Yamaha New Synth with Alien Technology

Jan1 · Post by **Jan1** » Thu Jan 21, 2016 7:03 pm

Here's a demo from Sweetwater, 34 minutes.

Ksynth · Post by **Ksynth** » Thu Jan 21, 2016 7:21 pm

Looks like they've taken a lot of Karma ideas and made their own version.

Jan1 · Post by **Jan1** » Thu Jan 21, 2016 7:44 pm

I just learned that the sequencer is just a basic performance recorder, you can't edit data.

Bertotti · Post by **Bertotti** » Thu Jan 21, 2016 8:03 pm

Sounds nice but it isn't a Kornos, it just doesn't make me want to buy it. Maybe a rack version?

spaceman3 · Post by **spaceman3** » Thu Jan 21, 2016 8:49 pm

I was a little worried in the back of my mind when i first heard of the montage.
I thought, could this be the ultimate all in one machine.
Even surpassing KRONOS.
Today i saw the first 9 or 10 videos of montage on utube, and i am impressed with it, but it doesnt make me realy want it.
There is alot that it doesnt have compared to KRONOS.
To name a few,
No 16 track audio recorder.
Only 2 synth engines.
limited less than 2 gb flash.
No KARMA.
The arps, or performances were not as inspiring as KRONOS.
Great acoustic guitars but not so great in many other sound creation areas when compared to KRONOS.
Doesnt look as elegant as KRONOS.
The viewscreen looks a little cramped.
MONTAGE is a fantastic machine, but if i could only chose one, then KRONOS would be the one, hands down.
Just my opinion.
KRONOS, your still the king of workstations.

voip · Post by **voip** » Thu Jan 21, 2016 9:51 pm

Now THIS is alien technology, and it ain't Montage!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHpSeA14xHE

.

StephenKay · Post by **StephenKay** » Thu Jan 21, 2016 10:33 pm

Ksynth wrote:Looks like they've taken a lot of Karma ideas and made their own version.

Which ideas, in your opinion, are you referring to? Just curious, I'm not paying all that much attention to this...

jimknopf · Post by **jimknopf** » Thu Jan 21, 2016 11:43 pm

The Montage is certainly a respectable keyboard with some nice additions to the Motif series and a lot of useful sounds, especially good acoustic sounds and a first class FM engine. And the new modulation ideas and the super knob look interesting. So far so good.

But at the same time this keyboard doesn't impress me at all in some areas:
- only 1.75Gb User memory without any chance to get more
- no sample streaming
- really, really bad weight and dimensions (the 88 with 29 kg and 1450 x 160 x 470mm is a tank for roadies, certainly no live instrument to carry around by keyboarders)
- a disappointing sequencer with only 64 midi songs max (without proper basic editing), and no audio tracks on board (just a separate USB audio player): that's just bad news for advanced backing tracks use
- no B3 clone - and as far as the demo sounds go, quite lousy sampled B3 sounds with inferior Leslie emulation
- not a single VA engine on board, not even the CS engine from the Reface series (which should be on board in a more adult version). The sampled synth sounds in the demos just sound 'meh' in my ears: they have no bite and no character and can't replace a nice VA in any way
- a nice but (too) small display

And for a synth with all these limitations they name a street price nearly on Kronos level? Really???

I'm curious who is supposed to buy that (in double sense).

P.S. Two things are not clear from the specs:
Does the Montage finally offer EPs in CP quality, or still just on Motif level?
Has Yamaha finally overcome the idiotic 24 semitones Motif transpose limit (which is a joke with some split zone setups)?
Does anyone of you know about that?

Wsadj · Post by **Wsadj** » Fri Jan 22, 2016 12:44 am

Stephen Kay and what do you think?
You think they did their own version?

aron · Post by **aron** » Fri Jan 22, 2016 1:06 am

Wow, that piano sample sounds great though....
The effects sound really clean. FM sounds super clean. Pretty awesome sounding I think.

xp50player · Post by **xp50player** » Fri Jan 22, 2016 1:32 am

USB mLAN! 16 stereo streams to the computer and 3 stereo returns. That's upping the ante. 128 voices of FM is a lot better than 40 on the Kronos. Hopefully the used prices of FS1Rs will come down to reasonable again once Montage comes out. I'm glad they ditched the onboard sequencer.

seanL · Post by **seanL** » Fri Jan 22, 2016 1:34 am

It's a performance synth like a Jupiter 80, not a workatation like the Kronos. Different animal, different market.

More here..

https://audiosex.pro/threads/namm-2016- ... e-6.23028/

burningbusch · Post by **burningbusch** » Fri Jan 22, 2016 1:42 am

Played it NAMM. Was surprised at how many of the PCM sounds were really the same sounds we've known for 10+ years. A few new things here and there. Found the touch screen to be not that great. Frequently touched the wrong box, even in Set List mode. Everything is a box. You can bitch about the look of the Kronos, but actually it's a lot more interesting to look at and interact with.

Looks, it's easy to be overly negative about new things and I don't want to come off that way. I'll give it more time when it hits the stores, but it wasn't something that knocked me out, especially given all the incredible analog gear that hit this show.

Busch.

Bertotti · Post by **Bertotti** » Fri Jan 22, 2016 2:15 am

I find this much more interesting then the montage. http://sonicmp4.s3.amazonaws.com/wnamm1 ... olcafm.mp4

Other then the Kronos and what it has I have no FM so I will check it out when released.

spaceman3 · Post by **spaceman3** » Fri Jan 22, 2016 3:24 am

Just saw a few more MONTAGE utube videos.
Crap, that thing doesnt have a real midi or audio sequencer, or a real sampler?
How can this replace the MOTIF XF when it isnt even a workstation?
I guess yamaha isnt in the business of making synth/workstations anymore.
The more i hear it, look at it, and know what it cant do.
I am much less impressed with it.