Search for a Keyboard, Part III

[Jay B.]

Hello most helpful Forum Members,

Hopefully this will be the last installation. I have learned a lot more during this search and my musical "recovery" journey. Maybe this will help someone else, as well. At the very least, I have enjoyed getting to know and learn from you.

I purchased a PSR-EW400, just to start playing and see if this was going to truly be fun. IT IS! The technique is coming back along with my musical brain. I still have a ways to go, so I even bought a Hanon book just to do some exercises again. I also learned some things:

- I really like having 76 keys, even if they are not weighted
- I can work with an arranger, but on my own terms, mostly just bass and drums
- A lightweight, mobile, self-contained solution has a lot of appeal
- A synth workstation is familiar to my old musician self, but not an effective use of my limited time

The EW400 is not sufficient for what I want to do, even right now. I want to edit styles, record midi songs on the keyboard, integrate external audio into the music, and so on. With a better arranger keyboard I can do a lot of things, many of them in new ways. Now, which keyboard?

S770 - Pretty good value, lots of voices, styles, and features that I want
S970 - The 770 plus a lot more - I like the extra memory, the video output, the biamped speakers, and more styles and SA voices. Vocoder, harmony, etc don't matter to me. Audio styles not sure about. Is it worth the extra $700?
S975/775 - More memory, 1/2 bar fill, mono legato, higher cost, a whole new section of styles and sounds that are not of interest to me
Genos - really would be the perfect instrument - not going to spend that much money right now.
Other keyboards - I have exhausted the other possibilities, such as Korg, Roland, Casio, and don't want to bore everyone any further with it

The question seems to be between the 970 and the 770, are the extra features worth the higher cost? I am very interested in your opinions...

Jay B.

[Denn]

Hello JB, I have a Tyros 4 and a PSR S770. My opinion is that the Tyros 4 is the best kbd ever. The S770 is the best value for money. The major disaster is the Genos. I posted these on another forum, they are MY opinions of the Genos.

Hello All, Have just returned from Perth (Au) and had a great play on the Genos. Shop had a good supply of Yamaha kbds and other instruments. I am now in Adelaide and spent 4 hours uninterrupted with the Genos. Again the shop was full of Yamaha gear. Shop in Darwin did not even know the Tyros, just the S.970 and S770. Perth and Melbourne shop are selling Genos like there was no tomorrow.
For me the Genos is a no-go. Did not like the touch screen and had great problems finding my way through the clutter on the screen. Screen was too flat for playing sitting down and reflected the overhead lights. Press the Style button and the boxes were just too small for a quick one touch. Tried 3 times to get the Ballroom styles up. No "world" styles, have to go through Legacy to find them. Looks to me as though they have added the Alpen pack to the Genos, all mixed up. Thought that Yamaha would have sorted the lists into alpha order not the old Yamaha number order. My two friends who accompanied me thought that the sounds were too sharp, not like the mellow Tyros.
Although in both stores,Perth and Adelaide, I was offered a really good deal, I will stay with my Tyros4. The Genos did not really impress me. Now that is only my opinion.
Regards, Den.

Now that I am home and have a decent typing keyboard I would like to express the things I found or not on the Genos.
First, it is NOT a touch pad but a poke pad. It needs a good push.
I wanted to find the Hawaiian style but the only way to find that was to put my USB stick in with my T4 program regs, bring up the song and then find the style.
I wanted to get a tenor sax in R1 – guess what! A sax is a woodwind on the Genos. Had to find that using my USB again.
Needed to put some chorus and reverb on -  where is the mixing console and the functions?? Lost in a clutter of whatever.
Eventually found the Touch thingy, it is 4 squares with green ticks. Why would you want to just have touch on one voice and not all of them. To get the touch effects you need to lift your fingers, which defeats the object of legato on the other voices.
Now 8 assignable knobs. Assuming you have a fantastic memory and can remember what you assigned to them you need a stack of cards as the Hammond Spinet drawbars had. The sliders have no buttons for fine adjustments.
I do not know if the Genos has a hard drive or not but if not then recording to a USB stick is going to be a nightmare with "Drive Busy" and your recording lost.
All in all, using the screen to try and twiddle knobs or move sliders accurately is a skill you will really need to acquire over some time.  The salesman said that "As long as you are within 10 either side with the sliders that is OK". I would like my music to be a bit more accurate than that.
To this I must add that sound, like taste and smell, is a very personal opinion. To say "This sounds better than that" is up to the individual.
Finally, I think that Yamaha have made a keyboard answering all the requests of players but have done it in a very sarcastic way.
Would I buy one at $7500? NO
Would I buy one at $75? Again NO.

Ps. I bought another Tyros4 from the shop in Perth a few months ago and have bought from the shop in Adelaide. I went there with the money in the bank to maybe bring a Genos home. Unfortunately or otherwise the Genos did not meet up to what I thought.

Now these comments are MY opinions only and are not meant to upset any of our members on the forum.
Regards, Den.

[EileenL]

Hi Denn,
  Genos has all the same functions on it that Tyros had. Of course having a touch screen you have to get used to doing things a little differently. As to styles you can now save them to a favorite section that makes them very easy to find. You can also save your favorite voices. Sax is a woodwind instrument so it is natural to find it there. We now have play list which replaces the Music Finder and is so much better now and useable. The sound is also so much better. Fuller and Richer and it is a joy to play. Best keyboard from Yamaha so far.
  There now is 56Gb user memory in place of hard drive which works just the same and you record directly to this with no problem. We also have 1.8Gb of flash memory built in.
  The one thing you must do is give yourself time to get used to it and after that you will find it a lot quicker to use than Tyros.

[panos]

I may spend more than 4 hours just to pick a style,mix it a little bit and then search suitable voices for the OTS and mix them up untill I am really happy with what I hear...
And I am doing this on a s750 which I have for some years now, with less functions than the Genos.
As long you are happy with your Tyros 4 which is also a great keyboard,that's fine Den

[DonM]

Jay,
I know you have researched other brands, but I wonder if you saw the Korg PA3X LE?
It would seem to fit your criteria and you could find a great price on one I think.
https://www.amazon.com/Korg-PA3XLE-Pa3XLE-Portable-Keyboard/dp/B00NFQ4O5I

[JohnS (Ugawoga)]

Hi Panos

I am the same when It comes to finding what you want and what goes where.
Now Iam coming to the conclusion that learning song and playing It after a load of practice is the way  to go.Also more satisfying knowing you can do It
Also I am now making a recording of the same songs so they sounds 100% without hopefully any mistakes which I can engineer in Cubase. That makes for a recording to keep like a studio record.
I have nearly finished reworking Bemuda Triangle as I was unhappy with It. Little niggles I wanted to put right
But  I also have to play It. That is a must.
Like someone said, if you do not practice, It leaves the soul.
The Genos Is the perfect keyboard synth, It will take a lot of beating In my view.
The more patient you are with the Genos the rewards will come.
So people with Tyros keyboards can make them sound just as good as the Genos ,but more work needs to be done on a computer to get finished results to a high standard.
I myself is trying to get better recordings but It is hell of a job to get some songs right and a big learn curve as mastering can take another lifetime out of you.
That's if " You only live twice"!! Mr Bond!!
All the Best
John

[Jay B.]

Hello Friends,

Thank you all for your thoughtful replies! I returned the EW400 (in perfect condition with all packaging) and purchased a S970! I thought about the 975, but there was too good a deal on a new 970 to not give it a shot. I will quickly assess it for my use and report back.

It does have most of the features I believe I want, except for the number of keys. Thanks for hanging with me.

Jay B.

[vbdx66]

Hi Jay

Congratulations for your purchase. I have no doubt you will enjoy your PSR S970. 

All the best,

Vinciane.