Panel Voices that are common to the TYROS/GENOS family sound exactly identical.

I made an interesting observation while comparing voices that are common to the Tyros 2, CVP-609 and the GENOS.

Note: The CVP-609 shares the same voices as the Tyros 4.

Consider the Panel Voice = DX Sparkle.
This appears on all 3 under slightly different names.

GENOS = DX Sparkle
CVP-609 = Sparkle Stack
Tyros 2 = SparkleStack

I hooked up all 3 devices to channel strips 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 on the Mackie CR1604VLZ mixer.
I set the input gain to unity and raised the fader levels to unity panning each stereo pair hard left and right.

I set the Master Volume on each device to level match the output.

When I played these 3 Panel Voices through my MOAB far field monitors, they sounded exactly identical, even the effects.

I was expecting some form of refinement in the GENOS over the other two. There wasn’t any. Even the demo sequences were identical.

I can see the reason why Yamaha decided to do this. If you have created any project on the Tyros 2, it will playback on the CVP-609/Tyros 4 and the GENOS without requiring any adjustments so long they share common voices.

Of course the GENOS has a whole arsenal of powerful effects. You can enhance these factory voices to your liking.

All the factory panel voices common to the CVP-609 and the GENOS sounded exactly alike:

Here are some panel voices on the GENOS:

DX Ballad
DX BalladBells
DX Dream
DX Sweet
DX Midnight
BoysChoirOoh

Here are the corresponding panel voices on the CVP-609:

Ballad DX
Ballad Bells
Dream DX
Sweet DX
Midnight DX
Boys Choir Ooh


I could see why many Tyros 4 and Tyros 5 users were not enticed to trade up to the GENOS.

The voices common to all do sound exactly the same.

Unless one absolutely needs the extra features and access to the newer voices and REVO drums, there is little justification in shelling out big bucks.

Styles are a different story.

I could clearly hear the refinement in voicing and arrangement moving from the Tyros 2 to the CVP-609 to the GENOS.

If and when Yamaha decides to release GENOS 2, it would need to come with a new feature stack compelling enough to make the upgrade worthwhile for current users.