Genos2 demo

[mikf]

Having been absent from the forum for a long time, I may have missed the flurry of posts normally surrounding a new TOTL Yamaha arranger, but have to say I am surprised how little is being posted about it. The launch of the Genos 1 brought what seems like thousands of posts and opinions - not just in the lead up but for at least a year after they became routinely available.
I just finished watching the A and C Hamilton demo of the G2 and have to say I was very impressed. I'm sure the deep functional users will have found some shortcomings by now, but overall it seemed like a pretty superb instrument with few weaknesses. But from the dearth of posts doesn't seem like many forum members have taken the plunge.
Mike

[Amwilburn]

I've got more coming in the pipeline - I just received the video for the 80min long concert we did in Feb, deciding whether to upload in its entirety or just chop up by songs. It was actually over 80 minutes, and the videographer edited out most of the Q/A and prize giveaways between songs.

but here are my existing G2 demos:

Lose Control (the only 1 with singing)
https://youtu.be/Z0_ql5Cs8Fw?si=dMV3-HJwDapYjNV5

Top Gun Maverick
https://youtu.be/kGdLjL5EeE8?si=0DIOZbGs0GNM7V_S

Papa Don't Preach
https://youtu.be/eaZCv4UBfEc?si=xqGehaDFl29XHl7z

Final Fantasy III/VI (no registrations, just OTS)
https://youtu.be/4YEiQwzw5Is?si=zpQD2uMJn5oaAcfw

Back to the Future
https://youtu.be/mlhAFpzD89g?si=3yc02GkKwK_YVBHu

Cheers,
Mark

[maartenb]

Great demos, Mark! And I would love to see the February concert. Please keep us posted!


Welkom back, Mike! It is indeed relatively quiet on this forum (and other Genos forums for that matter). It is because the principles and functionality of the Genos2 are not that different from the Genos(1), so there is not much to discuss.

The Genos2 is a wonderful update, though:

• Fantastic reverb (Steinberg REVelation)
• Wonderful real FM voices
• Great new voices like Nylon Guitar
• A LOT of styles
• Brighter screen
• Position LEDs for the knobs and sliders

The Genos2 is the keyboard that gives me the most fun of all keyboards I've ever had. (The second most fun was the Tyros4, and the third the Roland G-1000.)

So yeah, I think it's quiet because everyone is just playing their keyboard!


Maarten

[bpsafran]

Maartenbb, I agree after playing Clavinova, Tyros4 and7 Tyros5 and now happily Genos2.  The new reverb effect, brass, and strings make all the difference in playing orchestra, film, and light classical music.The resampled CFX is also a big plus, but I wish they would add string resonance, structures even in a lite mode.

[soundphase]

Fully agree with Marteen's summary. The reverb is a game changer. Unfortunately sa2 techno shows its limit. (Samples should be far bigger). Results are finally not surprising.

So I understand comments judging Genos2 is not a big evolution.

I would have liked seamless sound switching and a new sound generation (closer to VST quality).

I also imagine AI should appear somewhere in the next Genos3 and ... I'm quite sure we will be disappointed.

[richkeys]

It's nice to see you back on the forum, Mike.

I might be able to purchase a Genos 2 later this year and would like to see more user reviews posted about it here in this forum. I do recall when the G2 was first released there was a lot of discussion about it during the older days when Joe ran this forum, but I agree there hasn't been that much discussion about it here lately. Leigh Wilbraham has been releasing videos giving his honest opinion of the G2 for quite some time, and he is telling us it sounds better than G1 due to the new pianos, brass, woodwind voices, drums, reverb etc. that also come through in the styles.

On a side note, he mentioned the term "audio board" when he compared the new SX920 to the SX900 and thought perhaps the 920 sounded better because of that. I am assuming he is referring to the DAC? How much can an audio board affect sound quality? I would be upgrading from SX900 to G2, so I was hoping all these improvements, including higher end DAC would be a very noticeable upgrade for me at this price level.

Rich

[mikf]

I thought Leigh's comments about the quality of OTS settings were quite important. I never use OTS on my keyboard because I don't like the way that changes in variation catches you out by changing the OTS. But he has a good point that the pros have set up so many great settings on and combinations on G2 that it's worth saving some straight to a set of voice registrations and saving you fiddling around setting up you4 own voices.
Mike

[Amwilburn]

That's actually quite true; they really spent time optimizing OTS this time around; so much so that the difference between playing the same style from G1 with OTS and then on G2 with OTs is often startling!

My "Papa Don't Preach" is actually based off their included registration (but I still have to do things my way), which is actually based off their OTS.

Likewise, the 1st part of my Top Gun Maverick Demo is based off their Top Gun registration, which is again based off the OTS of the Action Anthem style; if you recall, end of 2023 when the G2 arrived, I was torn between doing a quickie youtube video using just the OTS (already very good) or doing the whole thing with registrations "my way".

Obviously, I ended up going with the latter, which I'm quite happy with

Mark

[mikf]

Thought your vocal on Lose Control was excellent. It's not a song I was familiar with so can't compare with the original vocal, but yours was definitely good enough for me - and I'm pretty picky
Mike

[Amwilburn]

Heh, that was with my voice at about 45% (I lost my voice in Feb of 2024.... 1st time I've ever lost it. Doctor's still aren't 100% sure why, but both my Dr's suspect it's related to the spike in my blood pressure, went way up), but come end of 2024 I was able to sing again, but my voice didn't feel 100%.

But there's no point waiting for 100%; it's been over a year and it looks like it'll never hit 100% again. That's life; however it fluctuates between 40% and 95% (!); when I did my concert, I started with lose control and my voice was around 75%-80% (and later that night when I did Show Must Go on, it was 85%-90%!)

Thanks for the kind words Mike & Maarten!

Soudphase: yes, I would've liked hardware SSS; but guess what? The Ketron Event doesn't have that either (it *is* ironic that the 2 keyboard brands that *do* use registration don't have SSS, meanwhile Kord doesn't use registrations, but *does* have SSS; the main use of SSS is to prevent pops during registration changes!)

*But* incredibly, for most of my registration changes? When I converted registrations from G1 to G2, replacing the style with a G2 version (so the new Reverb is baked in, and you don't need to switch reverb twice with each registration change): Guess what? most of the SSS glitches disappeared!!! For my Mandalorian demo, I didn't need to change anything other than the style (new reverb, DX7 bass) and all the program change hiccups vanished! (that was very unexpected)

Mark

[aprilla]

I also imagine AI should appear somewhere in the next Genos3 and ... I'm quite sure we will be disappointed.

This made me chuckle. Sometimes it does seem like it goes like that ... buy a new keyboard, lament it's limitations and wish for more in the next. Shake and repeat.

[Michael Trigoboff]

Great work on Lose Control!

[Amwilburn]

Thanks Michael! I also saw your comment on youtube, m8!

Show Must Go on is now up. Next up is ... Axel F! (nope, just looked at my Queue; longer Pirates medley and *then* Axel F, after I alternate going back and uploading a bunch of older videos i simply never got around to upping)

Mark

[colas musique]

Hello Mark,

I was inspired by your suggestions to play a version of "Final Fantasy VI" myself.
Thank you so much for your valuable guidance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJBSGH42-u8

Sincerely,
Christian

[Amwilburn]

Excellent! Since my aim is *always* to inspire, that really makes my day!
Oh, you really fleshed it out; nice! Pas mal de tout, mon ami! (not bad at all, friend)

Mark