I just read this on another Forum (I'm not sure if I can name it here), and a member there has a Montage 8. He gives a glowing review:

"Yamaha Montage is in "da" house.
Got a call yesterday that my Montage had arrived. Have had many boards in my 40 yrs of pro music. First being an Acetone organ in high school. Remember the cheesy organ intro from "96 tears" anyone? CP 80 electric grand, Prophet V, Dx7, S90, Roland synths and pianos, and Motif. After playing many good quality grand pianos, I was always searching for a keyboard replacement. Hence jumped into Ivory ! and II, Italian Grand, Steinway D, Ravenscroft, Abbey Roads CFX, and the Kontakt pianos. Can you hear the huge sucking sound coming out of my bank account people?

Been toying with my Montage 8 now for about 10 hrs. I feel this is a masterpiece of keyboard workmanship. It's truly a very beautiful instrument! The CFX piano sample is the best I've ever played. The motion control is adding a whole other dimension indeed.

I heard some catz complaining about the fact that there was no built in sequencer. Can't understand why when most have powerful DAW's for complex editing. The "Monty" has also configured very well with Logic Pro and the Yammie USB driver.

The sound the sound!! Yes, magic is happening on the outputs as well. The onboard sound card sweetness is a huge jump from anything I have ever played keyboards through. Cliches that come to mind, "warm, FAT, dynamic, engaging,smooth......... It can be very lush like some Omnisphere samples.

Can ya tell I'm digging it?

Wading through the manual right now. I can see editing will go very deep if one chooses. I'm not so much of a tweaker, but damn it's layed out friendly even for this old coot.

Was not expecting to get this for another month, especially here in Canada. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions. I assure you I am in no way associated with Yamaha, just a "Huuuuge" fan of this new board wanting to share my vibe for what it's worth."

I can't wait to try it!
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Mike