I agree Yamaha will not put out a New Keyboard with out all the goodies unless they are looking to get into the price game with this unit , i do not think that is where they are going .

it gonna be TOTL unit with out a seq and other stuff would be crazy but they are looking to have DAW Intrgration esp with Cubase I am hopful this is where they are going .

it seems everybody is looking to go the DJ route or focus on modern music and synthy type sounds that is ok but I want pure sounds best Piano , sax, strings , Guitar , ect

it will be just a few days to see .

Well I hope you are right Bachus but the montage seems to have been aimed at the Roland Jupiter 80 synth type product market and is not being marketed as a workstation as far as I can tell . Where are you getting your information that it definitely is a work station with sequencer and sampler etc ??? I see stuff about a motion sequencer but that seems to be more about sound manipulation . They are certainly pushing the cubase link and that is definitely not a new feature .

Anyway time will tell

I don't know whether all of you are aware of the merger that has just taken place within the Yamaha group:

http://www.yamaha.com/news_release/2015/20151222.html
or direct PDF link:
http://www.yamaha.com/news_release/2015/pdf/20151222.pdf

The Yamaha electronics division (which included arrangers and synthesizers) have been dissolved as an independent division and merged with the general musical division.
I don't know if this is significant, but I would normally interprete this as a streamlining process that doesn't suggest expansion, but rather concentration on fewer, more profitable market segments.
Against this background it would make sense if Yamaha didn't try to release a flagship to "kill the Kronos", but rather focused on certain user groups like the young generation who like to experiment with new sounds and are particularly interested in the FM engine.
That would be very disappointing for my taste, as I have always been more interested in realistic emulation of natural, acoustic instruments (like many in this forum) and full workstation features with sequencer.

I disagree with you...

Montage is an advancement of the Motif in every possible way...

The new mobile sequencer is combining a traditional sequencer, with the arps and pattern mode from Motif, with features from Karma, arrangers, ableton live and new yamaha innovative stuff... Its using both midi and audio...

While the combination and integration of both awm and fm-x will be a huge step forward in sound comoared to motif xf--....


Jupiter 80 is mostly aimed for playing in bands... Not much accompaniment there.... But the Montage will shine when it comes to creating and playing dynamic accompaniments..

You must have contact to an insider. From the information available so far we can't be sure about it, and the forums I have scanned speculate differently. Let's hope you're right, it would be great.

Why not just wait till it's released?

At the age of 42... Christmas comes and goes so quickly. NAMM takes FOREVER to get here!!! We are all like a 6 year old waiting for Christmas!

The DX7 in the 80's was HUGE for Yamaha!!
The Motif line dominated nearly 15 years from 2001-2016. Again, HUGE for Yamaha!!

Montage... The combination of the DX and Motif success!!

I think, it's going to be the next step in Yamaha's pro keyboard development! And then 2-5 years later, they will do it again!!

Can't wait until Thursday!!!

the link also does not say anything about arps and pattern mode, yet the pictures prove it is still there, also the pictures show hard knobs for sequencer controll..the information in the link only concentrates on telling whats new...

Greetings everyone. Absence makes the heart grow fonder as they say. It's been a while but everybody seems to be doing okay and of course people are excited about the new Montage which will likely be demonstrated at NAMM in just a few days.

The Montage is an interesting piece of equipment. It has 128 note 'stereo' polyphony and the obvious question is why didn't Yamaha just say 256 note polyphony instead? Maybe they worded it that way since it appears the FM-X sound engine only supports up to 128 note polyphony whereas the AWM2 sample based engine supports up to 256 note polyphony e.g. 128 note 'stereo' polyphony. Kudos to Yammie for doubling the polyphony for the AWM2 engine although carrying it over to the FM-X section would have been nice too. Oh well.

I have no doubt the Montage will sound great but if the price is sky high it could limit the overall sales quite a bit in my opinion. It is my understanding the overall sales of the Tyros5 have been less than expected and the high price tag is probably the main reason. The new Korg Pa4x is a bargain compared to the T5 and the Pa4x sounds just as good in my opinion plus the vocal harmony on the Pa4x is a lot better than the VH2 on the Tyros5. The reason I mention this is in order to relay the message to Yamaha Japan (via Steve Deming or whoever) to be more competitively priced so more people can enjoy the products they sell and to bring back missing features (and improve existing features) that people have come to rely on... like the onboard Voice Creator and a professional harmonizer would also be nice. Having said that...

The Montage appears to be a real advancement in sound reproduction. Several new patents were designed into the Montage and they will likely be implemented in the Tyros6 although Yammie might decide to change its name too. There is currently no mention of a sequencer on the Montage and I wouldn't be surprised if Yammie eliminated that feature to further integrate the computer aspect of music production. We'll find out in a few days but I find it rather odd there was no mention of a sequencer.

Other things to consider is that the Montage only has 8 sliders as opposed to the nine sliders necessary for tonewheel organ drawbar functionality. An authentic B3 emulation is really a must have feature for a high-end keyboard product although I think Yammie is touting the Montage more as a synth not a workstation. If it doesn't have a sequencer it will not be a workstation by definition.

Do I like the Montage? Absolutely! But Yamaha has mystified a lot of people including me. There are nine sound engines on the Korg Kronos/2 but the Montage will only have two which is actually one more than what's on the Motif XF. So there is reason to rejoice. It should be noted though that Yamaha had over 5 years to implement various improvements but in my estimation the final product leaves something to be desired especially if it doesn't have a sequencer or adequate B3 organs. I'm really looking forward to NAMM where a lot of these questions will hopefully be answered. If Yammie gives an MSRP of $8,500 for the 88 key version the street price will likely be around $6,000 + tax. An 8% tax (where I live) on $6,000 will bring it up to around $6,500 which could actually be a bargain if it turns out to be the bee's knees of what people are anticipating.

The Tyros5 has already been out more than two years and one has to think the Tyros6 (or whatever they decide to call it) will be soon forthcoming and perhaps by the end of 2016. In the interim there could be additional advancements included on the Tyros6 that aren't included on the Montage in its current form and that is even more intriguing if you're an arranger keyboard player. Save those pennies.

All the best,

Mike

The usually well-informed author of the Sand Software Sounds website derives from the pictures that both sequencer and arpeggiator are on board. Yes, the Arp On/Off buttons are clearly there, but I don't find real evidence for a stand-alone sequencer.
But not worth speculating much so shortly before NAMM start.

I just have the feeling that for my needs, which are 100% in the field of acoustic instrument emulation, the second engine, FM-X, is a waste, I would use nothing of it.