NAMM 2017: What's New in Yamaha Montage OS 1.5

Yamaha's Montage platform runs on some of the company's flagship workstation keyboards and provides an in-depth way to program and work with sounds, patches and performances. The free 1.5 update brings a bunch of new features, as Blake from Yamaha explained to us when we caught up with him at NAMM 2017.  

Montage 1.5 new features

• Further exploration of Motion Sequences, dynamic Super Knob control and new creative uses using the Envelope Follower and Vocoder.

• New Rotary Speaker Effect with New Organ Performances.

• New Dynamic Processors and Presence.

• Expanded Motion Control capabilities.

• Super Knob Enable/Disable on Assignable Knobs.

• MIDI Scene Control - The MONTAGE “Scene” feature is a powerful way to add interactive dimension to a Performance. Scene changes can add Arpeggios, Motion Sequences, Mute Parts and more.

• Improved Auto Beat Sync -  Accuracy Auto Beat Sync is a very cool feature that derives tempo from audio. In other words, MONTAGE “listens” to the beat like a musician. This could be a live drum kit, drum loop, rhythm guitar or any source with solid, rhythmic time.

• New Backup File - The Backup File lets you load and save your entire MONTAGE content to a single file.

•  Performance View - You can now get a detailed view of key range for Parts and see individual Part Element/Operator states from the main Performance/Home screen.

• Live Set Improvements - Selected Performances are now highlighted in Orange and you can change the size of the font within the Live Set for much greater visibility.

• Parameter with Part - When adding Parts to a Performance, you can choose to inherit settings from the Part. 

• Monitor Volume for USB Input - OS v1.5 adds USB audio monitor control. This is useful for quickly adjusting the incoming audio level from a DAW or iOS device. It’s also handy when listening to music on the computer.