Greetings every one. I hope everybody had a nice thanksgiving day with family and friends. Well guess what? I went ahead and bit the bullet and decided to purchase the Genos. I picked one up last Sunday at GC. They had a special customer appreciation day and they had another special discount going on so I was able to save quite a bit off the minimum advertised price.

So how does it stack up against the competition? Well, I have to say, the Genos is a step above every other arranger I've ever listened to over the years. Although I haven't played a Korg Pa4x in person the demo's I've listened to of the Pa4x sounded pretty good. But I think the Genos after, having played it, is a cut above the rest in my opinion. I'm still trying to familiarize myself with the new OS and menu screens but it's pretty straight foreword and quite frankly fairly easy to operate. I updated to the latest OS but after having done that I noticed the "auto" shut off no longer works. I read where others were having the same experience after updating to the latest OS. If Steve Deming reads this hopefully he can relay the message to the proper authority regarding this glitch. If you don't mind Steve.

I can carry the Genos under one arm with relative ease. The 76 keys is an added bonus and an almost must have for piano style playing with its 15 additional keys offering a more expanded repitoire with more flexibility. The new touchscreen is a real beaut and easy on the eyes too. One thing I've noticed though is it leaves smudges where you place your fingers and in which I need to wipe away on occasion. No biggy and that's obviously a small price to pay for the wonderful instrument that it has turned out to be.

I'm telling you straight up the styles have been completely reworked and sound superb especially through my Mackie HR824 mk2 near field monitors. The actual keybed feels slightly stiffer than my Tyros 3 keybed (which is a good thing) even though they supposedly have the same FSX keybed. Oh, and I checked out the vocal harmony on the Genos and it is better than I thought it was going to be. Below I posted the same song "On The Road Again" but this time using the Genos VH. I even used an inexpensive mic (not the Shure SM58 or the Shure Beta 87A - which quit working properly so I had to toss it). You be the judge on whether it sounds 'up to snuff' or not.

And just for fun I did a recording of a song called "Eye of the Tiger" by the band Survivor. All the music you hear is from the Genos. The Grand Piano you hear is the C7 Studio Grand. The Drum Kit is the REVO Vintage Open Kit. There is a 60's Vintage MegaVoice guitar, a Slap Amp MegaVoice guitar, 50's Vintage Pick MegaVoice guitar and the Active Bass Pick Hmron MegaVoice guitar used. The vocal is not me as you will obviously realize. It is actually Dave Bickler, the lead singer of Survivor. Just think of it as Dave Bickler coming over to my house and singing the vocal part on top of the music part orchestrated by the Genos. I hope you enjoy it. That's why the Genos is such a great keyboard especially if you are a singer/songwriter. You can achieve "professional" results but obviously the cost of the Genos is a big factor in the grand scheme of things. To those who can afford it it really is a great sounding arranger and one that has almost endless possibilities. Have a great weekend!