Yamaha MODX Update?

[sonic2000gr]

I wouldn't expect an update any time soon. Montage M is still too new.
Maybe 2026 (?) we will see a new version MODX matching the Montage M.

[vertig0spin]

That's not a bad guess! What month in 2026..?

Based on past Montage to MODX releases, I am going to guess Feb 2026 for the MODX replacement.
Or failing that perhaps May 2026...


What will they name it? My guesses would be:
MOM
MOMX
MOXM

[sonic2000gr]

What will they name it? My guesses would be:
MOM
MOMX
MOXM

MODX-M sounds more pronounceable.
As for the month, can't say. But May sounds reasonable.

[DugLess]

MODX+m

Nah. It's not gonna happen.

They've learnt their lesson.

The MODX only served to diminish sales (and perceived value) of the MUCH more profitable model.

The MODX+ only exists to up the price so as to at least make some more profit out of whatever sales come through from that.

No extra CPU/GPU... but better Mod and Pitch Bend controllers.

And a DAC change because the other one is no longer available. What else?

The next phase of "MODX" is a discount on the Montage 6m and 7m when they're "replaced" by polyphonic aftertouch versions.

All opinions expressed as truth. Reliability certain to be unreliable, and uncertain.

[sonic2000gr]

I still think they will release a mid-tier synth at some point.
Or they will to keep the current MODX+ as is (like they kept the MX line).
This might also depend on what the competition (Roland) does.

[vertig0spin]

MODX-M sounds more pronounceable.
As for the month, can't say. But May sounds reasonable.

I had thought of something similar to that but keeping the DX in MODX and adding the M, doesn't make sense if they add the AN-X to the new model, because DX represents the FM-X engine, which is what they were pushing with the MODX. Now (if they add AN-X) they will want to push the AN-X engine as well. Looking at previous econo models for Motif and Montage, like MODX, MOX, MOF, etc., we know it will likely start with MO, and will likely have M at the end somewhere, but they tend not to go past 3 or 4 letters for the names.

But who knows, maybe they break tradition and try something new..!? I definitiely wouldn't rule out MODX-M. It just not my top guess

[jammun]

The problem for Yamaha, as I see it, is they've already created a lesser-tier M (the M6 and M7). Without the all-important X designator they are a step down from the M8X (and yet they''re priced as if they had that X factor!). The M6 and M7 aren't exactly mid-tier but they aren't exactly top-tier, which is a strange nether world to be in, kinda like the Korg Nautilus. At least the Nautilus is priced for what it is.

So even though the MODX+ is currently discounted, which led me into all sorts of speculation, upon reflection I don't see a replacement coming until they've sorted out the Montage lineup.

I am, by the way, very tempted to just give up and buy a Roland Fantom EX, which has some very compelling features to me. I ain't getting any younger (I'm 70) and if I wait for all this to be sorted out I could well be dead, or maybe only deaf or blind or arthritic, in which case a new synth will lose much of it's appeal.

[sonic2000gr]

The price of the "new" EX is ridiculous, at least in Europe. It's the same 3K Fantom with a firmware update and a 200 euro paid update, and they now charge over 4K for it. Maybe it will be better to get the non-EX model and apply the updates yourself.
MODX+ is not currently on its way to replacement if you ask me.

[jammun]

Ideally when Yamaha officially announces the M OS update (this month?) they will also give some hint as to whether or not the M6/M7 will be getting PAT versions in which case an M6X would be my board of choice.

[RUSTY300972]

Good to hear all of your recent thoughts on this.

[ITB-Music]

Ideally when Yamaha officially announces the M OS update (this month?) they will also give some hint as to whether or not the M6/M7 will be getting PAT versions in which case an M6X would be my board of choice.

If this ever happens within this generation, it would be similar to the previous "special" releases, such as the white Motif Xf and white Montage, probably two or three years after the original release.

Nah. It's not gonna happen.

They've learnt their lesson.

The MODX only served to diminish sales (and perceived value) of the MUCH more profitable model.

You seem to have missed a great deal of Yamaha's history, at least in this century and their products/sales patterns. Ever since the release of Motif series, there's always been a follow-up model, cheaper, lighter, mainstream, making a lot of sales (and profit).
You don't become the "every third musical instrument on this planet is made by us" company by selling overpriced high-end models only. No, it's a product like MODX, which was the top seller in its range for two years (if not more) that makes the profit, makes the fuss, makes all the communities talk about it and puts your logo on most stages and videos.

It's not a question that there will be a MODX successor, the only unknown is when exactly.

[DugLess]

The Montage didn't sell well. Not nearly as well as expected, nor desired.

The MODX had a reasonable launch and first half year. Then went nowhere.

You seem to be conflating Yamaha's success within their more traditional instruments with their synth sales. The popularity of the family, learner, worship and performance products didn't translate to the MODX. The MODX had a brief run where folks thought it was a bargain Montage.

Then they realised the Montage wasn't all that, that the workflow didn't flow and that FM-X wasn't all that cool, nor fun. And the SuperKnob was a bit of a knob to program and deal with, and sales of both got stung from then on.

Then the Fantom came out with good (and proper) VA. And a half baked sequencer, but actual TRS. Far better than that in the MODX/Montage, granted, but still not nearly good enough for those looking for a workstation.

So the biggest MPC maker thought... wow... there's an opportunity, let's whack a keyboard on the Akai MPC. And it's been off to the races and doing quite well in a market vacancy that probably shouldn't have been there to begin with, despite slow load times, being more like a PC than a Workstation experience and not being full sized. But doing well enough that they've released a smaller one.

The Roland meets the synth requirements of most folks seeking a performance keyboard that's kind of a workstation. Sort of.

The Akai meets the workstation requirements and far exceeds some of the synth requirements. And sampling, too. Which is a whole other thing.

The Montage (yes, even the new one) and MODX are sort of in a no-mans land now that both of the above are well serviced with updates and solidified in the market's minds.

Take a look at how many sound packs there are for the Rolands. That will give you some idea which products have sold vastly better.

[parametric]

Personally, I find the endless "chewing the fat" over which keyboard is best, both boring and tedious.

A board shows it's quality in the MUSIC (remember that?) that is made, USING IT . . . .

and there seem precious little of THAT about - apart from the sponsored demos

The Music Industry's zealots pursue PROFIT so entirely that we are led to believe that with the right selection

of "Cinematic sweeps" vsts, Midi phrases, collections of "chords" etc . . .YOU can be Hans Zimmer . . . .

Bottom of the pile is . . er . . . Musicianship and Talent

(difficult to exploit monetarily in the same way, don't y' know?

So I reserve judgement 'til I've heard something amazing - on WHATEVER Board . . . .

/rant

Chris

[ITB-Music]

Take a look at how many sound packs there are for the Rolands. That will give you some idea which products have sold vastly better.

Now, up until this point, I thought you may actually have some numbers to back your claims... maybe you are working for a big retailer or something and you have some actual numbers. But once you put that there you literally buried yourself. MPC has been around for decades and the sound libraries are hardly released for MPC Keys only, so that shows nothing about the Keys sales. But when we are talking about Fantom vs Montage/MODX, I think you are absolutely right - the sheer volume of *third-party* released sound libraries specifically for Montage and MODX speaks volumes about the actual availability and use of these instruments. On the contrary, Roland has nearly zero third-party sound libraries, and the ones they are releasing are mostly rehashed samples from early 2000s, while their enzyme and ZEN-Core sound libraries are not specific to the Fantoms, so, just like with MPC, don't really show much about keyboard sales.

But what can give you some glimpse is the user groups, right? The biggest "Fantom Platform" user group on FB is about 4k users, that's Fantom and Fantom-0 users altogether. Other groups have like 2.5 to 3k users.
The biggest MODX group has 19.5k members, the biggest Montage (legacy) group has 8.6k members and the biggest one focused on the new Montage M only has 11.6k members. That should mean something, no?

So, unless you have some real numbers from credible sources, I would say you just speak your mind based on personal feelings and preferences, which do not really count for statistics, right?

PS: BTW, I was referencing Thomann's Top Sellers list which was topped by MODX for nearly 2 years after it's release, with all 3 models being in the top 10 for extended periods. At no point in time that happened for any other model.

[vertig0spin]

The Montage didn't sell well. Not nearly as well as expected, nor desired.
The MODX had a reasonable launch and first half year. Then went nowhere.
The MODX had a brief run where folks thought it was a bargain Montage.

Ok, for sh!tes and giggles, I'll bite lol
I would agree that the Montage likely didn't sell as well as Yamaha would have hoped. I have no numbers to back this up, but having bought the Montage 8 and following all the Yamaha forums since 2018, I think I have a good feel for the lack of sales, and I personally think (guess) that it was due to not having all the right things included when it was first released, such as no sequencer initially. They finally added a sequencer in OS 3.0, which was too late for the Montage, but not too late for MODX sales IMHO.
But Yamaha seemed to have learned from the Montage, as the Montage M sales I believe are quite good, especially the M8x, since many people are still having to wait 4-8 months from the time they order an M. I think it's because they added the most important functionality/features on the M out of the gate IMHO, and are saving adding the other planned features in future updates, such as FM-X improvements...

Regarding the MODX, I think your guesstimated sales numbers for that synth are deflated. As far as I could tell from the buzz & comments from people within the syth/workstation sales industry at the time, it was a top seller for well over 2 years +. Definitely not a brief run, nor only a half year of reasonable sales IMO

Then they realised the Montage wasn't all that, that the workflow didn't flow and that FM-X wasn't all that cool, nor fun. And the SuperKnob was a bit of a knob to program and deal with, and sales of both got stung from then on.

The Montage (yes, even the new one) and MODX are sort of in a no-mans land now that both of the above are well serviced with updates and solidified in the market's minds.

I respectfully disagree. I love the Montage, it's workflow, and the FM-X, which I find excellent for programming new sounds...both fun & kool, but at the same time has some room for improvements! All my DX7II-FD Performances and Voices converted almost perfectly, and needed very little tweaking. And I love the SuperKnob, and use it in in almost every Performance that I program, and I proudly keep the light flashing fully bright all the time!!
The Montage was a revamp of the Motif, and I don't think it's sales (or lack of) were due to any of the things you mentioned above. I think it was simply due to not having any sequencer included at the time of release... I think there weren't enough Motif owners who were ready to trade up from a Workstation workflow to a new Synth workflow that was based on a DAW.

But I personally don't care for onboard sequencers, which is why I love that they changed it to a "Synth" (not a Workstation) and offloaded the sequencing & sampling to PCs/MACs using the free Cubase DAW sequencing (or DAW of your choice like "Pro Tools" in my case), as well as using SampleRobot to sample and create new waveforms/libraries. Far better IMHO than using a workstation for those things...
I think many of those Motif owners are now ready to trade up (or have already) to the Montage M synth!


Btw, is that you "Andrew (Not Bill)" previously from YamahaSynth?


Darryl