Genos and Genos V2

[Denn]

What is the difference between the Genos 1 and the Genos1 V2?
Denn

[Bill]

Hi Denn

There is no physical difference V2 was a massive upgrade provided free by Yamaha. It also allowed you to use a large collection of styles using the upgraded voices.

Have a look at the Yamaha info on link below,  scroll down to see full content.

https://uk.yamaha.com/en/products/musical_instruments/keyboards/arranger_workstations/genos/update.html#product-tabs

Bill

[DerekA]

It was a software-only update, which was much appreciated because unusually, it actually added something useful rather that just the usual "fixed vario0s bugs".

The main things it added were the chord looper (brand new feature) and it "unlocked" more expansion memory taking it to 3GB total.

It also included a free YEM pack called "Genos Superior Pack" which bundled together a bunch of stuff from some existing premium packs and some voices that were new on the SX900. This was before all the YEM packs were free.

[Denn]

Thanks Bill for your reply. So if I bought a Genos1 then can I upgrade it to V2.1 and get all the extras? The 3Gb sounds good and the extras seem like it is a totally different kbd. Have looked for a Genos V2 but they don't seem to come to light.
Denn.

[Bill]

Hi Denn

Yes, if the G1 has not already been updated you can easily download and update it. Just like any OS Update. Incidentally the G1 is great.  Now is a great time to purchase, so many available SH.  They don't normally advertise as G1v2 simply Genos 1.

Slightly off track but a video for you to enjoy

https://youtu.be/yrYRWt9Uve8?si=2KNN3DiP9bNiTCVH

Bill

[Michael Trigoboff]

Doing a software upgrade to an original Genos will not get you capabilities of a Genos2.

[mikf]

Some people think the difference is big ....some think the difference is small. 
Mike

[Bill]

Some people think the difference is big ....some think the difference is small. 
Mike

Hi Mike
I have to agree totally. Although there are some significant sound improvements lots of them are 5 minute wonders. You do not want glide / slide effects in your face ALL the time.

Also Denn is not after a Genos 2, especially at the price. He simply wants a V2 upgraded G1.

Maybe Yamaha will release a major update for G2 in the not too distant future. Wishful thinking.

Bill

[rene1242]

Honestly my opinion, if I'm purchasing a Genos for the first time I would certainly go for Genos 2, but coming from Genos 1 I didn't see the jump in technology to be as drastic,
Ok there's more sounds more styles ,Bluetooth etc...
I did go to the Yamaha dealer and tried it out some voices/styles do sound good but for me I would wait even more ,even more considering that expansion memory is 3 GB same as Genos 1
But then again every person has different needs

Hope it helps

[Amwilburn]

It is and it isn't.

Baartmans never got around to showcasing all the differences between them before he passed (RIP), he just performed for the rollout tour, and was gearing up to really showcase the differences. Alas

What's the same:
Choirs are identical. They didn't add any new choirs.
Same resonnantor guitars. ( only 1 new electric guitar! But new Acoustic guitars, and a *lot* of new basses)
3GB sample size (due to them being stuck on FAT32, and refusing the do split file installs which would solve the FAt32 limitation)

What's new:
Orchestral Violin 1 G1 vs G2: (it turns out Orchestral Violin 2, and Cello, also have this slide articulation, *even* when set to polyphonic!

New Basses:
4 new S.Art 2 basses:(first time ever)
E.BassRock1
E.BassRock2
E.BassBallad
E.BassJazz

10 new S.Art basses, 10 new 'normal' versions of those same basses (but sampled with velocity dynamics)
3 DX7 basses, including that famous one at the start of Kenny Loggin's "Danger Zone"
Including Hoffner (violinbass), very expressive upright basses.
ElecJazzSlap is one of the new S.Art basses that really slaps! There are several others, as well as megavoice versions
The megavoice version of is this bass is ElJazzSlapFull,
demoed well in the Madonna style "80sPopQueen"
where variations A & B are for Like A Surgeon
B & C are Papa Don't Preach, which has the incredibly deep punch slap bass (although they layer it with a dx7 bass for even more thickness)
And no, the ActiveBassSlap is not the same.

New Percussion:
I just dicovered Orchestral Timpani (104-000-048), which is very different from Timpani (000-112-048)
Not only does the Orchestral Timpani sound more natural (and includes the bends from hitting harder), but if you play it at higher octaves, it has *sampled* rolls. So no fake harmony repetitions!
The only downside is its apparent volume is lower.

New Pianos:
The new CFX is (according to Yamaha)the same as the CLP785/CVP909's piano (straight from the horse's mouth, so to speak)
The new character grand (Steinway) is a *huge* improvement on any of the previous pianos.
Felt Piano and U3 are also new (both feature in my Top Gun Maverick Medley)

DX7II inside really helps you recreate those specifc sounds of the 80s (again featured in my TGM Medley), but also great for new synths and pads.

New drums: All the old revo drums now have ambient drum versions, plus new ambient kits (Production, Dirty) and even a new revo kit.
4 orchestral drum sets instead of the same 1 since the 90's (which even Genos 1 only had). Again featured in my TG medley


Other stuff:
-And of course, the new Revolution reverb

-HDMI out

-The new screen doesn't wash out, under normal and neon lighting at any angle. HOWEVER if I shine a spotlight right on it, it still does, and will still likely need those screen covers in spotlight situations. Remarkably, it stll doesn't wash out completely like the G1 screen; I can still make out on screen text, but it's pretty faint in that situation.

-128+128+128 polyphony on G2 vs 128+128 on G1 (preset, user, and now DX7 voices each get their own 128 poly). Again, my TGMav medley actually taps out the preset voice poly (particularly during Give 'Em Hell & Darkstar. You can hear it, I should go back and rework some parts out of the style to use user or dx7 voices instead)

-G1,sx900,sx700 and A5000 they accidentally removed the ability to step record with user styles. They've added that back in with G2/sx920/sx720, but with a *new* error: previously, if you turned off a voice (Right 1, etc) but held sustain, the voice would continue. Now it stops unless you're still holding the keys /using panel sustain (on Pa5x, it stops period. There's no current workaround to the same issue). And yes it's an error, because all previous Yamaha's held the voice with sustain, even after turning off the voice part.

Which segues into

DOWNGRADES:
-LCD (too bright) sub menu screen vs Oled on the original G1. Many have resorted to putting a tint film on top.
-15GB (flash) instead of 58GB SSD. WHY???
-Voices: not actual downgrades per se, But I've noticed the BigBandBrass SW sounds like it's in mono (because of the added EQ dsp; once you remove the EQ, the voice is full stereo). *OR* you can go into the details of the eq, and change input mode from mono to stereo. But what a *weird* design choice!!!

Hope that helps. By the way, the jump from T5 to G1 is roughly the same as G1 to G2 (which is probably why people though the sx900 was a baby G1, when in fact, it was a baby T5. The sx920 is truly a slightly stripped down G1 though, and shares almost all the voices with G1). The jump from T5 to G1 probably seemed bigger because of the massive hardware changes.


Mark

[DerekA]

A very detailed reply, Mark - but the OP was asking about the differences between G1 and G1 with the V2 upgrade applied.

[Amwilburn]

A very detailed reply, Mark - but the OP was asking about the differences between G1 and G1 with the V2 upgrade applied.

Yes, I know the OP (and the topic) was,  but I was replying to the last comment by Synthgrooves where he said there wasn't much difference between Genos1 and Geno2. There is and there isn't, depending on what you need. Basically better pianos, brass, 80's sounds and orchestral kits? definitely yes. But if you're only comparing modern pop/rock? They won't actually sound that much different.

[rene1242]

It is and it isn't.

Baartmans never got around to showcasing all the differences between them before he passed (RIP), he just performed for the rollout tour, and was gearing up to really showcase the differences. Alas

What's the same:
Choirs are identical. They didn't add any new choirs.
Same resonnantor guitars. ( only 1 new electric guitar! But new Acoustic guitars, and a *lot* of new basses)
3GB sample size (due to them being stuck on FAT32, and refusing the do split file installs which would solve the FAt32 limitation)

What's new:
Orchestral Violin 1 G1 vs G2: (it turns out Orchestral Violin 2, and Cello, also have this slide articulation, *even* when set to polyphonic!

New Basses:
4 new S.Art 2 basses:(first time ever)
E.BassRock1
E.BassRock2
E.BassBallad
E.BassJazz

10 new S.Art basses, 10 new 'normal' versions of those same basses (but sampled with velocity dynamics)
3 DX7 basses, including that famous one at the start of Kenny Loggin's "Danger Zone"
Including Hoffner (violinbass), very expressive upright basses.
ElecJazzSlap is one of the new S.Art basses that really slaps! There are several others, as well as megavoice versions
The megavoice version of is this bass is ElJazzSlapFull,
demoed well in the Madonna style "80sPopQueen"
where variations A & B are for Like A Surgeon
B & C are Papa Don't Preach, which has the incredibly deep punch slap bass (although they layer it with a dx7 bass for even more thickness)
And no, the ActiveBassSlap is not the same.

New Percussion:
I just dicovered Orchestral Timpani (104-000-048), which is very different from Timpani (000-112-048)
Not only does the Orchestral Timpani sound more natural (and includes the bends from hitting harder), but if you play it at higher octaves, it has *sampled* rolls. So no fake harmony repetitions!
The only downside is its apparent volume is lower.

New Pianos:
The new CFX is (according to Yamaha)the same as the CLP785/CVP909's piano (straight from the horse's mouth, so to speak)
The new character grand (Steinway) is a *huge* improvement on any of the previous pianos.
Felt Piano and U3 are also new (both feature in my Top Gun Maverick Medley)

DX7II inside really helps you recreate those specifc sounds of the 80s (again featured in my TGM Medley), but also great for new synths and pads.

New drums: All the old revo drums now have ambient drum versions, plus new ambient kits (Production, Dirty) and even a new revo kit.
4 orchestral drum sets instead of the same 1 since the 90's (which even Genos 1 only had). Again featured in my TG medley


Other stuff:
-And of course, the new Revolution reverb

-HDMI out

-The new screen doesn't wash out, under normal and neon lighting at any angle. HOWEVER if I shine a spotlight right on it, it still does, and will still likely need those screen covers in spotlight situations. Remarkably, it stll doesn't wash out completely like the G1 screen; I can still make out on screen text, but it's pretty faint in that situation.

-128+128+128 polyphony on G2 vs 128+128 on G1 (preset, user, and now DX7 voices each get their own 128 poly). Again, my TGMav medley actually taps out the preset voice poly (particularly during Give 'Em Hell & Darkstar. You can hear it, I should go back and rework some parts out of the style to use user or dx7 voices instead)

-G1,sx900,sx700 and A5000 they accidentally removed the ability to step record with user styles. They've added that back in with G2/sx920/sx720, but with a *new* error: previously, if you turned off a voice (Right 1, etc) but held sustain, the voice would continue. Now it stops unless you're still holding the keys /using panel sustain (on Pa5x, it stops period. There's no current workaround to the same issue). And yes it's an error, because all previous Yamaha's held the voice with sustain, even after turning off the voice part.

Which segues into

DOWNGRADES:
-LCD (too bright) sub menu screen vs Oled on the original G1. Many have resorted to putting a tint film on top.
-15GB (flash) instead of 58GB SSD. WHY???
-Voices: not actual downgrades per se, But I've noticed the BigBandBrass SW sounds like it's in mono (because of the added EQ dsp; once you remove the EQ, the voice is full stereo). *OR* you can go into the details of the eq, and change input mode from mono to stereo. But what a *weird* design choice!!!

Hope that helps. By the way, the jump from T5 to G1 is roughly the same as G1 to G2 (which is probably why people though the sx900 was a baby G1, when in fact, it was a baby T5. The sx920 is truly a slightly stripped down G1 though, and shares almost all the voices with G1). The jump from T5 to G1 probably seemed bigger because of the massive hardware changes.


Mark

Good to know thanks very much for the detailed info