NAMM 2018 is near. What do you wish for? Your predictions?

[Broadwave]

the leaked information does not imply any availability at this time or even definitive evidence that we intend to officially develop or deliver these products in the future. At this stage, the leaked products are merely concepts and nothing more.

It's just part of Uli's Wish List - The Model D isn't even out yet and we STILL don't have an official European price, but I guarantee it won't be the equivalent of 299.00 $US. I've given up on it and started to build GuinGuin's MME, Eurorack Minimoog Clone.

I'd really like Korg to continue the ARP line with a 2600 and/or Quadra.


EDIT: Model D - Behringer have finally quoted a European price of €349/£307 (inc VAT), available from mid-January. It's actually CHEAPER than the US price, which doesn't include tax!

Huge plate of Humble Pie to be consumed.

[LM]

Yes, the Model D has been a no show up to now, while Roland has been cashing on the SE-02 for a while. And I'll probably end up getting a SH-01A well before the MS-101 ever shows up. I'm starting to feel disappointed at Behringer: all this hype only gets you so far...

[Jan1]

Considering that it took more than two years for the Behringer Motor controller keyboards to become available after they were presented at NAMM I don't think any of the current products in development (with exception to the model D) will be released before 2019.
Nevertheless it's quite an impressive list of synths, drum machines and effects units Behringer showed to the public.

As far as the upcoming NAMM is concerned I'm looking forward to the new releases of KORG, Yamaha and Roland.
Both KORG and Yamaha already hinted that they have something exciting to show at NAMM.
When it comes to Roland there's still that rumor of a hardware sampling workstation, plus it would not be to hard to build a high end workstation based on their current technology.

It would be smart of NI not to delay the release of the 88 key version of the Kontrol S series now that the MkII 61 and 49 key versions are out.

So it looks as if NAMM is going to be more exciting than it has been in past years.
On the other hand there have been surprisingly few leaks thusfar...

[Bachus]

So, no more rumors from Korg about the hinted 8 letter word anouncement?

[megamarkd]

So, no more rumors from Korg about the hinted 8 letter word anouncement?

There was some sort of unconfirmed definite rumour about it being a polysynth with a keyboard with a number in the name. Some horrible people have suggested a Poly800 remake, but that would be dreadful.

[Bachus]

I guess we will see a new Yamaha montage replacement/update..

Several shops in Holland have their demo models on sale, while advertised prices dropped about 20%...

[GregC]

I guess we will see a new Yamaha montage replacement/update..

Several shops in Holland have their demo models on sale, while advertised prices dropped about 20%...

I am not sure the price reduction is due to model replacement.

In addition to the Montage being overly complex, it was over priced.

I can see where a 20% price reduction is needed to help sales.

[Bachus]

I guess we will see a new Yamaha montage replacement/update..

Several shops in Holland have their demo models on sale, while advertised prices dropped about 20%...

I am not sure the price reduction is due to model replacement.

In addition to the Montage being overly complex, it was over priced.

I can see where a 20% price reduction is needed to help sales.

Could be, but that would be non typical behaviour for Yamaha..

Personally i think the Montage less complicated then the Kronos. Altough more complicated then most other yamaha instruments ...

[GregC]

I guess we will see a new Yamaha montage replacement/update..

Several shops in Holland have their demo models on sale, while advertised prices dropped about 20%...

I am not sure the price reduction is due to model replacement.

In addition to the Montage being overly complex, it was over priced.

I can see where a 20% price reduction is needed to help sales.

Could be, but that would be non typical behaviour for Yamaha..

Personally i think the Montage less complicated then the Kronos. Altough more complicated then most other yamaha instruments ...

The 20% reduction might be temporary. Then it its simply an incentive to buy now. The Montage is not even 2 years old- would be quite a surprise if Yamaha decided to replace it now.

For example, there was a 15% reduction on the Roland FA price. It was temporary AFAIK.

Going to see whats going on with Montage pricing here in the US.

The Korg W/s vs Yamaha W/s navigation is a decades old debate.

Both really need to improve their UI, navigation, if enough owners complain about it.

All I can say, as a Korg and Roland owner, I sat down in front of the Montage and was somewhat befuddled. Then again, I did no advance study.

[Bachus]

I am not sure the price reduction is due to model replacement.

In addition to the Montage being overly complex, it was over priced.

I can see where a 20% price reduction is needed to help sales.

Could be, but that would be non typical behaviour for Yamaha..

Personally i think the Montage less complicated then the Kronos. Altough more complicated then most other yamaha instruments ...

The 20% reduction might be temporary. Then it its simply an incentive to buy now. The Montage is not even 2 years old- would be quite a surprise if Yamaha decided to replace it now.

For example, there was a 15% reduction on the Roland FA price. It was temporary AFAIK.

Going to see whats going on with Montage pricing here in the US.

The Korg W/s vs Yamaha W/s navigation is a decades old debate.

Both really need to improve their UI, navigation, if enough owners complain about it.

All I can say, as a Korg and Roland owner, I sat down in front of the Montage and was somewhat befuddled. Then again, I did no advance study.

Yes, i agree with you that it would be awkward to upgrade after 2 years. But the Montage just isn´t selling to well, compared to how the Motif used to sell. Many people are still hanging on to their Motif for several different reasons.

When the Montage just arived, i took the time of reading the manuall, and then sitting down behind it for an extensive time. In the end i found that there was just a combi mode and a setlist mode (kronos terms) but that their new interface worked very very natural, clean and easy. The 4 rows of 8 buttons to the right are really a huge step forward in flexibility and creating a fresh clean UI.

In my eyes, the UI is an improvement over both the Motif as well as the Kronos. But then, i think thats probably also the only improvement it has over the Kronos a better UI. And thats also the reason still more people buy a Kronos then a Montage.

Yamaha has lost its leading position in the high end keyboard market. and They might be reacting to that in the Upcomming NAMM.

We will see what happens at NAMM, i agree with you that it will be non typical Yamaha to replace their Montage after just 2 years. I guess if it happens.

They could also have adapted prices to undercut the Kronos here in Europe, with the same idea behind it of regaining market lead. Its just not Holland alone, also Thomann in Germany uses the same new prices.

US prices at sweetwater and Kraft seem to be unchanged however.

[GregC]

Could be, but that would be non typical behaviour for Yamaha..

Personally i think the Montage less complicated then the Kronos. Altough more complicated then most other yamaha instruments ...

The 20% reduction might be temporary. Then it its simply an incentive to buy now. The Montage is not even 2 years old- would be quite a surprise if Yamaha decided to replace it now.

For example, there was a 15% reduction on the Roland FA price. It was temporary AFAIK.

Going to see whats going on with Montage pricing here in the US.

The Korg W/s vs Yamaha W/s navigation is a decades old debate.

Both really need to improve their UI, navigation, if enough owners complain about it.

All I can say, as a Korg and Roland owner, I sat down in front of the Montage and was somewhat befuddled. Then again, I did no advance study.

Yes, i agree with you that it would be awkward to upgrade after 2 years. But the Montage just isn´t selling to well, compared to how the Motif used to sell. Many people are still hanging on to their Motif for several different reasons.

When the Montage just arived, i took the time of reading the manuall, and then sitting down behind it for an extensive time. In the end i found that there was just a combi mode and a setlist mode (kronos terms) but that their new interface worked very very natural, clean and easy. The 4 rows of 8 buttons to the right are really a huge step forward in flexibility and creating a fresh clean UI.

In my eyes, the UI is an improvement over both the Motif as well as the Kronos. But then, i think thats probably also the only improvement it has over the Kronos a better UI. And thats also the reason still more people buy a Kronos then a Montage.

Yamaha has lost its leading position in the high end keyboard market. and They might be reacting to that in the Upcomming NAMM.

We will see what happens at NAMM, i agree with you that it will be non typical Yamaha to replace their Montage after just 2 years. I guess if it happens.

They could also have adapted prices to undercut the Kronos here in Europe, with the same idea behind it of regaining market lead. Its just not Holland alone, also Thomann in Germany uses the same new prices.

- US prices at sweetwater and Kraft seem to be unchanged however.

I think thats accurate, here in the US. Not finding any Yamaha sponsored price drop here in the US, temporarily or perm.

There is a ' rebate' to include a pair of HS5 Studio Monitors with a Montage purchase. That inducement will likely go away , soon.

[Broadwave]

Despite the recent Behringer "leak", it looks like their next clone will be the VP330, including keyboard.

I've heard a reliable rumour that the R&D for their clones is being carried out by Midas, here in Manchester - Maybe it's time for another visit

[pmboos]

I posted something like this in Gearslutz, but thought I'd repeat it here. Maybe Korg will take this idea up...

A cool direction that comes to mind is a Volca Formant synth. Something where you could have AAAAA, ahhh, eeee, IIIII, Oooohhhh, ooooo with about 4-8 distinctive consonant sounds (D, F, K, L, M, N, S, T the best?). A bit of pink noise that could help give it a breathy tone... If you could have the active step introduce the consonants and change between vowel sounds that would allow you to string sequenced little "phrases". An evolving noise and a filter via Active Step, Envelope, and/or LFO would also make this really interesting.

[megamarkd]

I posted something like this in Gearslutz, but thought I'd repeat it here. Maybe Korg will take this idea up...

A cool direction that comes to mind is a Volca Formant synth. Something where you could have AAAAA, ahhh, eeee, IIIII, Oooohhhh, ooooo with about 4-8 distinctive consonant sounds (D, F, K, L, M, N, S, T the best?). A bit of pink noise that could help give it a breathy tone... If you could have the active step introduce the consonants and change between vowel sounds that would allow you to string sequenced little "phrases". An evolving noise and a filter via Active Step, Envelope, and/or LFO would also make this really interesting.

Aaaaaaah, yeeeees, foooooormaaaaaaaants.
The M1 preset program Ohh/Ahh springs to mind. It's still a great program and still very usable. It was done using PCM synthesis so it shouldn't be hard to make an advanced version that does all the vowel sounds. A sampler with decent filter would get you what you want. The E-MU e64/Ultra samplers seemed made particularly for doing formants, especially their "Z-Plane" filter model. And with a sampler you could create an "Oooooh/Laaaaa" preset, heheh.

♪♫The chances of anything coming from Mars♫♪
♪♫Was a million to one he said♫♪

More like the chances of anyone building a sampler is a million to one....yeah Akai, but nobody else is even hinting at following and that is sad....

[pmboos]

Rather than a sampler, a formant Volca (heh Volca Voice anyone?) with a 3 part sequencing system like the Volca Bass except that each step can be a vowel (at a pitch) sound with an optional transition through a consonant. Long release and attack times on the envelope would actually have sounds merge.

Another set of respectable vocal sounds is in the Korg DVP-1, particularly for its time. (I still have and love mine.)