What are audio styles?

[Jeremy Bender]

I've downloaded the free Genos audio styles from the Yamaha downloads section and I'm sending them to my genos via YEM. I don't actually know what they are and how they will work as I'm completely new to the Yamaha arranger scene. Can anyone explain for me please? It's a 15 min download....

thanks a lot
Steve

[alans]

Hi Jeremy

Audio styles are actual recordings of the style being played by studio musicians,live in other words,rather than pre-programmed as is usual.
On the new Genos they have been replaced with Revo drums,to make the sound more real.
They have not been very popular because they cannot be modified very much,if at all.
Perhaps someone  will chime in with more info

Have a look on Youtube for some Peter Baartmans Tyros 5 demo videos,there are several where he explains this

I think this one has some info on audio styles

https://youtu.be/Vibafc5UBj4

Hope that helps a bit

Alan

[Rick D.]

I thought the Genos did away with Audio styles.


Rick D.

[EileenL]

Yes there are no Audio styles on Genos. The download were Audio styles that were on Tyros 5. I don't think they were that popular with a lot of people because you could not record them to Midi only Audio. You can still purchase some packs on Yamaha Music soft to use on Genos if you like them.

[Lee Batchelor]

Jeremy, Alan's explanation is perfect. To expand a little further, the regular styles on any arranger keyboard actually make no sounds whatsoever. They are made up of MIDI instructions and pointers that trigger the sounds of the keyboard's tone generator. Here's a diagram (as best as possible with the forum tools):

Audio style - Keyboard note is pressed-->an audio sound at a certain pitch, volume, and limited tempo is triggered and sent to the speakers.

MIDI - Keyboard note is pressed-->a digital code is sent with information about pitch, volume, velocity, unlimited tempo, and loads of other digital info-->tone generator-->speakers.

That's the difference, in a nutshell. The huge advantage of MIDI styles lies in the ability to edit them. For example, if you have a drum kit in an Audio style, it is very difficult to turn down the kick drum without affecting lots of other sounds. In a MIDI style of the same nature, you have access to the digital code that provides the kick drum sound. Hence, you can turn it down or even off. You can also change what kind of instrument is "kicked" if you want. Not possible in an audio style.

Hope that clears it up.

[Jeremy Bender]

Thanks all. Yes I understand the midi v audio playback general differences. I was more interested in why these audio styles were there and or needed really because as you say, there were no other ones on the Genos.
Having used them for a bit today they do seem a bit pointless really...They seem to only be copies of existing midi based styles as well.

The new Discover Genos playlist and Tyros 5 styles downloads are much more interesting and useful though.

Genos-the gift that keeps giving!

[DerekA]

There's a danger that the rythym part on a style can become repetetive and boring during a song, especially if the player doesn't use variations or breaks.

Audio styles were an attempt to keep the rythym part interesting. They use actual audio recordings of real musicians playing those parts. Naturally, this means that there's a bit more "life" to them because real people hit drums in a slightly different way each time, and can vary timing sublty across a few measures.

It didn't work out too well though, because being a recording, it wasn't possible to adjust or tweak the parts, or record them into a MIDI song.

Revo Drums are the latest wheeze. The trick this time is to use round-robin sampling so that each time (e.g.) a snare is struck, it can choose between a number of similar samples. This introduces a bit of variety to the pattern.

[pjd]

Thanks, Derek!

Genos still supports audio styles even though Genos doesn't ship with the audio styles pre-installed at the factory. It's all about choice and backward compatibility. Yamaha has a good record for backward compatibility of styles and such.

In addition to wave cycling, the Revo drum kits have kicked up hi-hat sounds and programming a big notch:

The rock/pop-oriented Revo kits have several new hi-hat notes (sounds) that support real-world HH technique like varying pedal pressure, edge vs. tip, and splash:

http://sandsoftwaresound.net/genos-hi-hat-happiness/

Lots of choice and the freedom to use what sounds best in a given situation.

All the best -- pj

[travlin-easy]

When I first began performing with my PSR-S950 I was amazed at how great those audio styles sounded. They sound much better than the midi based styles, however, the only way to record them is using an external recording device. The keyboard cannot play and record an audio style at the same time because it only has a single audio device. It would require two devices to play and record an audio file at the same time.

Good luck,

Gary