Genos, learning

[Strideplayer]

I recently joined this forum, primarily to learn about arranger keyboards. I've been a lifelong piano player, mostly trad jazz, pop and easy listening. I have a Yamaha P-90, it's built like a tank, but it is close to the end of its useful life. And too limited. I would love to check out a Yamaha Genos, however I not only live in the southwest desert, but in a musical desert as well. No store around here has one on the floor.

While I keep calling around,(Tucson and Phoenix area) allow me two questions - One, when a Genos is first turned on, does it default to piano or does everything have to be programmed in? Can I play the Genos like a piano, assuming I can get used to the organ style keys?

Two - I just turned 89. I am moderately intelligent, multilingual but, typically for my age, not proficient on electronics. Could I expect to be able to learn to operate the Genos within reason?  I am afraid to just plunk down six grand for something I haven't seen or touched - that seems like ordering the typical mail order bride.

I'll appreciate your thoughts,

Strideplayer

[pjd]

Hi Strideplayer --

Like anything else, one step at a time.    The User Manual covers the most basic info. The main touch screen has the most basic elements for a player. Touch the voice name to change voice, touch the style name to change style, etc. You should be able to get down to playing in a short period of time, without too much effort.

I understand your concern about spending a large amount of money and then wondering "What have I done?" One possibility is to start with a PSR-SX700 or PSR-SX900 -- considerably less money and just about as convenient to play. They are both very fine instruments.

As to $6000 USD, I recommend contacting Frank at AudioProCT: https://audioproct.com/ or another independent Yamaha dealer. Yamaha dealers cannot advertise a price below $6000, but they can agree to a lower price over the phone or e-mail. I bought two arrangers (from Frank) in this way and received a good, fair deal each time.

Hope these tips are helpful -- pj

[Ronbo]

Hello there, Strideplayer.

Welcome to this great forum. You can learn a lot here, for sure

To answer your first question, let me just say that all Yamaha arrangers are programmed to start with a Home Page.  Therefore the board will always open with the same settings. As is the case with Genos, the style is SkyPop and the voice is a piano.

You really can't avoid this.

From there the sky is the limit as to how you can set the board up.
And you can certainly play a genos like a piano.

For question 2, let me just say that age is not important. If you are willing to give it a try it doesn't matter what age you are.........all you need is a sense of adventure and a curious mind.

Electronics background is not necessary..

I would say that you will make a great genos player considering your musical background.

WARNING:  these keyboards are addictive........  they require a great deal of time.

Once you get started you'll never want to shut it off

Good Luck and happy hunting ....hope you find one soon

Regards

Ron J

[Strideplayer]

I've not really considered the various PSRs, amazing as they are. I would have trouble limiting myself to 61 keys. For me that's like playing while handcuffed  . I've admired the new Korg Pa5x-88 keys, but the 44lbs is way too heavy for me. Recently I had to have my 38lbs P-90 serviced and that weight was a bear to move. That's why I keep interest in the Genos, at a managable, for now, 28 lbs.

Thanks both. This is very helpful. I'll appreciate more input.

Strideplayer

[Toril S]

I see that you have been a piano player all your life. That makes me think that you might consider a DGX instead of a Genos. It has 88 weighted keys, and it has arranger functions just like the Genos, but with some limits. The price is far below the cost of a Genos. Age is just a number, music makes us young at heart!😀

[Graham UK]

I moved from a top end arranger to purchase a DGX670 and find it excellent and its low priced £799 UK Price. Love the 88 weighted key-bed.
Worth checking it out.

[Dave Nuttall]

Two - I just turned 89. I am moderately intelligent, multilingual but, typically for my age, not proficient on electronics. Could I expect to be able to learn to operate the Genos within reason?  I am afraid to just plunk down six grand for something I haven't seen or touched - that seems like ordering the typical mail order bride.

Hello Strideplayer,
I'm a full decade plus younger, but have been playing piano for 70+ years.  My first digital keyboard was a Yamaha Motif XS-8 which had 88 weighted keys and great piano sound, but my purpose for a digital keyboard was to create digital accompaniment tracks.   I donated the XS-8 to a church and acquired a PSR-S910 which served my purpose until a couple of years ago when I acquired the Genos.

The 61-key class do NOT have weighted keys and they are very difficult to play like a piano.   The Genos is pretty good as a piano but Yamaha stage pianos may be better in terms of "touch".

It is hard to say if you want to create music that could serve as accompaniment for singers, but I'm guessing you probably play from standard piano scores....the "workstation" class of keyboards are designed to play from lead-sheets and left-hand chords trigger rhythm patterns to accompany right-handed melody.   I struggled for quite a while to make my left hand play triad chords with the rhythm styles (small MIDI programs).   

In your situation, I suggest posting a request in the Craigslist Musicians Community for Phoenix/Tucson to identify someone with a Genos, Tyros 5, DGX 670 or other high-end Yamaha 76-key or greater that you could "see, touch and play" for your own info/decision making.   It seems likely if you could get your hands on a DGX-670, it would probably meet your requirements and SAVE you upwards of $5K!

Just another opinion!
Dave

PS...or jump on Southwest Airline and give my Genos a whirl....or my Baldwin SF-10.  I'm in San Antonio.

[pjd]

Suggestions about piano action keyboards with auto-accompaniment are spot on. Yamaha has some interesting alternatives like the CVP. The new Smart Pianist pianos (P-S500, CSP-170, CSP-150) are kinda cool although it means accessing the extra voices and auto-accompaniment through a Smart Pianist app on a tablet.

Might be worth comparing Genos vs. the alternatives. The features missing on the piano action keyboards might not make any difference to the playing experience you are seeking.

Played an acoustic grand the other night and I kinda miss the experience vs. synth-y keyboards. 

All the best -- pj

[travlin-easy]

Well, I'm 82 and started my musical journey at age 5 on an old upright piano. I played strictly by ear, and could listen to a song on the radio and by the next day, I could pick it out on a piano. I never learned to read music in all these years, at least not enough to hamper my playing ability,

At age 12 I learned to play a 6 string, acoustic guitar and began singing the songs along with my playing. I was self taught with the chords, practiced nearly every day for at least 2 hours and had calluses on my fingertips that were tough enough to hammer nails into inch thick boards - at least that's how they felt. I graduated to a 6-string, solid body electric guitar which I played for the next decade or more, often performing country bars and nite clubs. I even purchased a programmable, Roland Drum Machine which helped tremendously with my timing, which I thought was pretty darned good to begin with.

In the early 1970s, I graduated to a 12 string, acoustic guitar and added a in hole acoustic pickup, which I absolutely loved. This guitar provided a wonderful, full sound that was lacking on the 6-string guitars I previously owned. Then one evening, while my loving wife of now 60 years and I were at a restaurant having dinner, a guy set up a Yamaha PSR-500 arranger keyboard on stage, along with a Peavey KB-500 keyboard amp, and also his solid body 6-string guitar, which he also plugged into the amp. His show was fantastic and my wife and I remained there for the entire 3 hours he performed.

When he ended the night, I went on stage and talked with him while he was getting ready to pack up his equipment and go home for the evening. He unplugged the amp connection and allowed me to mess with the PSR-500 for about 10 minutes - I was in love!

The following day, I went to the music store in my town, Music Land, Bel Air, MD, talked with owner, who was a close friend, and purchased the keyboard amp. He didn't have that particular keyboard, and was mainly a Roland dealer, but said I could get a great deal on the keyboard at one of the nearby, Big Box department stores. I drove there in a few minutes and purchased the PSR-500 for just under $500 US. Granted, it was just 61 keys, but that did not hamper my ability to play at all. I quickly adapted from the 88 fully weighted key, upright piano to the 61-key light touch arranger keyboard and never looked back. My experience with Yamaha over these many decades has always been positive and the only repairs  I have had to make  were having some buttons replaced. There were several thousand hours and several thousand musical performances on my current arranger keyboard, PSR-S-950, and it were to ever completely die, I would purchase another in a heartbeat.

Now, if you are a home player, which at your age, and mine, we are usually retired, those weighted keys may not be a problem, though with one of my medical problems, distal neuropathy, I can no longer feel my hands and feet other than pain and pins and needles 24/7, I still enjoy playing with the arranger keyboard's light-touch keys. They just feel so comfortable, especially after a couple hours of continuous playing.

I guess the best scenario to weighted V/S unweighted keys I can provide comes from when I was a youngster in the employ of the US Navy. I was in the radio gang, a radioman, and had to copy Morse code, encrypted information sent to our ship from Norfolk, VA, which was halfway around the globe at times. I used a manual typewriter, Royal brand if I recall, and you had to pound those keys in order to get them to strike a letter through the ribbon, which was badly worn. In fact, we re-inked those ribbons once a week so they would last longer. After about 2 hours of typing, your fingers ached, were often swollen and I had to soak my hands in hot water for 30 minutes in order to continue my shift. Everyone else in the division did the same thing.

Just before I got out of the US Navy, in 1960, we got electric typewriters, IBM brand I believe, which had a rotating ball that was amazing. You barely had to touch the key and the ball would spin, slam the disposable ribbon, and provide sharp, crisp, clear letters on each page. I no longer had to soak my hands, no longer experienced pain after an 8-hour shift in the radio room, and as I stated above, I never looked back.

Just because you are 89 years old, doesn't mean you cannot continue to learn new things. At 82, I am constantly learning new and exciting things to have fun with. I just learned how to shoot an air rifle using a laser sight, mounted the sight on my gun myself, then purchased a laser bore sight device, which made the job of sighting in the rifle a lot easier. Additionally, I just purchased a drone with an adjustable, built-in camera that I am learning to fly using my smartphone mounted on a remote controller with two joy sticks. Still working on this one, though. Don't want to have a crash landing or fly into a passing aircraft.

Good luck on whatever you decide upon,

Gary (Another old codger!)