Montage VS Genos

[Normanfernandez]

Has this been discussed before?
Also is the price justifiable??

[soundphase]

For me, it's like comparing a trumpet and an orchestra
If you already play in an orchestra, buy a trumpet.

[Normanfernandez]

Which one is the trumpet? 

[Drsun19]

I have both keyboards and i love them, but definitely they sound different and are made for different purposes as well.

I use the Montage mainly to play in gigs with a full band (cover rock/pop band), you can layer as many as 16 parts and each one is perfectly tweakable and you have a full screen with a live set where you can place your editions and organise them for your gig with 16 slots x 8 pages x 8 sections and each one you can have 8 scenes so in each performance you have 8 ways to play your current patch so the possibilities are infinite.

The sound is great and is different than Genos, i believe it is because of the size of the samples and libraries and effects, but when i play the CFX grand in Montage it sounds different than the one in Genos.

The Genos is weaker than Montage for unique instruments BUT it sounds very nice too...I use my genos for small gigs and meetings with friends or at parties. You don't need any other resource, you can have everything in genos if you tweak it well, i invested several months to get my registrations in order, my sounds tweaked and my libraries in order, study my styles, adapt them, etc.

I don't see myself carrying my Genos to rock/pop band gigs in spite of its capability but the sounds are not the same.

Genos is more expensive but it's worth it, it's a beautiful instrument with many functions. It's perfect. The sky is the limit!

[Bachus]

I own(ed) both..  still own the Genos..

Genos is the best arranger for people that want to play music straight out of the box, and enjoy playing covers as close to the original as possible..  its also fit for solo use on stage...  the content it comes with is mostly aimed at music from last century, it can however be addapted in any way you want.  It has one competitor the Korg PA4x, when we look at its main purpose, the Genos rules this cattegory and is worth every dime..

Montage is a workstation that challenges people to become creative, and create their own music.  Its meant to be used as part of a studio, or on stage in a band..  the tools it offers are diverse and the content is more aimed at modern music.  It has fierce competition.  There also is the modx, which has basically the same sound engine as the montage, but fewer controlls and lower build quallity.   Its competitors are the Roland Fantom and the Korg Kronos/Nautilus. 


The fun thing is, the Korg PA4x holds the middle ground between Genos and Montage, and becomes an option for certain musicians that want more creative controll either live or in preperation above the Genos.



Anyway, you can't go wrong with any of these two.. but carefully decide if you need a Montage, or that a modx suits you just as well..  keep in mind that both don't have styles, if you want styles, go for the Genos, the arps in the montage can somewhat function liek styles, but just aren't the real deal for most..


In the end, i personally would like yamaha to crossbread Genos and Montage, and to even add some features of the YC series..

[pjd]

Good posts by everyone.

My addition...

I play both MODX (at a church gig) and Genos (mainly at home). MODX goes to the gig thanks to its light weight and size. I don't need auto-accompaniment at church. Although Genos is lighter than Tyros, it's still an armful to move. 

As to differences in CFX piano, I did a small investigation. I believe MODX/Montage CFX has more strike (velocity) levels than Genos CFX. The Genos CFX is similar to the MODX/Montage "CFX Stage" Performance, which uses a single part. That may be why people perceive less "depth" in the main Genos CFX versus the main MODX/Montage "CFX Concert". Neither MODX/Montage or Genos have VRM.

Yamaha (or some enterprising person) could make a better multi-strike piano voice for Genos IF they layered RIGHT1 and RIGHT2 with voices that split velocity ranges between them. I think Genos has the necessary samples internally.

Hope this helps -- pj