Michael W

Yes, you should be able to do that with a 2015 machine. My 2013 iMac did not have the ability to be used as an independent display. Also, I had planned to use my iMac wireless keyboard with the Mac Mini, but I couldn't get it to work during the initial setup. I learned that people have had problems with this, especially the a1314 model, which is the one I have. So I ran out and got the Magic Keyboard - it's for the best, as the Touch ID feature is great in lieu of having to enter my password to unlock the machine and perform other functions.

I've got a new "music computer" - I just replaced my 2013 27" iMac with: - Mac Mini M1 (with SSD) - Apple Magic Keyboard w/Touch ID - LG 27" QHD monitor When working with software instruments, the Mini M1 is screamin' fast when compared to my old iMac. I am very happy!

I no longer have GAS. With a Yamaha Montage, Logic, DP, Omnisphere, Kontakt, Diva, Zebra 2, and a dozen other software instruments, I have 482,491 onboard sounds at my disposal. More than I could ever audition. My Roland Integra-7 has been in the closet for months. I love it, but it's another 6,000 sounds. I'll probably sell it. I feel as though I could compose a thousand albums and film scores using only Alchemy, the sampler, and other software instruments that are included with Logic Pro X. Show me something new under the sun - I am always interested.

Video/audio (recording and live-streaming): OBS Studio (Open Broadcaster Software) Video effects and editing (TikTok): Perfect Video (iOS), Final Cut Pro MIDI sequencing and audio recording: Logic Pro X and Digital Performer 10 Hardware: 27" iMac, 27" HP monitor, Macbook Air M1, iPhone 12, four Logitech webcams, Steinberg UR44, Montage 8

I have a Montage 8. Although I don't currently play live, I have in the past, using a variety of keyboards. The Yamaha Motif was always my go-to instrument for traditional sounds. One of the main reasons for this was the ability to call up a sound with a single button-press on the Motif front panel. Like many keyboardists, I often play with both hands, and have to quickly switch between sounds when going from one section of a song to another. The Motif allowed me to arrange any 16 sounds into a User Preset bank... if switching between banks, it would require two button-presses, but I typically arranged my sounds so that the sounds needed for a particular song were in the same bank. Although Yamaha seems to have re-written their OS from the ground up for the Montage line, the ability to call up a preset with a single button remains. Keep in mind that a preset can be a single instrument, or up to eight instruments layered and/or split across the keyboard in any manner desired. In addition, the Montage has the ability to create up to eight "scenes" for each preset, that can be thought of as variations on a preset's setup. It's my understanding that with the Montage, Yamaha moved away from the 'workstation' model, with more of a focus on live performance. On one hand, I can tell you that building the presets and "live sets" on a Montage - such as might be needed by a gigging keyboardist - is relatively simple and straightforward. That being said, this is a very powerful and flexible instrument, with myriad options, which results in quite a few menus (and menus within menus). Some may find that the complexity level increases when using the Montage to control not only internal sounds, but external instruments as well, whether they be hardware or software-based. However, if you're simply looking to quickly switch around from pianos to organs, EPs, leads, strings, polysynths, etc., this is a cinch on the Montage. I wouldn't hesitate to gig with a Montage, but would likely ditch the 8 for a 7 or 6, given the weight of the 88-key version.

I'd buy it if I had $2.4 million, and a $30 million place to put it in. Absolutely gorgeous - I love it.

So this is it for me these days, although I have two more hardware instruments stashed away (perhaps to be sold). My wife and I downsized a couple of years ago, and I no longer play out, so this is seriously everything I need. Additionally, after many years of sequencing and composing, I've spent most of my keyboard time in recent years simply playing and improvising, hoping to get the most out of my aging fingers and hands (arthritis, carpal tunnel, and a broken thumb a few years back). I mostly play acoustic and electric piano sounds, as well as guitars and strings/orchestral patches, and the Montage has a wide variety of great-sounding options. For more synthetic soundscapes, I depend upon my software instruments - mostly Omnisphere and Diva. The Montage 8's weighted keyboard is also wonderful, although I tend to prefer the ivory-like feel of the higher-end Roland instruments, although I've only tried those briefly in stores. Lastly, although I enjoy the sound, musicality, and value of the JBL monitors, I would love to replace them with Adam A7Xs at some point.

I am a longtime Yamaha fan. I started with an SY-22 back in the '90s, then moved on to a TG100, MU50, MU100, QS300, Motif 6, MOX6, and then MOXF8. In the '90s, I even did some work for Yamaha, creating and licensing MIDI files for them to use to demo their new XG MIDI instruments. I believe I actually met Bad Mister once, when I visited their SoCal headquarters for a meeting with their marketing people. All very nice folks. Then, when the Montage came out, I sold most of my setup to fund the purchase of a brand new Montage 8, as it sounded just incredible, and I wanted a nice 88-key weighted instrument. Anyhow, I don't play out anymore due to health issues... I am a home hobbyist these days who has played the piano and synths for 57 years. I compose and work a lot with MIDI tracks that I eventually record to audio. In terms of overall MIDI implementation, the Montage 8 has frustrated me beyond all possible comprehension. I have posted questions to the Yamaha board, and as always, Bad Mister is beyond helpful. Nevertheless, while he provides valuable insight, I often feel as though I have to bend my brain into a pretzel in order to accomplish what I need to do. Maybe I'm just getting old and tired. It has become painfully obvious that the Montage OS (which is a significant departure from the Motif systems) was designed with MIDI implementation (especially in 16-part mode) as an afterthought. Using the Montage as a 16-part MIDI tone generator - which you basically have to do with the Montage even when creating MIDI sequences in a DAW using the Montage's own keyboard) - is not intuitive, and (for me, at least) has proven to be a frustrating pain in the butt. And trying to set up the Montage knobs and sliders to control software instruments such as Alchemy and Diva in Logic or Digital Performer has also caused me to just walk away from my keys and go to bed. When used as a standalone instrument, the Montage is simply wonderful. Initially, I may have had to consult the manual once or twice, but the OS is very intuitive and easy to use. And yes, the Montage sounds fantastic, All that said, I've honestly been thinking about swapping the Montage for one of the 'new' Roland Fantoms. I have also owned numerous Roland instruments over the years and currently have an Integra-7. My sense is that the Fantom architecture continues to be 'rooted' in a 16-part mentality, as is the Integra-7. I just wish the Roland instruments had the pristine FM synth such is found in the Montage. And I need to confirm that the MIDI implementation and 16-part functionality in the Fantom still operates the way old fogies like me expect it to. Perhaps I'll reach out to the esteemed Mr. Diaz. Anyhow, sorry for the rant, but if you're wrestling with using the Montage as a MIDI controller (to do anything other than just play notes), then I feel your pain.

The only Korg I've owned was an M3-61 for a couple of years back in the day. My biggest pet peeve (after years of playing mostly Yamahas) was the lack of dedicated OCTAVE +/- buttons. Does the Nautilus have those? Thanks.

Pro tip: In general, younger keyboard players don't give a shit what any of us think.

John Mayer lays down a funk guitar groove. A guy named Mikey in NYC adds killer bass. I thought it could use some horns. The internet is a wonderful thing. And TikTok is tons of fun once you get past the dancing girls in bikinis. Or not. [video:youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZen6A75Q7Y

Thanks... I wish I still had my J-50, although I had a real love-hate relationship with it. Traded it toward my Montage 8 and then jumped on a used Integra-7 when I had the chance. The Jupiter 50 has the best synth-action keyboard I've ever played, BTW. The sound is fantastic,

Good question - not that I'm aware of. You make a video using whatever you want, but it ultimately has to be imported into the TikTok app, and the logo is there. I've had challenges because the preferred TikTok video mode is portrait, whereas the video recording and editing software I use (OBS and iMovie) default to landscape mode. They weren't really made to create videos that look like they were shot using a phone positioned vertically. It takes some fiddling to create videos in portrait mode, that don't have giant black "bars" on the sides of the image.

I've been a long-time keyboardist on YouTube, and have recently spent some time exploring TikTok - probably about 20 hours. Or maybe 30. Anyhow, I've been thrilled to find so many wonderful musicians - especially young people (I'm a Boomer) - on TikTok. Singers, guitarists, pianists, drummers, bassists, violinists, oboists - everything. As my own children are grown and long gone, it's just great to see how many young people have embraced musical instruments. Oh, and there are gobs of female musicians on TikTok, and excellent ones as well. There must be 10,000 young women with electric guitars who can shred their way through Van Halen, AC/DC, Guns and Roses, Iron Maiden, etc. Who knew? That's not to say that all of the content creators are young - the musical stuff seems to skew a bit older. There's a guy who must be 90 years old who plays the guitar and sings and must have a million followers. In any case, the TIkTok app makes use of your phone's microphone, and this actually works just fine for many singers, guitarists, drummers, etc. - people who play acoustic instruments, even piano. But if you want to put synth videos on TikTok where the audio is recorded directly into your computer, you've got to use other video recording/editing software on your Mac (or PC) and then import your video into the TikTok app. It's been fun figuring all of this out. On TikTok, what you're served up is based upon what you watch, and the algorithms appear to be very good. If you watch a couple of military videos (cockpit videos in fighter jets) you're going to see a lot more of those until you stop. If you watch some videos of women dancing in yoga pants you're going to see more of the same. The pandemic has obviously helped to fuel this trend. There are tons of musicians who normally play in bands or whatnot, who have been stuck at home, indoors, often alone, with all of their gear. It's easy to see how someone could watch musician videos on TikTok (or anywhere else), look at their phone, and say, "Gee, I can do this." And in five minutes they're on TikTok with a 40 second video of them playing their favorite guitar solo. Or Moog solo. Anyone else messing around with this? It's a real time-suck, at least at the beginning.

I don't know the answer to your question, but just FYI there's a MOTU forum at MOTUnation.com. As a DP user for nearly 20 years, I've often found very knowledgeable people and lots of great info there.

Lombard or Aurora? I confess to trying the equipment at GC, then driving over to Sam Ash to buy it.... Yep, those are them. Sometimes I get up to Arlington Hts. Sam Ash can be better, and I think they have more gear right now, but there's never anyone in there these days. The past several times I've been in there, I haven't even run into an employee in the keyboard/recording dept.

I still have my Virus TI Polar. Many synths have come and gone from my place over the years, but the TI has stayed. Why? 1. It sounds great, and is much more flexible than many of the TI-based dance tracks over the years would imply. 2. The TI is 16-part multi-timbral, with a complete set of multi-effects for each part. Patches sound identical whether in single or multi mode. What sucks? The keyboard on the Polar. The keybed in the Keyboard version of the TI is perhaps the best I've ever played (but I only played one once).

I visit a few GC locations around the Chicago western suburbs, and their keyboard inventory has been vastly depleted. Plenty of digital pianos but few workstations or synths. Not many people in the stores. Empty display racks, empty walls.

I was having horrible pain in my right forearm last year, as well as my left thumb. I went to an orthopedic doctor who diagnosed me with tennis elbow in my right arm and arthritis in my thumb. He gave me cortisone shots in both places, which fixed me up perfectly. Amazing stuff. Six months later I re-aggravated my forearm opening a jar of salsa. The doc gave my elbow another shot and the pain disappeared again. I've also been told that I have carpal tunnel and need surgery for that. It's so fun growing old. I suffer from a variety of neurological disorders, for which I have had several surgeries, including brain surgery a few years ago. My doctors are at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota - it's a short hike from Chicago, and I trust those doctors with my life.

I bought a Montage 8 and it did not come with printed manuals. Like others, I had my local Office Max print out copies and bind them.

Sony MDR-7506

^^^^^ This.

This is one synth that I purchased 15 years ago that I've never even considered selling. Yes, they're a lot of money, but - Every sound in the Virus TI synths sounds exactly the same whether in single mode or 16-part multi-timbral mode. This is due, in part, to the fact that the TIs have 16 complete sets of multi-effects. The TIs have 16 reverbs, 16 delays, 16 distortion units, 16 choruses, 16 EQs, etc. This makes the TI a perfect 16-part multi-timbral synthesizer (albeit digital) to complement my romplers. Yes, my Integra-7 has one helluva digital synthesizer on board, but the TI is knobby as hell. http://www.fototime.com/9DFF410EB5F92A7/standard.jpg

My first multi-timbral since was the little Yamaha TG-100. From there I went on to the MU80, Motif 6, Korg M3, Roland JV-1080, MOX6, and probably a bunch that I am forgetting. When I got my Yamaha Montage 8 last year, I was shocked at how difficult and annoying it can be to use this $4000 instrument as a 16-channel instrument. As a result, I went out and got a Roland Integra-7, which IS a 16-channel multi-timbral module. And I am also glad that I kept my TI Polar, which also operates spectacularly in 16-channel mode. http://www.fototime.com/D320648635F82B5/standard.jpg

So this is on a related topic - I've been playing around with cameras, video feeds, various software and hardware, etc. I am running OBS open source broadcaster software on my iMac, and it works great. Using three HD video cameras purchased at Best Buy (2 x $39 and 1 x $79) I am able to run and record several live cameras while playing/capturing a Sugarland video and runnjng all of the audio through a Mackie mixer, into my Steinberg 44, and then back into the iMac where OBS records everything into an HD video with CD quality stereo sound. It's a bit tricky how to wire it all up and route everything, but it works (and my iMac is certainly not the latest model). I have learned that I can have - and utilize - 13 USB ports simultaneously while playing back and recording audio. Very cool. Happy to answer any questions - this may be kind of what you might be looking to do, but I cannot play out so I do it at home. This was my first effort, and I didn't want my keys to be TOO intrusive in the mix... [video:youtube]