I finally had a chance to play the Genos. I visited Don Patterson at his new home in Lufkin, TX. He and Emmy even bought my lunch!
My impression of the Genos was mixed. I played with it for about 4 to 5 hours. I'll start by saying it is by far the best arranger Yamaha has ever made, as it should be.
There are a lot of great features and things to like. I like the 76 keys, the sliders and knobs and the beautiful big touch screen. I like that it finally has a joystick instead of wheels. I like that it has a nice "songbook" type feature, called Playlist. The drums are better than previous Yamahas, as well as the vocal harmonizer and mic processing. VH still has a slight interruption when turning it on while you are singing a note, but not as bad as previous models.
There are some nice new styles. Loved the key touch; maybe my favorite thing about the whole thing. Like the phantom power switch on the back instead of in a menu. Easy access to USB ports. OS seems better and easier to navigate than previous models.
Sudden thought: I already had all this stuff on the Korg PA4X, except I had the 61 model.
A few things I didn't much like:
Most of the OTS settings were not the right volume. There were some good new voices, but most sounded pretty much the same to me.
My S970 Registrations would not load into it. (The styles and songs would play and sounded great.)
It's smaller than T5, but still big. I suppose with the 76 keys it has to be though.
I would much prefer an adjustable screen, rather than fixed.
Drums still don't sound as "LIVE" as Ketron, Roland or Korg. These are my opinions though.
The style categories have been changed and styles rearranged, many in seemingly illogical places. How hard would it be to let us arrange the styles in whatever locations we would like? You could do this to an extent as long ago as PSR8000!!
Would I like to have one? Sure, but not for the price you have to pay, and I truly think I would rather have the PA4X, or the SD7/9, even if they were the same price.
Maybe I'll just keep playing the S970 and wait for PA5X, if I live that long!
Don was nice to let me change e.q. settings, mic reverb and a few other things to my taste. He has probably already changed it all back!
Thanks Don and Emmy!! As I said, there is a lot to like, but it didn't light my fire enough to order one.

The thing I like about wheels is that you can move the mod wheel and leave it there for effects like Leslie while I play with 2 hands. Doesn't the joystick always spring back to center and have to be held by the left hand to do something like that?

Yes, but there is a hold button.
You can set the joystick where you want and push the hold button.
It will stay where you set it to
Eric

This is actually one of the very innovative things in Genos
Works perfect with a single hand..

Don thanx for the HONEST Genos review I already knew all that. But, it's nice to hear it again from someone as professional a player as yourself. At least you now got it all out of your system. It made that long trip all worth it!
Let us know when you get the Ketron SD9....just sayin' :

4 -5 hours! You must have liked it Appreciate your review and good luck with your next choice.

It takes too much effort to keep swapping out boards. I about pulled my hair out from the 3X to the 1000 and then on to the 4X. Glad that is all behind me and I can now explore the 4X styles when I work up new material.

Good review. You looked at it as a pro players tool and not a hobby player who is only impressed with bells and whistles. ( not that that is a bad thing, whatever makes you happy ) Thanks. You just saved me 5K !! Only kidding

4 - 5 hours!
When Don test drives a car he probably takes it on a 100 mile road trip ...

So Don a glorified S970? I hope not!

No Donnie, it's more than a glorified 970, and I have absolutely no plans to ever own another Ketron unless a LOT of things would change.
There is no need for me to change keyboards, and if I did, it would more than likely be to return to PA4X, best I've ever had or played.
Nigel, on the Korg, you bump the joystick up to turn the Leslie on, and it winds up as it is supposed to do. It stays on fast speed until you bump it again, and then it winds back down.
I didn't say I didn't like the Genos; I just said I wouldn't pay that much for one when I like something else at least equally as well, probably better.

If I make it till Christmas, maybe Santa will buy both of us a new Genos.

Gary

Only reason I would consider having one is because I don't move my gear except very rarely. Although the weight isn't bad, it is still long. I'd have to change stands and rearrange the bandstand, but that's no problem. I'd have to lower a second row seat in my Expedition when transporting it!
BTW it is a beautiful keyboard, and looks quite professional. As it should!

Uh oh!



chas

No way Chas, unless you pay for it!

Don,

Thanks for the review.

What did you think of the "groove" factor as compared to the Pa4x? Do you think it is soniclly better than the Pa4x?

Al

Yamaha has some fantastic lead sounds. I found great guitars, new Pianos and Trumpets were good. Drums not as good to my ears as PA4X. I like organs on the 4x better, especially the way the lelie sim works. I'd say it is really close. I like the sound of both.
As far as the groove, not sure exactly what you mean, but I'm assuming it's a "live" sound. The variations in the Revo drums does add some feel to the styles. It's not anything I was missing on the Korg, but way better than PSR. For example each time a snare is hit, there is a SLIGHTLY different feel because the Genos varies the place it was hit on the snare. Pretty neat!
I couldn't really tell much difference in the styles from the PSR, but I didn't have them side by side. I do have several of the Genos style on the PSR and I didn't notice much, if any, difference in the way they sound.
Bear in mind this was still a fairly limited session and I didn't explore everything.
Only e.q. I did was to boost the last two bands on the high end from the FLAT preset. I tried all the Presets and that sounded best to me, through Don's two Bose Compacts.
It seems to me they are leaving a lot of things to adjust by the user, but I suppose that's not all bad because it's easy to do.
I would have to change at least the volume on almost every OTS button.
I do like that the programmable sliders are labeled and it is quite easy to adjust volumes and style part volumes on the fly. In almost every style, I had to raise the RH volume to 127 (full) for it to be heard properly. Default on everything was 100, but if I left the RH level there it was too soft.
Bear in mind that these are all minor things and can be readily and easily changed and saved to Registration, or even to User Styles.

Many years ago, Yamaha had the same volume Style to OTS ratio problem, which was easily corrected by just lowering the style volume to about 75, then raising the keyboard's master volume control a bit, which took care of the offset. Can't believe they would allow this to happen again. Someone just blew it, but it can all be corrected with an OS update if it gets to their attention.

Good luck,

Gary

Thanks for reply Don!!

@Gary, didn't Joe Waters release a piece of software to fix the OTS volume issue, or am I hallucinating again?

Not that I know of.

However, I did get to place my hands on a Genos yesterday at the local music store - AWESOME!

As DonM stated, there is a disparity with the Style/OTS ratio, but the owner corrected his with his registrations. Very easy solution.

I absolutely was amazed at how much the pianos improved over the T4, and the guitars were absolutely superb. I only had about a hour to play with it, but I was really impressed by the overall sound. It is the best arranger keyboard that Yamaha has ever produced, by far.

Now, if I sell the boat, which I hope to do before I die, I'll buy one, for sure.

All the best,

Gary

I love your enthusiasm, DonM and Gary. I have troubles with mine :-)

It takes me just two hours to get to Moscow where there’s a music store, but last time I was there I had some feeling like “what am I doing here?”. But in the same time people remark that Genos is indeed like refreshment, so maybe I felt like that for real reasons (maybe there wasn’t anything to get excited about). I see that Zuki is also looking for refreshment when he’s trying new Korg keyboards and it turns out to be not that simple.

As for me, somehow I regained some inspiration with my old PSR-S950. The funny thing is that now I’m using “GrandPiano” voice, which is quite old (PSR-S950 comes with a newer “ConcertGrand” voice). I thought that after playing this “GrandPiano” on PSR-3000 for several years I’m bored to death with it, but now after playing “ConcertGrand” for 5 years this dated “GrandPiano” sounds fresh again.

I guess there’re two realities we all are dealing with… One of these realities is what we call “real”, when we face some challenges, have some priorities, deal with people around us. The second reality is considered to be an idealistic one; this is our thoughts and dreams, but since that we have to deal with it all the time as well, it’s also reality, not just an optional thing. Speaking in this context of keyboards of course we should be happy with what we have. But in a dreamy way I just want something different from what is on the market right now. I want it to be sort of… “airy”… I want it to be light, with a white case, for a reasonable price. Because in this world of iPhones it is no longer seems okay to be large, heavy, with a gloomy appearance and to cost 5K. See how I’m going unreasonable!..

What I think is that we shouldn’t become prisoners of our instruments. It means, that they should be actually portable, movable, and also financially friendly. If I had to choose a keyboard right now, I’d think of PSR-S670. I prefer to believe that any resources are usable when they are manageable.

Even when it comes to playing an arranger keyboard… When you want to try an accompaniment. What people usually do not do? They do not mute all the parts. Instead, they listen to all parts altogether. It’s too much! And when all parts are on and then a player tries all the OST within 30 seconds…. This is how a keyboard starts to sound cheap, even if it’s Genos!.. But minimalism is not really popular so far. There’s some association between “to have it all” and to feel secure. Okay, enough for now! Thanks!

Kabinopus, well said! While the Genos is extraordinary, so are most of the current arrangers to one degree or another.
I have a PSR S970 and in truth it is all I would ever need. A change would be for ME to appreciate and perhaps add some features I desire, not necessarily need. As I look back, the Korg PA4X was closest I've ever had to fulfilling both needs and desires!

Great thoughts, I have to say I’m with you I like both but the Organs and the Leslie sim on the Pa4x is better sounding to my ears, drums too.

Gary, Glad to hear you finally got to play the Genos.

It's OK. Don't know where you're going until you know where you've been

Except for Arranger keyboard buyers. Most know where they've been but still don't have a clue where they're going.....just ask ...(fill in the blank ).

chas

Good review.

Seems we all bond with one brand or the other eventually.

My experience gigging with the PA4X was definitely a good one. However, once the Genos arrived, and I would go back and forth between the two....

I realized that the Genos just felt more right for me.

So far, I’ve probably gigged with the Genos a dozen times, and it just feels right.

Are there niggles? Yes. But that’s what they are, niggles.

😊