MONTAGE is a flagship synthesizer of Yamaha released in 2016. Like former flagship "MOTIF", MONTAGE has 3 models with 61 keys, 76 keys, and 88 keys. The photo is MONTAGE6 with 61 keys. MONTAGE includes new custom LSI(Large Scale Integrated Circuit), SWP70. The LSI enables 128 PCM polyphony and 128 FM polyphony. The PCM polyphony means stereo 128 voices, it is double size of old products. SWP70 can access NAND flash memory directory. It enables large sound memory. Touch panel is also new for Yamaha synthesizers. My impression is, it's very complex. Lots of functions. However, MONTAGE never disappoints me. The function I want to use is there. The sound is beautiful. I will use my MONTAGE as a master keyboard for a long time.
"Best of MONTAGE" is first two pages of preset LIVE SET. 32 preset performances are listed.
| Sound | Comment |
|---|---|
| CFX + FM EP | Yamaha's concert grand CFX and FM(Frequency Modulation) electric piano sound. Two sounds can be mixed with "SuperKnob". MONTAGE has two expression pedal connectors. First pedal is assigned to expression(CC=Control Change 11), second pedal is assingned to SuperKnob. If you have two pedals, you can play keyboard with both hands, and change SuperKnob setting with the second pedal. It's nice. My left foot is assigned to sustain pedal in this recording. I played CFX first, then I played FM EP. CFX piano sound is plump and rich. However, not powerful compared with MOTIF and MOTIF ES pianos. FM EP is also too beautiful and lacks some kinds of boldness. That's OK. I will connect old synths when I want the old sounds. MONTAGE gave me new sounds. |
| Wax And Wane | Moving sounds has been a strong point of KORG synthesizers. WaveStation had sounds with sequence. Trinity had motion sounds having much impact. Now Yamaha's synth got them. |
| Pearly Gates | Arpegio sound. You can control feel of sounds with 2nd pedal. However, it is not easy to make one tune with this sound. |
| DJ Montage | Hit the key and push 8 SCENE buttons. Because I cannot hit the same key with this frequency. I should use some kinds of sequencer or arpegiator. |
| Rd 1 Gallery | Clear Rhodes sound. Clear and including details, but too beautiful and lack of power. |
| Ocean Pad | I use this pad in "New Spring". The rotation is interesting, however, I could not normalize the volume. |
| FM Sweeping Poly | SuperKnob(pedal 2) changes modulation rate. Interesting. |
| Tektonic Dub | Is it EDM(Electronic Dance Music) taste? |
| Wr Gallery | Wurlitzer electric piano. This sound has taste of acoustic. I have never play real Wurlitzer, so, I am not a good judge. |
| Seattle Sections | Strings sound became harder with advanced synthesizer programs. When I was a high school student, I play Yamaha Electone D-30. D-30 has yellow tone levers for strings sound. I was happy with them. But, now I have old strings machine Yamaha SS30, it's not easy to play. Lack of play ability. |
| FM Linear Synth | Honestly speaking, I did not know how to play this sound. |
| Particles in Space | Beautiful arpegio program. It can be used in a musical tune. |
| All 9 Bars! | Though I like organs, I do not know how to play them. In this program, modulation wheel changes rotation speed of rotar speaker. I made bad job. I know. |
| 8 Amps and a TC | TC means telecaster, isn't it? I do not own guitar. I love guitar simulation. |
| Multi Saw MW DA | It sounds like Access Virus's HyperSaw and Roland JP-8000's SuperSaw. Good bottom. MW and DA may be initials of synthesizer programmers. DA may be Daisuke Asakura. |
| Turn It On | Turn the engine on. I have no car. My wife drives Suzuki Every Wagon with 660cc engine. |
| Sound | Comment |
|---|---|
| CFX Padded | Yamaha's concert grand "CFX" and pad sound. Pad volume can be controled with SuperKnob. The phrase I chose might not be appropriate. |
| SparkleDegree Full | Electric piano with effective pad. SuperKnob changes pitch of a part of sound. It reminds me of falling stars. |
| Motion Filters AF | Using SCENE buttons for cutting like play. I cannot play this phrase with keyboard. It is nice. In the last part of this recording, I push MOTION SEQ button, and up modulation wheel. |
| T3 Uber Funk | SCENE buttons changes drum pattern. I pressed pedal2 to increase tempo. |
| FM EP & CFX Grand | FM electric piano is main sound and added CFX. The last noise is from departing loud pedal. |
| Cathedral | Pipe organ sound. I changed pedal2 setting to louder sound. |
| Universal Comp | Is it "Synth Comp"? I add pedal2 and modulation wheel. |
| Mr. Side Chain | This sound reminds me of KORG TRITON and M3(KARMA) automations. Using sequencer in live stage sometimes decreases fun of music. However, automation like this responses real-time keyboard play. Accidental, a tense atmosphere. It may be today's synthsizer play. |
| Upright Mod | In synthesizers, upright piano means worse piano than grand piano. I disagree. Good upright piano has good sound. |
| Two Acoustics 2 | Acoustic guitar sound. I should train myself. |
| Wave Surfer | 90TPQN(Ticks Per Quarter Note, Pulses Per Quarter Note=PPQN) arpegio program. I push SCENE buttons. Fun. |
| EDM PiTCh Bomb | This sound reflects the player's ability. I showed bad timing to push SCENE buttons. Sigh. |
| Full AP/EP/Pd/Str | You can play acoustic piano, electric piano, pad, and strings. Good wavering. |
| Far Away FM | SuperKnob minimum has attacks. Raising SuperKnob decreasing attacks. What does the designer want? |
| Marine Life | It's not an effect sound. Push SCENE buttons. |
| Kreuzberg Func | My timing is so bad. Beat missing. |
At NAMM 2017, Yamaha announced MONTAGE Firmware 1.5. 1.5 has some bugs included, so, 1.51 was released in March 2017. "Best of V1.5" is added preset performances. You can listen all sounds of "1" and "2" here. "3" includes organ sounds. I could not play organ presets.
| Sound | Comment |
|---|---|
| SuperGlider MW DA | Down and up sound. SCENE button1 is slow up, 2 fast up, 3 is down and up(I used in this recording), 4 has no automatic change(you should SuperKnob). Has an impact. |
| The Great Red Spot | Pad with up and down. When pushing pedal2, going to noise. |
| Dernt to Bwow | Arpegio sound. Good percussive sound. |
| Increasing Tension | If I program this tune with sequencer, it takes long time. I improvised with MONTAGE. Recent synth. |
| Flexi Filters AF1&2 | OK. Current beauty. I should change my way. |
| Choir SEQ | In this recording, I turn MOTION SEQ off, and arpegio off. |
| Rotary Bell Voices | SuperKnob(pedal2) changes modulation rate. |
| Shapeshifter | SuperKnob(pedal2) breaks tonality. Unique. |
| Envelope Seq Scenes | Pad with beat. Recent sound. Nice. |
| M-Seq Choir Pad | I played the basso continuo C with left hand, and did improvisation with right hand. Pedal2 controls up and down sound. |
| Polyphonic LFOs | Musical FX sound in 2017. |
| Surprise Package | Turn key on and push SCENE buttons in order. Amazing. |
| WaveRunner MW DA | I played cdefgabc moving pedal2 and modulation wheel. Irritating sound. You play in another way? |
| Cold Motion | OK, it's a cold motion. I agree. |
| Motion PAD & ARP | Silent and beated scenes. It is difficult to smooth transition. |
| Ethno ARP Beat | Good arpegio beat. It cannot be played with two hands. Beat programming may be necessary. |
| Sound | Comment |
|---|---|
| Shades of Yesterday | Sentimental. Nice. I am not sure what I played. Forgive me, please. |
| Glassbell Pindrops | When I live in the U.S. as an student, I found metal pipes blown by wind. This sound reminds me. |
| Particle Pad | Moving SuperKnob(pedal2) makes some noise. Maybe intentionally by the sound designer. |
| African Garage Beat | Amazing. This sound has swing. |
| Synth Noise Vocoder | I was irresolute to decide what to play. It was hard. |
| Galactic Static | Spacy sound. |
| Robot Junkyard | Hey, robot, are you OK? |
| Infamous | This sound has only two scenes. Well done. |
| Reflection Twinkle | Ethnic feeling beat sound. I tapped SCENE buttons. |
| Tribaltronic | Please listen this sound with maximum volume setting. |
| InsideTheWormhole | I would like to stay home. |
| Groovin Spheres | Amazing sound. I respect the designer. |
| Morph Waveforms | C, upper C, B... I played like that. |
| Shaking Trees | Dondoko Dondoko. Good percussive sound. |
| Orient Envelope | Is it oriental? |
| ATL Flexin | What is ATL? Active Template Library of Microsoft? No way. |
After auditioning MONTAGE Best performances(sounds), I started trying MONTAGE piano performances. First, I picked up 13 performances from main category is "Piano" and subcategory is "Acoustic". I found 4 grand piano samples and 1 upright piano samples. 4 grand pianos are CF3, CFX, S700, and S6.
| Sound | Comment |
|---|---|
| CFX Concert |
CFX is Yamaha's full concert grand piano. It was released in July 2010. The suggested retail price in Japan was 19000000 yen. Full concert grand piano is a piano for concert halls. The length(depth) is over 270cm. CFX's length is 275cm. With this length, lower strings(music wires) can be long and slender. Slender wires are easy to control for piano players compared with bigger wires. Also, longer grand piano has more sound volume and longer sustain. Full concert grand pianos are expensive and not much made rather than unexpensive smaller pianos. So, most full concert grand pianos are hand crafted. If possible, I would like to own a full concert grand piano. "CFX Concert" performance consists of 4 parts, 18 elements. When we select the performance, the display is like this. 
We can see 4 parts. When we tap "View" beside the performance name, the display changes like this. 
The right side of display shows how parts are assigned to keyboards. When we push "PART SELECT" button "1", the display changes like this. 
We can see 6 elements are active in Part 1. If you want to know which waveform is used, please push "EDIT" button, and push "MOTION SEQ SELECT" button "1". These buttons can be used to select element. The display changes like this. 
At the right upper corner, "Name" column shows the waveform name "CFX ppp St". It means CFX's pianissimo, stereo. In this performance, ppp, pp, p, mp, mf, f, ff, fff, ffff are used. When I played the performance, I felt not enough power. However, after listening the short recording, it is beautiful, no complaint. After sustaining many notes, putting loud padal back made too loud off noise. We can adjust the volume by editting Part 4. Yamaha's synth has good reverb. The strong point can be seen in this performance.
I was surprised with MONTAGE has no soft pedal implementation. Maybe, we should buy piano products if we need soft pedal. Now I am using the second foot switch for switching portamento.
|
| CFX Pop/Rock | If you want to play CFX loud, this performance is suitable. |
| CFX PopStudioGrand | This performance has 1 part, 8 elements. It's simple and easy to edit. There is no pedal off noise. |
| CFX Moody | 4 parts CFX with much reverb. I love reverb much. |
| S700 for Montage | S700 is rare model in Yamaha's grand pianos. Musashi-gakki has been selling S700(link). The price is about 4 million yen. Before S700, Yamaha made S400. The "S" means "Steinway". S400 is 4-size(190cm depth) premium grand piano. It was appraised much. S400 was seen sometimes in Japanese piano markets. 7-size(220cm depth) S700 is a bigger sister of S400. The quantity of S700 may be small. S700's piano sample are included in S90 ES and appraised much. "Inspiration In A Flash" sound library for MOTIF XF includes S700 piano. Now the S700 sound comes in MONTAGE. CFX and another famous piano sound. This performance consists of 1 part, 5 elements. You can edit the sound easily. |
| Upright Piano | I do not know the original piano product. I guess this sound made from a real upright piano. Beautiful. It is not cheap. I love it. |
| Full Concert Grand | This sound is also included in MOTIF XS/XF. Original instrument is Yamaha CF3(CFⅢ), the fragship concert grand from 1983. The performance has 1 part, 8 elements. I owned MOTIF-RACK XS, and thought the piano sound is not so good. That was my misunderstanding. Nice. |
| Mellow Concert Grand | Although this performance uses CF3 waveforms, it has 7 elements, something different from "Full Concert Grand". Another beauty. |
| Glasgow | MOTIF ES has the same name voice. MOTIF XS/XF also have. The reverb is so beautiful. I love this sound since I bought MOTIF-RACK ES. 1 part, 4 elements. In my knowledge, EX5 has maximum 4 elements in voice. MOTIF and MOTIF ES have 4 elements, too. MOTIF XS/XF have 8 elements. MONTAGE have no "voice", only "performace". MONTAGE's performance has maximum 16 parts, each part has 8 elements. |
| Romantic Piano | Deep reverb. 1 part, 5 elements. CF3 waveforms. |
| Monaural Grand MW | Monaural Grand, not stereo. When you want to place your piano in one point, you can use this performance. Also good for live stage. Well done sound. When making modulation wheel up, you can get detune. "MW" means modulation wheel. |
| Concert Grand Piano | General MIDI(GM) number one piano sound. 1 part, 8 elements, CF3 waveforms. Modulation wheel adds detune. Easy to play. Maybe the reason is I used GM sound module frequently in 1990s. |
| Natural Grand S6 | S6 is a 6-size(210cm depth) premium grand made by Yamaha. S4 is a successor to S400. S6 is an upsized version of S4. I have played S6 at an rehearsal studio. S6 has lighter, modern sound. Yamaha's piano has "Cheween" sound. With S6, the "Cheween" sound is controllable. S6 piano is included in MOTIF XF. |
In "Piano" and "Modern" category, I picked up 6 performances. No CFX based sound.
| Sound | Comment |
|---|---|
| Acoustic Piano DA | DA may be Daisuke Asakura. 1 part, 1 element, S700 waveform. Bright. Easy to edit. |
| Rock Grand Piano | 1 part, 8 elements, CF3 waveforms. You should try cut reverb with EQ/FX button and REVERB knob. Good. |
| Aggressive Grand | 1 part, 3 elements. CF3 flat(not stretch tuning) waveforms are used. In high velocity range, "Brite Piano" waveform is added for "Cheween" sound. This performance reminds me of KORG M1 piano. |
| House Piano | Another KORG M1 piano like sound. 1 part, 2 elements, CF3 waveforms. Element 1 is stereo, element 2 is added in high velocity range, mono. |
| Rock Brite Piano | GM #2. 1 part, 7 elements, CF3 waveforms. |
| Piano Rock S6 | 1 part, 6 elements, S6 waveforms. Quiet compared with other performances. Gentle and modern. |
In "Piano" and "Vintage" category, I picked up 5 performances. The phrase from "Misty". I feel oldness and something broken, sad.
| Sound | Comment |
|---|---|
| Old Blues | 1 part , 3 elements, CF3 waveforms. Element 1 is lower, element 2 is upper, element 3 is "Bd Snap 1-2". So, main part is made by one element. The sound is not "vintage", simply "old". No sustain, no high frequency. Not fun to play. |
| 1968 | 1 part, 5 elements, CF3 stretch mono waveforms. Better than "Old Blues". I guess 1968 is imaged recording year, not piano production year. I own New York Steinway upright "F" made in 1970s. Middle age piano. |
| Honkytonk | GM #4. 1 part, 4 elements. "CF3 Stretch Sw St" is layerd and detuned. I should have choose different phrases. |
| Woody Piano S6 | 1 part, 8 elements, S6 Stretch waveforms. Is it "wood"? |
| Intimate S6 | 1 part, 6 elements, S6 Stretch waveforms. When listening the recorded sounds, some unusual(broken?) sounds exist. Maybe intended by the sound designer. Interesting. |
(Please click the image to download)
"CP1 Piano" is a sample library for MOTIF XF and MOXF. CP1 is Yamaha's electronic combo piano product. CP1 has CF3S(CFⅢS) waveforms. This library can be loaded to MONTAGE. It's a must have library. I listed all 16 performances including layer performances, below.
| Sound | Comment |
|---|---|
| CF Grand | The decay and release is natural. No push. Magestic and elegant. This is sound of full concert grand piano. |
| CF Light | A little difference from "CF Grand". However, the touch and feeling is not the same. An artisan did his job well. Admirable. |
| CF Rock | Small difference made this sound rock. I should have not use loud pedal. |
| CF Dark | Subdued reverb. Nice. |
| CF＆S6 Layer | 2 grand piano sounds are mixed. A bold attempt. Not real, interesting sound. |
| CF Lyrical | Lots of reverb. After small reverb sounds, this sound is impressive. |
| CF Comp | Small dynamics makes this sound easy to play. However, played, recorded and applied limiter, the sound became shaking more and more. This sound is good for live performance, I guess. |
| CF Ragtime | Honkytonk sound. Factory sounds includes only one honkeytonk sound. I got choices now. |
| CF Squashed | I have no idea how to play this sound. |
| CF Ballad Key | "EP2" waveform is added to CF3S. The electric piano is not Rhodes, is it? |
| CF 80s Layer | Yamaha DX electric piano sound is added on CF3S. I love. |
| CF Back | Element 1 to 3 is CF3S, 4 is "VP Strings St". I guess element 5 and 6 are not valid. Nice. It reminds me of Proteus 2000. |
| CF & Strings | "OrchStrgs"(Soft/Med/Hard) and "Ensemble Mix St" are layerd. CF3S uses 3 elements. The 3 elements are lower, upper, and key off. I may decrease elements. |
| CF & Choir | Element 5 and 6 is not valid, I guess. Some control is needed, Isn't it? |
| CF Unison | |
| Old Century | Which century? 19th or 20th? |
(Please click the image to open the download page)
"Bösendorfer Model290 Imperial SAMPLE LIBRARY FOR MONTAGE" is a 400MB sample library including one of famous piano sounds. Yamaha acquired Austrian piano manufacturer Bösendorfer in 2007. This superb library is free as a campaign(October, 2017). I listed all 16 performances including layer sounds.
| Sound | Comment |
|---|---|
| Imperial Grand Piano | 3 parts, 13 elements. Reverb is sweet. If you do not need it, push EQ/FX button and twist REVERB knob to left, please. Without reverb, wooden reverberation appears. I am glad about the acquisition. Yamaha's PCM synthesizers got another value. |
| Mellow Imperial | The gorgeousness is turned down a little bit. Artisan's excellent job. |
| Imperial PopRock | Although my recording is weak, the performance is steady. You can use this sound at reharsal studio with loud drammer, bass, and guitars. |
| Dark Wooden Box | Good sustaining tone. |
| Two Grands | 6 parts, 30 elements. 290 Imperial and CFX are mixed. Good challenge. |
| Imperial Digi Pad | 3 parts Imperial and FM 2 parts panned left and right. Nice. |
| Imperial Tines | PCM electric piano is layerd. It's not Rhodes, too. |
| Ambient Trailer | Play sustaining tone, some pitch changings come. |
| Imperial Breakup | After sustaining, distorted sound is added. Good taste. |
| Imperial Strings | Strings or piano? I lost my way. |
| Imperial Garage | I left my Imperial 290 at garage, now it is honkeytonk. Never do that. |
| In the Distance | I love reverb much. |
| Imperial Harpsichord | Making harpsichord with piano waveforms. Nice challenge, well done, excellent. |
| All Digital | Is it KORG M1 piano? I feel too much weight. |
| Imperial Jazz Trio | Lower key range is wood bass, upper is piano, and drums in back. I used MONTAGE's built-in sequencer to record bass play. Drums are excellent. Amazing. |
| The Extra Pianist | Arpegio performances. OK, Yamaha is one of Big-3 of music synthesizers. |
Chick Corea asked top engineers to sample his Rhodes Mark V. The large samples were placed in a laptop, it had long latency. Chick asked Yamaha to solve this problem. Yamaha modified the samples to library for MOTIF XF flash expansion. Now, the library is refined for MONTAGE. You can access the official page clicking the picture above. The sound is clear, detailed, and easy to use. I thank Chick and Yamaha much. All 16 performances are listed below.
| Sound | Comment |
|---|---|
| Chick's Mark V | Nice Rhodes Mark V. "Analog Delay Retro" is set, we can adjust delay level with SuperKnob(expression pedal 2). Nimble, clear, soft, delicate, and a little bit peakedness, they are the beauty of Rhodes. One of the best Rhodes samples. I found many good Rhodes samples. One of them is Nord Electro Rack 2 including Rhodes Mark I suitcase, I stage, II, and V. The machine has nice effect knobs and buttons, so, it is easy to modify. However, NER2 is a "Piano" module. Not music synthesizer. I am lucky to get nice Rhodes samples at MONTAGE, a real editable synthesizer. |
| CFX and Mark V | Acoustic grand piano "CFX" and Mark V are mixed. SuperKnob adjusts the mix balance. Clear and crisp. |
| Mellow Amp | The above two performances are clear and clear. In this performance, the sound is amped and distorted well. Original samples should be clear, I see. It's real. My Rhodes Mark II stage is noisier, sigh. |
| Overdrive Mark V | More distortion. We can adjust distortion with SuperKnob. |
| Mark V Satellite | In early years, Rhodes had "Satellite Speakers" products. This sound imagines them. Simply saying, heavy delays and choruses. |
| Mark V Roto | Put rotary speaker effect. Nord Electro Rack 2 has rotary speaker effect, I love putting it on Rhodes sound. I found persons with same interests. |
| Mark V Meets Strings | Common idea to put strings sound on Rhodes. Not to be different. Nice. |
| Stomped Phaser | "VCM Phaser Mono" is added. The abbreviation VCM stands for "Virtual Circuity Modeling". |
| Mark V FM Pad | 1 part is Rhodes, 2 parts are FM pads. My main synthesizer was DX7 in 1980s. I added FB-01 later. OK, only FM synths I own. I could not purchase analogs and PCMs. So, I love FM strings and FM pads. I These days, I love FM sounds from Clavia synths, too. |
| Touch the Wah | Auto wah sound. I was impressed with pedal wah Rhodes sound in Weather Report's first album. However, no model of auto wah for me. |
| Wah Clav + Mark V | I am poor with clavinet playing. I have played Led Boots by Jeff Beck, I might make clavinet sound from DX7. I am not sure. |
| Ghost In the Mark V | This is a PCM synthesizer sound. Not piano simulator. |
| Chick's Old EP | Compared with"Chick's Mark V", it sounds old. Good job. I love it. |
| Ambient Mark V | Slowing attacks. Nice synth. |
| 70s Solos | I played chords with left hand, solo with right hand. Aftertouch makes vibrato. This is a channel aftertouch, so, left hand can control vibrato. I have loved aftertouch vibrato since DX7. |
| Accompanist Dreams | MOTION SEQ button is on, is it valid? |
At Yamaha MusicSoft website, we can download sound libraries for MONTAGE. "MONTAGE EXPANDED" made by Yamaha Europe is free. You can go the page with click the image above. This library is must have. I recorded 7 sounds.
| Sound | Comment |
|---|---|
| CFX Grand & Soft EPX | CFX and FM electric piano. Sophisticated and easy to use, I think. The loudness is adjusted higher. Nice. |
| Oxygen | Aftertouch vibrato, reverb setting is excellent. |
| Choirs At The MShore | Human voices at seaside. Cool. European synth programmers are at highest level now. |
| Cold Days in May | Playing this performance with loud speakers is fun. Please try. |
| FM-X Dream EP | Pretty and sweet. |
| Strange BowBell | FM-X 1 part synth bell. Excellent. |
| AN Strings AF1&2 | If you have owned AN1x or PLG-150AN, this performance is an old friend. |
I bought this sound library by $99.99 us dollars. With clicking the image above, you can go to the page. Yamaha synthesizers never have Steinway piano waves. I am happy to add Steinway to my MONTAGE. New York Steinway is preferable for me. Although noise is audible between decay, I love this piano. I introduce all 16 performances below.
| Sound | Comment |
|---|---|
| AG Concert | AG means American Grand. D-274 by New York Steinway. This sound is exactly moderate. Moderate reverb, moderate sustain, moderate overtones, moderate boldness, moderate warmth and moderate brightness. Not special, just good. Modulation wheel adds rotating by variation effect "Symphonic". Amazing piano. |
| AG Concert(with Padal) | With damper pedal down, moderate resonance are there. |
| AG Studio | AG Concert has hall 3.1 seconds reverb. AG Studio is room 1.2 seconds. Variation effect is "Ensemble Detune". |
| AG Rock | Not only for rock music. Maybe good for jazz. |
| AG For Ballads | Not only for ballads. Good piano is versatile. |
| AG Slightly Squashed | "VCM Compressor 376" is inserted. A good example of effect setting. |
| AG Soundtrack | Far away piano. I love. |
| AG Big Detune | From AG Concert to AG Soundtrack, 2 parts are used. One is for low and mid, one is for high range. AG Big Detune uses 4 parts for detuning. |
| AG 100 Years Later | After 100 years, it needs some maintenance. Modulation wheel sends to variation effect "2 Modulator", adding unpitch feeling. |
| AG Old Mono | The wave is not mono, I guess. |
| AG with Tines | Acoustic and electric piano layer sound. EP is panned. |
| AG and FM | Acoustic and FM piano layer. Isolated. Nice. |
| AG String Layer | Acoustic piano and strings. Arpegio can be used for piano sound. Please try ARP on. |
| AG Padded | Acoustic piano and pads. Modulation wheel adds overtones of pad. |
| AG Trailer | Trail delays. Not too much. Well balanced. |
| AG Hammered | Comment is "Dulcimer AG". Dreaming. |
| AG Shipwrecked | I do not want to be shipwrecked. |
After I auditioned DX7's 128 preset voices, I edited 38 voices for MONTAGE. Old, my dear sounds. Now I can add current sound effectors. Fantastic.
| Sound | Comment |
|---|---|
| BRASS1h | At DX7 era, preset #1 is not a piano. Yeah, it's BRASS! This sound announced the openning of DX7 era. Velocity response was really different from former analog synths. Aftertouch vibrato was really good for live performances. Yamaha had polyphonic synth with initial and aftertouch before DX7. Yes, GX-1 and CS-80. Too expensive. Too heavy. DX7 came to my room. When I play this brass sound, I return to 1984(I bought DX7 in 1984). I was young. |
| STRINGS2h | DX7 strings does not have enough warmth compared with analog synths. But, when I was an undergraduate student, I own DX7 only(CS-40M was broken in half way). So, I used DX7 strings much. I modified STRINGS2 and use the sound often. In this MONTAGE performance, I added low pass filter in order to diminish the high frequency. Please adjust with TONE->CUTOFF pod. I love fm pad and strings. |
| E.PIANO1h | Why DX7 was the best sellerin 1983? The reason is DX7 had nice electric piano sounds. Why KORG M1 was the best seller in 1988? M1 had acoustic piano sounds. Most keyboard players(including me) need piano sounds at first. |
| GUITAR1h | I programmed aftertouch vibrato and modulation wheel adding variation send. Variation effect is an amp simulator. In the later half of this recording, I used the distortion. |
| GUITAR2h | GUITAR2 has own distortion. No outside distortion effector. I used this sound frequently in 1980s. Today I added delay with the modulation wheel. |
| SYN-LEAD1h | DX7's lead. I often used these synth leads. Different from analog synths. |
| ORCHESTRAh | Keyboard magazine in Japan distributed a sonosheet(flexi disc) including DX7 sounds. I bought and listen. This orchestra was new sound. Complex and gourgeous. |
| E.ORGAN1h | I programmed ASSIGN1 to change rotary speaker speed. Modulation wheel adds distortion. I loved DX7 organs. For organ sounds, 6 operators are better than 2 VCOs. |
| PIPES1h | When I was one of student conductors of wind ensemble, full orchestra asked me to play pipe organ part with DX7. I did. Some girls brought flowers. |
| VIBE1h | At wind ensembles, we played Lupin the 3rd theme. I was asked to play the melody with DX7 vibraphone sound. It was needed to be loud enough. My memory is correct? |
| FLUTE1h | Nice aftertouch vibrato. The reason I love aftertouch vibrato is I am a DX7 owner. MONTAGE is rebirth of DX7. Thank Yamaha. |
| TUBBELLSh | Tubler bells sound was also asked by wind ensembles or full orchestra. Maybe. |
| VOICE1h | With DX7, some parameters cannot be saved in voice parameters. Portament time is in function parameters. I used a foot switch for portament on/off. Even now, I do so with my MONTAGE. If you do not set portament footswitch, please adjust the portament setting. |
| PIANO5h | It is not an acoustic piano. However, it is fascinating even today. |
| E.PIANO2h | With this preset, a operator frequency changed 1 octave makes this sound better. I remember. Whick operator, I am not sure. |
| ACCORDIONh | I have not enough understanging with accordion. It's difficult to play. |
| FLUTE2h | Another nice DX flute. |
| OBOEh | Not real. My fault. |
| CLARINETh | DX7 has nice square wave. |
| STRINGS4h | It sounds like pipe organ. |
| RECORDERh | Slight tremble is nice. |
| HARMNCA2BCh | "BC" means the sound needs breath controller. In 1980s, I blowed this harmonica often at Heavy Metal Jazz Qualtet. I hope reproduction of breath controllers by Yamaha. |
| VOICE2h | Not real, but I love. |
| VOICE3h | I love slow attack sound. |
| GLOKENSPLh | Is it too soft? |
| VIBE2h | It is not real after PCM synths. |
| XYLOPHONEh | Not real, but nice and editable. DX's strength. |
| BELLSh | Bright, beautiful, nice pitch. |
| BLOCKh | Warm. Good velocity response. Better than PCM synths. |
| LOG DRUMh | Good weight. |
| SYN-LEAD2h | Sweet attacks. |
| SYN-LEAD4h | I cannot play well for more than 30 years. |
| SYN-PIANOh | Nice motion. |
| SYNBRASS1h | Another FM brass. |
| SYN-VOXh | MONTAGE's reverb is nice. |
| SYN-ORCHh | I tuned soft. |
| SYN-BASS1h | FM bass sound. I have not used. |
| T.BL-EXPAh | Tubler bells with slow attack sustain. Some vibrato added. |
I converted DX7 II factory presets to MONTAGE performances. I auditioned those performances, chose 98, and edited them. Some performances are layers or part of layers or 4 parts unison. I have not owned DX7 II. So, I felt getting a new synth. The best is "FullTinesh". The performances below is sorted by category( Keyboard, Organ, Guitar, Bass, Strings, Brass and so on) and name. When you play, please try audition, modulation wheel, and aftertouch.
| Sound | Comment |
|---|---|
| CLAVITAR1h | The first category is "Keyboard". Usually I assign vibrato to modulation wheel. However, piano sounds do not need vibrato. I assign modulation wheel to reverb send with this performance. MONTAGE have nice FM sound generator for keyboard sounds. Pleasing velocity sense, low noise, beautiful long decay, and high quality effectors. The easiest programming in Yamaha FM synths. 128 voice polyphony and multi-timberal. MONTAGE is my favorite synth today. |
| E-PIANO1h | Some digital noise. Modulation wheel adds chorus. With the chorus, more noise comes. But, the noises are really beautiful. |
| FM-P1h | I remember Yamaha made FM electronic piano for home use before PCM pianos. The wide variations of FM pianos are surprising. This performance is wet and warm. |
| FMP.3h | Small bells are added. Nice synthesized unreal piano. |
| FullTinesh | Beauty. I edited this performance as a first one. Amazing. I decided to migrate DX7 II preset to MONTAGE as many as possible. I added low pass filter. Modulation wheel adds send to chorus. |
| GR.PIANO2h | Gentle, soft piano. Not realistic, so what? |
| GrandHarpsichordh | Brilliant. |
| GRPIANO1h | With some reverb by modulation wheel, with damper pedal, I enjoy much. |
| HardRoadsh | With some chorus by modulation wheel, with damper pedal, I am happy. |
| HardTinesh | Interesting attack. |
| HarpsiBoxh | Good. Modulation wheel is assigned to reverb send. |
| HarpsiWireh | Another good harpsichord. |
| HONKEYTONK1h | Something more than 6 operators detune was done. I do not know the detail. |
| KnockRoadh | I hit hard. But you do not have to do so. |
| notHONKEYTONK3h | It is not honkeytonk sound. Something is wrong. |
| OldUprightPiano+Stgh | Modulation wheel adds strings on FM piano. |
| PianoForteh | I have never played pianoforte. |
| RHODESh | It's not a rhodes. FM electric piano, isn't it? |
| RubbaRoadh | Yes, this is real Yamaha FM sound. You should hit hard, too. |
| StereoElectricPianoh | "KnockRoad", "HardRoads", 2 part performance. This recording may have some peaks. So, after normalizing, the volume did not go up. |
| StereoTinePianoh | Electric piano and strings. Modulation wheel adjusts volume of strings. |
| WAW-CLAV1h | Is it waw? |
| WAW-CLAV2h | Too beautifule. Some dirty effects may be needed. |
| HAMMONDh | "Organ" category starts from here. Modulation wheel is assigned to vaiation send. Variation effect is rotary speaker 1. |
| HarmoniumAh | Modulation wheel is assigned to reverb send. Aftertouch adds vibrato. |
| HarmoniumBh | Modulation wheel is assigned to reverb send, too. Without reverb, another taste comes. |
| PERC.ORG.1h | The real hammond organs have single trigger percussion. This sound is not. I remember Yamaha Electone D-30 had multi-trigger percussion. Multi-trigger percussion is easy to play. |
| PuffOrganh | With reverb, it sounds large. |
| TouchJazzOrganh | Modulation wheel is assigned dry/wet of inserted amp simulator 1. One example of FM unique organ. |
| VELORGAN1h | Velocity sensitive organ. Aftertouch adds vibrato. OK, it's a synthesizer. |
| 12-STRING1h | Here, "Guitar" category starts. When playing guitar sounds on synthesizer, sustain pedal, vibrato, and open voicing are needed. My opinion. I have no guitar experience. |
| GuitarBoxh | Dark. |
| SPANISH3h | I have no knowledge about Spanish guitars. |
| STRATO1h | Stratocaster. Volume and brilliance is amazing. I should have added distortion. |
| STRATO3h | Electric guitar-like noise. |
| Titeguitarh | Fret noise is nice. |
| WireStringh | I used pitch bend wheel. Clavia's stick is suitable for guitar sounds, isn't it? |
| EBassAh | From here, "Bass" category. I cannot evaluate bass sounds without other parts. I cannot imagine the total balance. Lack of ability. |
| OwlBassh | 4 part bass. Original sound may be unison. |
| SHORTDEC1h | Short decay bass. Good bottom. |
| SHORTDEC2h | When playing, the loudness surprised me. But, after recording and normalizing, it's not so loud. |
| SkweekBassh | Heavy. I do not know the phrase to play this sound. |
| SmoothBassh | Gentle attack, gentle harmonics. |
| StringBassh | Acoustic bass simulation. It's as good as PCM synth. |
| HallOrchAh | Now, "Strings" category starts. This strings itches. I added low pass filter. At this recording, I tweaked TONE->CUTOFF. |
| HallOrchBh | Paired FM strings. I should have made a layer performance. Please try. |
| NewOrchesth | Mono play makes some taste. |
| OrchestraViolinsh | The itches makes this sound real. Good example. |
| PizzReverbh | Not real. Not bad. |
| Solinah | I used expresison pedal. Enough smoothness. Excellent. |
| STREICHERh | Is it tape strings simulation? |
| Violinsh | Good vibrato. Good for solo, maybe. |
| WarmStgAh | One part of layered strings. |
| WarmStgBh | Another part of layered strings. Wind-like attack is mixed. |
| WarmStringSectionh | Layerd strings using above two performances. |
| ANALOG1h | "Brass" category starts from here. Less warmth compared with analog synths. |
| ANLGSYN1h | Compared with ANALOG1h, Overtones are less, more mid power. |
| BRASS2h | One more FM brass. A little bit boring. |
| FOOTPOLY1h | Oh, one more FM brass. Sigh. |
| HardTrumpsh | I love DX7 trumpet. The attack is more real than analog synths. Smooth vibrato is nice, too. |
| MultiBrassEnsembleh | Soft brass. Where should I use this? |
| Mute-Trp.2h | Expressive. I like this. |
| RESONBRSh | Resonance brass? |
| SilvaTrmpth | I like this. |
| SynthBrassEnsembleh | Cool. Not warm. |
| TrumpetAh | I played trumpet at junior high. My dear memory. |
| TrumpetBh | Variation of TrumpetAh. It may be interesting to make a layered sound. |
| Trumpets1h | It is difficult to play high note with real trumpet. |
| Trumpets3h | When playing real trumpet, it is difficult to stop vibrato. So, synth trumpet needs vibrato always. |
| Tubah | At junior high, we made marching session in every noon recess. Trumpet, trombone, euphonium, tuba, snare drum. I really enjoyed it. Dear friends. |
| HARMON.BCh | From here, "Woodwind" category. Aftertouch adds vibrato, modulation wheel adds tremolo. |
| Harmonicah | Modulation wheel adds reverb. I used it at later half of this recording. |
| PanFlooth | Pan flute sound reminds me of KORG T2EX and Roland SC-33. Less impact from FM pan flute. |
| Piccoloh | Soft, beautiful piccoco. |
| Sax2h | When play Yamaha CE(Combo Ensemble) at a music store, the sax sound was surprising. Please enjoy the FM noise. |
| LeadaPickah | "Synth Lead" category starts here. DX7 has poly/mono switch in function parameters. So, I played poly mode always. |
| SYNLEAD1h | Less warm compared with analog synths. |
| WhapSynthh | Yamaha FM sound. Fine. |
| LadyVoxh | "Pad/Choir" category starts here. I played like organ. |
| MVOICE2h | Male choir. Mellotron image. |
| PitchaPadh | Yamaha FM sounds. Not popular these days, I guess. |
| SpaceVoxh | In this collection, I used REV-X Hall, Small Hall preset. In this program I chose delay. |
| WhisperAh | Soft, tendor, nice pad. |
| WhisperBh | Maybe pair of WhisperAh. Should be layered. |
| YesBunkh | This sound was categorized to "Synth Comp" by me. Enjoy with distorted guitarists. |
| HAMMERh | "Chromatic Percussion" category starts. Release noise are audible. Tasty. |
| Handrumh | Yamaha FM is excellent to make percussion sound. |
| MALLET1h | Metal or Wood? |
| MALLET2h | I played like electric piano with damper pedal on. |
| PianoBells2h | I imagined large orgel. Not real, dreamy sound. |
| SteelCansh | Steel pan. Difficult to play. |
| StereoVibraphoneh | Beautiful decay. |
| Vibraphoneh | We can use this sound like electric piano. Tremolo may be effective. |
| MilkyWaysh | From here, "Musical FX" category. This sound reminds me of "Milky Way" in Weather Report debut album. The tune had big impact. Beautiful. Jazz includes everything. |
| PhaserWhaserh | Stereo phaser simulation. |
| Phaserh | Mono phaser simulation. |
| HarpStrumh | "Ethnic" category. At later half of this recording, I added reverb. |
| Plukh | Guitar like string instrument. |
I bought DX7 ROM cartridge VRC-106 SYNTHESIZER GROUP in 1984 or 1985. Now I converted 43 programs to MONTAGE performances. The voices have different tastes from DX7 standard cartridges. Fascinating.
| Sound | Comment |
|---|---|
| SYN.STR.1h | In 1984, PCM synthesizers were too expensive for amateur synthesizer players. I was really impressed with this sound because of the something real at release. It uses a technique to set fixed low frequency at career operators. I edited the frequencies a little bit lower in order to decrease the phasing. |
| SYN.STR.2h | Strong attacks. I assigned variation send on modulation wheel for adding delays. Vibrato can be added with aftertouch. The vibrato is pretty smooth. When I bought KORG T2 in 1989, I was disappointed with the PCM synth had dirty vibrato, no portamento, and only 8 voice polyphonic when using two oscillators. DX7 has smooth vibrato, mono/poly portamento, and 16 voices with 6 operators. It was not easy to carry two keyboards. I did not own my car. |
| SYN.STR.3h | A little bit softer attack compared with SYN.STR.2h. |
| SYN.STR.4h | Tender strings, I love. However, compared with analog synth, DX FM is not warm. |
| SYN.STR.5h | One more soft strings. |
| SYN.STR.6h | Is it synth lead or synth brass? Smooth vibrato and pitch bending. Nice. |
| SYN.STR.7h | Modulation wheel adjusts reverb send. Subtle moving is good. |
| SYN.STR.8h | A synth lead. From here, I assigned vibrato on modulation wheel. Aftertouch vibrato cannot be active on the starting point of sound. Modulation wheel can do. |
| SYN.STR.9h | Pseudo analog polysynth sound. |
| SYN.STR.10h | Bright analog polysynth sound. I love. |
| SYN.STR.11h | Crisp, medium weight synth sound. |
| SYN.STR.12h | Lovely noise. I used lower keys. |
| SYN.STR.13h | Digital synth sound. So bright. |
| SYN.BRA.1h | Soft and nice. |
| SYN.BRA.2h | Not analog. Powerful lead. |
| SYN.BRA.3h | Lower keys can be used as synth bass. Good weight. |
| SYN.BRA.4h | Double reed tone. Beautiful. |
| SYN.BRA.7h | DX7's envelope generator has 4 levels and 4 rates. It enables crescendo. 6 operators have own level envelope generators. One more pitch envelope genarator exists. Here, we enjoy the sweep thanks to those complex EGs. Delay vibrato is active on this sound. |
| SYN.BRA.10h | I could not play in tempo. Sigh. |
| SYN.BRA.12h | Fanfare brass sound reminds me of Keith Emerson. |
| SYN.LEAD1h | Pseudo saw wave. Attacky DX FM lead. |
| SYN.LEAD2h | Pseudo pulse wave. Attacky DX FM lead. |
| SYN.LEAD6h | A little bit softer attack rather than SYN.LEAD2h. |
| SYN.BASS7h | I used master effect "VCM Compressor 376" for more bottom. |
| SYN.BASS8h | DX FM bass. Compression is important, maybe. |
| SYN.BASS9h | DX FM slap bass. |
| SYN.VOX1h | DX FM has no filters. The overtone changes differ from low pass filter with resonance. Slow evolving DX FM sweep can be heared. |
| SYN.VOX2h | In this program, 4 operators are careers. Such structure was not easy before DX7. |
| SYN.VOX3h | I bought printed "The pictures in Exhibition". I tried "promenade". It is too difficult for me. Sad. |
| SYN.VOX4h | I love Isao Tomita music. |
| SYN.VOX6h | I added vibrato with aftertouch. Montage's aftertouch has depth and curve settings. Wonderful. |
| SYN.ORG.1h | This sound decays. Not organ, isn't it? I love the softness. |
| SYN.ORG.2h | Not Hammond. Other combo organ. I did not use vibrato in this recording. You should try with modulation wheel. That is beautiful. |
| SYN.ORG.3h | Air sound is charming. Is it steam? |
| SYN.ORG.4h | Interesting organ. It does not resemble any organs. |
| SYN.MARIMh | You should add reverb with modulation wheel. |
| SYN.CLAVIh | Although this sound is sustaining, good clavinet sound. |
| SYN.FLUTEh | Real flute does not have click like this. However, when I played Yamaha Electone D-30, I used white flute tone levers and green percussion levers, I might play sound like this. |
| SYN.CHIMh | After chimes, evolving pad is fun. |
| SYN.SITARh | Before, an Indian sitar player gave me an invitation e-mail for sessions. Then I was too busy for my daily job at publishers, so, I could not play with him. I visited his live stage and exchanged greetings. I played like basso continuo. |
| SYN.GLOC1h | I tuned this sound much brighter and used it frequently. I will migrate the sound. |
| SYN.GLOC2h | Tender and bright DX FM sound. Nice. |
| SYN.GLOC3h | Beautiful orgel sound. |
MONTAGE firmware V2.0(2.00.3) was released in Feburary 2018. 16 performances below are from "Best of 2.00".
| Sound | Comment |
|---|---|
| CFX + FM EP 2 | Compared with "CFX + FM EP", less parts, not much difference in playing. I moved Superknob with expression pedal 2. It changed the FM sounds amount. |
| CFX & Pad & Sub | Beautiful. It reminds me of "And Voice" preset of E-MU Proteus 2000. I used an expresison pedal at the last part of the recording. |
| Go-Come Organ | Rolling distorted organ. Interesting, but, I may not use this sound. |
| The Prepared Piano | I have no experience on prepared piano. Pedal unpitches the sound. |
| FM + What Else X | I listend the recording, oh, not bad. |
| Dynamic Pad | Automatically Superknob is changed anytime. I enjoyed playing with the beat. Funky. |
| Electrone | Not Electone, the registered trademark of Yamaha. |
| Hypnosis | Hypnosis. These days I go to bed at 10 o'clock every night. |
| FM Bouncer FX | Difficult to play. |
| One&Only massive | I push the 2nd expression pedal. |
| Monster Lead | Expression pedal 2 increases some pitch. Maximize the pedal makes one octave up. Fun. |
| Whip Motion | Carbonated water sound. Signboard of Montage. |
| Chill Me | Scene 1 has no beat, scene 2 has beats. |
| Creation | Motion sequence modulates the delay. Scene 1 has no beat, scene 2 has beats. You can off the motion sequence and change the sound with expression pedal. Please try. |
| my saw | Difficult for me. |
| Dub Me...SK | Some young players may utilize performance like this. |
In Feburary 2018, "MOTIF XF Performances for MONTAGE" is released. You can download the file from Yamaha England Montage download page. I played and recorded 5 perfomances. Not good jobs, I agree.
| Sound | Comment |
|---|---|
| Piano Electro | Moody. Some dissonance I heared. The phrase I chose may not be appropriate. |
| Indian Xperience | Is it Indian? I do not think so. But nice. |
| Clavi 70's 1 | I am not good at clavi sound. Sigh. |
| EP Ballad | You can sort the performances alphabettically in order to find this perfomance. Well made. I cannot make performance like this. |
| Desert Drive(4 ARP) | MONTAGE V2.0 can load MOTIF XF performances. I do not have MOTIF XF. I feel it is a bargain, because I am a synth sound collector. Never satisfed. |
In July 2018, I bought K-Sounds "EPIC GRAND MONTAGE" at Yamaha MusicSoft store. $99.99. The sound is from Yamaha C7. Yamaha C-series are main-stream grand piano in Japan. Not high value. But I often played C7 at a reharsal studio, and the C7 was my favorite. Well-conditioned C7 has crisp sound and easy to play. At this recording I loaded large version(503MB) of Epic Grand and recorded 7 performances from 30.
| Sound | Comment |
|---|---|
| 1 Major Epic | The first sound. Not heavy compared with full concert grand. I love the lightweight sound. Damper resonance is moderate. Stereo speakers are better than stereo headphones for this piano performance. |
| 9 EG Just the Piano | No enhanced sustain, no EQ treatment. This is the base for exploring. I love the plain sound. |
| 21 EG + Tine EP | Acoustic, electric piano layer. Not amazing, but usable. |
| 23 EG & DX7 AF’s | FM electric piano layer. After a little adjust, the sound may be the one I want. |
| 24 EG & Strings SK | Strings layer. SuperKnob changes the strings sound volume. I used 2nd expression pedal to rotate the knob. |
| 29 KS Stereo FM EP | Not acoustic piano. This is a FM electric piano. Highly sophisticated. |
| 30 Epic Pad | Not acoustic piano. Pad with sampled waves and FM noise(?). Highly sophisticated. |
Yamaha DX7 was on sale in 1983, I bought it in 1984. From then until I purchased Korg T2 in the end of 1989, DX7 was my main keyboard. I kept my old DX7 sounds in Unisyn file. Now I converted them to MONTAGE. My younger days sounds.
| Sound | Comment |
|---|---|
| ANAPOWERh | In 1980s, I could not buy polyphonic analog synths. So I used sounds like this. Now I feel the sound is so far from analog. |
| BRPR5_2h | Naturally, I could not buy Prophet-5. |
| CELLOS2Ah | Do not compare with PCM cello sound, please. |
| CHORDBASS3h | Right hand for bass, left hand for chords. Operator split with level scaling. I have used this program for the session with a guitarist. We played "Autumn Leaves". |
| DXSOUND1Ah | OK, DX7 sound. Not for sessions or recordings. For enjoying DX7 alone. |
| ELECBASSh | Like chopper bass. I loved much. |
| EPIANO2Ah | I modified Electric piano 2 in ROM cartrige a little. DX7 was popular because it could be used as a handy, affordable electric piano. |
| HBASSh | I am not sure where this bass come from. My original? |
| HISTRINGSh | This sound was from Yamaha DX7 magazine. I modified. I used frequently in band. |
| HORGAN1h | 6 sine operators with different feets. I add leslie effect today. Not the same taste as I played with DX7. |
| HRMNCA2h | Harmonica modified for breath controller. I named "HRMNCA2BC", but Montage has no breath controller. Shame. |
| LYRICONh | Do you know "T-SQUARE"? Japanese fusion band having long history. They uses Liricon much. Many Japanse amateur synth players were forced to simulate the Liricon of T-SQUARE. |
| OUTSIDER2h | This sound for "Outsider" composed by Tsutomu Sakae, my bandmate. Operator split technique is used. The icy strings has long release on career, short release on modulator. |
| SG1Ah | Synth glocken modified to flashy sound. For me, this is the distinctive DX7 sound. |
| SILKROADh | I loved "The Silk Road" soundtrack by Kitaro. This sound is for the soundtrack. |
| STRING1h | DX7's icy strings. Not warm. |
| STRNO1h | I used this strings frequently. |
| STRNO2h | Strings variation. |
| SYNBASS9Ah | Old FM synth bass. I will not use it nowadays. |
| SYNBRASSCh | Is it brass? I love. |
| SYNORG4h | FM lead sound. I played the melody of "Eccentric Zone" composed by Tsutomu Sakae. |
| SYNSTR1Ah | Low frequency career made the sound rotating. When converted to Montage, it was too noisy. I adjusted modulator levels. |
| USPIANOh | I bought DX7 patch books in the U.S. This sound came from one of them. I modified some. I set this sound for DX7 program #1 piano. |
| VIOLINSAh | Please adjust envelops for your play. |
| VOICE2Ah | DX7 voice. Pre Korg M1 era. |
| VOICE3Ah | Percussive attack is far from human voice. But, I used this sound often. |
Montage Version 2.50.2 was released on July 31st, 2018. This version has "MOTIF XF" bank includes 512 performances. Now you do not have to load "MOTIF XF Performances for MONTAGE" above. I recorded one performance.
| Sound | Comment |
|---|---|
| Elfin Dreams | My left hand pushed C2, right hand plays a simple melody. Scene buttons, expression pedal linked to SuperKnob were used. |
In Japan, Yamaha had "MONTAGE LEGENDARY SYNTH Library Present" from August 10th to September 30th, 2018. I filled out the questionnaire, and got two datasets for Montage. One is "CS-80" by KApro, I guess. One is performances converted from DX7 cartridges. The cartridges are VRC-101 "KEYBOARD, PLUCKED & TUNED PERCUSSION GROUP", VRC-102 "WIND INSTRUMENT GROUP", VRC-103 "SUSTAIN GROUP(STRINGS, ORGSN & VOICE, etc…)". The total 192 performances. In 1984, I could buy only one cartridge. Now I got 3 cartridge more. I recorded some of them.
| Sound | Comment |
|---|---|
| E.GUITAR 1 | Many effects. The conversion programmer enjoyed, I guess. |
| E.BASS 1 | No PCM synth then. In 1983, DX7 professional programmers did their best for electric bass sounds. |
| PIANO-CP | The reharsal studios we used in 1980s, Yamaha Electric Grand(CP) and Fender Rhodes are popular, So, I did not simulate CP with DX7. |
| E.PIANO 4 | DX electric piano is hi-fi with Montage. I am deeply moved. |
| RECORDER | You should use a modulation wheel for vibrato. I love aftertouch vibrato. I should modify. |
| BRASS EN.1 | Magnific FM brass. Good velocity response. |
| VIOLIN 1 | Is it violin, or not? |
| STRINGS 5 | I love FM strings much. |
| F. VOICE 3 | VRC-103 includes many human voice program. Many players needed them. |
After converting DX7 sounds to Montage, I started making my liveset and my AWM sounds. Montage's sampling frequency is 44.1kHz, I guess. So, the high-end frequencies are not rich compared with analog or 96kHz digital synths. However, Montage's simple saw or pulse sounds are not bad. Usable.
| Sound | Comment |
|---|---|
| FullTinesh | DX7 II's famous electric piano. The #1 sound for my Montage. Modulation wheel adds chorus. |
| CFXSingleGrand1H | Piano from MONTAGE EXPANDED. I decreased damper resonance. |
| Saw1 | "Init" category includes "Init Normal(AWM2)". I modified the performance, select "OB Saw". Aftertouch vibrato is must for me. Delay and reverb can be added with knobs. |
| Pulse1 | Changed to "P50-1", a little bit adjusted on cutoff, resonance and so on. |
| SawStrings | 2 element of "OB Saw". Detuned, stereo panned. Modulation wheel adds chorus amount. Nice effect. |
MONTAGE user file(X7U) and library file(X7L) include performances converted from DX7 listed above.
"Sound: Simple performances with saw and pulse" showed 5 performances. The files below include them.