Sorry you won't be joining us. But we feel you may have gotten bad information or do not understand Montage. As there is no question here, we will just take note of your comment and pass it along. Thanks for sharing.

FYI, the "cutoff knob" is not a filter, it's just a filter offset (cc74). For best resolution, assign one of the AssignKnobs to directly control the filter's cutoff frequency.

Bad Mister, I appreciate your willingness to help. Please allow me to state my case.

It shouldn't matter if the cutoff control on the matrix is an offset - filter stepping should be a relic of long-gone underpowered synth cpu's and tone generators. Other synths can filter smoothly for over a decade now.

I just went back to the store to confirm: even when you select "Assign 1" to "Filter Cutoff" with a unipolar curve and a Ratio of 1, there's still very audible stepping, especially with higher resonances. Likewise when the mod wheel is chosen as the source.

Why is this a big deal? First of all, it's clear that Yamaha engineers understand the frequent use of this parameter otherwise it wouldn't be the very first control in the matrix. Filtering is a fundamental feature of sound shaping. I'm not sure what others think, but for me hearing stepping filters during sweeps is like fingernails on a chalkboard.

Technically speaking, interpolation involves introducing varying microsecond latency which can also be change relative to an averaged incoming modulation speed, something which is certainly doable with the SWP70 tone generator. (FWIW I've been a touring musician for 16 years and purchased a CX5m, TX81z, A3000, RM1x, AN1x, FS1r, RS7000 and DTX-M12 when they were new. I've also built and designed both analog/digital synths professionally for the last decade.)

tl;dr - "Bad information" or "you don't understand Montage" is a facile gloss of a programming failing. Some corners on a synthesis/performance flagship should never be cut. As Dave Smith said, it isn't 1980 anymore and stepping is easily removed with filtering so that even controls with a 7-bit range do not step. Please Yamaha, fix this embarrassing issue.

@Michel. I was wondering if the Motif series also had this stepping filter issue? Remember that Yamaha just now employed SSS which was around longer than a decade. Touch screen- Yamaha claimed that it would never, ever happen. I guess that anything is possible. I'm playing the Montage with 16 parts which it should also be able to do internally without a MIDI jumper cable. This forum is more of a "how to" and not a "why not" but I ask such questions anyway. It'd be good to know if Yamaha takes some of our wish list items seriously. If they tell you they are working on your issue to implement it then you can go buy a Montage with confidence. We might not know anything until the next OS update but I'd like to know before hand somehow. It would be even better to have a parallel forum that answers our "Why not?" and "Can it be implemented?" questions. How many improvements can be made to the current Montage rather than waiting for the next generation model?

@david: I've never owned a Motif but I doubt it interpolates incoming filter data. I'll check the next time I visit the local music store.

This forum is also a "why not" forum as Yamaha has previously asked for future product feedback (the "Voice of Customer and Future Yamaha Synths" thread that eventually got deleted).

Likewise when the mod wheel is chosen as the source.

(FWIW I've been a touring musician for 16 years and purchased a CX5m, TX81z, A3000, RM1x, AN1x, FS1r, RS7000 and DTX-M12 when they were new. I've also built and designed both analog/digital synths professionally for the last decade.)

"Bad information" or "you don't understand Montage" is a facile gloss of a programming failing. S.

Yoow even the mod wheel?

Vast experience doesnt count around here for some reason

Yep, although mostly informative and knowledgeable, at times can be quite dismissive which is not great on the manufacturers official site.

I agree with Michel, it seems odd to have filter stepping audible on such a high-end instrument. My £300 Blofeld doesn't do it 😉

Bad Mister has clearly been through this debate before regarding the MOXF:

http://www.motifator.com/index.php/forum/viewthread/470283/

No, the filter stepping noise on the Montage isn't simply a harmonic series from the resonance.

10+ year old synths like the Blofeld and Access Virus are able to deliver high polyphony and yet still implement smooth manual filtering, so yes this is doable! Even the Korg Kronos implements filter smoothing with its gutless little Intel Atom CPU.

As I mentioned, polyphony could also be sacrificed for this option. For example, on the FS1r you have 32 notes polyphony but it gets cuts down to 16 when you activate the multimode filters.

I have a MOXF8. Filter stepping is definitely there when using the CUTOFF knob. This has also been mentioned in some reviews and in the internet. HOWEVER, at least in the MOXF, this seems to be linked to the knob design and can be remedied by using the mod wheel (or a fc7 foot controller), or even MIDI controller data, for changing the cutoff.

I have to say I did not hear any significant filter stepping on the Montage when trying it out at a local music store (even when using the cutoff knob).