chris@arachsys.com GitHub Chris Webb

Yamaha Montage ≫ Undocumented features

Screenshot to USB storage

On the Montage 6/7/8, hold A/D Input On/Off and tap Element/Operator Solo to take a screenshot. For the MODX 6/7/8, Audition takes the place of Element/Operator Solo.

There is no visual or auditary feedback that anything has happened, but 8-bit 800 x 480 PNG images are written to the root directory of an attached USB storage device as DSNAP_0.png, DSNAP_1.png, etc.

External display

A cheap 800 x 480 resistive touch panel is a baffling choice for a multi-thousand-pound instrument released in 2016, but even the best integrated screen can be inconvenient for demo work or screen captures.

The /usr/bin/daisy-start script which initialises the synth contains the stanza

if grep udlfb /proc/fb; then
  DISPLAY_OPTIONS="-display 'Multi: LinuxFb:/dev/fb0 LinuxFb:/dev/fb1'"
fi

where DISPLAY_OPTIONS is used to set the Qt QWS display device. Similarly QWS_MOUSE_PROTO is set to use tslib on the /dev/input/event* nodes.

Thus an external display can be connected via a USB2 display adaptor supported by the 3.12 kernel’s udlfb driver, i.e. older DisplayLink chipsets. Touch input also works with a bit of trial-and-error to identify a USB touch controller supported by the supplied kernel input drivers.

It should also be possible to build driver modules for unsupported display adaptors and touch controllers with the Yamaha-provided kernel source tree, then retrofit them using shell access.

Without an external touch controller connected, the internal panel works as normal and can be used to operate the instrument while the screen is also mirrored for an audience. With an external touch controller, the internal panel goes blank.

File format and MIDI messages

Please see the dedicated pages for information on the Montage/MODX file format and system-exclusive messages.

Contact

Please send any questions, corrections or other contributions to Chris Webb <chris@arachsys.com>.