In one of the main German-language forums, the Montage is encountering quite a lot of criticism, although some are also excited about its sounds.

I think it is mainly the Motif and MoX(F) users who had already been waiting for a true Motif successor for many years (a lot of them regarded the 2010 Motif XF as a mere update of the XS, not a real successor) and had very high expectations. The Montage falls short of some crucial features. Core criticism seems to be:

- no full sequencer (often discussed here already)

- smaller free storage space for libraries (1.75 GB as against 4 GB in the Motif XF when using Mutec flash boards)

- NEW ISSUE: MIDI RESTRICTIONS: It is no more possible to assign midi channels to performance parts - part 1 is always midi channel 1 etc., AND: There are obviously restrictions in addressing performance parts via midi from an external controller! Unlike the Motif, the Montage doesn't "need" midi for the internal data exchange of parts, but the flip side is that an external controller can't address the parts via midi flexibly either. For example: To play two performance parts simultaneously as a layer from an external keyboard, in the Motif the two parts would have simply been set to the same midi channel. Now, it is only feasible if the external keyboard has the capability of two midi layered zones (!), something only sophisticated controllers are able to to. Very bad!

I think Yamaha took a high risk in confronting former Motif users with restrictions like this, and it may turn quite a number of users away - despite some beautiful sounds.