Sign Change.org Petition re MIDI Recorder of Yamaha Montage

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svene
Posts: 4
Joined: 19:46, 1 August 2016

Sign Change.org Petition re MIDI Recorder of Yamaha Montage

Post by svene »

Hey, Roland Clan members,
a week ago I launched a petition at Change.org regarding the Montage. Yamaha totally screwed up the built-in MIDI recorder which in its present state is a complete and utter train wreck. For the recorder debacle alone Roland is laughing Yamaha out of court right now. Please sign my catalogue of demands. Thank you.

https://www.change.org/p/takuya-nakata- ... orporation

The following petition is aimed at Mr. Takuya Nakata, President and Representative Director of the Yamaha Corporation

Help make an update for the Montage synth a priority for the Yamaha Corporation

With the release of Yamaha's current flagship synthesizer Montage, fans of the now-abandoned Motif series were hopeful that the new instrument would live up to the legacy that the predecessors established. So far their hopes were deceived. Yes, the Montage has its own proprietary built-in MIDI sequencer, called 'Direct Performance Recorder', but unfortunately, upon release, some important features were missing. Basic functions like copying or erasing MIDI data have not been implemented. So far only simultaneous recording of all 16 tracks is allowed – an impossible task with only one pair of hands. One can not fix mistakes made during a recording. There is no point in all of that, due to the fact that we are talking about MIDI data, not audio.

With signing to this petition you ask the Yamaha Corporation to prioritize making an update to the operating system of the Montage synthesizer. These are the recommended improvements:

Implement CONSECUTIVE RECORD: It allows tracks to be recorded one after the other, instead of simultaneously.

Implement LOOP RECORD: Recording takes place repeatedly over a specified area, according to loop point settings.

Implement COPY: This function copies a specified area of recorder data. It is convenient for repeating the same phrase several times.

Implement DELETE: This function deletes a specified area of recorder data, and moves the subsequent data to fill the gap. As a result, the measure length will be shortened by the number of deleted measures.

Implement ERASE: This function erases all the recorder data inside a specified area. As the erased data is replaced by rests, the original measures will remain.

Implement INSERT: This function inserts blank measures into a specified song position.

Implement TRANSPOSE: This function transposes the pitch of notes within a specified area, over a +/- 127 semitone range.

Sign this petition to help make the built-in MIDI recorder of Yamaha's Montage synthesizer useable.
https://www.change.org/p/takuya-nakata- ... orporation

Thank you for participating. 有り難うございます

Links to this petition have been posted at Yamaha's official synthesizer forum. Phil Clendeninn a.k.a. 'Bad Mister', senior technical sales specialist for Yamaha, has been informed.
svene
Posts: 4
Joined: 19:46, 1 August 2016

Re: Sign Change.org Petition re MIDI Recorder of Yamaha Mont

Post by svene »

The fact that Yamaha presenter Bert Smorenburg in preparation for his Sonic State demo had to bypass the recognized problem (no consecutive recording of tracks possible) says it all. He posted a smart but cumbersome workaround at Yamaha Synth forum a few weeks ago:
I found a fun workaround to make this recorder behave like a multitimbral sequencer. First of all, I programmed several sounds within one Performance: Piano, strings, bass, drums and clavinet. Then, I switched off all Keyboard Control (the green buttons in the main screen) so they all became separately available using Part Control (the orange buttons on the right). I opened the midi recorder, and recorded the piano. Then I put the recorder in Overdub and added the strings, bass, drums etc. until I had a multitrack recording. Actually pretty simple. Before all this, I imported a vocal sample wav from Diana Ross's Upside Down and prepared a Performance with only this sample. So, at the end of my recording session I basically triggered this Diana Ross sample from the keyboard, in time with the recorded music. All pretty simple but quite effective, and obviously discussion material!
The above mentioned workflow ist still a PITA. You still have to record each and every part, measure, chorus etc. of your song individually. How crazy is that? I don´t own a Montage, but I tested its recorder at Superbooth in Berlin in April and later at Music Store, Cologne, Germany. The inability to copy MIDI data--not even within the same track (!)--makes the Montage useless as a basic standalone production tool. We are talking about laughable MIDI data, not huge audio wave files. Remember: Yamaha is the parent company of Steinberg. My guess is they want Montage users to purchase the full-blown Cubase version later also. What if Montage users don´t want to use a DAW? Should they be forced to buy or use outboard gear in order to utilize a feature that is on a 3000 Euro keyboard? From what I read at Motifator they lost every loyal Motif user in a nanosecond, myself included. Having said all of that, they can win me back with a recorder update.

Some recorder screenshots. The touch display is nice.

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