybeds of the Montage line are not ideal for organ performances. That's why I got a YC61.
I think that a flagship workstation should be the top technology available, and this would be extremely performing considering Yamaha know-how. Seeing not perfect organ simulation (far away from YC series) was for me a kind of no buying decision. I was hoping about an update but it seems they are not planning that. Pity...
So you still cannot play more then 8 parts simultaneously? Part 9 to 16 must be externally triggered? So if I need drums running and have a bass split, I only have 6 part slots left? Is there a trick to play all 16 parts?
Correct. That said, with up to 128 elements per part now, you can be far more flexible about cramming different sounds into an individual part, to make better use of parts 1-8.
You can play all 16 easy but without SSS. You have to loop the MIDI cable out to back in so it tricks the system into thinking the signal is external. You have to use one part for example #8 to control parts 9 thru 16 by pointing them back to part 8. I posted some examples in Soundmondo (davlippo7) where parts 2 thru 7 were available or empty and part 8 was controlling 9 thru 16 for example a brass section. There's one setting that must be changed or turned off I think it's the MIDI program change because it kept making everything a piano.
@@ScottsSynthStuff Yeah that seems the only way. Because i don't need Keyboard control or actually play drums realtime (i trigger midi files), I was hoping the Montage M let me use part 9. There is no workaround as far as you know? Does part 9-16 go through the master FX chain? Thanks Scott!
Any news on the VST version?
Next video, as I mentioned.
Strange I can watch RUclips unless I leave a comment then I makes me sign in and then the video stops working "An Error Occurred" yet I've been watching and posting for many, many years. However now I can leave a comment just can't watch the video. Not sure what is going on with RUclips but it's now broken. Concerning the "Element" feature, it is supposed to be 1 thru 8 in groups of 8 all the way up to 128 on the small screen however I couldn't figure out the button combination to make it shift in groups of 8. Originally you could only see 1 thru 8 elements on the small screen. Also shimmer can be done on the Game Changer Analog Light Pedals it's called Harmonics which is what this reminds me of. Now to continue watching I have to log back out of RUclips.
Don't forget to change your velocity settings for the CFXII or it will still sound dull and boring like the rest of the pianos.
Cp-80 on 10:20 Very much Supertramp
Should have been a Tony Banks/Genesis tune that actually used a CP80/77
You should’ve made the esp video first , I dont even know how to update the thing
Same, I think the update will show up in Steinberg installer app as an update at the end of June
Maybe that explains why with all my endeavours I can’t get the ESP download yet then
I wonder why the "oscilloscope" is so badly designed. It seems it could be worked to be quite a lot better (disclaimer: I am used to real oscilloscopes and those on synths are really pretty poor compared to the real thing, both in X-Y axis visualization and on triggering)
Probably requires a lot more processing power than is being used currently
All the great Yamaha electric grand artists/songs, and you play Supertramp, who did not use it😅🤦♂️
It's what popped into my head at the moment 😂
All the more reason to play it - as if to say "they should've! They would've sounded even better with it!"