Terry,

For serious recording, one needs to have 120 Gigs. I recently replaced my 30GIGs audio harddrive with 120 Gigs. I do not believe the intention of Genesys to replace our own dedicated software sequencers and hard drive recorders. The intention is to allow us to create quick songs on the fly.

For example, so many times, my church asks me for a quick selection of songs Sunday morning. So I may have only on hour to do multiple songs. The genesys will allow me to do these songs very quickly, put them on a cd and erase them from the harddrive. Many of the friends of my mother come to me asking that their kids sing while I play for them. They want their kids recorded. Usually, I say NO because it is too much work and time consuming. With this, I can generate the CD, give it to the mother, erase the files from harddrive. Finally, So many times I get very nice ideas that I wish I can record. However, because it is time consuming to record on my dedicated studio, I simply do not do it and I lose the idea very quickly.

Concerning th 64 polyphony, I agree with you. However, I have sk880user with 64 polyphony and I have never ran out of polyphony and my sequences are very thick with many instruments. Also, I have a bad habit of overusing the sustain padel and my music teachers always told me about it. I believe there is something true about real-polyphony... because with other keyboards I easily run with 64 polyphony but not SK880. Remember how some sounds take more than one polyphony? Well, if in genesys, one sound is one polyphony, that can be very good.

Finally, the street price of Genesys is $3000, this is what I paid for SK880PS oriental fully loaded with all options (except scsi). I agree that 5K is not a reasonable price but I do not believe any dealer is selling it for that outrageous price.

Hello all,

Maybe Paul can give us a ruling on this, it comes with a 2 gig, looks like ya might be able to use a 10 gig, is that the limit? If not, what is?

Now if somebody asked me what I thought of the Genesys coming with a 2 gig HD, I'd say it doesn't make sense to me. Their last keyboard came with a 2 gig (WK8) and that was released what?...4 years ago. What's up? A super-surplus of 2 gigs?

My next point would be related to its function, saving data. I think the ability to save your performances as a .wav file is very, very cool. But in the real world, how long is it gonna take to fill that drive? I betcha jam-on-Terry could do it in one night. Some practices, some live takes, drive gets full, ya gotta stop what you're doing, weed out the keepers from the throw-aways (Terry has keepers...I would have a lot of throw-aways), transfer to CD, you get my point.

If it would have been a 10 gig to begin with, well OK. A 20 gig, I would have had absolutely no problem with. But a 2 gig....

Okay, I'll look on the bright side. At least it came with a HD.

mike

Just for the record, Generalmusic doesn't have name recognition like Yamaha, Roland, Korg, Technics, but among the professional Piano and Keyboard people we are very well known. Generalmusic is a family owned company out of Italy, not a mega international company such as Yamaha. Generalmusic builds musical instruments and electronics to support the making of music such as speakers etc. Generalmusic until recently wasn't distributing everything they built, Baldwin Piano Company sold Generalmusic's Digital pianos under the name Pianoville, Peavey electriconics distributed the other instruments such as the Sk880, Equinox, The Pro 1 and Pro 2...

Here is just a sampling of the artists playing Generalmusic instrument, mind you, they aren't paid to do so, and they actually buy them. Guys like, Keith Emerson, Rick Wakeman, Larry William, Gino Vanneli, J.T.Thomas, George Duke,John Tesh, Jason Miles, Otmaro Ruiz. Those that don't know who these people are, you are looking at some of the very top musicians/keyboardist in the world.

Currently 2 gigs is the limit.

The genesys keyboard runs on a flash O.S. like a lot of progressive keyboard manufactures. Generalmusic has the ability to completely change how the instrument works, and furthermore unlike some flash upgradeable instruments they have the ability to change the sounds too. Mike, hope I gave you enough lines to read between.

Guys,

On the demo, Genesys sure sounds terrific. But then on a demo any instrument sounds terrific - I am yet to see a manufacturer who would put anything other than their best sounds and features forward when making a promotional video. We can argue about the specs, as to whether a 2 gig HD is big enough (where the heck did they get a 2 gig disk? no one makes them anymore), or whether 64 voice polyphony is enough (in the WK/SK voices were using multiple notes of polyphony, so it was possible to use individual sounds which used up multiple notes of polyphony, not to mention layering - I hope this is not the case with the G, because with my playing style I can see myself running out of 64 notes quickly with using layered sounds and accompaniment going).

The real test for me is how I can make this instrument sound when I get my hands on it. And herein lies my problem - NONE of the 4 stores who are authorized GEM dealers in metro Phoenix area are having it displayed, because of the high price. None of them offer a return policy, so if I were to guy one, I'd be plunking my 000s of $ for a basically unknown quantity.

One think I do know from the specs - the thing is BIG and HEEEAVYYY - there is no way I would be carrying it to gigs. But even if there are people who are stronger than me and actually enjoy carrying heavy objects (because it is good for their physique or perhaps reminds them of the good old days carrying real grand pianos on their backs), I am sure they would want to ask GEM the same question I would: if you are making the instrument so big, WHY NOT put in 76 keys?

Indeed, I have seen pictures of the Genesys Pro - without speakers, but even it, I am sure, is longer than a Ketron SD1. To me this is an indication of the poor design.

I do not dispute the quality of the instrument, nor the fact that GEM is a make well liked by the professionals. The ability to intclude audio on the HD is also a plus. But lack of avaliability, high price, and lack of portability take this instrument out of contention for me.

Regards,
Alex

Paul,
I really do not think anyone is questioning whether or not the Genesys is a great board, with some great features or not, which is the way you seem to be interpreting it.

The only thing I thought we were discussing here is whether or not some of those features are less than we would expect of a board of this level. By the different posts of users, some things seem not to be a problem as anticipated ie, the polyphony.

Please try not to take offense or be defensive.....we're learning and trying to decide should we too consider a Genesys.....at least I am.

------------------
jam on,
Terry http://imjazzed.homestead.com/Index.html

Ya did, and thanks!

mike

Terry,

One of the problems with written text sometimes is that you can't see where you are coming from. I honesty am not taking offence or being defensive, so if I am coming off that way, it isn't my intention. The name dropping was, for those that haven't really heard of Generalmusic products.. To give some credibility....

Before I got to play the instrument and grasp what the genesys was all about, I had the same concerns you do, polyphony, hard drive, weight, price. When I got my mind around what the genesys is all about, it was like a light turning on. Like Sk880 said, I haven't been able to out play the polyphony on the instrument, if you are recording big orchestration I could see that 64 notes maybe a little tight, so when recording, I save to disk and free up all the polyphony. The genesys is so wonderful, because it is incredibly easy to use, everyone from the beginner to the tweaker will be satisfied. This isn't going to replace a digital recording studio, nor a real band, but when you want to make music, it works simply and effortlessly.

Paul,

Thanks for the video and info. I was not familiar with this keyboard. It is really a nice keyboard. Please continue keeping us informed about these keyboards.

Peter

Just to let you know Alex, that video wasn't intended for the public to see. As you can tell from the terrific camera shots and the less than professional sound recording and dubbing. This video was taken at NAMM 2002 for the Reps to see and show the dealers what the new instrument was all about. Funny thing is, most of the dealers have never seen this video. I am shocked that in your area there are no GEM dealers selling the genesys. I will look into this for you, and if you really want to check out the genesys, I will make sure that a GEM dealer has one for you to listen and play in your area.

As far as weight, I can say this, yep its heavier than anything in its class. Yes, with the new ones coming out, they will be lighter. The sound system is huge in this instrument and will carry a small room, 25-50 people. For those that play bigger rooms, the sound system can double as a really great sounding monitor system.