Yamaha has announced that an ESP (Expanded Softsynth Plugin) replicating its latest Montage M synth is now available, initially as a “Quick Edit” version but expanding into a full version to add full editing, enhanced connectivity and more.
The plugin itself is free but you will need a real hardware Montage M in order to use it. Registration is via the download access code found in the Yamaha Steinberg USB Driver and Montage OS v1.20. Whether Yamaha will release a paid software version of the Montage M remains to be seen.
The advantages of having your hardware synth in software is clear if you travel a lot and have access to a laptop and DAW but not your bulky hardware — you will be able to work in software to some extent as if you had the keyboard in front of you. Another advantage is that you can open multiple instances of the plugin in a DAW, limited only by the processing power of your computer, which enhances your abilities as well as integrating it all with whatever other plugins and native functions you have in your software.
The introductory blog post shows how the plugin looks in Cubase, but it should work in any DAW capable of VST or AU plugin formats.
Get more information, system requirements and installation links on the post.
