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Yamaha Montage successor incoming


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It's time for a new Yamaha flagship...

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2 hours ago, CyberGene said:

So, what’s the new CK? A YC with an added AN-X engine? Or a MIDI controller?

I was so buy a YC 73 key with a good touch screen and synth engine :thu:

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Isn't it kinda early for them to announce/release a new flagship? 

 

How old is the Montage?

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7 hours ago, zephonic said:

 

I was actually thinking about getting a Montage 7 to replace my MODX8! 


I was thinking about getting a Montage 6 to replace my Modx7.  Obviously it's the same sounds, but I'd like get better build quality, more controls and that white version looks killer!  And for all the advantages of a light keyboard, I had to bungee my Modx7 down on the stand at one recent outdoor gig, it was even money that it was going to fly off the stand in the wind.  I can handle 30 pounds and I have a nice case available.   That said, I was more likely to get a Fantom 6 just to try something new.  In either case, I'd have gone used.

I wasn't quite ready to buy anything, have to sell a few things, but I'm definitely curious about this.  I wonder if the "AN-X" trademark will apply to this one...

Someone known as an insider on another forum couldn't say much, but basically recommended holding off on any Montage purchase.  We'll see soon enough.

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1 hour ago, Julius D Majestic Studios said:

Isn't it kinda early for them to announce/release a new flagship? 

 

How old is the Montage?

 

Montage was announced 7 years ago this month.

 

And I suppose the recent introduction of MODX+ could mean we may not get a scaled-down version of a Montage successor as quickly as we've seen scaled-down versions of some previous flagships, since that would imply a relatively short life for the MODX+. Unless maybe they'd keep the MODX+, and any lower-end derivative of a future flagship would get priced somewhere between the two.

Maybe this is the best place for a shameless plug! Our now not-so-new new video at https://youtu.be/3ZRC3b4p4EI is a 40 minute adaptation of T. S. Eliot's "Prufrock" - check it out! And hopefully I'll have something new here this year. ;-)

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(to steal my own speculation from the Nord thread)...

Wild optimistic guess time!

New AN-X and YC organ engines!  :D 

And ditch the sequencer while you are at it, I don't use it :)  I know, it's a workstation....and yes I'd be better off with the YC for live performance/no sequencing but it needs better synth capabilities first.


I'm fully prepared to be underwhelmed, whether by lack of features or ludicrous Nord-like price or both.  I had to learn something from the lead up to the release of the Segway (we had people in our office literally think those patents could be a hoverbike or perpetual energy engine among other things, turned out to be a way for mall cops to avoid losing weight.)

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Something I'd like to see, but probably won't happen, is the availability of the SA2 and Ensemble stuff from the Genos, even if (like Roland's SuperNATURAL sounds in the Fantoms) they do not have all the user-editing options that other sounds have.

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Maybe this is the best place for a shameless plug! Our now not-so-new new video at https://youtu.be/3ZRC3b4p4EI is a 40 minute adaptation of T. S. Eliot's "Prufrock" - check it out! And hopefully I'll have something new here this year. ;-)

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In short time there will be plenty of used Montage for sale at lower prices, I guess. That maybe the right time to get one. I bought both of mine at about 50% of new price, I guess that kind of pricing, even lower, will be common.

 

For me there is not big problem on the arrival of a new model, as I am just using perhaps 20% of Montage potential, so it is not the machine which limits my playing!. I will buy a Montage+ second hand in some years. I won't play the depreciation game (or will play it to my advantage) 😉

 

Jose

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I keep an eye on the guitar center used page (four bookmarked searches for particular models, and limited to "excellent" and "great" conditions :D ) and there have been some good Montage deals on there from time to time.  I doubt they'll go too much lower than they are...probably not below $2000 but I'm just guessing.   If I'm wrong, great :)   The Kronos 61 tends to be around there at the lowest but of course we don't really have a Kronos+ (not counting the Nautilus).   Fantom 6 is higher unfortunately for me!

I reckon a Montage+ 6 is likely to be in the high $3000s and that's a fair bit more than I'm willing to pay for any keyboard.  But if they hit a home run with what they add, maybe I'd be tempted.   The Modx+ was completely a nothingburger to me and that's about what I'm expecting here.

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Will be interesting to see what they bring out. And to see if they use the YC61 keybed for any of the models, especially if it is a YC/AN hybrid. Montage based power with the YC playability/electro mechanical sounds is a dream board for me, more so than the Stage 4. 
 

I still can’t get rid of my MODX7 here in the UK. Hope this doesn’t make it even harder, or force me to drop the price even more! 

Hammond SKX

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7 minutes ago, nadroj said:

I still can’t get rid of my MODX7 here in the UK. Hope this doesn’t make it even harder, or force me to drop the price even more! 

I had to sell my MODX6 for 1/2 the original price in order to get rid of it here in Bulgaria, less than a year after I bought it, never gigged with it (only a few rehearsals, pristine condition). Not sure why these are so hard to sell.

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Hmmm.  These sorts of decisions, investments, time tables are of course business driven.  As always it will be interesting to see what type of instrument (sounds, features, capabilities, price point) their research has brought them to put out as their top of the line when the competition is Fantom, Nautilus, K2700, Stage 4.  

Yamaha CP88, Casio PX-560

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Sorry if I sound cranky. I grouched at some innocent soul on a different forum. Some aspects of this discussion are getting on my elderly nerves.

 

Ah, yes, the "second coming." Didn't we go through this hysteria last summer with MODX -> MODX+? Unabated anticipation followed by complaining 5 minutes after the drop. 🙂

 

Please consider the historical progression through MOTIF: MOTIF begat ES begat XS begat XF. Each revision added some voices/performances and some additional workflow functionality. The MOs trailed behind the current MOTIF rev. Readers here are knowledgeable and know the gory details.

 

MODX+  established a little too much parity with Montage. Thus, I expect Yamaha to create just enough functional distance above MODX+ to justify the higher price of "new Montage". Montage already has a tour-quality build, FSX keybed (aftertouch), more capable audio streaming/processing, built-in power supply, pure analog circuit, balanced TRS and so forth.

 

I expect Yamaha to revert to its mean, AKA incremental evolution consistent with its historical practice. Addition of MIDI 2.0 is the only detail that I'm willing to predict. Yamaha is due WRT MIDI 2.0 and Montage is intended to be a studio's centerpiece that integrates with everything.

 

"CK" is another matter...

 

Peace to all -- pj 🙂
 

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Yamaha focused on performance on the Montage at release on the assumption that most music production had shifted to DAW like Ableton, Logic, etc.  Their “older” customers accustomed to work stations had a cow and they gradually added sequencing features back in if I am remembering how that transpired correctly. 

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Yamaha CP88, Casio PX-560

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16 minutes ago, ElmerJFudd said:

Yamaha focused on performance on the Montage at release on the assumption that most music production had shifted to DAW like Ableton, Logic, etc.  Their “older” customers accustomed to work stations had a cow and they gradually added sequencing features back in if I am remembering how that transpired correctly. 

 

That makes sense. I distinctly remember no sequencer when it was first introduced.

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30 minutes ago, MAJUSCULE said:

 

16-track sequencer.

 

How many people (not just here, but in the overall business) would make use of it these days? Feels like a grandfathered feature that we don't really need anymore :idk: 

 

I use onboard sequencer to record ideas when noodling around.

And for some quick arrangements.

 

Hope they will implement a linear mode and not just a pattern mode.

 

For me a Montage ES/XS/+ should or have:

- at least double the flash ram wirhout the 8 slot limitation

- free assignable midi channels 

- bigger screen or external display out

- 2 more TRS outs

- YC Hammond Engine plus Leslie Sim

- 9 Faders

- AN-X engine

- maybe some granular or some advanced physical modelling (VL-X)

- Breath controller comeback

- Assignable Midi CCs on all faders and buttons

 

Well...... we will see or not....

😉

 

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53 minutes ago, MAJUSCULE said:

 

16-track sequencer.

 

How many people (not just here, but in the overall business) would make use of it these days? Feels like a grandfathered feature that we don't really need anymore :idk: 

 

Honestly, I haven't touched an onboard sequencer in 15 years.

 

But I will say that the one in the Fantom X is a lot spunkier/tighter/groovier than any DAW I have used. Same goes for the old MPC. I used to go back and forth between the Fantom sequencer and computer just for that, but over time I got lazy. 

 

I bet by now the sequencer adds next to nothing in terms of development or production cost, so why not have it in there? 

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