Hello all,

Ziggy sent me some more stuff to post.

http://genny.lib.umn.edu/moonriver.mp3

http://genny.lib.umn.edu/guagleone.mp3

http://genny.lib.umn.edu/onenotesamba.mp3



[This message has been edited by msutliff (edited 11-18-2002).]

What a DISAPOINTMENT not even one comment on the Genesys boy oh boy, guess time to move on from this forum, the least you could have done is tell the bad things about what you heard. Sorry but no wonder that nobody who owns a Gem will be interested in sharing with you anything about this keyboard.
So I guess it's time that me too move on to another place to at least find someone who can critisize this keyboar.

Ziggy, thanks for sharing your lastest song rendition on the Genesys. Very 'competent' playing on your part.

I sense a similar feeling in both the sounds & styles of the Genesys to the Ketron boards. Perhaps a very distinctive Italian sensibility vs the Japanese arranger sound (Yamaha, Technics). The rhythm (drums) & bass have a very dynamic in your face presence that I notice on Ketron boards as well. I do sense though, that the styles a bit stiff for my taste. Also, I was surprisely disappointed with the unimpressive Genesys piano on the Moon River test. I know that Genesys is famous for it's acoustic piano sound from the ProMega keyboard, so I had expected the Genesys piano to sound better. Exactly WHICH Genesys piano sample did you use for that test? Still, there is something 'in your face' about the Genesys styles and sounds that jump out at you and grab your attention so I can see the appeal of the Genesys.

Thanks,

Scott

Thanks Scottie. just to clear things, what I have sent are 100% MIDI and not Styles. I sent different types of songs so as to hear from you all your opinion about the Sounds and not the randision. I have use different Reverbs and Delays but unfortunatley I got no comments what so ever. About the piano I have to admit that I am not so pleased about it especially how it ended up in the recording I am going to play something myself to see if it sounds like it should. Compared with what I heard by the Tyros it sounded very very dull so I have to work on it to see if I can make it sound better. That was the REAL GRAND PIANO. But there is a lot of instruments and effect and that's what I wanted to hear from all of you, is the realisim of all the other sounds and how you like them or not. Come on guys I had to carry my keyboard upstairs to record all the stuff, so a little bit of effort for your side to download and pass your opinion I think would be fair enough.
Wait to hear more comments on the VOICES and not on the way it is played.

Thx
Tony.

Tony,
I think that there is way too much reverb in many songs. I did like Sleepwalk, but have a feeling that they somehow "sampled" the Rhodes intro from the Larry Carlton rendition. The Rhodes was, however, very good.
I hate to repeat myself, but I still do think that the sound is not as clean as other keyboards, like the Yamahas (Tyros or 9000) or the Rolands (VA7 or 76). So I would say that the Genesys is maybe good for gigging, but not so good for a home studio, sound-wise.
I did like the Bossa Nova style in One Note Samba, but I think that the drum fills in Sleepwalk are too heavy and inappropriate.
Well, you asked for an opinion, you got it...

Sorry Dreamer, my fault there I have recorded with the same ammount of reverb I use use when I am performing live, I should have decreased the amount by at leaset 20%.
I have to be more careful when it comes to recording, I haven't done any recording for a long time, so I guess I need to learn more when it comes to recording.
But Live that ammount of reverb sounds very good.

Ziggy,
I know what you mean.......I posted that my 61st cd was done and I don't recall seeing your comments about it. You see, if you want others to listen to your work, it would be courteous to do the same for their work.
jam on,
Terry

terry sorry I was going to have a listen to it later on, not because you pointed it out but I like to listen to recordings when I am free in the afternoon so I will listen to it later on in the day and pass my comments ok.

Tony

Ziggy,
Fair enough.
jam on,
Terry

Ziggy, for what its worth, i happen to think that both GEM and Ketron make the best sounding instruments. I have recently swapped my PA60 back for the WK6 that my father uses because i found the PA60 compared to the GEM and even the Ketron sounds "electronic" compared to what i think is more natural sounding instruments within GEM and Ketron. I had fun with the PA60 and it has some of the best arranged styles however i think compared to GEM or Ketron it does sound too unatural.

I am hoping to get a Genesys one day, not sure how as im not working at the moment, but if i could somehow trade my X1HD for it somewhere in the UK i would be really happy! I think i will stick with GEM from now on...

Ziggy,
Had a good listen to all 3. Loved Moon River and thought it ranked right up there with the rest in the test as far as sound quality.

Guagleone, I din't care for much at all, frankly I thought the whole style somewhat dull and muffled sounding, though your playing was great.

One Note Samba I took particular interest in, as it is one of my all time favorites.
The good:
Your execution of the piece was great and very nice rendition, I liked the choice of the lead instruments, flute, piano and the sax at the end....real nice all.

The things I did not like as much....the intro horns sounded lack luster to me....just sort of....ho hum, no punch or clarity. Also about 2:10 into the tune there was something a vibes note or something that comes in for just a second that detracts from the overall piece.

jam on,
Terry

Hello all,

I did something to one of Ziggy's songs, Moon River...I 'normalized' it.

Here's the deal, I usually listen to my MP3's thru Media Player. If it's something I like or am interested in, I open it up in SoundForge 6 and have a look at the waveform. I don't know why, I just do! Anyway, I noticed that all of Zigg's mp3s were very low in db levels. No biggy, nobody's fault, probably just the way the Genesys records 'em (assuming you recorded these straight off the keyboard letting Genesys create the actual mp3 file?).

When I recorded my WK8, I used the Tyros' Moonriver.mp3 as my reference for levels. The Mackie was set for 'unity' gain across the board and the only volume I played with was on the keyboard itself. I'd record it, look at the wave form in SF6, compare it to the Tyros and when the levels appeared to be close, I laid it down! Okay, I pressed the 'Play' button and recorded the midi file while I sipped my favorite beverage.

After seeing Zigg's MoonRiver waveform, I wondered what it would sound like if it was at the same level as the rest. So, using SF6, I 'normalized' it for music (normalize is a process in SF that is suppose to keep the integrity of the original wave form yet boost the db levels).

Here it is:
http://genny.lib.umn.edu/moonriver2.mp3

I realize this isn't exactly fair, using an outside force to manipulate the sound but it might make for more conversation.

mike

thanks guys for participating I am pleased now. Keep the comments rolling.
Mike what I sent you sounds totaly different from the original sound I am a bit green when it comes to recording but I am goining to listen to what you did and I will talk about it later.

If I might make a few comments here regarding the sound quality of the Genesys, I would like to give you my opinion of the Piano sounds compared to the sounds of the Ketron SD1, Yamaha 9000pro, PSR2000, Korg PA80 and Roland VA76. I cannot give you my view of the tyros since I only had it for a few hours several months ago and although I don't remember it now, it did strike me as sounding like the 9000pro when I played it.
I just had a customer buy a Genesys yesterday and one of the things he insisted on doing was to compare the "best" Genesys piano to the "best" SD1 as well as the others I mentioned. This customer bought a VA7 from me two years ago and wanted to upgrade, first the sound quality and second the style variety. He always liked his VA7's piano, but he mentioned that when many of his friends listened to the VA7, they found it to be lacking in dynamics from soft to loud as a real piano does. After 4 days of trying out all the different products, he decided on the Genesys. At first, he thought the piano to be not as "real" as the Ketron SD1 until I showed him that he was selecting the Piano choices out of the catagory called "Piano" and not from the catagory called "Real". This is the piano sample taken from the Generalmusic Pro Mega 3 keybaord, which as many of you know, was just reviewed by Keyboard Magazine and given an excellent review of especially the acoustic piano sound. Yes, the Pro Mega features physical modeling along with the sample, but the Genesys Piano is the sample portion of the promega and sounds very real from warm to bold in actual testing. In the individual voice catagories, where you find all 1300 sounds, there is another piano called "L Piano". My first guess was this is just a voice to use for the left hand side of the piano, but it is a very warm, almost Roland VA7 sounding piano which sounds great throughout the entire length of the keyboard. This voice is not used as a "preset" and I've made a user preset of this voice so my customers can also quickly find this piano sound to listen to.
After several visits into my store this is how my customer rated the acoustic pianos for his needs. (these are his evaluations, not mine! although I tend to agree in most cases)
1)Genesys
2)Ketron SD1 (very close but the Genesys "real grand piano" had a little more realism in the upper octaves where the SD1 had a little more depth in the lower octaves"
3)Roland VA7 or VA76 (Very nice mellow piano but lacking in a Robust sound when playing hard)
4)Yamaha 9000Pro (this piano has a slightly brighter sound, like if you might have microphones placed very close to an acoustic piano as opposed to the others which sound more like a piano in a room that is not mic'd)
5)Korg PA80 (Sounds like a Piano but way to bright for this customer's tastes)
I find that listening to many MP3's of keyboards around the internet usually don't do justice to the actual sounds when heard in person. Although it is a great way to hear how good the styles might be arranged, sounds are often not what you really get!

[This message has been edited by George Kaye (edited 11-19-2002).]

george,where did the psr2000 come in the list?also is the genysis an easy keyboard to use?mike

Hi George I agree with you, I was very disapointed with the end result of my recording cause in real it sounds much much different, but I thought I'll send the mp3 anyway for others to hear.
About if the Genesys is easy to work on, I tell you It's very easy and very well laid to manage your way around.

I would like to hear some styles and sounds from the Genesys that show what it can do. I was not al all impressed with the demos on the GM site. I do believe that George knows what he is talking about but GM needs some better demos.
Bill

I just wanted to update you all on comments from Ben, my customer who bought the Genesys yesterday. He called me first thing this morning. That usually means something is wrong!........He just wanted to tell me how he's never seen an owners manual so well written by any keyboard manufacturer. I told him that Chris Anthony, who lives here in the USA, wrote most of the information found in the manual. He was more excited after spending the evening with the Genesys than he thought he would be. He especially liked how much easier it was to get around the keyboard than his previous VA7. I just thought I'd pass this on to many of you who have not and may never get a chance to see this keyboard in person.
George Kaye
Kaye's Music Scene
Reseda, California