I’m looking at purchasing the new Montage M.  Part of my process is to look at the manuals first to make sure the features that I think are there, are really there, and that things work the way advertising and Youtube streamers, and Internet hypers claim.

But the first thing I noticed is that there is no “Owners manual” and “Reference Manual” like there has been for the original Montage, and all of the Motif’s and Mox, MoxF, etc.  Instead there is an Operation Manual for the Montage M.

Further it looks like just an HTML manual that has been saved to a
.PDF format instead of a properly formatted manual for printing.

Also the Motif Owner Manuals and the original Montage Owner Manual have always include:

A Letter from the Developers (which always thank the buyer for the purchase) an that contains the major innovations of the new instrument

The Owner manuals always have:

Letter from the Developers
Special Message Section
Precautions
Safety Information

The Operation Manual for the Montage M has no such Letter from the Developers, .  It does not have the “Thank You for Your Purchase” or declaration of the innovation that are present in your new instrument. The Montage M operation manual is missing a lot!  The Yamaha Synthesizer manuals are usually among the highest quality and most complete manuals that are generated for any synthesizer from any vendor.  The Montage M manuals are Ok.  But they are not at the same quality as the The Motif Series manuals and documentation, and they don’t even reach the quality of the original Montage.

For me, quality starts at the manual and documentation level.  If attention to detail has not been dealt with there, I’m very suspicious about the instrument.  I’m not saying that just because the manuals are high quality the instrument will be., but usually, when the manuals and documentation are high quality the instrument is too, the architecture is well understood by tech support.

I’ve read about a few problems with the Montage M touch screen, and things not working properly on the Montage M.  This is the first I’ve ever heard of problems at this level for a Yamaha flagship synth.  I don’t know if being made in Indonesia is relevant or not.  But based on the layout of the manual for the Montage M, and the missing front matter material., there has obviously been a change in philosophy.  Because the .pdf manual appears to just be a .PDF saved version of the Web HtML there seems to be additional cost cutting.

Should I be concerned with the quality of Montage M, or the Modx+ ???
Should I worry about the touch screen’s longevity of the Montage of Mox?

It appears the manuals and documentation is not at the same quality as the Motif series, or even the original Montage, has anyone else notices this?

Maybe the old guard, those that made the quality synthesizers at
Yamaha have all moved on in one way or another :-( Based on the poor quality (in comparison to the Motif & Original Montage) of the documentation things have took a turn for the worse for flag ship
synthesizers at Yamaha :-(

I know for some the manual and documentation does not carry a lot of
value.  But for me they do, and they are a big indicator of attention to detail, detail, and craftsmanship.  And at $4,500 USD I expect it all.