Calling Montage/MODX Owners. Compare/contrast

GregC · Post by **GregC** » Wed Oct 16, 2019 1:59 pm

Poseidon wrote:Hi Greg,

If you like so much guitar wouldn’t be better to buy one.
I have 2: acoustic Yamaha FG800 and Profile bass ( Made in Japan, it's a fender 'p' bass copy !, cheap and a very good one, see a pic : https://postimg.cc/BLdmx4MB ).

And I must tell you that my instruments are quite useful when a guitar is complex with all the kinds of phrasing articulations , I simply would not be able to recreate it on Kronos, or even Montage if I have. Not to mention that my Kronos cannot compete with my guitars regardless.

you are definitely right about that. I can handle the basics on 6 string guitar.
I think playing bass on keys as being a no-brainer.

Unfortunately, I doubt I can acquire the skills on 6 string, for convincing lead guitar. And I would have to build an arsenal of 10 guitars, nylon string, 12 string, Les Paul, Strat and so on , etc etc.

I think todays keyboards are somewhat close for most acoustic instruments, Not ideal, but worth the effort.

GregC · Post by **GregC** » Wed Oct 16, 2019 2:24 pm

Liviou2004 wrote:[q
Hi Greg,

For what I know, there are two ways of using Roli : either as a "simple" master keyboard or playing on its own software "EQUATOR".
I don't have a Roli, but I know that its configuration has to be accurate in order to get the best results. It is perhaps the reason why some people become discouraged and eventually sell it, perhaps.

Here are videos on using Roli with Kronos :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=beR8N1iiB68
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrxJx60u7-A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-A841BOSRO4

c

Fantastic videos, thank you ! That makes it easier to decide. If he can work with 25, so should I

Liviou2004 · Post by **Liviou2004** » Thu Oct 17, 2019 3:54 pm

Hi Greg,

Just for the fun, interesting to compare guitar sounds coming from these sounds banks for Kronos (espacially the first one) :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyAL9Ozh-9k
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOQIku9exXk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jjaDW-G3W0

...and guitar sounds coming from Montage :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdu__yGECr8 (I suppose in both cases, in this last video, Kronos and Montage, theses sounds are factory sounds)

voip · Post by **voip** » Thu Oct 17, 2019 6:47 pm

Interesting. That was a bit of a surprise. The Montage guitars on the whole don't sound much like guitars at all, unlike the Kronos' guitars, which are instantly recognisable as such.

.

GregC · Post by **GregC** » Thu Oct 17, 2019 7:09 pm

voip wrote:Interesting. That was a bit of a surprise. The Montage guitars on the whole don't sound much like guitars at all, unlike the Kronos' guitars, which are instantly recognisable as such.

.

yes. The performer , from :56 thru 2:00 was smacking the keys of the Montage.

As he did not have his velocity settings figured out. Or the EQ was too sharp.

I wouldn't go by that demo.
There is more to guitar than that.

I trust my own hands on guitar/keys skill any day.

BTW, Kronos guitars are good. As a standalone instrument, they are fun to play with.

However , when I record, I have to work the FX hard to improve the dynamic range of Kronos guitars. The top end and bottom end needs help. And that is just 1 instrument in my multi track recordings. That I need to make sure that works in my total mix.

I think the Montage/MODX guitars have a stronger range. That quality would be less work for me. The real test, is when I record using them in my song mix.

Purgatory · Post by **Purgatory** » Thu Oct 17, 2019 8:57 pm

Best tips here in this video and he even uses a MODX, but same applies to any keyboard with guitar sounds. It's not the sounds that are the problem on many keyboards but the way to play them correctly as if it was a real guitar.

How to Play Guitar Parts on Keyboards with Daniel Fisher

<iframe width="480" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/CLtwHzJ2s3g" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media"></iframe>

GregC · Post by **GregC** » Thu Oct 17, 2019 9:34 pm

Thats a very important video, glad you posted it.

Note how , at 1:40 , Daniel gets into velocity.

Anyway, he gets into an accurate approach to handling guitar parts on keys. etc

burningbusch · Post by **burningbusch** » Fri Oct 18, 2019 4:23 pm

I have the Montage 8. I've been using it as my main studio keyboard for the past six months. Generally, I just use the pianos and my sounds as I have tons of VSTis covering a huge range of sounds. It recently developed a noisy click on one of the keys and instead of opening it up and trying to fix it, I replaced it with my Kronos. I like the action on the Yamaha but it's a bit too light for my taste. It sure is nice to ENGINES again. Organ, VAs, EPs, and APs. Dedicated engines matter, big time.

Busch.

studio460 · Post by **studio460** » Fri Oct 25, 2019 11:45 pm

I just bought a white Montage 6 (looks gorgeous!), and I think it sounds quite different than the Kronos. I think it complements the Kronos quite well. Then again I just love ROMplers, so I had to get them all.

aron · Post by **aron** » Fri Nov 08, 2019 7:37 am

Every time I use the Montage or the CP-88, I am reminded how good the pianos and electric pianos sit in the mix. You don't have to pound to hear it over the mix and the dynamic range is so good. The CP-88 might have only a few standout sounds, but they are incredibly good. The action is so fast too on it.

That being said, the Kronos has so many useful sounds, it has been a swiss army knife for live use and incredibly dependable considering how fragile it should be inside.

Derek Cook · Post by **Derek Cook** » Fri Nov 08, 2019 5:32 pm

studio460 wrote:I just bought a white Montage 6 (looks gorgeous!), and I think it sounds quite different than the Kronos. I think it complements the Kronos quite well. Then again I just love ROMplers, so I had to get them all.

I agree. I have both a Montage 7 and a Kronos X61 and they are quite different beasts, giving me both the best of Yamaha and Korg. Wll, Yamaha best is a little more complicated as they have so many technologies they have dropped over the years, but I have all of those as well apart from the CS80!

GregC · Post by **GregC** » Fri Nov 08, 2019 6:51 pm

Derek Cook wrote:[qu
I agree. I have both a Montage 7 and a Kronos X61 and they are quite different beasts, giving me both the best of Yamaha and Korg. Wll, Yamaha best is a little more complicated as they have so many technologies they have dropped over the years, but I have all of those as well apart from the CS80!

Hi Derek, do you know if 2.0 adds more functionality to the onboard SEQ ?

aha

2.0 is a big improvement:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KP2p4awFaXE

GregC · Post by **GregC** » Wed Nov 13, 2019 4:58 pm

here's a limit on the 2.0 MODX Seq. Standalone .

MODX cannot record/convert MODX songs/sequences as internal wav files.

MODX does record live playing - into MODX song file format.

IOW, it does not have 'audio in sampling ' that Kronos SEQ has.

In my Korg SEQ song work flow, I will typically go thru 4 or more 'takes' [ convert SNG file to WAV] to get my final mix down to my liking.

All those WAV file takes are recorded to SSD.

For MODX songs, mix downs have to be recorded to Cubase. And tweaked or fixed from there.

Above is not surprising- MODX was never designed to be a full w/s.

I wanted to see how far 2.0 took the MODX SEQ in standalone.

From what I gather, I can do my various measure edits, midi track edits, instrumentation tweaks in MODX Seq.

Also , Performances can only be used in SEQ midi tracks 1-8. Parts or instrument parts are for midi tracks 9-16.

As Performances have a lot of variation , rolling 8 of them into a Song seems strong.

How things are organized or how far you can go on 16 midi tracks is something to get used to.