Sound is very subjective. No two people hear sound the same way. No two sound designers program sounds the same way. Some people like the sound of one brand/model over another. That's the way it is.

Some manufacturers tend to wash their sounds in heavy effects to make them sound better than they really are when heard dry. True, but not necessarily important. It doesn’t matter how it's accomplished, just as long as it sounds good to you, the player.

One thing that is important is the versatility in sound editing and the number of starting points the user has to work with. To explain, The Genesys has MUCH better sound editing capabilities than any of the other arranger keyboards to my knowledge. For those who want to do in-depth editing, the sound options are limitless. If you just desire to alter the timbre, attack/decay, vibrato speed/depth, etc. there is a Quick Sound Edit mode that is very handy.

The Genesys has many more piano sounds (samples) to work with than what is found in the Piano Preset Family group of sounds. There are quite a few piano sounds of different source material (multi-samples) found in the Single Sound mode. And if you really want to be creative, there are a good number of choices in the raw waveform data when creating sounds from scratch while in Pro Sound Edit mode.

Versatility is one of the biggest advantages offered by the Genesys. If you don't like a sound, it can be altered as deeply as can be done on any high-end professional synthesizer/workstation. Entirely new sounds/waves/samples can be loaded into the Genesys and used in addition to the original sound data.

In some cases, it is fair to make the comment "I don't like the sound of...." since some keyboards don't allow for much if any sound editing. In the case of the Genesys, that comment really isn't valid. Yes, it is easier to go with an instrument that seems to fulfill your needs sonically right off the bat. But what happens when you get tired of hearing the same sounds over and over again and are stuck because there is no way of doing much about it?

Another thing to consider. What makes a sound ‘sound’ good? Consider this, and this is not BS or hype. A recording studio engineer makes adjustments in EQ on the individual channels that have been recorded until all of the tracks blend well together. The goal is to have the final recording sound smooth and even but for the individual tracks to still maintain their own character. If you were to listen to the individual tracks after the final mix has taken place, you would be amazed at how bad some of the tracks sound on their own without the other tracks mixed in.

Since we are talking about arranger keyboards, which inherently have multi tracks playing simultaneously, the basic idea of the above explanation is somewhat valid. Meaning, it is not just how a sound ‘sounds’ on its own, but how does it mesh or blend with other sounds in a multi-track environment?

FYI- the Genesys has the ability when playing SMF’s to automatically replace the normal GM sounds with the better more complex sounds contained in the instrument. This is a cool feature and can make a normal SMF sound much better. Then again, there are times when I will turn this function off because a certain MIDI file may sound better using the more basic (thin sounding) GM sounds due to the way the person doing the recording arranged the instruments, volumes, etc.

Best Regards,

Dave


[This message has been edited by WDMcM (edited 11-24-2004).]